Yoga of Courage and Compassion

Lessons in fearless living through breathwork, gentle movement, and meditation based on the experiences of those at the edge of life • Shares a series of simple, practical, and profound conscious breathing, movement, and meditation exercises that help you bypass the ego-centered mind, open your heart, and live in the present moment • Developed through the author's decades of work with cancer patients When we face death, we learn to release the small anxieties and insecurities that can afflict us in daily life and live life fully in the present moment. Without the ego-shattering blow of a terminal diagnosis, these life-giving practices usually only come about after decades of spiritual practice. However, it is possible to embrace these lessons from the dying and discover our own gentle confidence, inner stillness, and heart-centered way of being long before we face the end of life. Through decades of teaching yoga and meditation to cancer patients, William Yang witnessed hundreds of breakthroughs into radical presence and open-heartedness. In many ways, his patients taught him more than he taught them. From this collaboration with the sick and dying, Yang developed a series of simple, practical, and profound conscious breathing, movement, and meditation exercises that help to bypass the ego-centered mind, open the heart, and live fearlessly in the present moment. Yang's exercises begin with an invitation to rediscover a natural and unforced way of breathing, so we can let go of our anxious ego and let life in again. From there, enlarging the sequence step by step, the author focuses on grounding and connecting with Mother Earth, working with the spine to develop a new sense of self-confidence, and opening the heart to love again. As we shed elements of the stressed, anxious person we once were, we are able to be more attuned to the world around us in a loving and caring way. Through the lessons learned from his cancer patients, Yang shows how, with courage and compassion, we can live and love without reservation at any time in our lives.

William Yang has been teaching relaxation, breathing, meditation, and yoga exercises to cancer patients since the early 1980s. Inspired by the benefits patients reported in the hospital where he worked, he founded a center dedicated to these programs, which in a later phase went on to become the William Yang Foundation, based in the Netherlands. In 1995 he received the Dr. Marco de Vries award in bio-psychosocial medicine and in 2005 he became a knight of the order of Oranje Nassau, an honor bestowed by H.M. Queen Beatrix for his work with cancer patients and disadvantaged children in India. He lives in Nijmegen in the Netherlands.

Introduction PART 1 BREATH 1 Breathing Out Letting Yourself Go 2 Breathing Pause Venturing Emptiness 3 Breathing In Allowing Life Back In Again PART 2 BREATH AND BODY 4 The Pelvic Bowl Accepting with Compassion 5 The Spinal Column Courageously Facing Reality 6 The Open Heart Being in Love Again PART 3 BREATH, BODY, AND ACTION 7 Acting Healing the World by Touch 8 Speaking Healing the World by Speech 9 Being Silent Healing the World by Being Present Index