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Enlighten Up! Finding Clarity, Contentment and Resilience in a Complicated World
Want to find more clarity, contentment and resilience in this complicated world we all live in? Cultivating self-awareness on a practical everyday down-to-earth level is the first step. When we lack self-awareness, it gets in the way of navigating life’s ups and downs. Enlighten Up! presents a contemporary view of the five layers of self-awareness based on a 3,000-year-old model that provides a broader foundation for self-exploration than the more well-known mind/body model. Author Beth Gibbs uses humor and stories to teach you to recognize the influence these five layers have on your life.
Learn how to apply this model of self-awareness to your own life through the tips and simple yoga practices shared in this book.
Learn how to apply this model of self-awareness to your own life through the tips and simple yoga practices shared in this book.
316 pages, Paperback
Published January 4, 2021
6 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 15, 2024
the layers of yoga made simple
As a longtime yoga practitioner, yoga teacher, and yoga therapist, the concept of the Koshas has never been that simple to grasp or share. The author of Enlighten Up does a wonderful job of making the koshas easy to understand. She provides a bevy of personal practical examples. Her storytelling style makes the reader want to keep turning the pages.
I repeatedly nodded my head, identifying with the author’s experiences from romantic relationships, to tummy troubles, to her choco-holism. (We both eat only high grade healthier dark chocolate!).
Although the title is about enlightenment, her book is sure to “Lighten Up” every reader too.
As a longtime yoga practitioner, yoga teacher, and yoga therapist, the concept of the Koshas has never been that simple to grasp or share. The author of Enlighten Up does a wonderful job of making the koshas easy to understand. She provides a bevy of personal practical examples. Her storytelling style makes the reader want to keep turning the pages.
I repeatedly nodded my head, identifying with the author’s experiences from romantic relationships, to tummy troubles, to her choco-holism. (We both eat only high grade healthier dark chocolate!).
Although the title is about enlightenment, her book is sure to “Lighten Up” every reader too.
February 5, 2021
Do you think yoga is only pretzel positions? Meditation only about chanting oms? Do you think yoga isn’t for black people and is not representative? Thankfully, Beth Gibb’s Enlighten Up disproves those notions. The author guides the reader through five levels of self-awareness (physical, energetic, mental, intuitive wisdom and bliss). With personal applications to herself, family, friends, students and other professionals she shows us with clear explanations and humor how to navigate each phase and provides suggestions for self examination. This is frequently a hard thing for those who avoid “enlightening” but often agonizingly and puzzling challenges of self-introspection. Gibbs’ suggestions are straightforward and gentle as she walks us to and through forward movement. She is a teacher. She is not a “sage on the stage” but a “guide on the side”. This is a book that should be taken in bites, the way one eats a elephant. Some dishes will need to be served more than once and chewed again.
There are chapters/sections that may cause anxiety. The discussion of “stuff” hits at the “hoarder-in-training “. It is easy to respond in an “I’m too lazy, too unorganized, too attached to my “stuff” way. The excuses layer over the invitation to become more self-aware. Enlighten Up! gently outlines steps for facing, unearthing or just breathing through obstacles.
The section on Bitchcraft in particular evoked a tearful emotional response. Why? Obviously this requires a deeper dive into un-layering, a project for a future date. Gibbs allows for that kind of reaction and encourages re-visiting. There are yogic prompts, breathing techniques, and guided visualizations throughout. Some are easy. Some are more complicated. The author assists with careful modeling. Whether beginning or continuing your self-awareness journey, Enlighten Up! is a great resource to have by your side. No pretzels, (a few oms) and a delightful blues song.
There are chapters/sections that may cause anxiety. The discussion of “stuff” hits at the “hoarder-in-training “. It is easy to respond in an “I’m too lazy, too unorganized, too attached to my “stuff” way. The excuses layer over the invitation to become more self-aware. Enlighten Up! gently outlines steps for facing, unearthing or just breathing through obstacles.
The section on Bitchcraft in particular evoked a tearful emotional response. Why? Obviously this requires a deeper dive into un-layering, a project for a future date. Gibbs allows for that kind of reaction and encourages re-visiting. There are yogic prompts, breathing techniques, and guided visualizations throughout. Some are easy. Some are more complicated. The author assists with careful modeling. Whether beginning or continuing your self-awareness journey, Enlighten Up! is a great resource to have by your side. No pretzels, (a few oms) and a delightful blues song.
April 24, 2021
Excellent!
I really loved this book. I have done a fair amount of reading and learning about most of these concepts, so much of it wasn’t necessarily new to me, but I love how the author presents things very simply and clearly. I found this to be an extremely readable book--a fun, interesting, engaging read. I love Gibbs’ humor, no-nonsense honesty, and the entertaining but poignant life stories and experiences that she relates as examples. I also thought the many exercises she shares throughout the book will be very helpful, and I have tried many already. I believe this is accessible to a wide audience, and I hope it finds its way into many hands as I think the greater world really needs to start living this way. I highly recommend this!!
I really loved this book. I have done a fair amount of reading and learning about most of these concepts, so much of it wasn’t necessarily new to me, but I love how the author presents things very simply and clearly. I found this to be an extremely readable book--a fun, interesting, engaging read. I love Gibbs’ humor, no-nonsense honesty, and the entertaining but poignant life stories and experiences that she relates as examples. I also thought the many exercises she shares throughout the book will be very helpful, and I have tried many already. I believe this is accessible to a wide audience, and I hope it finds its way into many hands as I think the greater world really needs to start living this way. I highly recommend this!!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews