Whether you are a yogi or not, enLIGHTend by Jessica Berger Gross is the quintessential inspirational read. By taking the ancient practice of yoga and making it applicable to the present day, Jessica Berger Gross breaks the notion that yoga is outdated, unobtainable and filled with complicated "pretzel poses." I read enLIGHTENend this past summer when I was up at our lake house in Michigan, and ended up having to pace myself in order to savior my own "enlightenment." It honestly is one of those books you get excited to read because I was able to find comfort within the text.
I struggle a lot with my relationship with food--it's a love/hate relationship without a doubt--and Jessica chronicles a similar rocky relationship of overeating, overexercising, not eating, and everything in between used to [negatively] remedy life's obstacles. enLIGHTend was that book that put me another step (more-so leap) in the direction of accepting my body and building a better relationship with food. Here's a little synopsis quoted from the book to give you a taste (no pun intended) of enLIGHTened:
"Eventually, my life changed, and my world--my heart--opened up. Yours can, too. This is the story of how studying yoga--not just the physical poses, but the philosophy behind them--helped me lose forty pounds, overcome my battle with depression, and change my life for good. In the coming chapters I'll share with you the basic principles of everyday living, eating, and moving that a decade of practicing yoga (and teaching it on and off) has taught me. Integrating these lessons into your life can lead you down the path of weight loss, help you find a sense of inner peace and contentment, and even--just maybe--a little bit of enlightenment."
