A Light From Within Yoga Workbook and Journal is 342 pages. It is available in print (full color and b/w) and kindle. Please see drop down box below.
ALFW Intro Part I from miguel Latronica on Vimeo.
A Light From Within is the modern-day, must-have, mat-side yoga book and blog. It is a masterful combination of yogic wisdom, body mechanics knowhow, and spiritual enrichment into this 342-page expert yoga workbook and blog. The interior of both the book and blog is beautifully integrated and engages one on many different levels.
The information contained from within the physical book is mirrored and cleverly integrated in throughout the blog. And, because the blog is an i cloud based platform, it offers different benefits. This is exactly what helps to make your ALFW experience fun, engaging and ever effective. While the physical book is personal and something you can write into, the blog, however, allows one to work and collaborate with like-minded people. It is truly a great way to cultivate new friendships and work with others such as in yoga teacher training programs. Simply put: ALFW blog is a dynamic yoga-oriented social platform that helps to foster greater awareness throughout the changing seasons of you life today.
As the author and designer of ALFW book and blog, it is my great hope that you will take full advantage of what both platforms have to offer.
Organized by seasons of the year, the book and blog is filled with copy, charts, removable cards (book only) , and illustrative graphics that enmesh yoga’s physical, mental, spiritual, scientific and emotional aspects, including:
ALFW blog has 18 different tabs or entry points (also organized by season) for which to explore its dynamic platform. So, for example, the physical book has 102 workbook questions, yet in the blog these same workbook questions exist and reside in a tab labeled “Workbook Questions.” This means you can answer every workbook questions by either transferring or rewriting your responses— again, a very easy way to share and get immediate social feedback. With ALFW blog you can elect to keep all elements of your work either public or private. This ability to control your blog is really exciting because not only does it provide various levels of safety, but also allows you to share the many beautiful aspects of your being with other people.
ALFW blog also offers videos, podcasts and other free-of-charge downloads that truly enhance your experience. The blog is all ready to go— just sign up, share of your self and read the work of others.
The book is amazing in its depth and it's accessibility! It brings together so many activities, options, layers of self-enrichment in a beautifully illustrated, coherent and thought-provoking way. Again, as the author and designer of ALFW blog site, I have decided to incorporate other features such as the “Community Voice” and the “Diet and Nutrition” tabs.
There are 18 tabs belonging to our ALFW blog. And this is where our ALFW yoga community discusses and exchanges riveting ideas such as the overall importance of cultivating a yoga-like mind and the encompassment of eschewing a conscious healthy lifestyle.
ALFW is unique in that we have designed and developed what is called the Personal Emotions Imprint Map (PEIM). The PEIM is a very effective, self-reporting psycho emotive tool that allows an individual the ability to track, gauge and measure their overall emotional response mechanisms— all of which pertain to the ALFW workbook questions and journal entries.
There are, in total, 102 workbook questions and/or journal entries from within 52 spreads of the book and blog: therefore, each contains two questions and two journal entry opportunities per spread. Every question or journal entry is assigned what is called a “Chart of Emotions” (COE). And because there are 102 COE, each belongs and is categorized into one of the four seasons: winter, spring, summer and Fall.
Each COE has listed its very own group of 17 common positive and negative emotions— All of which you may have defaulted to and/or experienced as it pertains to the said 102 workbook questions and journal entries.
Getting back to the PEIM, it contains and has a “points” field. This field represents the variable strengths of all 17 different emotions. The strengths were gathered, and thus populated from within each field of all 102 COE. Therefore, the scale (or points) upon which these emotions are based is derived and ranges from a scale of 1 to 10. (10 as being the most intensely experienced)
Because each of the four seasons is assigned 13 different weeks (otherwise known as spreads), each has and therefore belongs to what is called a “Master Emotions Index” (MEI). The MEI retains and reflects the sum totals values (or points) of all four season’s 102 workbook and journal entries: all of which are based on the 17 different positive and negative emotions as it relates to the 52 spreads— or weeks of the year.
Chapter 1 contains the foreword, a preface and the introduction to the workbook. It also includes the thumbnail summaries, personal affirmations, workbook questions, journal entries, haikus, asana (poses) and mudra.
Chapter 2 contains 102 workbook questions including the self-reported emotions chart.
Chapter 3 “The subtle components of your yoga practice” helps you to integrate some of the more sublime principles and practices of yoga work. It is here where you will learn about “homunculus” as it relates to the nervous system, “yoga mudra”, chakras”, “symbol of your soul”, creating resolve, unsaid things and finally, a one year from now letter to yourself.
Chapter 4 describes the different classifications of yoga poses (asana) and a comprehensive section on how to approach your physical practice, including a warm-up guide.
Chapter 5, the very last part of the book deals with the most common fifty-two (52) yoga poses. The detailed instructions and pictures are more than enough for the beginner and/or adept practitioner alike. It is here that you will find detailed instructions on how to properly enter, hold and release all 52 yoga poses. Opposite to the detailed instructions are anatomical yoga related renderings of the human body. A section called the "Pearls of Wisdom" has a whimsical tone where you will find miscellaneous information related to yoga and, as well, the Eight Limbs of Yoga.
Chapter 6 has the appendix and other supplementary pages such as the Personal Emotions Index Map, a preprinted deck of 52 cards—All ready to be cut-out by hand. The very end of the book is followed by a Sanskrit/English glossary.
Namaste,
Miguel Latronica, ERYT -Author