yoga.......... .Talent Development Resources -..home page...site map

Mariel Hemingway : Basically, I came to yoga and meditation so I could undo some of my past, and I believe that you can do that through a combination of things. For me, first, it's finding quiet in my life -- and I do that through yoga and meditation. It's also been a matter of changing the way I eat, because I think what we eat can inform who we are; food is a chemical and a drug to a certain extent. I've certainly made bad decisions about food in the past; I thought I was healthy when my diet was actually causing tremendous damage to my body. The other thing is surrounding yourself with people that care for you. These are simple things, but they're powerful, and they've completely transformed who I am and how I perceive myself. //

Yoga teaches you how to listen to your body. If you can just go in to a beginning class and listen: What's going on here? How do I feel in this posture? You know what, I'm going to bend my knee because that just doesn't feel comfortable. Maybe I'll take a little of the bend out. It's a discipline that's your own. It makes you take responsibility for yourself. A lot of exercise is mindless; you can have music or the radio on and not be aware. But if you're aware in anything you do -- and it doesn't have to be yoga -- it changes you. Being present changes you. > from Powells.com author interview about her book Finding My Balance : A Memoir with Yoga

~ ~ ~ ~

The physical aspect of the character doesn't bother me, because I'm a tomboy and I've never been afraid to fight. On the other hand, this role demands a lot of psychological energy. Nikita lives in a turbulent universe, without friends or lover. She has no freedom, no outlet, no simple pleasures.  I do a lot of yoga to keep from going crazy when I play Nikita. After a day of filming, I also like to practice meditation to cleanse my spirit. Acupuncture and other forms of natural medicine also help me maintain my equilibrium. But the world of Nikita sometimes affects my private life by making me more demanding of those around me. Peta Wilson - about working on the series "Nikita" [Le Lundi April 14, 2001, posted on petawilson-online.com]

~ ~ ~ ~

I think that the short answer to why I look so young is that I do yoga every day. I am also a pretty happy person... being happy is probably the secret to keeping yourself young. Kellie Martin - Tony Bray interview, August 2003 > more on :  positive psychology

~ ~ ~ ~

I'm not one of these people really into the latest fetishes like yoga or the Kabbalah. I can't imagine anything worse than wearing a trendy red bracelet around my arm and running around saying, "I'm at peace with myself." [laughs] To me, that's totally hypocritical. Mischa Barton .. [Hollywood Life Nov 2004]

~ ~ ~ ~

Emily Procter begins each workday at 5 A.M. by dancing around the house to the sounds of Earth, Wind and Fire - or whatever catchy tune is playing on her clock radio.  "It helps me get moving in the morning," explains Procter, who plays ballistics expert Calleigh Duquesne on CSI: Miami. The 34 year-old actress even gets her groove on between takes of the CBS crime drama. "I'll dance whenever I have a spare moment," says the North Carolina native, who also takes regular Pilates and yoga classes and uses an indoor stationary cycle to stay fit. "I'm a very hyper person, so I love being active. Working out is a great way for me to burn off some of my excess energy." [Fitness Magazine, March 2003]  /  quotes and photo from emilyprocter.com

~ ~ ~ ~

....articles:

6 Steps to Super Mindpower - By Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler
Stress management is essential if you want to optimize your mental functioning. There's a reason more and more high-powered people are turning to yoga, tai chi and meditation. First -- it may save them from a stress-induced stroke or heart attack. And second -- they become more mentally productive.

Female Hormonal Changes and Anxiety - by Deanne Repich
Learn how to train your body to respond differently to stress so that you can automatically turn the false alarm "off" when the fight or flight response is triggered. Relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, yoga, meditation, and progressive muscle relaxation can help you achieve this goal.

Self-Help: Shattering the Myths - By Annie Murphy Paul [Psychology Today magazine]
And nontraditional exercise programs like tai chi, yoga and stretching may not only dissipate negative feelings such as anger but make people more conscious of their mood states, paving the way for them to do something constructive about them.

Soul Workout - by Laura Weinert [Backstage magazine]
Of course therapy is not the only route to a sense of mental health. Psychotherapist Sandy Kaufman, for example, suggests a wealth of activities for his clients to use in addition to therapy. "I really try to fill up an actor's life with their own life," explained Kaufman. "A key word is balance--finding a balance between being a real person and being a professional actor, and they are very different." Added Kaufman, "Try different things. Try meditation, try yoga, try hiking and swimming and pottery classes. Whatever people are going to do to enhance themselves and relieve themselves of the mind being cluttered, I am all for."

....books:

Marvin Levine. The Positive Psychology of Buddhism and Yoga : Paths to a Mature Happiness

Yuan Miao. Dancing on Rooftops with Dragons: The Yoga of Joy
Once a renowned film-maker for China Central Television, through her own personal suffering Yuan Miao came to the realization of the preciousness and real power of joy. Through years of material success, religious awakening, intense personal loss and attempted suicide, she was awakened to the mystical possibilities around her, that manifested through her. Yuan Miao's system for the self-cultivation of joy, with all its healing power, stems from many years of practice and the Vajrayana Yoga teachings of her Tibetan Buddhist ancestors. [Amazon.com]

> related pages : ...Buddhist psychology.....meditation.....spirituality resources : sites articles books.....

****home page :: Talent Development Resources**-*site contents*** **books etc

  ---******* *--- Women & Talent ------Teen / Young Adult talent