Slim Calm Sexy Yoga: 210 Proven Yoga Moves for Mind/Body Bliss

and frustration. There goes slim, calm, sexy.
    Well, go ahead and take that nice long, deep breath.
    Because I’ve got some great news: There is something you can do to radiate slim, calm, sexy from the inside out—in just 15 minutes a day. It’s a revolutionary new approach to the ancient discipline of yoga, and it’s proven by research to work.
    With this simple guide, I’ll teach you how to focus on the little things that make your life seem hard—a sore back, a pounding head, a growling stomach, even a nagging boss—and show you how to turn them around in just 15 minutes a day. My approach is based on harnessing the healing power of yoga and applying it in the most targeted way possible—fixing whatever hurts you, stresses you, or makes you sad, in less time than it takes to wash and dry your hair.
    And you will be amazed at how it will transform you.
    There’s a reason I believe in the 15-minute yoga fix. See, I know exactly what it’s like to think you’re too stressed, too busy, and too exhausted to feel slim, calm, or anywhere close to sexy. So before I get into the details of how yoga will change your life, let me tell you a little something about how it changed mine.
    I grew up in rural Illinois, and there weren’t many kids to hang out with, so I spent a lot of time on my own scrambling up trees, sitting, thinking, and just breathing as I soaked in the nature that surrounded me. I honestly believe that all that time I spent alone in the treetops contemplating the mysteries of the universe was my first experience with what I now know as meditation. But it wasn’t until I was in my teens and enrolled in a rigorous classical dance program that I had formal contact with yoga. Once a week, as part of our training, a yoga teacher sat serenely in front of the group leading us through poses and meditations to relax our tightly wound bodies. And while I loved to dance, doing yoga made me feel more alive than endless plies at the barre. It was like being back up in the trees. I felt at home.
    My story would be nice and simple if I could tell you that once I discovered yoga, I’d found my calling and lived happily ever after. But in real life, signs are not always so clear, and the paths we start on aren’t always so easy to jump off.
    I had chosen classical dance as my path at an early age. Like a lot of little girls, I wanted to be a ballerina almost as soon as I could walk. I was a born performer with natural grace and skill, gifts that served me well in my smalltown recitals. It was a good fit—until I saw how competitive the real world of dance is.
    I started formal training at a professional level when I was 10, and I found myself surrounded by ballerinas who had trained in far more hard-core programs than I had. To keep up, I had to work doubly hard. And it was tough not to compare myself obsessively with these girls. My confidence shriveled. By the time I was in my late teens, I’d evolved from a happy, intuitive kid into an insecure, people-pleasing young adult.
    It didn’t help that at 5 feet 9 inches tall, I was considered a giant in the world of ballet. In pointe shoes, I towered over all my potential dance partners. (Yes, dancer guys are on the small side.) In a roomful of petite girls, I felt like a big, clumsy monster. I grew to dislike my body and began to have doubts about my talent and purpose. My self-esteem plummeted.
    At least my height served one purpose: Onstage I was hard to miss. A Chicago photographer took notice, and we did a fashion-inspired ballet shoot. He showed the pictures to an agent, and I signed with Aria models (now the prestigious Ford agency) and started to work in magazines and TV commercials. But when I quit dance and moved to New York City in the summer of 2000 (I was 20) to model full-time, things on the confidence front didn’t get much better.
    Don’t get me wrong. Many people would consider a modeling contract in New York a dream come true. And it was definitely an exciting time, full of glitz and glam. But as yoga took a backseat to endless go-sees and photo shoots, I continued to struggle with my self-worth and started to feel lost. I was 800 miles from my family and trying to survive in a Chutes and Ladders industry. My job description was to be slim, calm, and sexy, but let me tell you, often I felt nothing like that. I felt misplaced, misunderstood, and unfulfilled.
    Then one day, a couple of years after moving to New York City, I had a moment of