About The Yoga Bag


THE YOGA BAG

Yoga (The most effective pathway to self-love) + Bag (a non-rigid container)

The Yoga Bag is a place where yoga is explored as an embodied practice. The yoga bag is full of stories, knowledge, research, and information (references to yogic texts and philosophy). Sometimes, all of that is is applied to life- my life and Zuri's life.

Like I do in my yoga notes and journals, I sometimes tell you about what it is like to experience yoga in my world. I relate the texts, research, and concepts of yoga to lived experience. Sometimes I even post home practice sequences.

And then there is Zuri.

Who is Zuri? She is a 13-year-old girl who found a yoga bag filled with mysterious notebooks and annotated texts. She is strong, resilient, and was born to do yoga. Often yogic stories are told through the eyes of Zuri.* The truth of the yoga bag (Satya) is found in Zuri. In each post, Zuri digs into the bag searching for a better understanding of the meaning of life.

Zuri and I hope to inspire you, like friends inspire each other when they are growing together, when they are sharing the same gaze toward what is possible- like that : )

Home Practice Support here The Yoga Bag Home Practice Page

Zuri is from the East-side of Buffalo, NY in a neighborhood like the one talked about in this video by Clint Smith (who is crazy talented) PLACE MATTERS  http://youtu.be/saREW_BfxwY and this one ARISTOTLE  http://youtu.be/0gI7_j9cZRU



My name is Catherine Cook-Cottone. I write the blog. I am a yoga teacher, a psychologist, and university professor. This blog is dedicated to my mom, Elizabeth Bruce Cook who loves to read and has an amazing imagination. Because of her, I decided to create this blog and use the left and right sides of my brain together.

Go ahead, dig in and see what you find.

Letters to Zuri

If you'd like to write a letter to Zuri to be posted on this blog, please email me a word document to cpcook@buffalo.edu. I will review your letter, edit if needed, and post it for Zuri. You can do this by name or anonymously if you'd like. I hope you send her a letter. 

Things you could write about-- 




1. Your reflections on a post
2. Support for what Zuri is going through
3. Your own experience with yoga and life
4. Growing up a child of an alcoholic
5. Growing up in poverty and/or in urban stress/trauma
6. Body image, eating disorders, and yoga
7. Substance abuse, trauma, and yoga
7. Propose something to me at cpcook@buffalo.edu


*If you want to learn more about how Zuri found the yoga bag, read the Yoga Bag Birth Story Post * (Blog Birthday 9/7/2013).
http://theyogabag.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-yoga-bag-blog-birth-story.html

For an overview of the characters in Zuri's life go here:
http://theyogabag.blogspot.com/p/zuris-people-overview-of-poeple-is.html

Zuri is secretly struggling with an eating disorder- read her daily journal of recovery here:
http://theyogabag.blogspot.com/p/zuris-secret-page-of-recovery.html






Catherine's Book Releases:


Healthy Eating in Schools: Evidence-based Interventions to Help Kids Thrive
Cook-Cottone, Tribole, & Tylka 

Girls Growing in Wellness and Balance: Yoga and Life Skills to Empower
Cook-Cottone, Kane, Keddie, & Haugli


Address:
      Department of Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology
      424 Baldy Hall
      SUNY at Buffalo
      Buffalo, NY 14260