The Distracted Centipede... a Yoga Experience

About the Book

The Distracted Centipede is about awakening to the unified sense of your whole being - body, mind, spirit - through the practice of Yoga and Mindfulness. It is about listening and tuning in to your body, gradually realising that the wholeness can only be retrieved by identifying and letting go of unnecessary holding on. If you can stop straining you might discover that inside the tense, unbalanced body there is a ‘sensible body’, which can be effortlessly at ease with the energy flowing freely and the mind becoming calm. In the midst of the mental storm there is stillness where we can experience our presence. A word of warning: Practice of Yoga and mindfulness might open your heart to spontaneous joy and compassion and put a smile on your face. Who is this book for? This book is for everybody, regardless of age, physical condition, sex, religious beliefs. It is based on the common sense that our mental, physical and spiritual health depends on our being able to take on the management of our inner world… by entering the journey of becoming aware, letting go of our restrictive conditioning and opening our heart to love. It is never too early and never too late to start and continue! ‘A book that is meticulously honest, based on over thirty years of practise and teaching Yoga on a journey that has been no stranger to suffering and struggle.’ Dr Leon Redler MD ‘This book will have a very important influence.’ Igor Charkowsky

About the Author

Mina Semyon was born in 1938 in the Soviet Union. She has been teaching Yoga for over 30 years. She was a student and friend of R.D.Laing, psychiatrist, poet, musician and spiritual teacher who initiated her on the path of awareness through the practice of Yoga and mindfulness. This, combined with an insistence of finding her authentic voice through the study of singing and sound with Anthea Parashchak, has led to her unique way of teaching.

In the process of transcending her harsh Russian childhood, what has evolved is a way of practising and teaching which incorporates our whole being - emotional, mental, physical and spiritual, in daily life and relationships. Her aim is to liberate the mind and body of everything that obscures the spirit of joy, love, compassion, spontaneity and playfulness.

Mina appeared in the BBC television series and book Every Body Knows and the Yoga book Body Life written by her ex-husband Arthur Balaskas. She is currently working on her life story You Don't Have to Die of Disappointment and has recently been appointed to the faculty of the International R D Laing Institute based in Switzerland.