Pathways to a Centered Body

Yoga teachers Donna Farhi and Leila Stuart have joined forces to produce a definitive guide to centering the body. With more than five decades of combined experience in working with people of all ages, and from diverse movement disciplines, Farhi and Stuart share their gentle, yet incredibly effective, approach to balancing body structure for optimal pain-free movement. This book demystifies the catchphrase “core fitness” and teaches you how to center your pelvis and find optimal spinal alignment as the foundation for true core strength and stability.
Using easy-to-understand anatomical terms combined with beautiful illustrations, the authors unravel the complexities of the deepest core muscles, the psoas, to reveal its function as an extraordinary unifying structure for the entire body. When these deep core muscles become unbalanced, the position of the pelvis and spine is thrown off-center. Poor posture, back pain, and discomfort in lying down, sitting, standing, and walking can result. In a step-by-step protocol, you’ll learn how to release, lengthen, balance, and engage your core muscles to move again with ease. And you’ll learn how to safely improve your flexibility in Yoga practices without compromising pelvic and spinal stability. As deeply held tension is resolved, this work will help you to feel more grounded, mentally focused, emotionally calm, and better able to stay connected to yourself and to others.
Pathways to a Centered Body is an invaluable practical guide for Yoga and Pilates students and teachers, personal trainers, dancers, and athletes, as well as physical therapists, chiropractors, and somatic practitioners, indeed, anyone who wants to live in their body with greater ease, grace, and stability. With more than 108 color photographs, concise instructions, and rich experiential anatomy inquiries, this manual will be a requisite text for movement training programs worldwide.
The book has been described as . . .

Capturing the very essence of how to approach healing back pain with Yoga therapy and core stability. — Elise Miller M.A., Senior Certified Iyengar teacher
. . . clear, intelligent, and an easily absorbed guide with beautiful illustrations and photos . . . — Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Founder and Educational Director of the School for Body-Mind Centering®
. . . this is embodied anatomy at its very best–a veritable treasure trove of tried and tested practices. Prepare to enter with one body and leave with another. — Lisa Petersen, Yoga Teacher, Yoga Therapist, Somatic Movement Educator
A pragmatic, cutting-edge, intelligently applied therapy that empowers us to self-heal. –Dr Monica Gauci, (Rehabilitative Chiropractor), PAK, Yoga Therapist (IAYT, AAYT), E-RYT 500.


Donna Farhi is a Yoga teacher who has been practicing for forty years and teaching since 1982. She is one of the most sought-after guest teachers in the world, leading teacher training programs and intensives internationally. Considered the “teacher of teachers,” Donna has written four contemporary classics: The Breathing Book (1996); Yoga Mind, Body and Spirit (2000); Bringing Yoga to Life (2005); and Teaching Yoga: Exploring the Teacher-Student Relationship (2006). American born, she now resides in North Canterbury, New Zealand.

Leila Stuart BA, LLB is a Registered Massage Therapist and has practiced and taught yoga for over 40 years.  Leila's teaching focus is on experiential anatomy, movement repatterning and embodiment of the deeper teachings of yoga as pathways to self-healing.  She is the author of The Great Yoga Handbook and teaches in Canada and internationally. Visit leilastuart.com.