Skip to Main Content

Yoga for Life

A Journey to Inner Peace and Freedom

Afterword by Rodney Yee / With Susan K. Reed

About The Book

From a rebellious young woman with a dangerous heroin habit to a globe-trotting fashion model to “First Lady of Yoga” (The New York Times), Colleen Saidman Yee tells the remarkable story of how she found herself through the healing power of yoga—and then inspired others to do the same.

I’ve learned how to extract the beauty of an ordinary day. I’ve learned that the best high exists in the joy—or the sadness—of the present moment. Yoga allows me to surf the ripples and sit with the mud, while catching glimpses of the clarity of my home at the bottom of the lake: my true self.

The very first time Saidman Yee took a yoga class, she left feeling inexplicably different—something inside had shifted. She felt alive—so alive that yoga became the center of her life, helping her come to terms with her insecurities and find her true identity and voice. From learning to cope with a frightening seizure disorder to navigating marriages and divorces to becoming a mother, finding the right life partner, and grieving a beloved parent, Saidman Yee has been through it all—and has found that yoga holds the answers to life’s greatest challenges.

Approachable, sympathetic, funny, and candid, Saidman Yee shares personal anecdotes along with her compassionate insights and practical instructions for applying yoga to everyday issues and anxieties. Specific yoga sequences accompany each chapter and address everything from hormonal mood swings to detoxing, depression, stress, and increased confidence and energy. Step-by-step instructions and photographs demonstrate her signature flow of poses so you can follow them effortlessly.

Yoga for Life offers techniques to bring awareness to every part of your physical and spiritual being, allowing you to feel truly alive and to embody the peace of the present moment.

About The Author

Colleen Saidman Yee is an internationally respected yoga teacher who has been teaching since 1999. For twenty years before that, she was a top fashion model working around the globe, represented by Elite and Ford Models. Colleen opened her first studio, Yoga Shanti, in Sag Harbor, New York, and she and her husband, Rodney Yee, have studios in New York City and Westhampton Beach, New York. With Donna Karan and Rodney, Colleen created and runs the Urban Zen Integrative Therapy Program, which is utilized in healthcare facilities around the country. Saidman Yee has been featured in The New York Times, New York magazine, Vanity Fair, and O, The Oprah Magazine, among many others. Mother to a daughter and three step-children, Saidman Yee teaches retreats, workshops, and conferences around the world, but calls Sag Harbor her home.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Atria Books (June 2, 2015)
  • Length: 272 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781476776804

Browse Related Books

Raves and Reviews

"Colleen Saidman Yee is an extraordinary yoga teacher and human being. And the genuine item. Read this book and enjoy her incredible story— and the healing power of yoga!!"

– Christiane Northrup, M.D., ob/gyn physician and author of the New York Times bestsellers: Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom and The Wisdom of Menopause

"There are so many maladies that keep the body and mind from working optimally. Colleen Saidman Yee tells us her story and how yoga has unraveled the knots that have been stored from different traumas and everyday life. The yoga solutions she offers are a first aid kit that we should be schooled in. This book is a must for your library of home health."

– Mark Hyman, MD, Director, Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine and author of #1 New York Times bestseller, The Blood Sugar Solution 10 Day Detox Diet

"Colleen Saidman Yee’s life has been a wild ride that, thankfully, led her to yoga. Her story, her insights, and her yoga sequences will improve your emotional, physical, and mental wellbeing, and help you onto the path of peace and freedom."

– Frank Lipman, MD, author of REVIVE

“Colleen touches my heart from the inside out. She inspires me as a woman, a mother, and a girlfriend, always coming from a place of love and kindness. Her teaching is that yoga is as simple as a breath. Reading her book is like having a woman-to-woman conversation with the Colleen I know and love -- an honest, nurturing, and encouraging friend who shares and cares with all her heart. It is a powerful wake up call to the spirit within, with real down-to-earth strategies to empower yourself through this beautiful journey called life."

– Donna Karan, Founder and Chief Designer of Donna Karan New York + Urban Zen

"In Yoga for Life are fantastic instructions and sequences for feeling and releasing the stories and games that bind us. Colleen's confessions and experiences teach a compassionate embrace of the shadow. They let you feel the frightening underbelly of who you think you are. I highly recommend her book to anyone wanting to be free."

– Richard Freeman, author of Mirror of Yoga

"Courageous.Compelling. A yoga book you can’t put down! Saidman Yee writes with ease and honesty and by example invites us to look at, embrace and embody our own complex life’s circumstances in light of yoga and in context of others. I highly recommend Yoga for Life--a wonderful book for our times."

– Mary Taylor author of What are You Hungry For? Women Food and Spirituality

“Colleen Saidman Yee has written a beautiful book with generosity and loving candor. Colleen’s wisdom and compassionate teachings in these pages are genuinely empowering; she gently leads you to the mat and guides you to breath through suffering and into grace.”

– Zhena Muzyka, founder of Zhena's Gypsy Teas and author of Life by the Cup

“Like Gandhi, Colleen is stayagraha—meaning possessed by the truth. She tells her story honestly, without pretense, no makeup—totally fearless while at the same time gracefully imbuing every word with infectious joy, gratitude, and compassion. You will find no blaming or complaining in this memoir for this is the story of a remarkable woman who approaches life as an adventure, armed with a bewitching ability to transform obstacles into opportunities and the ordinary into something magical. She is living proof that yoga is for life.”

– Sharon Gannon, Jivamukti Yoga

"Colleenis a strong, empowering woman who I look to for sisterhood and wisdom. She has used every crazy twist and turn of her own life to find her spiritual center,and now she teaches us how to do the same. In Yoga for Life, herunfiltered honesty will break you open and give you courage to find personalfreedom as you reevaluate your own stories. Colleen's funny, moving andcompassionate approach helps women set down their shame and pick up theirvoices. Her work has helped me to find more joy and contentment through asana,honest self-reflection, and loving kindness. This book is a treasure."

– Kris Carr, New York Times best selling author

Resources and Downloads

High Resolution Images