About Me

About me

My journey into meditation and yoga began four decades ago. I continue to learn every day.

In college, I needed to center myself and strengthen my mental focus for my studies. I found a yoga class tucked away in a tiny room, next to a noisy basketball court, taught by a remarkable woman who easily had the vitality of someone 20 years younger. As we worked our way through each class focusing on breath and movement, I found that I could quiet my busy mind and connect to a deeper part of me. I was home.

Twenty years later and in the midst of a busy consulting practice, volunteer board work and home life as a step-mother of three, I turned to yoga again, this time to pursue my teaching certification at the world-renowned Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, MA. The path, the practice and the community became my lifeline through the busy career and family years.

My teaching “speciality” of guiding Yoga Nidra meditations, or yogic sleep, emerged in part out of my own necessity to learn how to take care of myself and in part recognizing the stress we all seem to carry. Yoga Nidra sessions offer deep restorative rest to body, mind, and spirit.

For years, I hosted and led silent retreats every September at Maine Audubon’s exquisite Borestone Mountain Sanctuary, deep in the Maine woods. Together with 18 participants, we crossed the threshold, aka the ponds, to the lodge and for three days, held silence for ourselves and each other to savor the majestic surroundings and touch into a deeper soul connection.

Today, with deep gratitude for all of my teachers, students and guides, I lead mindfulness meditation practice sessions on-line on a donation basis with a commitment to make the practice accessible for all who are interested. At this moment in our world, with all the changes and challenges we face together, it feels ever more critical to grow and share these practices of deepening presence, kindness, compassion and courage.

With Zoom, it’s a delight to practice together from home in community with folks from near and far. I hope you’ll join us!

Namaste, Deb Cook

Feel free to connect with me at liveyourpractice@gmail.com

If you would like to contribute to the effort, here’s a link to my Venmo! I appreciate all of your contributions!