Living authentically and finding your own path is one of our most important missions in life. A regular yoga practice can help us peel away layers of false beliefs and illusions, often leading to a realization that we want to make some changes to the way we live.

I was recently sent a review copy of Katrina Repka and Alan Finger’s new book, Breathing Space. Katrina, a yoga teacher and author, writes about leaving a safe but unfulfilling job in Calgary to search for a new and more authentic life in New York. In NY she finds her way to master yoga teacher Alan Finger’s studio, and immediately feels that she has come home.

Katrina studied with Alan for a year, going through a deep transformation centered around a series of breathing exercises. The book chronicles her experiences during this year, including detailed instructions for the breathing exercises that were such an integral part of her studies with Alan.

The book is an entertaining read, and although I hate to make the comparison, the book is a bit “Yoga and the City.” As spiritual chic lit the book is great, although I found myself skipping the breathing exercise instructions to not interrupt the flow of the story. (I would have preferred that the exercises were separated out and put together at the back of the book.)

We can all learn from each other’s experiences, and Katrina ends her book with this lesson:

Wherever you are, you can find your truth and live the life you have always wanted, because, as Alan has often said, everything you need is already inside of you.

Katrina Repka now lives in London where she works as a yoga teacher.

Breathing Space: Twelve Lessons for the Modern Woman by Katrina Repka and Alan Finger, Hyperion Books, December 2008.