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Namaste the Hard Way: A Daughter's Journey to Find Her Mother on the Yoga Mat
My mother used to chant in Sanskrit in her study before sunrise every morning. Though she died when I was 16—22 years ago—I always hear her voice that way. Off-key, but strangely hypnotic, the language both complicated and pure, reverberating around our house.
For a kid growing up in Southern Ohio — Bible belt country — the sound was both alluring and repellent.
"What's your mother doing?" my friends would ask.
"Being a weirdo," I told them.
And so encapsulates the coming of age story of Sasha Brown, a transplanted tween plunked in the middle of the Bible Belt with a macrobiotic hippy mom and a ribs-eating dad. A writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Redbook , and Cosmopolitan , Brown's prose is heartfelt and hilarious, revealing her quest to find her way as two worlds collide. While other moms were at Bible study, her mom was studying Sanskrit; while other were finding friendship at Tupperware parties, her mom was finding enlightenment at the ashram. And when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, she chose a healthy diet and yoga over aggressive chemo.
When her mother died, Brown ran as far away from yoga as she could until a running injury left her needing the very thing she was running from.
It was there—on the mat—that she processed her grief and found her mother again. As she went deeper into the poses, she discovered she was more like her mother than she thought. Through it all, she found a deeper understanding of the practice, of the breath, and of the life her mother lost too young.
The practice that once seemed easy and slow compared to pounding the pavement in a new pair of Asics became the biggest challenge of her life. She learned that yoga is so much more than asana. So much more than breath. So much more than perfect poses. The "union" of yoga became one of heart and mind, and finally, with that maternal energy Sasha had been missing for so many years.
In the space that she focused her mind and pushed her body to its breaking point was where she would see her mother. In the space of her yoga mat, she and her mother connect across time.
Namaste the Hard Way is an ode to the timeless bond between mothers and daughters.
Plucky and poignant, Namaste the Hard Way is for anyone who didn't want to walk in their mother's shoes (or sandals).
For a kid growing up in Southern Ohio — Bible belt country — the sound was both alluring and repellent.
"What's your mother doing?" my friends would ask.
"Being a weirdo," I told them.
And so encapsulates the coming of age story of Sasha Brown, a transplanted tween plunked in the middle of the Bible Belt with a macrobiotic hippy mom and a ribs-eating dad. A writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Redbook , and Cosmopolitan , Brown's prose is heartfelt and hilarious, revealing her quest to find her way as two worlds collide. While other moms were at Bible study, her mom was studying Sanskrit; while other were finding friendship at Tupperware parties, her mom was finding enlightenment at the ashram. And when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, she chose a healthy diet and yoga over aggressive chemo.
When her mother died, Brown ran as far away from yoga as she could until a running injury left her needing the very thing she was running from.
It was there—on the mat—that she processed her grief and found her mother again. As she went deeper into the poses, she discovered she was more like her mother than she thought. Through it all, she found a deeper understanding of the practice, of the breath, and of the life her mother lost too young.
The practice that once seemed easy and slow compared to pounding the pavement in a new pair of Asics became the biggest challenge of her life. She learned that yoga is so much more than asana. So much more than breath. So much more than perfect poses. The "union" of yoga became one of heart and mind, and finally, with that maternal energy Sasha had been missing for so many years.
In the space that she focused her mind and pushed her body to its breaking point was where she would see her mother. In the space of her yoga mat, she and her mother connect across time.
Namaste the Hard Way is an ode to the timeless bond between mothers and daughters.
Plucky and poignant, Namaste the Hard Way is for anyone who didn't want to walk in their mother's shoes (or sandals).
312 pages, Paperback
Published September 4, 2018
7 people are currently reading
161 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 14, 2018
This book delighted me. Not being a big yoga enthusiast (just a little one) but intrigued by the title, I decided to put my preconceived expectations aside and give it a go. What a treat! Beautiful, profound, funny, unexpectedly moving, I thumbed through the pages until I fell upon the last one--I hadn't put it down since I started! After closing the book, I sat quietly for a while, feeling filled and connected and appreciating my own weird mother in a whole new way. Brown-Worsham is no slouch when it comes to great storytelling--her writing style in this memoir is as engaging as the story itself. Very well done!
July 3, 2019
NAMASTE THE HARD WAY recounts Sasha Brown-Worsham’s story of rediscovering through yoga the mother she lost to cancer when she was 16. Sasha’s yoga-and macrobiotics-loving mom was always the odd one out in conservative Southwest Ohio where the family lived, and Sasha found herself wanting to run ... literally ... as far away as she could from her ashram-minded parent. But it wasn’t until she had a running injury that she turned to yoga and there on the mat, found she had more in common with her mother than she ever thought. In sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes hilarious but always eloquent language, she describes her deep healing from grief and the soul-fulfilling connection with her mother across time. Highly recommended!
Pub Date 04 Sep 2018
Thanks to HCI Books and
#NamasteTheHardWay #NetGalley
Pub Date 04 Sep 2018
Thanks to HCI Books and
#NamasteTheHardWay #NetGalley
June 14, 2018
This is a beautiful book. I couldn't put it down. It tells the journey of the author as she tries to run from the practices of her mother. After her mother's death and a knee injury she incurs while running, literally, she finds herself doing the yoga practices she's tried hard not to do.
I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion of it.
I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion of it.
September 13, 2018
Finished reading Sasha Brown-Worsham’s “Namaste The Hard Way” in 48hrs... and I don't finish anything that fast unless I love it. Full of truth, humor and poignant moments, this book provides one of the most honest accounts of what it's like to lose a mother to cancer, and the ways that loss can shape a daughter's life decades later. (If you're vegan, practice yoga & Reiki, love guinea pigs, came of age in the 90s, and/or had the experience of visiting Kripalu in MA - this book contains some unique gems for you, too.)
September 5, 2018
The author did an amazing job of conveying the difficult journey she was on to rediscover yoga after losing her mom at the age of 16 and suffering an injury and being unable to complete her typical workouts. She had avoided her mother's beloved yoga before this and did a beautiful job of allowing the reader to empathize with her.
October 16, 2018
Unflinchingly honest. Sasha depicts her adolescent pettiness with such relatable clarity, enabling us to love and trust her confessions and insights. A moving tale beautifully written.
November 8, 2018
Thank you HCI Books and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in return for my honest review.
I am so glad to have had the opportunity to read this memoir about mothers, daughters, yoga and death coming far too early. There were many sentences I highlighted as I was reading, as I loved the way the author, Sasha, described things so beautifully. I enjoyed reading about Sasha’s journey, her deep unconditional love of her mother and the way she untangles and comes to understand their relationship as she matures. I loved the way yoga weaved through the book, as of course it does their lives.
I am so glad to have had the opportunity to read this memoir about mothers, daughters, yoga and death coming far too early. There were many sentences I highlighted as I was reading, as I loved the way the author, Sasha, described things so beautifully. I enjoyed reading about Sasha’s journey, her deep unconditional love of her mother and the way she untangles and comes to understand their relationship as she matures. I loved the way yoga weaved through the book, as of course it does their lives.
December 4, 2018
I like yoga and I am trying to learn more about it. I also like memoirs. So when I saw Namaste the Hard Way on NetGalley, I jumped on the opportunity to request it.
Sasha Brown-Worsham has organized her books as a series of essays that build an overarching exploration of her path with yoga. As a child, she found her mother’s yoga practice (at a time when it wasn’t as popular as it is today) to be weird and embarrassing. Aside from that, all her healthy mind/body choices and vegetarian lifestyle didn’t excuse her from dying of cancer somewhat quickly. Sasha reflects on particular points throughout her childhood and teen years and how they affected her, as well as affected her relationship with her mother.
As an adult Sasha came to yoga in her own way. Although she practices in a slightly different way from her mother, yoga has become a core part of Sasha’s life despite her initial disdain.
The essays are organized into sections that follow the order of a practice: centering, breathing, connecting, saluting, flowing, balancing, strengthening, surrendering, integrating, and rebirthing. This structure made a lot of sense for moving through Sasha’s stories. It also taught me that these were all actual parts of a yoga practice. My first yoga practice after finishing this book felt so much deeper because I had a better understanding.
I plan to read this book a second time. Knowing how it helped me with my own understanding of yoga, I want to revisit it from the beginning to see what else I might recognize that I didn’t on first passing. I may even buy myself the paperback version even though I have an advanced read ebook copy.
I recommend this book for readers who like memoir (whether or not you like yoga), as well as for those who maybe aren’t used to memoir but do love yoga.
Disclaimer: I received an advance-read copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Sasha Brown-Worsham has organized her books as a series of essays that build an overarching exploration of her path with yoga. As a child, she found her mother’s yoga practice (at a time when it wasn’t as popular as it is today) to be weird and embarrassing. Aside from that, all her healthy mind/body choices and vegetarian lifestyle didn’t excuse her from dying of cancer somewhat quickly. Sasha reflects on particular points throughout her childhood and teen years and how they affected her, as well as affected her relationship with her mother.
As an adult Sasha came to yoga in her own way. Although she practices in a slightly different way from her mother, yoga has become a core part of Sasha’s life despite her initial disdain.
The essays are organized into sections that follow the order of a practice: centering, breathing, connecting, saluting, flowing, balancing, strengthening, surrendering, integrating, and rebirthing. This structure made a lot of sense for moving through Sasha’s stories. It also taught me that these were all actual parts of a yoga practice. My first yoga practice after finishing this book felt so much deeper because I had a better understanding.
I plan to read this book a second time. Knowing how it helped me with my own understanding of yoga, I want to revisit it from the beginning to see what else I might recognize that I didn’t on first passing. I may even buy myself the paperback version even though I have an advanced read ebook copy.
I recommend this book for readers who like memoir (whether or not you like yoga), as well as for those who maybe aren’t used to memoir but do love yoga.
Disclaimer: I received an advance-read copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
September 25, 2018
I absolutely LOVED this book!!!!! I couldn’t put it down. It’s an effortlessly entertaining and poignant read. Sasha writes from her heart and you feel like you are on the spiritual and emotional journey with her. This book is a great escape yet at the same time very grounding. She cleverly intertwines her life story with yoga practice as she alternates between past and present. I’m so sad the book is finished but it will stay with me for a long time. (I plan to go back and read it al over again now...) Thank you Sasha for sharing your story and being so honest, raw, brave and passionate. Your mother would indeed be proud ❤️
November 14, 2018
I loved this book so much -- and I say that as someone who has never read a book on yoga before. There is a real beauty to the mother-daughter relationship that unfolds in this amazing book, and if you are a fan of searingly honest memoirs (of any kind) then this book is for you.
November 3, 2020
Ok
I gave this book 2 stars because I finished it (1 stars for me are DNF's). I didn't really connect with the author and for the most part I was frustrated with her whining about her mom. The time jumps were confusing and not all that easy to decipher, and I didn't really think that the chapters really connect all that seamlessly. Maybe I'm being too harsh but this book just didn't resonate with me. Though there were some good parts towards the end that I enjoyed - like saying that yoga encompasses everything (the uncomfortable and the quiet); I agree with that.
I gave this book 2 stars because I finished it (1 stars for me are DNF's). I didn't really connect with the author and for the most part I was frustrated with her whining about her mom. The time jumps were confusing and not all that easy to decipher, and I didn't really think that the chapters really connect all that seamlessly. Maybe I'm being too harsh but this book just didn't resonate with me. Though there were some good parts towards the end that I enjoyed - like saying that yoga encompasses everything (the uncomfortable and the quiet); I agree with that.
July 5, 2018
A little disjointed at times, but overall a compelling tale of the mother/daughter bond intersecting at the yoga mat. A touching exploration of the ties that bind and sometimes constrain and the ultimate freedom found in the practice of yoga.
January 14, 2020
So amazing, I cried, I smiled, I laughed. Beautifully written by the gorgeous Sasha Brown Worsham. This book needs no improvements, it is amazing as it it. Keep it up Sasha! You are brilliant and such an inspiration and role model to me.
January 14, 2020
This is a beautiful book, and very inspiring
February 8, 2020
Loved this book, couldn't put it down.
June 27, 2020
I enjoyed the book — close to 3.5 stars
August 13, 2020
Terrible read... This author is a LOON... Garbage.
November 13, 2020
This book delighted me.
November 15, 2020
This book delighted me.
July 22, 2024
Not what I expected, a very sad book.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews