Forty-six years ago, I took a summer yoga class at my old high school. I was visiting my parents in Cleveland, having made the long journey from Florence where I lived with my Hungarian husband and our first child. I did not expect to change my life, but from this innocent choice, everything changed. I was drawn deeply into the practice of yoga and, as an immediate sign, I became a vegetarian.I agree that no one needs to write another technical book on the subject. There are hundreds of excellent texts describing philosophic, historical types of yoga and ways of practice. I too, as a teacher and student, have written one.But Loving and Living Yoga: Reflections of A Yoga Teacher has not yet been written. It has been waiting for me to overcome my reticence in writing a sui generis book, which speaks largely from the personal point of view. I have lived yoga as a practice, but also as a consciousness, where it seems to permeate everyday experience. This state of heightened consciousness or overlap of connection has been called by many names: epiphanies, synchronicities or plainer ones like caring in food preparation. My practice has aided me in recognizing such moments of experiences where meaning is heightened and life shines in a new way or has reinforced positive ideas. For years I have written about these episodes in journals; thus this book is a sharing of personal stories, moments when I lived more intensely or saw more deeply or felt the beauty of existence linked to my being - who I am - because of yoga.A few notes on my husband, Péter, and my children, Alessandra, who patiently watched as I stood on my head, and Michele, who dutifully obeyed silence while I meditated, appear in this book. The city of Florence, Italy is at times a protagonist. We have lived in three different places since 1963: a residential area, the nearby village of Serpiolle, and the small town of San Domenico, just outside of Florence. Photos and original drawings illustrate and complement the writing.I have been taught by some of the best teachers in the world. However, when Vanda Scaravelli accepted me as her pupil in 1984, my practice was revolutionised. In the twelve years I was her student and came to understand the three cornerstones of "breath," "wave," and "gravity," my practice changed dramatically. Some of these essays are the outcome of long mornings spent together. Learning was not limited to yoga. This extraordinary humble, wise, and generous woman, who enriched my life and that of many others, will inspire me forever. Loving and Living Yoga: Reflections of A Yoga Teacher offers hope and inspiration to every reader through my words, pictures, and drawings.