PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Lisa Sarasohn

Losing the Weight of Shame:
Gutsy women find good reasons to love, not hate, their bellies

Asheville, NC- The vast majority of American women are at war with their bodies—but now a truce may be in sight. The Woman's Belly Book: Finding Your Treasure Within is giving women good reasons to love, not hate, their bellies.

More than half of all American women are on a weight-loss regime. Four out of five girls are dieting by the age of ten. Why? Typically, they're trying to "trim the tummy." In a woman's war against her body, her belly is often the focus of her shame and self-hate.

But in The Woman's Belly Book, author Lisa Sarasohn asserts that woman's belly is anything but shameful. "Your belly is your powerhouse," she writes, "the site of your soul-power."

Drawing on medical research and cultural history, Ms. Sarasohn presents the practical information women need to cancel common misconceptions about woman's belly. She writes that "Nature does not intend a woman to look like a ten year-old boy. In fact, nature designs a woman's belly to shelter and nurture new life." She demonstrates that European as well as other cultures worldwide have revered the creative power of woman's belly through ancient myth, spiritual practice, and sacred images such as the Holy Grail.

Drawing on her expertise as a yoga instructor, Ms. Sarasohn shows women how to use breath, movement, and body awareness to ignite their belly-centered source of vitality. Twelve breathing exercises, seven power-centering yoga moves, and fifteen inquiries for deepening awareness point the way to

The Woman's Belly Book includes the voices of women who have practiced the belly-energizing program. As one woman says, "Honoring this very feminine center gives me a new sense of myself and my worth as a woman, my power." Another adds, "My entire being is filled with a beauty sensed both inside and out. In connecting with my belly I have found that I am part of a greater whole."

Such is the peace women can find when they declare a truce, or even end the war, with their bellies. They discover the treasure—the creative wisdom and power—already sheltered within their body's center.

Lisa Sarasohn is a Kripalu Yoga instructor certified at the advanced level. An honors graduate of Brown University with a concentration in Biology, she has received the Unitarian Universalist Women's Federation Feminist Theology Award for her work. Her articles on revaluing the body's center have appeared in publications including Yoga Journal, SageWoman, Radiance, and Personal Transformation. She has conducted "Honoring Your Belly" workshops on college campuses and at learning centers including Omega Institute, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, Journey Into Wholeness, and the Sufi School of Healing.

Summary:
Women are using movement, breath, and body awareness to activate their belly-centered source of vitality. As they do so, they're discovering new levels of self-respect, release from stress, and zest for life. Inspired by The Woman's Belly Book: Finding Your Treasure Within by Lisa Sarasohn, women are losing the shame, loving their bellies, and reclaiming their body's center as the site of their soul-power.

Journalists:
Lisa Sarasohn to arrange for an interview with the author.

Ordering information:
The Woman's Belly Book: Finding Your Treasure Within
$16.95
ISBN 0-9745481-1-1

Available from the publisher and from Book Clearing House (800-431-1579) and online and local bookstores through Ingram, New Leaf (800-326-2665) and Baker & Taylor (800-775-1100) distributors.