A mama, student, teacher, speaker, author, coach and entrepreneur, Elena Brower has had her hands in a steady stream of creative, meaningful projects—from online yoga classes and a film series on meditation to collaborating on books and even an album—with no end in sight. Brower has taught yoga and meditation since 1999. Her first book “Art of Attention” (Sounds True, 2016) has now been translated into six languages and was loved for its contribution to the world of yoga but also acclaimed for its elevated design and especially for its groundbreaking use of Indiegogo, a crowdsourced platform that funded the first round of publication. She’s currently working on an offshoot of her best-selling book “Practice You: A Journal” (Sounds True, 2017) for teens called “Being You,” in addition to running her “Practice You” podcast featuring conversations with some of her most influential and inspiring friends and colleagues.

“The fun part is that from each project, something else is birthed, so I have to just keep my eyes open and stay receptive,” Brower says. She acknowledges that she has some ideas of where she’d like to be in five years, but perhaps more important, Brower is right where she wants to be now, and that feels good.

Brower has gotten comfortable with not knowing precisely what her path is. Her teaching and her personal practice reflect that acceptance, and she incorporates meditation to shine a light on her inner state, as well as strength training—something she never previously considered necessary.

Teaching influences

Having graduated from Cornell University in 1992 with a design degree, Brower spent six years as a textile and clothing designer in New York City before taking her first yoga teacher training with Cyndi Lee, who had just opened Om Yoga on 14th Street. After five years in the fashion industry, Brower began to feel like she wasn’t fulfilling her truth, that she wasn’t actually helping anyone, so she made a career change.

Brower has studied with many leading lights in yoga and considers Rod Stryker, founder of ParaYoga, along with Abbie Galvin and Nevine Michaan, founder of Katonah Yoga, her three main influences. “I have so enjoyed mining the yoga world for the luminous teachings,” Brower says. She’s also a big fan of Hari Kaur Khalsa, a pre-eminent Kundalini yoga teacher in NYC.

Brower has also done extensive work with the Handel Group for the past 10 years, and she is incredibly grateful for what they have taught her, including how to communicate with those closest to her.

The present inquiry

Brower believes she has always been asking big questions and pursuing bigger answers.

“I reckon I … ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been such a student. It’s like all I can do to not study and not dig into a book every day,” she says. “I think that it’s true that I’ve always been asking the bigger questions. I remember being 7 or 5 and looking in the mirror, getting up on the counter in the bathroom when I was too small to get my full face in the mirror and just asking, ‘Who are you? Who is this? Who are you?’ And not really getting an answer until fairly recently 40 years later when my mom passed. I was like, ‘Oh yeah, these are still … these are now the real questions.’”

She goes on to share that what she has learned most is the power of presence. “What I have learned is that presence is a cultivation that evolves over time,” she explains. “We start with an idea. Presence becomes then practice, and then ultimately, it becomes a part of who we are. As we get older, as we put our attention on being present for the people in our lives, being present for ourselves is such a massive part of my practice and part of my teaching. And that leads and lends itself to how we show up for anything in our lives—our work, our bodies, our families, our partners, our friends.

“I had to learn in my 30s that I wasn’t actually a great friend, and I had to really practice. Presence is a part of that. Presence is a part of how I show up as a lover, as a girlfriend. Presence is a part of how I show up as a parent, as a mother. It’s a part of how we do everything, and it turns out to be how we do anything. Just your presence alone can shift things.”

The evolution

Brower says now, she’s exploring for herself what the Yoga Sutras have to offer at a very deep level and says that will influence her teaching over the next couple of years. She also teaches a lot more meditation now, acknowledging that she did not understand the fullness and richness of meditation until the last 10 years.

“Rod Stryker is the one who [taught me] the importance of incorporating meditation into every experience of movement I have because without it, it’s just not complete. Any experience of movement that I do in the morning or in the afternoon, in the evening, anytime is just leading me inward,” Brower says. “And to not have the experience of sitting and sort of savoring and bathing in that at the end of a movement practice, you’re not really getting the full picture. So that is what I teach now; that is most definitely what I offer every time I teach. I make sure that we have some time to sit at the end.”

Brower loves creating experiences for people, whether that’s a yoga class, retreat or training, and now she teaches in way that allows students to have a truly inward journey—“a guided tour of one’s inward movement and mission,” she says.

As for her own practice, that’s evolved, as well, from one of physical prowess into one that prioritizes her inner experience. No longer called to attend classes, she loves spending time alone, listening.

“I love and relish the capacity that I have just to listen to my own body,” Brower says. “Now I am so glad and grateful to just have a real quiet practice where I get to listen to myself, listen to my body, see what’s needed, no rushing, no haste whatsoever. That to me is the best practice.”

Prioritizing health

Most recently, at the recommendation of her doctor, Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, Brower has added strength training to her routine—something she now prioritizes along with sleep.

Practicing “muscle-centric medicine,” Lyon says that “muscle is the organ of longevity,” and the more Brower has strengthened, the better she’s felt. “I am a changed person,” she affirms. “Almost instantly, symptoms of menopause began to abate. Sleep got much better. I noticed my yoga practice was different, and the best part of all—my meditation practice is so much steadier.”

She views personal strength training as an absolute necessity as we age, noting it has beneficially impacted everything she does, including her mood and state of mind. Having ignored the advice until now, Brower is a firm believer that yogis also must be strength-training, and she dares anyone who doesn’t think they need to get stronger to give it a try for a month or two and see what the impact might be.

Along with working out, Brower has been incorporating some lean protein into her diet, namely fish, some meat and eggs. She loves eggs. “It seems to be really important for my makeup, my chemistry, to have that protein. If I don’t have it, I feel tired,” she says, admitting her vegan friends would disagree with her assessment. But in her own body, which is the only place she can look, she believes that the presence of a little bit of lean protein is really helpful. So she keeps it in her diet along with lots of veggies.

Lift and connect

Handling stress

After years of dedicated practice and self-awareness, Brower no longer experiences stress in the same way, saying it doesn’t seem to take over her whole body anymore.

In moments of acute stress, she immediately turns to her breath (and essential oils)—taking a few full, deep breathes into her navel center. She may sit down to meditate or lie down and do yoga nidra to help her come back to herself.

“If I’m noticing that I might have a little bit of a conniption in the next five minutes, then I go ahead and do one of these easy strategies: I grab an oil, roll it on my arms, take a full, deep breath or three or five, lie down and everything is fine,” she says. “I can get a little perspective and see what I need to do, and it passes.”

Elena Brower, Essential Oils and doTERRA

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