Meta Chaya Hirschl, a West Lafayette native and Purdue University alumna, recently won the 2010 Gold Award for her recently self-published book "Vital Yoga: A Sourcebook for Students and Teachers."

The Living Now Book Award is given to authors by the Jenkins Group, a custom publishing company, to promote newly published lifestyle books that aim to help readers lead Earth-friendly lifestyles. Hirschl, who now lives in New Mexico, will be in West Lafayette for a book signing at Borders in West Lafayette on Saturday. She also will be teaching yoga practices.

Here Hirschl discusses her passion, yoga:

Question: How do you define yoga?

Answer: The word yoga योग, first recorded in approximately 4000 BCE, is Sanskrit for "union." Typically it signifies a uniting of body, mind, and spirit leading to deepening states of happiness and freedom.

Q: How did you get into practicing yoga?

A: I took my first yoga class in 1978. Years later, after working in business, teaching in academia and writing software books, I was drawn back to yoga following the development of a serious illness. My passion for yoga led me to eventually open a studio in Albuquerque, N.M., and later establish the YogaNow Teacher Training Apprentice Program, a nationally accredited curriculum incorporating a variety of traditions and styles.

Q: Can you briefly describe what your book is about?

A: "Vital Yoga: A Sourcebook for Students and Teachers," opens the door to the full vision of yoga with graphics, photographs (and) personal stories. Interwoven with discussions about the eight limbs of yoga as presented in the original literature, including the core principles, Sanskrit Devanagari, mantras, poses, breath work, and meditation, are recipes, a derivation of terms, compassionate communication guidelines, basic teaching principles, wisdom and photos of the great sages, and illuminating accounts by contemporary yogis.

Throughout, readers are guided to connect to their inner selves, quiet the mind, and harness their power to achieve bliss and transcend fear, emotional turmoil, and attachment to the stresses of life. This informative reference features a highly visual format, including a first historical timeline of yogic philosophies, texts, and key figures. Introduced too is yoga therapy for everything from low back or knee pain to depression. Each chapter concludes with specific invitations to delve further into the heart of yoga.

Q: Why should someone practice yoga?

A: Yoga offers a path toward happiness, inside and out. If you are interested in learning how to connect to your inner source of calm and self-acceptance, and ultimately to find a way toward less stress and peace of mind, you may want (to) practice yoga.

Q: What are some ways to incorporate yoga into daily life?

A: Integrating yoga and daily actions makes sense because the principles of yoga poses, such as balance and stability, also apply to everyday circumstances. And yoga principles of inner awakening and awareness can be with us everywhere. Yoga can help us while driving, talking on the phone, while shopping. Yoga can help us build community, build trust and confidence and even improve sex.