Hit Reset

My first book, ten years on

Happy birthday, Hit Reset — launching the book in 2016.

A decade ago I wrote a book about balance. At the time, my primary focus was making yoga accessible to athletes. Those of you familiar with my story might recall that I first took up yoga as an injured collegiate basketball player. While a reluctant yogi at first, the months I spent in endless downward dogs, breathing deeply, and putting my legs up the wall proved to be the reset that established a new, better balance than I’d ever felt. More fluid movement, better recovery after workouts, steadier mind… I discovered I could go longer, harder, and faster — not by gritting my teeth and powering through, but by taking a deeper breath. What a revelation. Not to mention I slept and studied better, totally invaluable as a teenage student athlete.

Once back on the court, I continued to dabble in the classes available on campus — this was before the days of Lululemon, when balloon pants, incense, and Sanskrit chanting were more common than the sleek studios that are typical of today’s mainstream yoga. Wishing there was an approach that would speak more directly to my realities as an athlete, I spent a lot of time contextualising the practice for myself and my sport. What postures best stabilize my hips for agile defense? Which movements could integrate more lower leg work to give me more bounce? How is this helping me to recover more efficiently from our most grueling workouts?

The dots began to connect as I defined “reset” as a yoga solution that eases imbalance." I was inspired to share my learnings with other athletes, with a mission of making these timeless practices more accessible to an audience that I could attest would benefit, immensely. I became a yoga teacher and founded Athletes for Yoga, the first athlete-led video platform + app that puts yoga into the context of sport and well-being. My first book, Hit Reset: Revolutionary Yoga for Athletes, became an anchor for my first decade of creating practical yoga solutions. Really, it’s a book about balance, for all of us.

Pro athletes including Lauren Fleshman guide you through key Resets.

As the pace of modern life continues to accelerate, balance feels more elusive and endeavoring toward it has become more radical, more revolutionary. We’ve all felt the burn of being sidelined due to injury, illness, and burnout, or pushing relentlessly to reach your peak only to end up running out of gas. The reality is that we are engineered for balance, and when we align with this natural engineering we move and recover effectively. We feel better. We perform better. This is why I continue to contextualise yoga for balance and went on to write two more books that further explore the most significant imbalance all humans face: the imbalance between working and resting.

Ten years on, I’m struck by how evergreen Hit Reset remains. Turns out balance is always in season. It’s the same conversation I find myself having in classes week after week as I continue to teach favourite resets from the book. That’s because posture will hunch, hamstrings will stiffen, and core muscles will get a bit sleepy without ongoing adjustment toward center. What matters is how we maintain our own awareness of where we’re at and, more important, respond accordingly.

I continue to watch the dots connect for people daily and I remember that so often the resets — solutions — to the imbalances we feel are much more readily available than we think. While things aren’t always easy, they don’t have to be quite so hard.

Start here, now, where you are —

Take a deep breath in…
a slow breath out.
Continue to deepen your breathing.

Practice and feel the difference.

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Download a free sample of Hit Reset including some favourite practices here, and get your own paperback wherever you like to buy your books. If you’ve read it I’d love to hear how it’s landed with you — please drop a comment or write a review, which will help others to find it and benefit. I’ll be sending a signed copy (UK shipping only) to a UK reader who shares their notes with our community. I hope Hit Reset serves you well!