1. A MILLION WAYS TO LOVE
YOGA
By
Tiina Palva & Sofia Damén
A MILLION WAYS TO LOVE
YOGA
16 incredible stories entrusted to
Tiina Palva and Sofia Damén
Our motivation for writing the book
A Million Ways to Love Yoga is a project of passion that two
people began out of their unconditional love for yoga.The book
sheds light on what yoga is really all about. It will teach you
things that modern apps or the Nintendo Wii game will not,
and provide you with an insight into what yoga truly entails in
our modern lives. Our aim was to unite passionate yoga practi-
tioners by sharing their fascinating stories and presenting them
visually in the form of a book. The idea was to inspire as many
people as possible about the brilliant benefits of yoga, and thus
obtain happier, healthier lives. Contrary to so many other yoga
books, our intention was not to write an instruction book on
how to practice yoga. We preferred to write an inspiration-
al book to share the tangible benefits of yoga and to awaken
people’s interest in yoga, not just as a form of exercise, but as
a means of improving our daily lives. So many of the emotions
that we feel on our yoga mats can be very hard to explain.Yet,
our goal was to also capture those deepest emotions that yoga
is able to evoke in us.These real, ordinary people told us their
exceptional stories and we listened carefully.
We embarked on our book journey in October 2013 when we
decided to write down our own yoga paths.While writing and
reading our stories to each other, we noticed the multifaceted
perceptions that we had of yoga!This is where we got seriously
excited! We became hungry for more and set about contacting
other yoga practitioners and teachers.The book project quickly
took on a life of its own.The people we met took notice of our
honest, humble interest in yoga and wanted to help us on our
amazing path of yogic adventure. Soon it became clear to us
that there were a million fascinating stories about the practice
of yoga to be told, and this was beyond our wildest dreams. Fi-
nally, after a year’s hard work writing, re-writing, arranging photo
shoots and designing the layout, we are very proud to present
sixteen extraordinary stories of authentic and passionate yoga
practitioners.
What does A Million Ways to Love Yoga refer to?
Trying to explain what yoga is, based on our interviews, is very
much like explaining to someone how music should make them
feel or which music they would enjoy listening to.This is what A
Million Ways to LoveYoga is all about.We are not asking you to
believe in yoga but to experience it for yourself!
Each person’s love for yoga is very personal. The relationship
that we have with our yoga practice is very similar to the one
we have with our all-time favourite song, a song we never tire
of no matter how recently we last heard it. It may be your
mind that makes you turn the music on and your body that
catches the beat and starts to dance, but there is no doubt that
it’s your heart that embraces the experience of listening to it.
And when you dance, it has nothing to do with how you look,
but everything to do with how you feel. What is for sure, it
reminds us of life at its best, an adventure faced without fears
and doubts, upon which we can discover our true selves. Even
though it is the same song every time, when you mix it with
whatever you are feeling, it can often be a different experience.
And when you focus, you are able to discover the small nuances
of the catchy melody that make you want to re-live the song
again and again, as always and like never before.
Just like a great song, your yoga practice somehow gets under
your skin, transforms you and suddenly things just fall into place.
At best, yoga practice can, just like a great song, lift our spirits
and make us believe that anything we set our mind to is pos-
sible.

2. 23 24Jack Boken| |Jack Boken
Jack Boken, 33, had done everything by the book on the road to happiness. He had married his long-
term girlfriend and moved to a beautiful condo overlooking the Rocky Mountains in his home country of
Canada. Jack had also earned himself a dream career – a position that came with a large paycheck, a
company vehicle and the freedom to plan his own schedule and business trips.
But was Jack happy? His lifestyle, that seemed so desirable from the outside, was in fact causing him
significant stress. Jack devoted the majority of his time to thinking about work, and a hard partying
lifestyle seemed like the best solution to escape his daily stress. He found, eventually, that his marriage
did not lead to the life they had both promised. Despite his seemingly ‘perfect’ life, everything began to
fall apart.
WHY JACK HIT THE ROAD
INTERVIEW WITH JACK BOKEN
Then one day Jack participated in a yoga training and caught
a vivid glimpse of what a balanced and healthy lifestyle could
bring. During this one-week yoga immersion, he could feel his
heart sharing what he desired in life, instead of concentrating
on what others expected of him.
As a result of this experience, Jack hit the road, a road less
travelled, to realize his dream. He became a yoga teacher, life
coach and musician - known for his inspirational teaching style
and exceptional ability to connect with people.
Meeting with Jack Boken, also known as ‘Happy Jack’, is like get-
ting a jolt of pure happiness flipped your way. As a matter of
fact, it seems like he might just be the happiest man on earth!
Stay with us to read the mind-blowing story of Happy Jack.
Yogic Path - From Smokin’ Boken
to Happy Jack
In 2009, Jack’s mother became increasingly worried about her
son’s lifestyle and the effects it was having on his health. She
recommended he slow down his work-hard, play-hard lifestyle.
Living life in the fast lane, working up to 16 hours a day in the
corporate world, Jack knew exactly what his mother meant.
Around the same time, Jack and his wife decided to divorce,
largely due to Jack’s hard partying. Over time, Jack had de-
veloped an alcohol problem and found himself abusing heavy
drugs. However, on November 20, 2009, Jack consumed his last
drink, just before he found yoga and cleaned up for good. Jack’s
interest in yoga was immediate and overpowering, and it quickly
had a huge impact on how he was leading his life.
“When people are deeply happy they bring a sense of purpose with them
wherever they go, whatever circumstances they’re in.”
- Marci Shimoff -
Power Vinyasa yoga

3. 25 26Jack Boken| |Jack Boken
“First, I was drawn to the physical challenge it represented, but
very quickly I also noticed the mental benefits. I used to get
really stressed out in traffic jams, for example, and now all of a
sudden it was easy for me to just sit there, breathe and enjoy
the moment.”
After a year of yoga practice, Jack participated in a yoga teacher
training in Hawaii, led by Baron Baptiste. Prior to joining, he
imagined this training would be a great chance to learn more
about this practice he had come to love. He had no intention
of becoming a yoga teacher. However, by the end of this initial
training, he was incredibly inspired:“I called my parents and told
them I’m going to quit my job, move back home to Ontario
and open up a yoga studio!” His parents were naturally quite
TOP TIP
Be yourself and know that you are
perfect
“Your body is perfect, your life is perfect. Yes -
even right now! I believe that everything hap-
pens for a reason. In challenging times, there is
an opportunity to learn and grow from each
experience. One day you may have the oppor-
tunity to help someone else, such as your child,
to endure a similar challenge. No matter what
happens in life, choose positivity; it always leads
to a much more enjoyable experience!” Jack has
seen many times how important it is to choose
positivity when facing challenges in life. In 2013
Jack was diagnosed with testicular cancer. “Be-
fore finding yoga, I would have experienced so
much stress and anxiety from this diagnosis.
However when this happened at that point in
my life, I felt nothing but gratitude.
I was happy. I knew that I would survive, and,
even if I didn’t, it felt amazing that I was already
living my dream life; I would not have changed
a thing.” Jack had a quick surgery to remove
the tumor, and a few weeks later he was back
teaching yoga. “It was one of the best months
of my life. I got to fly home to Toronto from
Finland and see my family whom I hadn’t seen
for a while, meet my nephew Gus who was just
three weeks old, and take a brilliant course on
life coaching.”
shocked and encouraged Jack to get his life on track first, before
taking any such radical steps. So Jack finished his MBA, finalised
his divorce, and finished paying off his Engineering student loans.
While Jack did what was expected of him, he was all the while
very focused on realizing his dream of becoming a yoga teacher.
In June 2012, sixteen months after this life-changing yoga train-
ing in Hawaii, he was ready to take the huge leap of faith and
leave his career of 10 years. "John Deere is a fantastic company
to work for – it was simply not my passion. I left on great terms
and am still in contact with many former co-workers who fol-
low me on Facebook where I keep friends updated on my yoga
inspired travelling and teaching.”
Imagine how Jack must have felt that day, sensing millions of
butterflies filling his stomach out of the excitement of having
all his dream scenarios at his fingertips, right in front of him,
and that sweet tingling of fear – of not being sure how life will
turn out in the end. The lightness of his footsteps as he pro-
gressed towards his goal to finally live purposefully must have
been extraordinary. Jack hit the road, spending his first winter in
India andThailand, and then began to lead yoga workshops and
retreats, literally around the world. He began connecting with
thousands of people through yoga, sharing his story and making
friends for life.
Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga, which has an uncompromising
focus on self-inquiry, became the style of yoga Jack loves to
share. He has participated in six yoga teacher training courses
with Baron Baptiste and assists the Baptiste Institute to facilitate
transformational teacher training as well.
Power Vinyasa yoga

4. 27 28Jack Boken| |Jack Boken
HEART OFYOGA EXPERIENCE HAPPY JACK,THE SUPERHEROVERSION OF JACK
After discovering his life purpose, Jack no longer felt like ‘Jack
in the box’, but free to lead with his heart. As Mark Twain
once said:‘The two most important days in your life are the
day you are born and the day you find out why.’Through yoga
and self-inquiry, Happy Jack connects with everyone and an-
yone who is seeking to discover their true life purpose. Life
has not always been a bed of roses for Jack, not even close.
But instead of burying himself in regrets, he emphasizes what
he has learned; instead of keeping quiet about his mistakes,
he seeks opportunities to share his story and inspire others.
“I have no regrets, I learned so much from my experiences
with alcohol/drug abuse, obscene work hours, divorce, obesi-
ty and especially my recent experience with cancer.We have
all been through challenges in life. Drawing from my own
life experience is compelling and allows me to connect with
others authentically. Some people may judge me and others
might be inspired – my commitment is simply to just be me.”
Jack confides that for him,yoga is about unlearning everything
we have been taught about how we ‘should’ live our life, and
realizing what is true for each individual. In retrospect, Jack
recognizes that he used to spend his life serving his ego, try-
ing to look good and pleasing others – after all, studying en-
gineering and completing his MBA were mostly about making
his dad proud.“People often do things for the wrong reasons.
Yoga has inspired me to be true to myself and do what feels
intuitively right. As a student of this practice, I continue to
attend yoga teacher training, arriving with no expectations –
only an open heart. I was full of knowledge from all the books
I studied at university, and now my practice is to get clear,
empty and back to being me.” The act of unlearning, Jack tells
us, allows him to act at the level of his heart, not his mind.
“Life flows so much easier when I live this way. Like sitting
here with two beautiful women (at the interview), I used to
need a whisky or beer to feel comfortable in certain social
situations, and now I am comfortable just being myself all the
time.” In other words, as a result of unlearning, one discov-
ers the real version and (obviously) the fabulous version of
oneself. The transformation from Smokin’ Boken to Happy
Jack was both tangible and profound, reaching from tip to
toe, from his identity to his values and lifestyle.“Many of my
old friends are amazed.They are like, seriously Jack, you don’t
drink anymore? And you are a vegan! How on earth did this
happen?”
In the book Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk wrote “The things
you own end up owning you.It's only after you lose everything
that you're free to do anything.” Jack says that in order to live
passionately you need to set your priorities in life straight.
Having lived a seemingly picture-perfect life, he knew that ma-
terial things would not take him far on his road to happiness.
The source of Jack’s true happiness comes from within, from
“experiencing a real connection with other people. In order
to travel around the world teaching yoga, he doesn’t need a
house, nor a car, nor even a phone, and he says he loves it!
After 10 years of having a phone attached to his hip in the
corporate world he says it feels so liberating not to have one
at all.
Through Jack’s transition, he downsized from a big house in the
country to a high-rise condo, then into a small basement apart-
ment, and eventually back home with his parents – and now
he has no permanent home as he travels the world sharing his
passion for yoga, music and life.“As I transitioned from living the
‘American Dream’ with excessive material possessions to the
life of a vagabond yogi with just my backpack, guitar and yoga
mat – my happiness level continued to increase. Of course I
don’t suggest that everyone needs to leave their careers and
sell their possessions to be happy – I simply learned from this
journey that these possessions and social status were not the
source of my happiness.” Jack also let go of his attachment to
a strict retirement funding plan:“When I am 65 years old, why
would I stop traveling to beautiful locations around the world
to do what I love and share my passion? Also, by living passion-
ately, I have found that success follows!”
Jack encourages us to take responsibility for creating the life we
want for ourselves, starting from our everyday routines. Jack
used to wake up to his blackberry beeping and started to check
his emails while still lying in bed with one eye open. Nowadays
he starts and finishes his day with meditation, a moment of pure
revitalization that makes him feel focused and able to see what
is truly important in life. Jack also became a vegan after starting
to listen to his body’s messages more carefully. Improved nutri-
tion caused him to lose excessive weight and left him feeling
lighter, cleaner and more energized. He reveals that he gave up
meat and dairy in stages, in order to best observe the effects it
was having on his body.
Lastly, Jack believes that what you expect in life becomes your
reality. In the fall of 2012 he lived in India, studying and practicing
yoga:“So many people told me that there will be so much pov-
erty, and it will be dirty and unsafe. It turned out to be the most
amazing experience ever; I met the nicest, most loving people
there. I was able to focus my attention on the good things and
had a fantastic experience.”
Jack’s story proves that pursuing your dreams is not only possi-
ble, but might just be the only way to reach an utterly fulfilling
and happy life. Even though Jack was extreme in turning his life
around, giving up a lot of things and travelling to the other end
of the world to experience true happiness, you can actually
find it right at home. The secret is to learn who you truly are,
beyond societal roles, and to start listening to your heart telling
you what will bring happiness in your life.Yoga is a great tool
that can help with that.AreYOU sayingYes to your passions in-
stead of No? Invite yoga into your life today to see more clearly
– it’s like getting reading glasses to read your very own heart!
Power Vinyasa yoga

5. 29 30Jack Boken| |Jack Boken
Sharing your deepest darkest secret
yoga memory
“During my second yoga teacher training course
with Baron Baptiste, something happened that was
an incredible catalyst on my yoga journey. It was a
Wednesday at ten o’clock in the evening, and Baron
announced we would get on our mats to practice.
We were all a bit shocked; it was late and we were
ready for bed after an already long day. Baron led us
through a two hour yoga practice focused on hip
opening - deep pigeons, a 20-minute frog, it was re-
ally intense!
Then it was about midnight and Baron asked us to
find a partner, someone we haven’t had time to con-
nect with yet. He instructed us to sit across from
one another, face-to-face, really close.And then all of
a sudden the lights went off.‘Now you have 10 min-
utes each to share your deepest darkest secrets’, he
told us. At such a moment, you can really choose to
say anything, or nothing of importance at all. How-
ever this was a safe environment, confidential and
of course we were very open from this intense hip
opening practice.
I paired up with Carrie from Seattle, who has since
become one of my dear friends. I had a lot to re-
veal from my past. First I acknowledged my drinking
problems and my experience with abusing drugs
like crack cocaine and crystal meth. I shared that I
cheated on my wife – something I am clearly not
proud of, and not who I am today, but something
that I did.These were all things that I was aware of,
but experiences I certainly didn’t share openly with
others. In that moment, all of a sudden, something
came up for me. I recalled that when I was 16, I had
a sexual experience with another guy who was a couple
of years older than me, and I had totally suppressed that
memory for 15 years of my life.
Carrie shared back, and afterwards everyone in the
training began a noble silence and was instructed not to
communicate with anyone. I got back to my room and
was blown away with this experience. I was completely
taken aback; all I could do was to just BE there with
myself.The next morning we all had breakfast in silence
and then eventually we were allowed to talk. It was one
of the most freeing and cathartic experiences of my life,
sharing my deepest darkest secrets and not having to
hide anything or put a mask on it.
That was truly a life-changing experience for me. We
have all experienced challenges in life and I feel so free
when I can just be myself without hiding anything. Dur-
ing the yoga retreats and workshops that I lead, I cre-
ate a safe space and share my experiences, which often
inspires others to open up as well.That is what I really
want to do in life – create spaces where people are em-
powered to just be themselves. It’s not even about me
coaching people, or instructing them what to do. Simply
reminding others that they are not alone can make the
biggest impact.
Everyone has endured challenges, and if I can inspire
others to open up to new possibilities in life through
connecting and sharing with each other – there is
nothing more rewarding for me. It is not about fixing
problems; rather my intention is to help people realize
they are not alone, and that they have the opportunity
to release their burdens and experience true freedom
through this practice of yoga.”
Power Vinyasa yoga

6. “It’s better to live your own destiny imperfectly
than to live an imitation of somebody else’s life with perfection.”
- Bhagavad Gita -