A blueprint for moving from a life of tension and rigidity to one of ease and softness. Readers will learn that softness is a strength. You can accomplish so much more in a soft, easeful state than you can in an amplified environment. It’s time for an alternative to burnout culture, and an alternative to the grit and grin-and-bear-it to success mentality. Discover simple practices to make your life softer and more fulfilling!

LIVING SOFTLY:
Recover Your Energy and a New Sense of Purpose
by Tara Stiles
Balance, Fall 2026
(via Kaplan/DeFiore Rights)

Tara shows us how we hold ourselves with rigidity at a meeting or during a challenging conversation (making it even more challenging) then go to a yoga class to try to let go. Only to wake up and wonder why our back still throbs. We may even equate stress with achievement. All the while losing sight of what really matters to us.

Tara uses her deep knowledge of yoga, tai chi, shiatsu, and other Eastern practices that are the foundation to unwind our unconscious patterns. Her simple exercises help us walk through our lives with ease, rather than muscling our way through challenges, a surefire path to burnout and physical breakdown. The Six Principles of LIVING SOFTLY, which Tara uses in her workshops as well as with clients include using only the energy that you need (or Wu Wei) and learning to harmonize with your environment, rather than pushing through an agenda.

Readers of Emily Nagoski’s bestselling Burnout are ready for the larger vision of LIVING SOFTLY, which goes far beyond identifying the problem to envisioning a whole new way of living and accomplishing. Tricia Hersey’s readership for Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto will appreciate Tara’s programmatic approach and be drawn to softness as the next step in counter-cultural messaging and living intentionally.

Tara Stiles is a wellness expert, bestselling author, and the founder of Strala Yoga. The Strala approach combines yoga, tai chi, and Traditional Chinese and Japanese Medicine to help people release stress, heal, let go of negative habits, and move more easily through everyday challenges. Tara’s bestselling books, which have been translated into multiple languages, include Strala Yoga, Make Your Own Rules Diet, Yoga Cures, and Slim Calm Sexy Yoga, and she has been featured in The New York Times, Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, Esquire, and Shape. She lives in New York with her husband and their daughter.