For one alumna, yoga is not just an exercise: It’s a way of life.

Kristen Taylor, a 2006 graduate, along with her co-author Liz Price-Kellogg, released a book touting the benefits of regular yoga practice and mindful eating, entitled “For the Love of Food and Yoga: A Celebration of Mindful Eating and Being,” in September.

The two, who both reside in Thousand Islands, N.Y., made the trip to D.C. last week to promote and sign their book. The book was also part of a raffle last week during Yoga Week at the Lerner Health and Wellness Center.

“It really became a passion project,” Taylor said. “We had so much fun creating the recipes and discussing our yoga practice and practicing yoga. I think that is really the reason why this all took off. It’s cliche but it’s true. When you love what you are doing, and it’s the right fit, the right time, things are able to blossom.”

The book, a compilation of 100 “yogi-bites,” or yoga teachings, and 100 recipes which are all vegetarian, vegan or raw, was conceived in the Taylor and Price-Kellog’s kitchens during the “extremely, brutally cold” winters of the Thousand Islands region, Taylor said.

“There are a lot of lessons that we learn in yoga, like mindfulness, savoring your experiences, nourishing the body, ahimsa or ‘not harming,’ gratitude, the lights around you and the hands that bring the food to the table,” Taylor said.

Before moving to upstate New York, Taylor worked at a D.C. communications firm. She credits some of the marketing success of the book – which was ranked No. 1 in “hot new releases” on Amazon – to her degree in communications.

While Taylor’s co-author, Price-Kellogg, has been practicing and teaching yoga for about 20 years, Taylor began a dedicated yoga practice about five years ago.

“I think that my yoga practice has infiltrated into different areas of my life. It really accentuates and brings out those elements of yourself that make you happier and healthier,” Taylor said.

Price-Kellogg, who also co-founded the website and blog LiveYum with Taylor, said that yoga helps relieve the pressures of college life.

“The only negative I ever hear from anyone regarding a regular yoga practice is they wish they had started sooner,” Price-Kellogg said. “If I had started sooner, my life would have been that much richer at an early age.”