Blogs

Dodging a killer shark, taming a runaway snowblower, breaking an ankle (again!), drooling over a sexy French dentist, squeezing a husband into Spanx . . . it’s all in a day for Donna Debs, who would rather dream about her magical moment with Omar Sharif.

How’s a woman supposed to stay sane? By washing her brain.

For Debs, that means writing about the mishaps and misadventures that muddy her mind — while also turning herself upside down in convoluted yoga poses to let the stress ooze straight out. Her first book, Wash Your Brain: Stories. Laughter. Yoga. Life., is a rollicking ride through an off-kilter world. It’s a collection of bite-sized stories that make you laugh, think and wonder if it’s time to give brainwashing — however you do it! — a whirl.

In 2008, determined to cleanse the chaos in her mind by laughing at it, Debs began writing the humor column “Upside Down” for several Philadelphia-area newspapers, including the Daily Local News and The Times Herald. She is a former news reporter and editor for Philadelphia’s KYW Radio, and, for 25 years, she owned a writing/communications company, working with major corporate and nonprofit clients.

If you peek into her window — but please don’t! — you may find her upside down in a headstand or handstand, trying to wash her brain that way, too. Since the late 1990s, she has doubled as an Iyengar yoga teacher with an active yoga studio.