Yoga

The Practice of Yoga for the Digestive System

by Swami Shankardevananda

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Offers the reader traditional medical, ayurvedic and Yogic views.

Publisher: Yoga Publications Trust | More reviews: amazon.com

The Joy of Being: Advanced Kum Nye Practices for Relaxation, Integration and Concentration (Tibetan Yoga)

by Tarthang Tlku

If we can learn how to relax, before our minds become agitated and our perceptions bombarded and overwhelmed, we can bring out the hidden qualities of our senses and appreciate their nuances and textures. If we cultivate our own inner treasures, they will reward us with bliss, joy, and happiness beyond our fondest imaginings. -Tarthang Tulku

Publisher: Dharma Publishing | More reviews: amazon.com

Courage and Contentment: A Collection of Talks on the Spiritual Life

by Swami Chidvilasananda

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"I've been reading spiritual books for over 25 years and I can't think of another book that addresses the Spiritual Journey more directly or more profoundly. I relished reading this book. With "courage and contentment," our life is truly rewarding.This book's insights are not only profound, but also inspiring. They motivated me and, yes, even empowered me to go deeper. My practices are stronger as a result of reading this powerful little book. What more could I ask? Thank you, Gurumayi!"

Publisher: Siddha Yoga Publications | More reviews: amazon.com

Traditional Thai Yoga: The Postures and Healing Practices of Ruesri Dat Ton

by Enrico Corsi

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A complete guide to the ancient technique of Ruesri Dat Ton, also known as Thai yoga

• Presents 60 step-by-step, illustrated exercises for self-healing and balanced well-being

• Reveals the practice and evolution of Thai yoga, said to have originated with Buddha’s physician, Jivaka Kumarabhaccha

• Explains how the postures allow individuals to rebalance the flow of energy in the body

Traditional Thai yoga--or Ruesri Dat Ton--is an individual yoga practice rooted in the ancient Ayurvedic tradition. It is comprised of exercises that--like the partnered practice of traditional Thai massage--originated with Buddha’s own physician, Jivaka Kumarabhaccha. Enrico Corsi and Elena Fanfani present, for the first time in English, 60 of these postures fully illustrated with step-by-step instructions designed to stimulate self-healing by rebalancing the flow of energy in the body.

Each of the postures works within the sen energy system that underlies Thai medicine. Fundamental to the practice is retention of the breath once the body has assumed the desired posture. The practitioner concentrates the breath on the place where the body is storing tension or dysfunction. When the breath is exhaled the body also expels the negative energy, allowing restorative energy to take its place.

The simple yet highly effective postures in Traditional Thai Yoga address many common ailments--including physical ailments of the back, knees, shoulders, hips, arms, feet, and neck and more generalized ailments such as nausea and shortness of breath--as well as offering exercises that promote weight loss, longevity, and overall balanced well-being.

Publisher: Healing Arts Press | More reviews: amazon.com

Yogini: Unfolding the Goddess Within

by Shambhavi Lorain Chopra

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"I loved reading this book. I finished it in 2 days. The author's style is very relaxed and you really feel like you know her.

The book is about the author's personal spiritual journey. She is a devotee of Shiva and most of the writing is about her relationship with Him but she also includes her encounters with goddesses such as Tara, Kali, Dhumavati and Durga. Shambhavi also shares stories about her teachers; I found this quote that is near the end of the book to be very enlightening: "My teachers acknowledged that the "truth is yours already! Be your own teacher to begin with; you already have the lamp within you. Light it and walk on without fear!"

This book shares a very personal story of Tantra and Bhakti yoga, I felt honored to be privy to this author's musings. It gives a lot of good advice for your own spiritual path. I highly recommend this book."

Publisher: Wisdom Tree | More reviews: amazon.com

Fundamentals of Yoga: A Handbook of Theory, Practice, and Application

by Rammurti S. Mishra M.D.

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"I purchased this book some years ago and found it to be very helpful. The book is divided into chapters with each one containing a different exercise. I just concentrated on several of the exercises and not all of them. In about six weeks I started experiencing altered states. This book can bring about a total change in ones life, if one is willing to do the exercises."

Publisher: Three Rivers Press | More reviews: amazon.com

Taoist Astral Healing: Chi Kung Healing Practices Using Star and Planet Energies

by Mantak Chia

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Advanced techniques for utilizing the universal healing connections revealed by Taoist astrology and astronomy

• Provides meditations and healing techniques based on Taoist astrology

• Allows readers to develop a personal practice based on an understanding of their planetary strengths and weaknesses

• Includes Taoist star practices for expanding personal awareness into a cosmic field of chi that will support others in their efforts to heal and grow spiritually

Taoist Astral Healing provides a step-by-step program for refining our ability to cultivate, circulate, and retain chi from the stars and planets. While the initial focus of Taoism centers on creating physical health that is deeply rooted in the energies provided by the earth, individuals may also draw down energies from the stars and planets to continue to grow in awareness and to develop their full soul potential. Harnessing these energies allows us to break through the cycles of attraction and addiction, promote longevity, and transform the physical and energy body into a “light body” in order to heal ourselves and others.

Taoist Astral Healing teaches how to connect the body with the five elemental forces of nature, as well as the moon, sun, planets, stars, and galaxies. Noting the relationships between specific constellations and points on the body--such as the Big Dipper’s correspondence to the bones of the skull--the authors offer planetary and stellar meditations that allow the inner and outer universes to become more connected. Following the numerous meditations and techniques provided throughout the book, readers develop a personal practice based on an understanding of their planetary strengths and weaknesses and their own spiritual growth.

Publisher: Destiny Books | More reviews: amazon.com

In the Light of Meditation: A Guide to Meditation and Spiritual Development, with CD

by Mike George

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"Sometimes I think I am led to certain books as they just seem to jump off the shelf at me. When I saw this one, I really liked the 4-color design, subtle yet pleasing, and when I realized it had a meditation CD with it, I paid full price at Borders ($20). I have not listened to the CD yet, but the author's explanation of God and soul is above anything I have read, and I am currently studying a lot of Buddhist practice. Many of the interpretations parallel the practice of mindfulness and the reality that all we have is now--that the current moment indeed is our heaven. The book eminates the fact that we are souls, here temporarily in human form, and we were here in soul form before and will be after we leave this life. I really, truly love this book, and I do not usually review books. But this one gives a very nice take and very nice reasoning behind the author's understanding of spirituality. It is very logical and acceptable, yet neither negates nor denegrates individual religious beliefs. "

Publisher: O Books | More reviews: amazon.com

First There Is a Mountain: A Yoga Romance

by Elizabeth Kadetsky

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""A Yoga Romance"? I think this book reads more like a yoga expose. A better title for it might have been "Guru Dearest." Ms. Kadetsky seems to have misrepresented herself and her project to many of the people she interviewed, with the ambition of uncovering the dirty laundry and politics of modern yoga. This is unfair. She effectively did a lot of quoting of people (and private correspondence to which she was privy) off the record to paint them darkly. What she manages to find are merely the usual contradictions and imperfections inherent in any human endeavor, and of course these strike us as more appalling when the endeavor relates to the spiritual in any way. She brings a Western attitude of superiority even to yoga master B.K.S. Iyengar, using the word "kitsch" in referring to his various honorary awards. She mocks the clothes that the Iyengars wear. She calls Geeta Iyengar "a bit player" in the Iyengar theater. But then, she also calls a yoga practice session "a workout," revealing a lot about her true interest in yoga, and she fails completely to discuss her own experiences and reactions in terms of the yamas, niyamas, or even karma. There is some good information in this book. Some interesting historical gaps are revealed and some are even filled for the average reader. But Kadetsky tries in places to be a scholar, and she is not one. No scholar would be so stunned at the lack of continuity in written works on yoga. India is well known for its undated, anonymous writings. As for her treatment of the question of why yoga is not more popular in India itself, this seemed superficial. It seemed she only wanted to point out that yoga is currently more popular in the West in order to discredit it somehow. The same goes for her treatment of the harsh methods employed by the Iyengars and some other yoga teachers. She could ask instead if at some point in the future those methods can be softened or if they are integral to yoga as a discipline (but she doesn't). In this book Ms. Kadetsky questions the motives of people who have worked to spread yoga, something she seems glad to have in her life, but she does not question her own motives in writing so unkindly about those people to the point that even her compliments of them seem backhanded. I wished the same material were in wiser hands. Then I would be able to recommend the book to friends."

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company | More reviews: amazon.com

Health, Healing, And Beyond: Yoga And The Living Tradition Of Krishnamacharya

by T.K.V. Desikachar

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"Unlike "Autobiography of a Yogi," this work is not about magic but about the living tradition of yoga, and of a yogi skilled in all six Ways of Viewing, a wanderer, who journeyed for years on end learning the Vedic teachings, finally settling in south India to live yoga and raise a family. Not quite a biography, this book is a mixture of reminiscences, teachings and photographs of the author's father, Sri Krishnamacharya. One of my favorite stories describes Krishnamacharya's journey to a temple known long ago for its learned teachers. When he arrived by foot, exhausted, the gateskeeper suggested he first nap outside the grounds. Later, inside, he met a great teacher "seated beneath a banyan tree granting knowledge to all his disciples" and promptly memorized all his words upon recitation---only to awaken outside to the self-same gateskeeper, who slyly asked if he had found what he was looking for. The lost teachings had been transmitted in a dream. There is much more than this, of course, including many practical aspects and insights on all 8 limbs of classical yoga. There are two related shortcomings in this otherwise superb book. First, look at the fine "Essence of Yoga" by Desikachar's student, B. Bouanchaud. The frontispiece is a drawing by Krishnamacharya depicting Patanjali surrounded by his four students. These students represent the four books of the Yoga Sutras, the same teachings having been presented differently and with different emphases for each student. This skill-in-means is fundamental to Krishnamacharya's whole approach to yoga. While three of his students (B.K.S. Iyengar, Indra Devi, T.K.V. Desikachar) are mentioned here, I was surprised to read all 211 pages and find that A.G. Mohan, Krishnamacharya's fourth student for 18 years, was not mentioned once. (Lest there be any doubt, see Krishnamacharya's warm dedication to Mohan's fine book, "Yoga for Body, Breath and Mind.") This oversight taints a full appreciation of Krishnamacharya's true living tradition. Also, I believe there is something more to yoga and healing than the "We care" attitude emphasisized later in the book, but that emphasis may be related to the author's caring, sociable nature. That said, this is a marvelous book about an extraordinary man, well-written by an accomplished yogi who knew him well. There is something poignant in the author's tale of his own expedition to the Himalayas, searching for the cave where his father's guru lived and taught, the plight of a modern man who, like most of us, cannot wholly comprehend Krishnamacharya's accomplishments in the Vedic tradition. There are lessons here for us all. Don't miss it for the world."

Publisher: Aperture | More reviews: amazon.com