If you ask a yogi or yogini what keeps him or her coming back to the mat, the answer usually boils down to, “It works.” The question now gaining prominence is not, “Does it work?” but rather, “How does it work?”
Dr. Susan Smalley, Founder and Director of UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC), and Diana Winston, MARC’s Director of Mindfulness Education, have coauthored a groundbreaking book investigating the means by which mindfulness can affect change for the better. Fully Present: The Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness brilliantly merges scientific and experiential perspectives. Each chapter addresses mindfulness in the context of a particular life issue, such as stress, health and immunity, dealing with negative emotions, cultivating happiness, and improving concentration. Chapter sections describing “The Science,” “The Art,” and “The Practice” provide a multifaceted investigation extolling how mindfulness can impact our lives, and how we might go about implementing it.
The distinct voices of Dr. Smalley, a behavioral geneticist and psychiatric researcher at UCLA, and Diana Winston, an accomplished mindfulness teacher, balance a thorough review of empirical and practical explanations for the transformational power of mindfulness. The honest scientific discussions and flexible behavioral recommendations detailed here raise awareness and motivate without invoking fanaticism. A compassionate consideration of how mindfulness can benefit multiple body types, personalities and life circumstances emphasizes the accessibility of mindfulness to everyone. Real-life testimonials give readers something to aspire to on their journeys. Fully Present is a highly informative and approachable book – a must-read for any yogi wanting to take his or her practice to the next level.
–– Dr. Christine Marie Tipper is a cognitive neuroscientist at UCSB’s Brain Imaging Center, conducting research into the brain processes underlying perceptual and social awareness:tipper@psych.ucsb.edu.
In American Veda, Phillip Goldberg has, in essence, written a love story: A story of a love of philosophy, through story-telling that traces the interchange across continents and ages – ideas from India that have inexorably shaped American culture. Goldberg admits his own love in Veda’s first few pages, when he states that he began this book in 1967, enchanted by Indian philosophy. This turned passion into profession since Veda is Goldberg’s nineteenth book. He’s not the only one who has entered a love affair with the multifaceted gem of Indian spirituality – the pages of Veda document many in America’s history beginning from Emerson and Thoreau to numerous present-day voices (famous, infamous and anonymous) who have found solace or inspiration in the epics of the East.
Veda is one of many recent explorations of the history of all things Yoga or Yoga-adjacent. The fact that works ranging from investigations into the history of asana (Yoga Body, by Dr. Mark Singleton) to a survey of Yoga practice in America (The Subtle Body by Stephanie Snyder) to a story of an eclectic character who helped pave the way for today’s pervasive Yoga-studio-on-every-corner demographic (The Great Oom by Robert Love), says something about the interest in the subject today that stretches beyond the quest for the perfect downward facing dog.
What sets apart Goldberg’s contribution to the discussion is that he is looking specifically at the influence of philosophy and spirituality (and more than merely the postural practice) emerging from the vast subcontinent of India on American life through the personalities who have flirted with the texts and traditions. Goldberg’s chapters are campfire classics, dinner conversation, trivia facts that ignite and excite. He is telling a tale that is part epic melodrama, part detective novel and – of course – part love story. And for a reader (like myself) who was sparked by reading Emerson and Thoreau in high school, entranced by George Harrison’s use of the sitar in Beatles albums, well, American Veda is a must-read.
–– Reviewed by Felicia M. Tomasko, RN
Thrive Inside provides an alchemical mix of wisdom molded from some well-renowned shamans, gurus and holy people. Eager’s elixir is just in time as this immersion of insight speaks directly to the situations we are confronting today – from a disconnect with Mother Earth as witness in rampant pollution to a disconnect with ourselves as witness through the rise in rates of depression diagnoses and mental health issues. Thrive offers direct ways of nourishing ourselves individually and as a collective to help combat these issues through guided meditations, intention setting and breathing techniques.
Bill Eager’s understanding of alternative health care and holistic living dives deep – through this book, his knowledge surfaces. As a certified Yoga instructor, Yoga Nidra facilitator, Reiki practitioner and energy healer, Eager knows that disconnecting with our body means disconnecting from our soul. From chakras, to doshas, to prana, to Ayurveda, to the four worlds, Thrive Inside covers a number of mediums of understanding both the self and our place in the universe.
Eager’s path has crossed with great teachers including Yogi Amrit Desai, Ram Dass, B.K.S. Iyengar and the Dalai Lama. What he has learned along this path is transmitted into this storyline, which will inspire readers to laugh, cry, love, meditate, and maybe even dance – all things that make the heart beat.
Through the borrowed knowledge from all the respective traditions and cultures, you’ll come out of this book with a strong sense of nondual awareness and desire to move in sync with the global community. Life is short and weren’t put on this Earth to fight one another or to worry about the future or to be consumers, but to live in order and harmony with ourselves, with each other and with the source of it all.
–– Vanessa Harris is grateful for the friends, teachers and gurus in her life that have shared the sweet nectar of life, including Sara Eaglewoman of Golden Bridge Yoga whose grace has inspired so many to “thrive inside” by seeing and speaking from the heart.
Yoga Groove Entertainment
Yoga teacher, dancer and choreographer Karen Russell tells us that the pranayama or breathing technique of ujjai is also known as ocean breath. Fittingly, her DVD Yoga Groove is filmed oceanside, with the sand, the sky and the waves offering proper inspiration for this combined practice integrating breath, meditation, Yoga asana and the groovy freedom of dance. Karen is an inspiring practice partner, a clear and compassionate guide whose infectious enthusiasm for the practice makes you want to get up and dance.
She’s an experienced performer with an impressive series of credits in dance, recording and film, who, like many, has found balance through Yoga, a practice that has helped her heal injuries and maintain strength and flexibility. She brings her love of the practice to life on this double DVD set that includes meditation instruction, dance and Yoga pose menus, a 45-minute flow practice and four choreographed dance sequences that bust out of the barrier of the mat to celebrate space and the sheer joy of moving the body. Her instructions are inherently accessible and the sequences are absolutely enjoyable to practice. The only danger – I wanted to join her and her crew out on the sand instead of in my living room.
If you need something fun, eclectic, yet fully grounded in the practice to add a new sense of fun to your own practice or something to gift to your favorite yogi at any level from beginner to vinyasa-experienced, Yoga Groove offers a fresh set of moves and sequences (set to a fully danceable ultra hip soundtrack) to bring a smile to the dancing feet of even the most jaded practitioner. According to Russell, this is the first in a series, so look for her to bring even more of her delight of the practice to your screen.
Order a DVD online before January 15 to receive a Yoga Groove Introduction to Meditation CD free. yogagrooveent.com
–– Reviewed by Felicia M. Tomasko, RN
By Dr. Christine Marie Tipper & Felicia M. Tomasko, RN
