Cultivate the Superpower of Empathy with Dr Judith Orloff

The Genius of Empathy is the book that we all need right now. Buy it today. Read it. Practice the techniques and excercises shared in these pages. Tell your friends.

Whether or not we identify ourselves as an empath, or see ourselves as empathic, Dr Judith Orloff says that “empathy is the key to our survival.” She says that the genius of empathy “gives you a wiser, more loving inner resource to guide you and let you view difficulties with more empathic, discerning eyes.”

Dr Judith Orloff says that, “Empathy itself is a healing act.”

Just how do we utilize this healing energy, this healing act? Throughout The Genius of Empathy, Dr Orloff has included a number of practical and accessible tools for cultivating your own inner empath.

The Genius of Empathy: Healing Yourself, Soothing Your Nervous System

In Part 1, Dr Orloff offers a set of teachings focused on “Healing Yourself, Soothing Your Nervous System.” In a world that feels more overstimulating and uncertain by the day, having healthy solutions for self-soothing is life-changing.

Some of the essential topics she covers include identifying the Four Styles of Empathy and a discussion of Misconceptions of Empathy. She also tells us how we can all implement what she calls the practice of the sacred pause. This involves taking a beat, a pause, a moment, to reflect before speaking or taking action.

One of my favorite practical suggestions is the Four Healing Steps to Practice Self-Empathy.

These instructions can be used as a daily practice; as she says, “The following four steps demonstrate how to bring self-empathy into your daily life. It will help you reprogram unproductive thoughts, elevate your self-talk, and awaken the healing energy of the heart.”

Speak to Yourself with Kindness is the first of these four steps. I found this to be a reminder of the importance of self-empathy, self-practice, and connecting within. If we paid attention to our thoughts and self-talk, we might see where we would benefit from more kindness in a moment-by-moment practice.

Dr Judith Orloff Speaks to LA YOGA about The Genius of Empathy

The Four Healing Steps to Practice Self-Empathy are:

• Speak to Yourself with Kindness.
• Connect to Your Heart.
• Make a General Empathic Statement to Yourself.
• Make a Specific Empathic Statement to Yourself.

We can all learn, as Dr Orloff says, to use these tools to “learn to comfort yourself and be your own best friend.” In one of the chapters, we learn to “Cultivate Self-Empathy: Restoring Yourself with Kindness.”

The Genius of Empathy: Healing Your Relationships

As we learn to become our own best friend, we can apply these teachings to how we relate to those around us. Part 2 is focused on “Healing Your Relationships.”

Here are tools for holding space for others through empathic listening, suggestions for healthy giving, and practicing empathy with family, friends, and coworkers.

The Genius of Empathy: Healing the World

In Part 3, Dr Orloff shares how we can utilize these practices for “Healing the World.” Since we live interconnected lives, sharing energy with our global community, practices that help us become better leaders, release resentments, and care for each other are essential for our survival. In this section, Dr Orloff offers real-world examples that feature practical strategies to address stressful work situations, being a new paradigm leader who can create a happy and even playful environment in the workplace, and managing people’s mistakes.

Her discussion of forgiveness is compassionate and empathic even on the page.

“What is forgiveness? It’s an emotional cleasing and self-healing process where you compassionately release smaller and larger resentments to clear unwanted negativity.”

She applies discernment here as well, reminding us that “Forgiveness means different things in different situations.” It’s a reminder that throughout the book and her work, Dr Orloff emphasizes the essential lesson of discernment, of learning, practicing, and using skills for empathy. When we can use the skills, we can tap into and fully live the healing potential of the practices.

“How can I come from my heart, not just my head?” This book offers a loving map to guide us all on the daily journey to loving ourselves through everything (as Dr Orloff says) by living in the space of the heart, with kindness, boundaries, and most importantly, with skill.

Order a copy of The Genius of Empathy.

Felicia M. Tomasko

Felicia Tomasko has spent more of her life practicing Yoga and Ayurveda than not. She first became introduced to the teachings through the writings of the Transcendentalists, through meditation, and using asana to cross-train for her practice of cross-country running. Between beginning her commitment to Yoga and Ayurveda and today, she earned degrees in environmental biology and anthropology and nursing, and certifications in the practice and teaching of yoga, yoga therapy, and Ayurveda while working in fields including cognitive neuroscience and plant biochemistry. Her commitment to writing is at least as long as her commitment to yoga. Working on everything related to the written word from newspapers to magazines to websites to books, Felicia has been writing and editing professionally since college. In order to feel like a teenager again, Felicia has pulled out her running shoes for regular interval sessions throughout Southern California. Since the very first issue of LA YOGA, Felicia has been part of the team and the growth and development of the Bliss Network.

www.blissnetwork.com

The post Why We Need to Read The Genius of Empathy appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Is it me or does it seem that our modern world has adopted a kind of ‘hustle culture’ that now reigns supreme? Look around, people everywhere are obsessed with their phones, optimizing productivity, net worth, status and social media streams. Hey, I’m guilty of it, too and we wonder why we are overwhelmed, unhappy, stressed out, anxious, and depressed.

Now, don’t get me wrong, hustle is good but when we’re just hustling and bustling here and there with no real intention, attention, aim or purpose, life becomes unbalanced; a blur of meaningless tasks that one HAS to do versus wants to do.

Of course for many, the hustle is a way of ‘being’ in order to meet life’s demands, raise children, and make a living with little to no time for self care and reflection. As this goes on, days become weeks, weeks become months and as the years pass, we grow more and more disconnected from ourselves, from nature, the earth’s rhythm and the cycles of life. This steals our joy.

One of the most interesting areas of current research is the impact of nature on our general well-being. A recent study done by Mind found that 95% of people who were interviewed said their moods improved after spending time in nature, changing from depressed, stressed, and anxious to more calm and balanced. Peaceful.

Another series of field studies done at the Human-Environment Research Lab found that spending time in nature connects us back to ourselves, to each other and the world at large. Nature brings us right into the moment, enhancing our lives in diverse ways, encompassing physical health, mental well-being, emotional balance, creativity, social connections and flow. Yep. Flow.

Living in the flow, or simply put, aligning our lives with a sense of ease, purpose, and natural harmony, contributes to peace and happiness, not to mention lowering stress, fear, monotony and resistance.

By incorporating regular contact with the natural world, whether you’re on a mountain, in a forest or inside, face to face with your favorite house plant, we can all lead a richer and more fulfilling existence, when we tune in and experience the pulse of life itself.

How do we step into this flow?

Get Still.

I know, I know, it may seem like an oxymoron or a Koan from the Tao Te Ching, but it really ALL comes down to stillness. Every contemplative path will tell you this. Cultivating stillness provides the fertile ground that allows us to check in, listen to our soul and gather intel about our life path.

Stillness is the first step.

Mother Nature offers so many beautiful ways to practice stillness. When we come to the forefront of the moment and completely present as a silent witness, one can’t help but feel the perfection, magic and awe of the natural world.

Other ways to practice stillness include yoga, meditation, a mindfulness practice, or all of the above. With these practices, we come to know ourselves better, and understand what we really want from life. We also learn to separate our true Self from our thoughts, most of which are pre-programmed, recurring, and negative; leading to actions (and reactions) that keep our lives in a dystopian status quo.

Get Real.

Secondly, we must understand and come to terms with the fact that we are co-creators with the universe. This isn’t just frivolous, new age B.S., it’s science, folks, specifically the branch of science called Quantum Physics; the study of matter and energy at the most fundamental level. We don’t have to do life all by ourselves!

Research confirms that we are made from the very substance that the Universe is made up of…Energy. With this principle in mind, we can learn to work with our own energy and magnetism to guide our lives in the direction of our dreams.

Get Ready.

Another way to work with the universe is by asking for messages or guidance with tools for divination – like Runes, the Tarot or this new Oracle deck: The Chinese Five Elements Oracle. With this particular deck, nature and messages from the Universe come to you, through the 60 pillars of the five elements in Chinese Metaphysics: Water (Flow), Fire (Joy), Metal (Strategy), Wood (Expansion) and Earth (Centered). These five elements are believed to be the fundamental elements of everything in the universe between which interactions occur.

Vicki Iskandar photo by Denise Leitner

The deck was conceived by noted Feng Shui expert Vicki Iskandar, who has extensively studied and consulted on several Chinese spiritual modalities, including BaZi/Four Pillars of Destiny (a form of Chinese astrology), the I-Ching, Qigong, and the ancient art of war of Qi Men Dun Jia. The deck is also grounded in traditional theories and Taoist wisdom, channeled through a modern perspective and very easy to use.

Pulling a card and divining its meaning is as simple as reading the guidebook entry for that card or as profound as one’s understanding of Chinese Metaphysics and everywhere in between.

Each card provides insights into the past, present, and future and can help one get clear about a question, situation or next step. The layers of symbolism and meaning embedded in each one, beautifully illustrated by artist Candice Soon, allows users to understand the messages whether they are a novice or advanced in their knowledge of oracle cards, the five elements, or energy work.

Get Present.

Essentially this Oracle deck is a tool to connect and communicate with the Divine and to help users gain a deeper understanding of themselves, as well as the secrets and mysteries of the Universe as we walk our paths. Working with the deck requires tuning into the moment and focusing your energy before you ask a question and draw a card. Cards can be drawn for specific occasions or as a daily practice to guide and inform the day.

Shift Happens.

Can you feel change in the air? The Feng Shui concept of “ages” refers to a twenty year cycle known as a “Flying Star” period, where energy patterns associated with each of the nine numbers from 1 to 9 influence the energy of a particular space, timeframe or direction. We have been and are now leaving age 8 (2004-2023) and entering age 9 (2024-2044), a transition that signifies a significant shift in energy patterns.

Age 8 typically represents a period of slower, more stable energy, ruled by power and masculine energy. Age 9 introduces a fresh, new cycle with different influences including the rise of the feminine as an archetype and in our world at large.

Vicki will be showing how to do readings, talking about this upcoming transition, and the year 2024 (Year of the Wood Dragon) as well as launching her oracle deck at Santa Monica’s Mystic Journey Bookstore on Sunday, October 15th at 4:00 pm. The popular metaphysical retailer is at 2923 Main Street in Santa Monica, CA 90405. The event is free, but RSVPs are requested here.

Published by Hay House/Penguin Random House, The Chinese Five Elements Oracle, released on October 10, just in time for Halloween merriment, holiday gift-giving, and Lunar New Year divination. But most of all, it’s time to reconnect with ourselves, level up, and attune to the healing power of nature through flow and stillness, the five elements and the infinite possibilities of the Tao. It is by harnessing messages and using this divine wisdom to guide us, that we can live happy and more balanced lives.

About Vicki Iskandar

Vicki Iskandar is a Chinese metaphysics consultant, strategic coach, and writer. She has been mentoring clients on BaZi/Four Pillars of Destiny (a form of Chinese astrology), Feng Shui, the I-Ching, and the ancient art of war of Qi Men Dun Jia since 2012 while serving as a digital marketing consultant for a variety of brands in the LOHAS (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability) space.

In 2017, she founded Functional Feng Shui to help others manifest their personal and professional visions, using a balanced, holistic approach that combines her knowledge of Chinese metaphysics with her background in business strategies, expertise in health and wellness, and a unique energetic understanding of the body informed by Qigong.

Her oracle deck on Chinese astrology, The Chinese Five Elements Oracle, is set to be released by Hay House on October 10, 2023. The deck features the sixty possible combinations of the ten Heavenly Stems that represent the Yin or Yang qualities of the five elements and the twelve Earthly Branches, more popularly known as the animal signs of Chinese astrology. Each stunningly designed card offers a modern interpretation of the sixty pillars, grounded in traditional Chinese metaphysics theories and the Tao’s wisdom.

Born in Indonesia to parents of Chinese heritage, Vicki grew up in a culturally diverse setting rich in spiritual traditions and ancient customs. She started her metaphysics studies with Western astrology in 2000 after getting her graduate degree in business. Not until Vicki answered her ancestors’ calls to go deeper into Taoism, Qigong, and Chinese metaphysics a few years later did she realize how profoundly applicable, strategic, and healing these ancient arts can be as a mindfulness tool in today’s busy lifestyle.

Vicki has contributed to print and digital publications as a writer since she completed her MBA in Marketing from New York University. Not a stranger to luxury and design, she started writing professionally in 2001, editing the pages of global fashion magazines, including Harper’s Bazaar Singapore.

Readers can view her in-depth monthly insights on Feng Shui and the Chinese five elements on her website at vickiiskandar.com. Her daily astrological insights, a unique blend of Chinese and Western astrology, can be found on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at @5elementsoracle.

Rossana Jeran

Rossana Jeran is the Co-Founder and CEO of Hello Computer, Inc., a social purpose company that is passionate about creating Mobile Apps that blur the lines of education and entertainment. They are the creators of the award-winning “StoryTime International” Mobile app, that translates and reads aloud in 137 languages, promoting literacy and imagination for Preschoolers, Kindergarteners and early readers worldwide. She studied Psychology and Communications at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and is a social Entrepreneur. Her diverse background includes social work, arts management, philanthropy, private equity, the dotcom Tech industry and Hollywood; by way of her work with music industry legend, Freddy DeMann, former Manager of Madonna, Michael Jackson, The Eagles, Billy Idol, Perry Farrell, Macy Gray and Shakira. Rossana is a published writer, a public speaker, an award winning Media Artist and bi-lingual, speaking Spanish fluently as a second language. Most recently she spoke at the Los Angeles County Women’s Leadership Conference (2022), the World Literacy Summit (2023) at Oxford University in the UK and most recently featured as a rising Entrepreneur in Vision Magazine, a subsidiary of Palm Springs Life Magazine. Her work as the Business Manager of Grand Arts (The Margaret Hall Silva Foundation) exposed her to the non-profit sector, managing the organization’s business, budget and philanthropic affairs while producing shows for some of the best National and International visual Artists every eight weeks. In 2010 she founded Fit Conscious Happy, a lifestyle coaching practice that guides people to reach their highest potential using fitness and Meditation for complete mind/body wellness. Rossana is certified by the Chopra Institute as a Primordial Sound Meditation Teacher and teaches Mindset and Mindfulness meditation online as well as in and around Southern California and beyond. A true and well-balanced dichotomy, Rossana balances her life between entrepreneurial work, and her passion for helping people. She believes literacy, imagination and technology are human rights. More info: www.rossanajeran.com

rossanajeran.com

The post The Tools of the Chinese Five Elements Oracle for Our Lives Today appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

I love diving deep into great literature. I love receiving spiritual wisdom through the written word. Not very often do I get to do both with the same book. Then again, I’m not Dean Sluyter, whose mind is a divining rod for messages that most of us fail to discern. He did it for movies in Cinema Nirvana, and now he’s done it for selected works in the Western literary canon. In The Dharma Bum’s Guide to Western Literature: Finding Nirvana in the Classics, he sees enlightenment wherever he looks. It’s a perfect topic for a long-time meditation teacher, pop culture aficionado, and former English instructor at a top East Coast prep school, and he approaches the task with expertise, engaging prose, and a joyful relish.

You will no doubt be familiar with at least some of the authors in The Dharma Bum’s Guide. As Sluyter puts it, he explores “the books that we read, or were supposed to read, in high school or college.” And you will not be surprised to find luminaries like William Blake, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Emily Dickinson in a “spiritual” book, although you will be surprised by much of what Sluyter finds in their works. What’s especially Sluyteresque is the not-so-obvious choices. Just as he uncovered nuggets of illumination in movies like The Godfather and Jaws, he digs them out of classics like Moby Dick, Macbeth, Waiting for Godot, and the slave narrative of Frederick Douglass.

Really? Well, yes, because as Sluyter suggests, if the infinite is really infinite, it must be everywhere, even in the seemingly dark places, and even in authors who might not have admitted to having a spiritual bone in their bodies. He uses Douglass’s story, for example, to explore the nature of dukkha and moksha, suffering and liberation, whether physical or spiritual. Moby Dick turns out to contain not only gory scenes of whale hunting but sublime glimpses of the transcendent. There are lessons on conscious dying in one of John Donne’s love poems. Who knew?

Like all successful classroom teachers, Sluyter specializes in making his material both clear and entertaining. As he says in his introduction, “If it’s not fun, what’s the point?” So, along with the heavier tomes, he takes a jaunt through The Cat in the Hat, finds awakening messages in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, draws lines of connection from rap and Zen to Chaucer and Toni Morrison, and nominates alternative national anthems from Mr. Rogers and Aretha Franklin. Literature was never this much fun, or this enriching for the soul.

The beating heart of The Dharma Bum’s Guide is the revelation that all those books on the English 101 syllabus can be Dharma gates, portals to awakening. Sluyter’s enthusiasm is contagious as he shows how to read Hemingway as haiku, or derive mindfulness lessons from Virginia Woolf, or see the parallels between Huck Finn’s journey and the Buddha’s, or find the solution to Gatsby’s problems in St. Paul’s teachings on love. And he finds hints to meditation — with an emphasis on naturalness and effortlessness — everywhere: Whitman’s “I loaf and invite my soul.” Dickinson’s “Not knowing when the dawn will come / I open every door.” Keats’s “Still, still,” Huck and Jim literally going with the flow as the river carries their raft downstream.

Digging deep in that way takes a certain kind of creativity and boldness. Those Sluyter has, along with a sparkling writing style of his own. You’ll be entertained; you’ll be elevated; you’ll be enlightened—more enlightened than you were before, at least—and if you learn from the author’s method, you’ll never again view great works of art in quite the same way.

Phil Goldberg

Philip Goldberg has been studying the world’s spiritual traditions for more than 50 years, as a practitioner, teacher, and author. An Interfaith Minister, public speaker, and workshop leader, his numerous books include Roadsigns on the Spiritual Path; American Veda: From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation, How Indian Spirituality Changed the West; The Life of Yogananda: The Story of the Yogi Who Became the First Modern Guru, and his latest, Spiritual Practice for Crazy Times: Powerful Tools to Cultivate Clarity, Calm and Courage. He blogs on Elephant Journal and Spirituality & Health, cohosts the popular Spirit Matters podcast, and leads American Veda Tours to India. His website is www.PhilipGoldberg.com.

www.philipgoldberg.com

The post Shakespeare, the Buddha, and the Cat in the Hat Walk into a Bar appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Visionary William Blake Explored Nirvana through Poetry

To a natural-born visionary like William Blake, the divine is revealed by — the divine is — every ordinary object. We can try to reject it, but it’s always up in our face, like blowing sand. As he famously put it:

If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite.

Blake’s own doors of perception were cleansed early — blown wide open, really. He grew up in the Soho section of London in the mid-eighteenth century. When he was four years old, he saw God leaning his forehead against the window, and it left him screaming. By age eight he’d grown more at home with his expanded perception and could enjoy the sight of a tree filled with shining angels. Later, as he watched his brother Robert die, he saw Robert’s soul rise joyfully through the roof and into the heavens. No big surprise, then, that his contemporaries dismissed him as a lunatic; it took more than a century till he became a beacon to Dharma bums everywhere.

There’s a theory that Blake suffered from ergotoxicosis, a condition that gives rise to hallucinations — or spiritual visions, depending on your point of view. Known among peasants since the Middle Ages as Saint Anthony’s fire, it’s caused by eating rye bread infested by purple ergot fungus, which, in the twentieth century, was refined into LSD. (The Doors got their name from the Blake passage above, as did Aldous Huxley’s pioneering account of his mescaline trips, The Doors of Perception.) But Blake’s highest epiphanies were also the purest, with no psychedelic special effects required.

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour

That’s steep but simple. Just as ocean is present in every wave, the infinity of existence is present in every object that exists, and eternity in every moment of time. This is not some hippie spiritual fantasy but a confirmable hypothesis, and Blake has assigned us the lab work to confirm it. You have to look. Put a grain of sand, or a wildflower, or a crumpled gum wrapper, or anything else in the palm of your hand. Or just look at your hand. (Blake had at least one actual student in these matters, his wife Catherine, who learned to see as he did.)

Look and keep looking for an hour, or eternity, whichever comes first. Eternity comes not at the end of a zillion zillion years. It comes — or, rather, comes to be noticed — in a moment, any moment when time melts away. That’s happened to you before, whenever you got so lost in dancing with your headphones on, or pulling the weeds, or practicing your jump shot, or gazing at a star, that time evaporated. It happens whenever you get so lost in en-joying that you’re in joy and out of time, when you’re so present that past and future are delightfully absent, off on a well-earned vacation.

Anything we experience in this eternity discloses infinity.

The timeless, weightless whoooooshhh that you and your lover (or you and your cat) feel when you relax and melt into each other’s eyes, when the edges between “I” and “you” go blurry, is a glimpse of release from the matrix of time and space.

That limitlessness is what we all seek, consciously or not.

The Dharma Bum’s Guide to Western Literature: Finding Nirvana in the Classics

This excerpt is published, with permission, from The Dharma Bum’s Guide to Western Literature: Finding Nirvana in the Classics. Read more about William Blake and other writers who have had an undeniable influence on our popular culture and our quest for enlightenment in this book.

Attend an event (online or in person) to celebrate and learn more. Dharma Bum Book Release Events

Dean Sluyter

Dean Sluyter (DeanWords.com) teaches meditation in Santa Monica and leads workshops throughout the United States and beyond. His latest book is Fear Less: Living Beyond Fear, Anxiety, Anger, and Addiction.

www.deanwords.com

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Looking for Answers to Questions of Karma?

It may be one of the most often-quoted and least understood concepts in yogic philosophy. Especially since it is one of the concepts that has a multi-faceted and profound meaning. It’s a term that has been bandied about so much, it has become almost trivial, an English word that belies its spiritual truths. This is why now is the time for this book: Karma, A Yogi’s Guide to Crafting Your Destiny by world-renowned spiritual master Sadhguru.

Sadhguru is both thoughtful and provocative. His teachings are relatable for the modern seeker. He offers perspectives that provide answers for the modern seeker. As a humanitarian, he has activated the efforts of millions of volunteers worldwide in efforts that improve education, healthcare, the environment, and access to meditation and other yogic teachings. He is a New York Times best-selling author of Inner Engineering: A Yogi’s Guide to Joy.

The Most Compelling Questions on Karma

If you were to ask 100 spiritual seekers their definitions of karma, you might receive 100 answers. And those answers may or may not be actually useful. Not that any of us want to buy a book merely on the strength of the recommendations of readers, Karma, A Yogi’s Guide to Crafting Your Destiny, comes with a powerful list of recommendations that offer reason alone to add this book to your library….and to read and re-read it often. Testimonials from noted yoga practitioners such as Deepak Chopra, Tom Brady, Will Smith, Phil Goldberg, Dr Mark Hyman, and HRH Princess Noor Bint Asem of Jordan, reinforce that Sadhguru offers an essential service in this tome: explaining the nuances of karma in a way that we can use to make sense of our experience and our practice. Personally, I agree with all of the praise.

“If you find your foot recurrently crushed under a wheel, the problem is not with the wheel. The problem is that you have no clue how to ride it. The aim of this book is not to reinvent the wheel but to suggest ways to ride it joyfully toward the destination of your choice, secure in the knowledge that you are in control of your own journey.”

Sadhguru offers this explanation in his “Note to the Reader,” a suggestion for those eager readers who would like to digest the insights offered here. For those of us who are trying to navigate the wheel we do not understand, Sadhguru is ready to offer riding lessons in these pages.

Karma, A Yogi’s Guide to Crafting Your Destiny, combines story and allegory, real-world examples, and sections of “Sadhana.” Sadhguru shares digestible sections: karma as a source of entanglement, the possibilities for finding freedom, and answers to some of the most significant questions people have about karma. In the Sadhana, or practice segments, Sadhguru offers ways to put the practice into practice. He says, “In Sanskrit, sadhna means a device or tool. These tools offer you an opportunity to put into practice some of the insights you encounter in each chapter and to test them in the laboratory of your experience.” After all, it is through practical experience that the teachings become real.

If you are ready for a relationship with karma that unveils the mysteries, then this is the book for you.

Attend a Book Release Event for Karma, A Yogi’s Guide to Crafting Your Destiny

Sign up for one—or several—of a series of book release events. Each conversation that Sadhguru will hold with a thought-leader will offer a unique perspective on karma that is relevant to our lives today. Register for a Book Release Event!

Felicia M. Tomasko

Felicia Tomasko has spent more of her life practicing Yoga and Ayurveda than not. She first became introduced to the teachings through the writings of the Transcendentalists, through meditation, and using asana to cross-train for her practice of cross-country running. Between beginning her commitment to Yoga and Ayurveda and today, she earned degrees in environmental biology and anthropology and nursing, and certifications in the practice and teaching of yoga, yoga therapy, and Ayurveda while working in fields including cognitive neuroscience and plant biochemistry. Her commitment to writing is at least as long as her commitment to yoga. Working on everything related to the written word from newspapers to magazines to websites to books, Felicia has been writing and editing professionally since college. In order to feel like a teenager again, Felicia has pulled out her running shoes for regular interval sessions throughout Southern California. Since the very first issue of LA YOGA, Felicia has been part of the team and the growth and development of the Bliss Network.

www.blissnetwork.com

The post Why Read Karma, A Yogi’s Guide to Crafting Your Destiny appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Embrace Nothing: If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha. Live your life as it is, not bound to anything ~ Linji

Killing Buddha: A Humorous Novel Approach to the Truth

Listen up Bleep fans. Betsy Chasse is out with a new novel about enlightenment and questions about the deepest thoughts a modern woman can face. Deep truths. Like how much tequila is too much. And can anyone ever find nirvana if they’re trudging through a muddy field in five-inch Christian Louboutin black leather pumps?

Like I said, this is a Betsy Chasse book, which means it’s not your typical “let’s all find happiness through a three-day intensive with kumbaya moments”. Of course it features shoes.

Spoiler alert: I know the real Betsy Chasse. I’ve known her longer than either one of us would care to admit—pre Bleep, in fact. I’ve said on many occasions how her magnificent contribution to self-empowerment What the Bleep Do We Know!? changed my life and led me on the road to who I am today. So I’m a bit biased.

Seriously, when I got the chance to read Killing Buddha I wondered how much it would skew to Betsy’s real story and whether this would be her long awaited version of what she really wanted to say about Bleep but was afraid to admit.

The answer is about as enigmatic as that quote from Linji, and we’re all better off for it. Killing Buddha is an enjoyable romp that throws daggers at the inanities of Hollywood and the New Age movement. But as we’re along for the ride we gradually find ourselves at another place, where we get to take a look at ourselves and ponder that eternal question: who am I really?

I don’t think I’m ruining anything by saying the book is somewhat based on Betsy’s life, and she’s earned the right to tell it however she wants. She’s changed enough of the plot points to protect the guilty and create a masterful narrative that is incredibly funny and poignant at the same time.

We meet her protagonist Sara on the worst day of her life, or at least one of the black mark days on her existential spiral downward. To the outside world she’s a successful Hollywood producer, with the BMW, trophy boyfriend, designer clothes, and Jimmy Choos to prove it. Inside though, she’s seething with the rage of someone whose spent her life pleasing others in the hopes that by toeing the line and doing what’s expected of her she’ll finally get what she deserves. Not surprisingly, Sara is forever disappointed.

Through a course of events befitting her self-destructive nature, Sara wakes up to find herself broke, carless, out of work, dumped by her boyfriend and seeing a future of living on the streets with her faithful dog Zak. Okay, maybe she’s never seen rolling a shopping cart filled with Gucci scarves and Valentino dresses down Melrose Avenue, but she’s a wine-drinking, chain-smoking hot mess and going nowhere fast.

Given one last chance, she signs on to produce Killing Buddha, a documentary about spirituality, a subject the self-absorbed Sara knows nothing about but hopes will give her more gravitas in the industry that had pigeonholed her into the go-to girl for making soft porn fantasies.

Nothing appears as it seems, and what was supposed to be her road to redemption looks like it might be her undoing.
Sara’s filmmaking adventure with her motley crew of misfits takes us on a carnival ride of consciousness raising events, both hilarious and thought provoking. Each experience forces Sara to examine herself in ways she never imagined. Would she come out of it with a soul revealing breakthrough. Even more important–would we care?

A hard as nails woman like Sara could have come across like a world class bitch or the world’s most privileged yet clueless white girl, but in Betsy’s skillful hands we root for her all the way. We see her humanity and ache for her to find happiness. It’s easy for us to see a part of ourselves in her; that is, anyone who’s ever wondered why they’re here on Earth and struggled to figure out their place in it.

We’re glad to go on the ride with her. At times she gets herself into some unfortunate situations that call into question how much love and light goes on behind the scenes at spiritual growth events. Sara handles it all with humor and ingenuity—and a hefty amount of wine and cigarettes. If they’re not fictionalized versions of real life events (I swear I really don’t know), they’re the type of things I’ll bet Betsy wished she’d done in similar circumstances.

Speaking of humor; this book is flat-out funny. There’s a scene early on where Sara’s bike collides with a tree, and while that may not sound humorous, in Betsy’s hands it elicits the same kind of chuckles you get from watching crash videos on YouTube. Her venture into the dog biscuit making world (which is based on real life) takes a humorous look at what happens when good intentions go wrong.

There is something for everyone here. Hollywood and New Age meet in this rollicking fast paced novel that might be too much to bear for those who still believe that these institutions are full of candy hearts and unicorns. Killing Buddha has enough stories about the dark side of Tinseltown to convince anyone with good sense never to set foot south of the Cahuenga Pass. Yet enough of the entertainment biz’s good points show through and make it clear why someone like Sara would be attracted to it. Behind the hypocrisy shown by some of the so-called gurus described here, there’s also plenty of valuable wisdom for anyone truly searching for answers.

Betsy’s easy, stream of consciousness prose makes this a book you can breeze through in a weekend. But the substance hidden between those glasses of wine may make you want to read it again and again. An important book to add to your Kindle or bookshelf today.

Debbie Weisman

Debbie Spector Weisman, empowers dreamers to live a life they love through her Dream-Life Coaching practice. She has written or contributed to 29 books including 101 Dream Dates and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Dreams and Premonitions. Her new radio show Dream Power Radio premieres November 5th on Amazingwomenofpower.com More information about her services at www.thedreamcoach.net.

www.thedreamcoach.net

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Giving Grief Meaning: A Method for Transforming Deep Suffering into Healing and Positive Change

Giving Grief Meaning: A Method for Transforming Deep Suffering into Healing and Positive Change is a gem of a book. Lily Dulan’s debut book is part memoir, part self-help. She starts by telling the heart-wrenching of losing her two-month-old daughter, Kara, after a complicated pregnancy, after a long fertility journey. Dulan’s voice is raw and honest. She doesn’t gloss over the excruciating pain that comes with such a profound loss, the disorientation, or the lingering sadness. Dulan walks us through her specific circumstance in a way that make her experience universal. She touches on relatable themes like sobriety, marriage, bonding, friendship, and spirituality, to name a few.

Dulan comes to make sense of her loss initially by capturing Kara’s spirit through assigning concepts to each of the letters in her name. It’s a unique tool for enriching her daughter’s memory, but also discovering meaning her existence. Applied to suffering of any kind, The Name Method is a powerful way to process our pain and bring our darkness into the light. Dulan’s model can even be applied to our own self-realization.

She says, “The beautiful and challenging part of The Name Work is that exploring the qualities in the letters of your chosen name gives you the opportunity to discover parts of yourself that you normally don’t hold under a microscope. Working with the qualities you unearth is a good way to map out what you want for your life.”

The Name Work

I’ll show you how this works by applying The Name Method to the author’s name.

D—Deep.

Dulan doesn’t skim the surface. She goes to the depth of her existence, mining for meaning and nuggets of wisdom, which she then offers up to her readers.

U—Understanding.

She has a grasp on her subject matter. She’s well read, knowledgeable, and speaks with insight on the nature of her own humanity.

L—Loving.

Open-hearted and compassionate, she writes from a desire to be helpful and affirming to her readers.

A—Action.

She walks her talk. This isn’t a book of conceptual theories that go in one ear and out the other. Dulan offers actionable steps to lead you down your own personal healing road.

N—Normal.

Dulan is just like us. Rather than instructing from the front of the room, she sits alongside of us, wiping our noses, holding our hands, and holding space for finding our own meaning.

In addition to The Name Method, Dulan shares a curated list of specific healers, leaders, and teachers, to modalities, companies, and institutions. With this, Giving Grief Meaning is a treasure trove of supportive resources for your healing journey. Thoughtful, thorough, and inspiring, Dulan peppers her chapters with questions and prompts for reflection and exploration, perfect for journaling or meditation. Whether you receive her book as a compelling memoir, a way to recover from grief, or a method of self-discovery, Dulan delivers beautifully. The generosity with which she shares her inner world results in a level of intimacy not always found in the kind of book that offers a practical methodology for healing and transformation. In this way, and so many others, Lily Dulan and her book are quite special.

Zoe Kors

Zoë Kors is a writer, speaker, and coach. She is the founder of The Big Libido, Pussy Project, and other programs which cultivate a women’s rights, empowerment, and self-expression. Zoë is the former Senior Editor and Creative Director of LA Yoga Magazine and Origin Magazine. She is a certified Co-Active Coach and has a thriving private practice. Zoë’s work reflects her extensive study of Tantra, Zen Buddhism, meditation, yoga, breathwork, and other Eastern disciplines, which she blends with more process-oriented modalities of Western psychotherapy and Co-Active Coaching. http://www.zoekors.com

www.zoekors.com

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Mitra Politi (left) with his SunDancer pendant from The Winged Ones collection by Parashakti (right).

When one imagines the characteristics of a Healer, they typically envision a soothing voice, a balanced presence, and a tranquil demeanor. Mitra Politi is a force of nature who embodies all of these qualities, and they’re just as powerfully felt in the text of his new book, “Insights: Steps to Truth.”

In this book, Mitra covers lessons learned in his 20 years as a Spiritual Guide, Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Spiritual Director at Rythmia Life Advancement Center in Costa Rica, where our paths crossed for the second time. Our first meeting took place 15 years ago, when I was co-leading a retreat at PachaMama in Costa Rica.

To truly hear the message of their Soul, one is invited to embark on a vision quest that can be guided in many different ways, such as Mitra and I have done together at Rythmia. It has been a great honor to learn, witness and recently step into assisting in Mitra’s powerful and transformative ceremonial teachings. At the retreat center, he leads thousands of Souls through life-changing experiences. 

“The name of the book captures the essence of the work, which is to provide glimpses of understanding into our mental, emotional, and spiritual side, to evoke an evolution and an awakening,” Mitra says. “It is to bring a person to a place where old energies are liberated. [Healing trauma] is about discerning how to remove that block gracefully. Not focusing on the problem, but the purpose. I want to guide people into their potential.”

Insights into “Insights”

Mitra’s profound ability to develop a deep, personal connection to one’s Spirit shines bright in “Insights: Steps to Truth.” The book is divided into 36 relatable, pertinent, and comprehensive chapters about various life circumstances, including Change, Pain, Happiness, Freedom, Healing, Relationships, Harmony, and even Death. It illuminates all aspects of the human condition, from innate fears to greatest pleasures. 

The front and back covers of Mitra’s first book “Insights: Steps to Truth”, published Sept. 26, 2020.

“Within the book, there are layers,” Mitra explains. There are a lot of hidden instructions for the spiritual path and how to help ourselves navigate this vast journey, otherwise known as the road back home.” 

Perhaps most prominent in the tone of Mitra’s book is his dedication to utmost integrity. He does not pander via the “motivational speaker” role, rather he humbly converses with the reader in a way that feels divinely personal. 

“I want people to know their own being and to have the courage to look from within, but beyond the story of the past and the future,” he says. “I want them to develop this specific intimacy with their own soul, their own being, to explore that gift creation gave us that we forget to have contact with. My wish is that people start to discover that phenomenon within themselves.”

Mitra believes that meditation plays an integral role in forging a connection to creation and to our inner being. In many ways, his book even acts as a roadmap for those seeking guidance on their meditation journey.

“An insight is an event that happens in our consciousness that changes us forever,” says Michael B. Beckwith, author and founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center. “Mitra, a gifted healer, not only facilitates insights in others, but continues to be available to his own inner revelations as well. This book is evidence of both. They are recorded insights that shifted him, put in a form that will shift others, including you. Now dive in and be transformed again and again.”

Embracing its versatility, the book is capable of serving as a touchstone for a beginner’s daily meditation practice or as a universal guide for experienced meditators who perhaps want to reacquaint themselves with the purpose for their practice.

For Mitra, the latter largely served as inspiration for his writings. 

“I was writing the book to myself actually, that’s how the idea started,” Mitra reflects. “It was supposed to be a notebook in which I could write different insights that would bring me to truth and understanding. I would open the book, read it, and meditate with it.” 

Mitra on Meditation & Mindfulness

Mitra’s journey as spiritual guide began as early as his 20s, when he took a trip to India with the hopes of finding meaning through introspection, immersion in ancient methodology, and cultural exposure.

“Many aspects of my personality fell apart from my interaction with reality there, but at the same time I saw my ego dissolve and something else appear,” Mitra remembers. “I didn’t know what was happening. I experienced it but couldn’t explain it, so I started to dive more into meditation, Chinese medicine, acupuncture.” 

And so began a 25-year-long (and counting) journey toward developing integrative mindfulness methods, discovering new truths, and disseminating these worldly teachings.

To date, Mitra’s mantra for how to differentiate the importance of meditation from that of other forms of conscious communication is as follows: “Prayer is talking to the creator. Meditation is listening to creation. In the deep sense of it, it creates a dialogue. The dialogue is a subtle layer inside of us.”

As a supporter of the Dance of Liberation™ movement therapy practice and carrier of our token SunDancer Winged Ones power object, he acknowledges the various forms of meditation available to us as well. 

“Dance is what we call ‘dynamic meditation,’ and it serves as a helpful transition for Western understanding,” Mitra says. “Parashakti is the Ultimate Dancer, because to me, the Ultimate Dancer is she who can lose herself completely within the dance. The Ego moves aside, making room for connection to creativity.”

Mitra maintains that meditation unravels layer after layer of our inner narrative, starting with our thinking process, personality, and emotional system. Underneath that is our light and our being, and from there we must shed light on the parts that require healing. Once that is achieved, we can open the dialogue with creation, thus allowing us to hone this divine relationship. 

“I wish for humanity to discover the divine particles that are within all of us,” Mitra says. “For each person to reach their divine potential, they must know it exists within them and change will come.” 

Life as the Ultimate Teacher

Though Mitra has decades of professional training in acupuncture, Chinese medicine, and spiritual healing, nothing has quite prepared his expertise like life itself. Mitra is surrounded by divine pursuits in all aspects of his life. In addition to his tenure at Rythmia, he has the privilege of belonging to an ecological and spiritual community called PachaMama. 

“Living in a spiritual community is to live in a garden that supports oneself to do spiritual work,” Mitra explains of its benefits. “Of course, we can do it anywhere, but sometimes the impact we get from the outside can make it harder. Living in a community, where everyone shares this same goal, there’s more support. We’re speaking the same language.” 

As a father to an 11-year-old daughter, he finds some of his greatest lessons come from parenthood itself.

“There are teachings in being a father, how to support the soul that is coming into the world, how to protect it, how not to protect it too much,” he reflects. “In Chinese medicine, they say being a parent is like growing a tree. If you trim the branches too much, the tree will not grow. If you don’t trim them at all, it will grow wild. You need the correct balance so the tree will be strong and fruitful. Being a parent is to walk on that thin line of understanding.”

This combination of life experience and professional practice are what inspire the various chapters of his book. Furthermore, they are what make him a valuable asset to the integrative teachings that define Rythmia. 

“Rythmia is on the cutting edge of transformation work,” he says. “It offers an ancient way of healing for Western understanding. It offers a very safe and stable approach to radical, potent healing.” 

It is truly such an honor to reconnect with such a kindred spirit and soul brother in my current residency at Rythmia. Mitra and I find flow in the ways our practices complement one another: from the music and movement of Dance of Liberation™ to the stillness and serenity of his own workshops. Much like the trademark teachings of Eagle medicine that my own practice is based around, Mitra finds the bird to be a poignant metaphor for achieving consciousness. 

“The bird represents ultimate freedom, an out-of-body experience,” he explains. “Eagle is the bird of the Heavens, there’s something even more celestial about it. As humans, we fixate on detail too often and too much. The bird reminds us of higher perspective.” 

Though his book was just released on Sept. 26, Mitra is already looking to the future for his prose.

“I would like to continue to bring more tools from within myself that can support humanity,” Mitra says. “And at the same time, I’d like to do the work I need to do with myself and let it grow parallel. As I tend to my part of the story, then I can see how it is unfolding just by me following the right steps, not by me demanding how it will unfold. This is the process that brought me to my book. It didn’t just happen, it evolved out of me following these steps.” 

Mitra’s book, “Insights: Steps to Truth”, is now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Apple Books. 

You can read praise for the book on the website HERE.

Interested in familiarizing yourself more with Mitra’s teachings? Try out his FREE guided meditation, Resting Into Your Life Force.

He is also featured in the recent documentaries “Thrive II” and “The Medicine.”

Mitra offers transformational workshops, as well as private coaching for entrepreneurs and CEOs interested in bringing a holistic focus to their work in the world.

Parashakti

Parashakti’s shamanic healing work is born of more than two decades of experience facilitating workshops, trainings, and retreats around the world, in Los Angeles, New York, Mexico, Bali, Guatemala, Indonesia, Israel, and Greece.  As a lifelong dancer, her path as a healer followed a severe injury – a period of what is often called shamanic dismantling, after which her mission shifted towards healing. Over the last 20 years, Parashakti has developed the Seven Foundations and the Dance of Liberation™, as maps for her spiritual practice, living and breathing these foundations in daily ritual. Dance of Liberation™ has been practiced by over 10,000 dancers around the globe. It’s was born of a mission to help people experience ecstasy – without taking it.
Above all, Parashakti is dedicated to serving community and creating a sacred container where people feel safe enough to experience their deepest essences, honor their voices, and shine their brightest light. Join her on the Dance floor: www.parashakti.org

parashakti.org/

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On the recommendation of a friend, Chani Nicholas read my astrological chart many years ago before she was famous. There was something in the way Chani spoke to me that had a big impact. It wasn’t the planets and stars she was teaching me about. She was teaching me about me.

I’ve been following her ever since, drinking up every drop of wisdom she offers through her multiple platforms online and now in the form of her first book, You Were Born for This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance.

Nicholas writes, “Radical self-acceptance means understanding that we were made exactly as we were meant to be.”

In tandem with her book release, she launched a module on her website where you can pull your birth chart. As she puts it, your birth chart is a snapshot of the sky the moment you took your first breath. Focusing on three key aspects—your sun, your moon, and your ascendant—Nicholas serves each reader the wisdom of their own personal blueprint with affirmations, reflective questions, and journal prompts for further exploration.

Chani Nicholas is such a phenomenal thinker, feeler, and writer that I would read her shopping list if she published it. But make no mistake, this book is a treasure in its life-affirming ability to inspire self-knowledge, self-acceptance, and self-love.

As she says in big letters on the back cover, “Astrology is a relentless reminder that we are the way we are on purpose. And that who we are has purpose. Has Value. Has within it a blessing. The setbacks, difficulties, and challenges we face are all a part of what make us unique.”

Zoe Kors

Zoë Kors is a writer, speaker, and coach. She is the founder of The Big Libido, Pussy Project, and other programs which cultivate a women’s rights, empowerment, and self-expression. Zoë is the former Senior Editor and Creative Director of LA Yoga Magazine and Origin Magazine. She is a certified Co-Active Coach and has a thriving private practice. Zoë’s work reflects her extensive study of Tantra, Zen Buddhism, meditation, yoga, breathwork, and other Eastern disciplines, which she blends with more process-oriented modalities of Western psychotherapy and Co-Active Coaching. http://www.zoekors.com

www.zoekors.com

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Embodied Resilience Contributor De Jur Photographed by Sarit Rogers

Embodied Resilience through Yoga

Embodied Resilience through Yoga: 30 Mindful Essays about Finding Empowerment after Addiction, Trauma, Grief, and Loss is a collection of personal essays about finding resilience through yoga.

The book offers profound wisdom on how your practice can help you carry on during challenging times. It shares unique perspectives on trauma related to gender, identity, and body image and uplifting messages on recovery, awakening and belonging.

Embodied Resilience Contributor David Holzer

Among the contributors to the anthology are many well-known practitioners and teachers of yoga. I wouldn’t say I was well-known but I’m grateful to be in such good company with my contribution “Sober Living, Sex, And Surrender: What Yoga Taught Me.”

I was invited to contribute to this important book by Melanie C. Klein, one of the editors along with Kat Heagberg, Kathryn Ashworth and Toni Wells.

In early 2019, I interviewed Melanie about a previous book she was involved with, Yoga Rising: 30 Empowering Stories by Yoga Renegades for Every Body (2018) and her work with the Yoga and Body Image Coalition (YBIC). Melanie’s example inspired me to become a member of the YBIC.

Yoga and Body Image Coalition

The YBIC is a community platform devoted to aggregating and amplifying the increasing number of activists, yoga and meditation practitioners and teachers doing deep and meaningful work around the world, often in isolation and with little community support or solidarity.

It is an activist organization, meant, in Melanie’s words, “to disrupt the dominant representation of the ‘yoga body,’ yoga practice, accessibility and the homogenous status quo as well as create community and shine a light on those not landing on the covers of yoga magazines.”

Embodied Resilience is the only the latest manifestation of Melanie’s commitment to sharing her truth without shame or guilt as well as “the tender, dark, beautiful yet sometimes painful journeys of others who’d healed their wounds and overcome the limited expectations projected onto them.”

To gather the voices and experiences, Melanie and her co-editors “tapped educators and leaders known for their trauma-informed work as well as other writers we came into contact with through a snowball effect.”

I was one of those writers, as were Dorian Christian Baucum and Jennifer Kreatsoulas who told me how they came to be included in Embodied Resilience.

Embodied Resilience Contributor Dorian Christian Baucum

Contributors Share Vulnerable Stories

Dorian’s heartfelt contribution, “My Own Hero: Healing My Inner Gay Black Child,” tells the story of his journey growing up as a gay closeted black kid in a working-class neighborhood during the 80s and 90s in Washington, DC. He recounts his journey into healing and wholeness through creative expression and yoga.

Melanie first became aware of Dorian because of his musical collaborations with body-positive yoga teacher Christina Wherry of Thick Girl Yoga LA and De Jur Jones, a trauma informed yoga teacher who leads classes in prison. Christina and De Jur are members of the YBIC.

After Melanie read Dorian’s inspirational social media posts about his journey as a black gay man, she asked him to contribute to the book.

Embodied Resilience Contributor Jennifer Kreatsoulas

YBIC member and founder of Yoga for Eating Disorders, Jennifer Kreatsoulas’ contribution “Revising the Role of Eating Disorder Recovery” came about when she was invited by Melanie to share her story of yoga and recovery in Embodied Resilience. She describes it as “an incredible gift and honor.”

Like Jennifer, I feel that being invited by Melanie to contribute to Embodied Resilience is a gift. For two reasons.

Finding the Truth on the Mat

I was obliged to revisit my earliest days in yoga shalas as a recovering alcoholic grieving after the death of my partner. This was around 12 years ago so I had the benefit of hindsight. But I also had a commitment to tell the raw, unvarnished truth. And I needed to find the story that would give my contribution coherence.

The key to my contribution is revealed when I write about the women I practiced with, the “swans” as I call them. (When I first started practicing, I was often the only man in the class.) I write, “As I got to know them, I discovered that some of the people I thought lived lives as graceful as their practice were dealing with trauma that was at the very least the equal of my own loss.”

Yoga gave me the realization that we are unique but the same. We’re all human and trying to live as best we can. In this life, we’re all a consciousness in a body.

Embodied Resilience

Being part of Embodied Resilience amplifies this fundamental realization for me, this gift.

Reading the moving, often heartbreaking but always inspiring stories in the collection reminds me that I’m not alone. I have received the gift that yoga has the power to give us all.

I have also been given the gift of being able to share my story with the audience that the tireless work of Melanie, her co-editors and all the yoga teachers, practitioners, experts, educators, activists, writers, artists, non-profit organizations and advocates are creating.

Readers of this necessary book will be given the gift of realizing that they are not alone.

Embodied Resilience is available from all good online and brick and mortar booksellers. You can find out more about the work of the Yoga and Body Image Coalition and buy the previous two books on: ybicoalition.com.

David Holzer

David Holzer teaches yoga for writers and writing for yogis.

www.yogawriters.org

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Revealing Ayurveda in Ayurveda Unveiled

Filmmaker Gita Desai has established herself as a sincere student and enthusiastic chronicler of the deep wisdom and extensive history of India’s Vedic arts and sciences. Her first two works, Yoga Unveiled and Raga Unveiled, elucidate the traditions of yoga and Indian classical music. They have traveled the world and become essential viewing in teacher training programs. With Ayurveda Unveiled, she turns the lens of the camera as well as her spirit of inquiry to the holistic medical system of Ayurveda.

The Immersion into Ayurveda through Ayurveda Unveiled

The extensive visual journey of Ayurveda Unveiled contains thoughtful interviews with a diverse group of worldwide subject matter experts interspersed with historical context, illustration of the main points of the teachings, demonstrations of therapies and practices, and meditative views of the natural world, which relate to the nature-based teachings of this system. Viewing any part of Ayurveda Unveiled creates the immersive viewing experience Gita intended when she wanted people to not only learn the teachings, but feel them through watching.

The full running time of the 2 DVD set (or streaming license) is nearly five hours. Before you feel intimidated by the commitment, it’s important to note that you can select specific chapters that explore different facets of this sacred and practical science. There are a wide ranging list of subjects covered in these chapters. These include the historical tradition, philosophy, treatments, Sanskrit terminology, Marma (science of meaningful points on the body), herbs, and more.

The list of contributors feature worldwide experts. These include Robert Svoboda, Sadhguru, Suhas Kshirsagar, David Frawley, Deepak Chopra, Claudia Welch, Martina Ziskova, and many more. The film also includes archival footage from Transcendental Meditation Founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

This is a must-have resource. It is essential viewing for those who want to learn more about what Ayurveda really is, for anyone in a teacher training program, and those seeking the empowering inspiration found in the Vedic sciences.

Felicia M. Tomasko

Felicia Tomasko has spent more of her life practicing Yoga and Ayurveda than not. She first became introduced to the teachings through the writings of the Transcendentalists, through meditation, and using asana to cross-train for her practice of cross-country running. Between beginning her commitment to Yoga and Ayurveda and today, she earned degrees in environmental biology and anthropology and nursing, and certifications in the practice and teaching of yoga, yoga therapy, and Ayurveda while working in fields including cognitive neuroscience and plant biochemistry. Her commitment to writing is at least as long as her commitment to yoga. Working on everything related to the written word from newspapers to magazines to websites to books, Felicia has been writing and editing professionally since college. In order to feel like a teenager again, Felicia has pulled out her running shoes for regular interval sessions throughout Southern California. Since the very first issue of LA YOGA, Felicia has been part of the team and the growth and development of the Bliss Network.

www.blissnetwork.com

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Purpose Beyond Puppuccinos

One of the dogs who shares my home and life has her own Facebook page and her own profile on Disney + (she loves musicals). Millie (of A Human’s Purpose) would understand and appreciate the deep connection and affection I have for my own dogs. It is with her adopted mom, Maryann Roefaro, that she was able to write about her own understanding of the human condition.

The cover of this book is deceiving. Millie seems to simply be a cute and cuddly pup, ready for a walk and a puppuccino from Starbucks. But our friend Millie has a wisdom beyond her years; it is a wisdom that most of us who love dogs learn to see. Millie is a philosopher and a perceptive social observer who wants to share her knowledge of humans with us, if we are willing to listen.

Lessons of Self-Discovery in A Human’s Purpose

In A Human’s Purpose, Millie explains to humans that it is our amnesia that has kept us from learning and fulfilling our true purpose. She kindly provides us clear tools to understand and uncover what we are truly here to learn and practice. Millie tackles subjects such as religion, relationships, and death as an outside observer, analyzing our human suffering and giving us a guide to self-discovery.

While fun to read, this is no light piece of literature. Millie (and Maryann) ask us to do the challenging inner work to better understand ourselves and others. She says, “Human suffering is not the will of our Creator but it is often included in the lifetime of a human as a necessary part of learning and self-mastery.”

Millie’s personal purpose is to be the kind of service dog who guides humans to their highest potential. Her messages of love, connection, oneness and healing comes through in every page and transcend species. A Human’s Purpose is not just for the dog lover, but for any human on a journey of healing and emotional wellness.  She is truly a human’s best friend.

Jennifer Mumford

Jennifer Mumford is 500 E-RYT and dog mom who teaches seniors at the Janet Goeske Center in Riverside as well as at Canyon Crest Athletic Club.

The post The Book A Human’s Purpose Shares Essential Lessons from a Dog’s Viewpoint appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Accessible Yoga Author Jivana Heyman with Yogini De Jur and Photographer Sarit Rogers

Fulfilling the need for discussions of yoga inclusion

What Accessible Yoga Really Is

Sarah Herrington

Sarah Herrington is a writer and yogi who has written about ethics and Yoga for the New York Times and Yoga Journal. An author of four books on Yoga, she is Program Administrator for the Master of Arts in Yoga Studies at Loyola Marymount University and Founder of OM Schooled: Youth Yoga Teacher Trainings. She lives in LA. www.sarahherrington.com

www.sarahherrington.com

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Telling the Truth of Transformation

Peter Sterios is a fierce truth-teller as well as an author, architect, visionary yoga teacher, Manduka creator, and philanthropist. I have known him for two years now and his humor and incredible candor come through on every page of Gravity & Grace. Here Peter reveals the truths of his path in yoga with love, laughter, and the elegant wisdom befitting a teacher who knows how to share his own lessons so that we may learn.

Noted teacher Eoin Finn says, “Gravity & Grace is precisely the direction in which modern yoga needs to move. There are plenty of books that teach the technique of each asana: ‘Move the ribs this way; make the leg straight.’ But learning the language of the subtle body so that yoga is no longer one size fits all, but instead unique to the needs of every body, is something that yoga practitioners are thirsting for. Even the ones who don’t yet know they are thirsting for it will be when they read these insights.”

Exploring Effort and Ease

In Gravity & Grace, Peter crafts the stories of how his life and work, his practice and his study, his meetings with teachers and even his own injuries helped him to develop the unique style of yoga he teaches. His approach is an elegant marriage of softening into gravity with the delicate grace found in the breath. “Hatha Yoga is a discipline of effort and challenge interwoven with non-effort and ease.” This is the dynamic nature of practice with the subtle body. As Peter says within Gravity & Grace, his goal is to “access the transformative grace of a practice tuned to present-moment experience and learn to use the natural gift of subtle energies that we are all born with in service of our growth and healing.”

An experience that affected Peter’s explorations of his dharmic path was when a student literally fell on him. Peter saw a man in handstand about to take a tumble and leapt into action. He broke the fall but hurt himself. For healing, Peter Sterios accessed the principles of gravity and grace in his personal practice to inspire an approach thoughtfully outlined in Gravity & Grace, designed to “awaken in the practitioner the self-authority for creating movement safely and efficiently in each practice.”

Desi Bartlett

Desi Bartlett MS, CPT, has been teaching health and wellness for more than 20 years. Originally from Chicago, she has a degree in kinesiology and her master’s degree in corporate fitness. Desi holds advanced certifications in Yoga, personal training, group fitness, and is a certified pre- and post-natal fitness specialist.

desibartlett.com

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Who among us doesn’t binge watch on Netflix? It’s hard to believe, but there was a time when binge watching, or choosing to watch practically any movie at all, wasn’t possible. Some of us do remember those days…before 1997 when the Netflix website went live. It’s fair to say that the birth of Netflix completely disrupted home entertainment – period.

The Story of the birth of Netflix

Now we are all privy to the inside scoop of how Netflix (a great disruptor) came to life. And through that story, what it takes to launch, and continue to grow, a great media company in a time of technological transition. That story is told in That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea by Marc Randolph, the Co-Founder and first CEO of Netflix. That Will Never Work is a thoroughly edu-taining and worthwhile read for those of us who are curious about the intersection of adventurous commerce and creativity. His words help us to see and know how smart, creative people can also maintain their humanity while building something great.

Marc Randolph, growing up in the bucolic New York City suburb of Chappaqua (where both myself and Doug Corbett, the publisher of LA Yoga, grew up), was an outdoorsy kind of guy. His passion for the outdoors grew to the point where he led groups of adults on strenuous outdoor expeditions. I knew Marc, a gangly, friendly guy with a mouth full of metal braces, in high school. No one would have predicted he’d become that guy – the one who changed how we watch what we watch. But he did; through the process of sifting through idea after idea – many that never would work – until he and a smart team did what it took to make it work.

Life Balance Can Work

Marc learned how to pay attention to the essentials during those outdoor experiences. He learned what it takes to survive in the wilderness and help others do it too. In these pages, Marc recounts how those early lessons helped him know how to lead through the wilds of a game-changing start-up. In a thoroughly conversational tone, Marc mixes useful specifics about start-up culture and nuances with personal anecdotes about family and work life that illustrates how life/balance really can work.

This is a fun, inspiring, and informative read that is filled with a down-to-earth perspective on the work that goes into creating something truly impactful, recognizing how luck and timing intersect to make something work, providing specifics of our internet history and the birth of Netflix to give context.

Daisy Swan

Daisy Swan is Career and Executive Coach and Meditation Instructor based in Los Angeles, with clients all over the world. She contributes to LA YOGA and other publications on a regular basis. To learn more about Daisy and her work visit her website. www.daisyswan.com

daisyswan.com

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Stacy Small, is a luxury travel expert and founder of Elite Travel International. She was inspired to write Why Not Me ?!? 12 Lessons a Year on an Island Taught Me About Living My Dreams, and How You Can Live Yours Too, in order to relate the lessons she learned as she cultivated her joyful dream life. These epiphanies followed her spiritual journey while living on Maui for a year, where she was healing from the devastating deaths of both of her parents. After spending three years living near Kapalua, Maui, I can personally attest to Maui being a healing island. The aloha spirit is radiant and comforting.

Sharing Real World Discoveries Away from the Real World

This book is a compilation of 12 lessons, each shared in individual chapters. Cleverly, she pairs the titles of the chapters with recommended songs. Throughout, Stacy examines what she discovered while taking that year off from the “real world.” One of those lessons is the importance of letting go of fear to create abundance.

For much of her life, Stacy was an overachiever and people-pleaser who constantly sought external validation, approval, and perfection, believing they would boost her self-worth. Through this book, she empowers others to follow their heart’s desire, regardless of societal and family pressures.

Positive Affirmations on the Path of Success

Her message resonates with me, as I believe in the importance of manifesting authentic, heart-centered dreams and desires, regardless of community expectations. Stacy shares that living a fearless life, combined with positive affirmations and a deep self-care regimen, is the key to her current life success. She also values the importance of not feeling obliged or pressured to attend all sorts of events, instead focusing on rest and relaxation when needed to foster health and well-being.

Forgiveness, Rescue Dogs, and Openness to Love

Stacy declares the importance of forgiveness. She states that forgiveness is the key to moving forward through forgiving both yourself and everyone else. Throughout the book, she reveals how rescuing dogs has provided her with unconditional love and endless gratitude. One of her key takeaways is the importance of keeping your heart open to love of all kinds.

Why Not Me ?!? Live Your Dreams

My favorite quote in Why Not Me ?!? is her mantra, “Hope. Faith. Peace. Love. Do what you love. Live where you love. Live your dreams.”

Kim Kessler

Kim Kessler is the founder of KIPR Global, a luxury travel and wellness PR company: www.kiprglobal.com and @vegantravelista on IG.  

www.kiprglobal.com

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I knew that I was going to love Seane Corn’s long-anticipated Revolution of the Soul as soon as I opened it and saw Allen Ginsburg’s “Footnote to Howl”. This includes some of my all-time favorite words ever written in a poem: “The world is holy! The soul is holy! The skin is holy! The nose is holy! The tongue and cock and hand and asshole holy!”

Revolution of the Soul took me on a holy ride of understanding and application of what it means to truly learn, live, and be yoga…for real. Within these pages, Seane Corn shares her raw and relevant life stories examining the hard lessons through the lens of teachings from the Yoga Sutras, Upanishads, trauma healing, and Western psychology.

This book had me sometimes laughing, many times nodding in agreement, sometimes crying, and even at times pissed off and making hissing sounds. One of the most moving chapters, for me, is “Answering the Call.” In it, Seane writes about lessons learned from teaching yoga in a LA-area adolescent shelter. She reveals the introspection it takes to recognize how easy it is to fall into the binary ‘us and them’ even as what comes out of the mouth is ‘we are one.’ In each chapter, Seane includes commentary on relating yoga philosophy to daily life. In “Answering the Call,” it’s about prayer, dharma, and service.

Revolution of the Soul is for anyone who wants to find the wholly holy. As Allen Ginsburg says “The holy supernatural extra brilliant intelligent kindness of the Soul.” This is the soul that Seane shares here, with lessons shared from a life of introspection, yoga, and action.

Nikki Myers

R. Nikki Myers is the founder of Y12SR:  The Yoga of 12 Step Recovery

www.y12sr.com

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Christine Burke Photo by Erika Flores Bermudez

The Power of Breath and Hand Yoga: Pranayama and Mudras for Health and Wellbeing is the latest offering from Christine Burke, who also wrote The Yoga Healer, Remedies for the Body, Mind, and Spirit. Burke is the co-owner with her husband, Gary McCleery, of Liberation Yoga in Los Angeles, open since 2004.

Christine Burke with her daughter at Liberation Yoga in Los Angeles

Yoga for the Hands

To begin, you will want to read this book from cover to cover, and then to keep it handy as it is an excellent reference guide. Christine’s artistry as a yoga teacher is evident on every page. She takes us on a journey using creative language to describe breath practices and mudras (“Yoga for the Hands”).

She’ll convince you that learning how to breathe effectively and incorporating mudras in your practice can help you experience support for coping with and addressing illnesses, health concerns, and even life’s stresses. I am reticent to admit that before reading this, I was not aware of the numerous ways to access pranayama and mudra. I appreciate how

Christine, through this book, created a safe space for me to be a student again. Each of the practices contain clear illustrations and thoughtful instructions, allowing you to easily follow along. The book will revitalize your practice offering you a new series of tools and techniques.

Vitality, Prana, and the Hands

I was particularly drawn to the “Vitality” chapter, which shares a story honoring one of the author’s mentors named Frank. Through him she learned that vitality is more than a physical energy. Vitality needs prana (or life-force) that is supported by and moved through breath and mudra. Through that knowledge, she has given us a gift of her experience.

Christine’s voice, enthusiasm, and knowledge here is contagious. When reading these pages, you’ll feel as though you are practicing with her. It will be a fun, uplifting, healing, and even powerful practice with Christine as your guide.

Kathleen Ross-Allee

Kathleen Ross-Allee, C-IAYT is Managing Director for the LMU Yoga Therapy Rx Program. Kathleen has developed yoga therapy programs to support cancer treatment and she teaches a weekly gentle yoga therapy class for people with Parkinson’s Disease, which she offers free at Liberation Yoga in LA: leenbodies.com.

www.leenbodies.com

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How to Cultivate Passion and Fertility

Denise Wiesner’s new book Conceiving with Love will change the way you think about sex. It is a whole-body approach to creating intimacy, reigniting passion, and increasing fertility.

Although this book was specifically written for couples who have been trying to conceive through natural means and using Western reproductive technologies like In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), all readers will learn new techniques to enhance intimacy with themselves and their partners.

What makes this book special is the plethora of Eastern practices that help move and balance energy so that partners can connect authentically and bring spirituality back to love-making.

Sometimes couples lose their loving connection and need to find ways to reignite the flame they had when they first met. Conceiving with Love delineates all of the obstacles that hinder authentic connections, and then provides solutions, practices, and resources to overcome them.

Good Sex Comes from a Loving Connection

Denise Wiesner, founder of the Natural Healing and Acupuncture Clinic in West Los Angeles, is a recognized practitioner specializing in the Whole Systems Traditional Chinese Medicine approach to health, sexuality, and fertility. Since 1994, she has treated and helped women manage challenges regarding sexuality and fertility. Using a combination of acupuncture, diet and lifestyle counseling, nutritional supplements and Chinese herbs, Ms. Wiesner has helped thousands of couples navigate the tricky and often stressful journey towards getting pregnant. All while increasing their loving connection.

For Conceiving with Love, Ms. Wiesner travelled around the world to interview leading experts. The exhaustive group includes Western reproductive endocrinologists, urologists, gynecologists, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners as well as Tantra experts, trauma experts, qigong teachers, Taoist practitioners, kink educators, sex toy manufacturers, yoga practitioners, Feng Shui experts, Buddhist and Hindu authorities, mindfulness practitioners, psychologists, authors, sexologists, and sacred sexuality workshop leaders.

Her secrets to how couples thrive tap into the Taoist inner smile practice, the eye-gazing during love-making practice, partner breath work, and many others.

Extremely well-researched and well-written, this heartfelt, comprehensive yet practical book will enhance the life of anyone who was ever interested in either procreational and non-procreational sex.

Staff Writer Lakshmi

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Most yoga communities provide a refuge from the pain of the world, but sometimes the opposite is true. In the last few years, stories of power abuse, sexual and emotional misconduct and even cult dynamics in some yoga and Buddhist communities have begun to widely emerge. This aligns with larger mainstream movements of #metoo and #timesup. As a female practitioner and teacher myself, I have witnessed and been on the receiving end of inappropriate asana adjustments, unwanted explicit social media messages, and seen students leave once-safe spaces because of the harmful behavior of leaders.

Matthew Remski on Practice, Cults, and Self-Care

In Practice and All is Coming, author and yoga teacher Matthew Remski takes on the task of exposing allegations of abuse within the Ashtanga community. Using founder Patthabi Jois’ famous quote as the title, Remski posits: What is it, exactly, that’s on its way?

The book looks at specific allegations at the hands of the late Jois, as well as the culture around him that ignored or contextualized his behavior. The author then moves on to unpack the psychology of abuse in spiritual groups in general. He combines survivor stories, inquiry into cult dynamics, and outlines for self-care. He asks: How is it that communities with the aim of “light” can stay drenched in darkness?

Remski is fierce in his calling out, yet sensitive to the reader. He begins the book with trigger warnings and even a step-by-step guide to what to expect in the book’s layout, as if he were shining a flashlight on the path that he is about to take us on to prevent any more jolting surprises.

Still, it can be a hard trek. The book is sometimes dense in language and topic. After all, we are reading detailed accounts of misconduct from a teacher many have loved and many of us modern yoga practitioners owe our lineage to. If you practice Vinyasa or Power Yoga, your roots trace to Jois. How do we reconcile helpful practices with pain?

Consider the Impact on Yoga’s Future

Remski attempts to guide us by ending with a practical workbook and guide. As he writes, “Harm is not inflicted in a vacuum, and healing is not accomplished alone.” If we love yoga and meditation, it’s our duty to not look away. We have to listen to survivors and consider the impact we want to make on yoga’s future. This book is a must-read for every modern seeker of truth and peace.

Order Practice and All is Coming

LA YOGA readers can receive a 15% discount on the book with the code LaYoga15. Order Practice and All is Coming.

Sarah Herrington

Sarah Herrington is a writer and yogi who has written about ethics and Yoga for the New York Times and Yoga Journal. An author of four books on Yoga, she is Program Administrator for the Master of Arts in Yoga Studies at Loyola Marymount University and Founder of OM Schooled: Youth Yoga Teacher Trainings. She lives in LA. www.sarahherrington.com

www.sarahherrington.com

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Megan Monahan Tells Us: Don’t Hate, Meditate!

“Stop Pressing the Snooze Button on Your Awareness.” To me, this says it all. It’s the first subhead in the first chapter (“Meditation—Your New Nonnegotiable”) of Megan Monahan’s first book, Don’t Hate, Meditate! In these pages, Megan fully delivers the methods to make this happen. The series of practices offered show us how we can stop fussing with the mental snooze button in order to wake up and live an aware life.

The book is arranged into six chapters. In addition to suggesting that meditation is your new nonnegotiable, they are: Presence, Acceptance, Intention, Nonjudgment, and Trust. Within each chapter, she speaks to the modern meditator with discussions such as, “Trust Doesn’t Require a Cosigner.” And “Are You Believing Every Thought You Have?” As well as “Evict Energetic Roommates.”

Megan is the teacher I would have loved when I was first beginning my practice and she’s one of the teachers I am grateful for now.

Collect Spiritual Extra Credit

Some of the many things I love about her book are the ways in which Megan’s brings it home. She includes assignments for Spiritual Extra Credit, quizzes that guide choices for practice, and takeaway reflections.

We hear more and more these days about the benefits of meditation. Megan shows us how to experience those benefits when we meditate with purpose. You’ll find yourself underlining words of wisdom such as, “It’s not in the effort and ‘trying’ that we find the greatest success. It’s in the consistency with which our micro-actions align with our truths and intentions.” Megan’s must-have guide to encouraging consistency of practice to find this meditative inner alignment is a welcome addition to the contemporary literature of meditation instruction.

Felicia M. Tomasko

Felicia Tomasko has spent more of her life practicing Yoga and Ayurveda than not. She first became introduced to the teachings through the writings of the Transcendentalists, through meditation, and using asana to cross-train for her practice of cross-country running. Between beginning her commitment to Yoga and Ayurveda and today, she earned degrees in environmental biology and anthropology and nursing, and certifications in the practice and teaching of yoga, yoga therapy, and Ayurveda while working in fields including cognitive neuroscience and plant biochemistry. Her commitment to writing is at least as long as her commitment to yoga. Working on everything related to the written word from newspapers to magazines to websites to books, Felicia has been writing and editing professionally since college. In order to feel like a teenager again, Felicia has pulled out her running shoes for regular interval sessions throughout Southern California. Since the very first issue of LA YOGA, Felicia has been part of the team and the growth and development of the Bliss Network.

www.blissnetwork.com

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Jennifer Pastiloff Shares What it Really Means to Be Human

In On Being Human: A Memoir of Waking Up, Living Real, and Listening Hard, Jennifer Pastiloff tells the story of how she went from thirteen years of waitressing to facilitating yoga and writing retreats in exotic locations throughout the world. Pastiloff has transformed a love of yoga, and what Lidia Yuknavitch calls “radical listening,” into a unique workshop style that blends yoga, writing and self-transformation, all while remaining firmly with her feet on the ground.

The No Bullshit Approach

On Being Human joins the avalanche of women’s voices telling life stories through transformative narratives that speak to the complexities of women’s lives without offering easy answers. Pastiloff recounts her tale of dealing with her father’s sudden death when she was eight, decades of anorexia, depression and hearing loss with what she calls her “no bullshit” approach.

This memoir speaks to the metamorphosis of Pastiloff as she deals with issues in real ways, getting in touch with her body through yoga and facing her grief: “To me, yoga was magic. What else could it be? I cried for my father…I hissed breath of fire and I kicked up into handstands like I was weightless, and yet, I didn’t think about my weight as I was moving my way through the poses…I was letting go.”

Through Pastiloff’s approach to “beauty hunting,” and helping people find a way to say to themselves “I am enough” she shows us how true gurus are the ones who have lived a life and found a way to share these discoveries through human connection. She writes, “What I would not realize until my forties was that the moon is never missing any of itself. We just can’t see it. People are like that too.”

Reading Pastiloff’s On Being Human makes us believe we, too, can find that part of ourselves we may have lost sight of.

Natalie D-Napoleon

Natalie D-Napoleon is a yogi, songwriter and writer from Fremantle, Australia who now lives in California. She has an MA in Writing and works as a Coordinator at a Community College Writing Center. Her writing has appeared in Entropy, Australian Poetry Journal, LA Yoga and Writer’s Digest. In 2018 she won the Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize (Australia).

www.nataliednapoleon.com

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Eddie Stern Believes Yoga Can Transform Your Life

Eddie Stern has been teaching yoga asana in New York City since 1989. While in Mysore, India in 1990, a bookkeeper mentioned that a great yogic master was in town. Eddie got the address, showed up the next morning unannounced, and yoga in the West has never been the same.

Stern, who studied closely with his “Guruji” Sri Pattabhi Jois until Jois’ passing in 2009, has become an icon of Ashtanga Yoga in America. He has developed an international student base in the thousands that includes tastemakers like Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and Alice + Olivia CEO Stacey Bendet.

Over the past 30 years, Eddie (and his wife Jocelyn) have built temple spaces, yoga studios, nonprofit organizations, print magazines, and iPhone apps that enable these practices to be experienced by aspirants everywhere. That offering now extends to Eddie’s latest book, One Simple Thing: A New Look at the Science of Yoga and How It Can Transform Your Life. This inspirational, educational easy-read succinctly delivers yogic history and philosophy, practical instruction, and introspective cues.

Eddie Stern Shares Key Tenets of Yoga in One Simple Thing

The tenets of One Simple Thing are backed by scientific data, three decades of practice, and innumerable hours in the field. One Simple Thing’s 11 chapters include investigations into “Who Am I?” as well as “Breath as Spirit,” and “Tips on Practice.” Eddie also shares detailed instruction on practices: breathing techniques, body scan, and loving-kindness meditations.

The book will become a standard-bearer for scholars, teacher trainees, and seekers alike. In an age of self-appointed experts jockeying for clicks and likes, it’s a relief to know there are still lineage-holders out there who are living by example and inviting us all to do the same.

Amy V Dewhurst

To Check Out Amy’s Work Go To; Sense + Color, You Can Reach Her At IG:  Amy_V_Dewhurst  + AmyVDewhurst@SenseAndColor.co #PutYourGoodWhereItWillDoTheMost

www.senseandcolor.co

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Wild Mercy: Living The Fierce and Tender Wisdom of the Wisdom Mystics

Every so often, we come across a work so perfectly timely that it seems truly divinely inspired, and the recent release of Mirabai Starr’s book Wild Mercy: Living The Fierce and Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics is a perfect case in point. As we look out at a world that is often characterized by #MeToo, open racism, and extreme divisiveness, we find a healing balm in Mirabai’s exquisitely articulate and insightful invitation to all of us to explore – and ultimately to embody – the fierce compassion and timeless wisdom of women mystics throughout history.

Wild Mercy is, in a word, extraordinary. It draws upon the power of story, spiritual practice, and myriad mystical and philosophical traditions. The words are crafted by an author with a rare gift for weaving these traditions together masterfully and making them effortlessly accessible to 21st century seekers.

Benjy Wertheimer

An award-winning musician, composer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist equally accomplished on tabla, percussion, esraj, guitar, and keyboards, Benjy Wertheimer has performed and recorded with such artists as Krishna Das, Deva Premal and Miten, Jai Uttal, Walter Becker of Steely Dan, virtuoso guitarist Michael Mandrell, tabla master Zakir Hussain, and renowned bamboo flute master G. S. Sachdev.

He has also opened for such well-known artists as Carlos Santana, Paul Winter, and Narada Michael Walden. Benjy is a founding member of the internationally acclaimed world fusion ensemble Ancient Future.

He began his musical studies at age five, starting with piano and later violin, flamenco guitar, and Afro-Cuban percussion. Benjy has been a student of Indian classical music for over 35 years, sitting with some of the greatest masters of that tradition, including Alla Rakha, Zakir Hussain, Ali Akbar Khan and Z. M. Dagar. Along with the Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart, he was a contributing composer and member of the Zakir Hussain Rhythm Experience.

Trained in audio engineering at San Francisco State University, Benjy is also very much in demand as a producer, engineer and studio session musician. For over five years, Benjy scored music for the internationally syndicated NBC series Santa Barbara, and his CD Circle of Fire went to #1 on the international New Age radio charts.

Making his home in Portland, Oregon, he now tours internationally in the kirtan group Shantala (with his wife Heather) and as part of the kirtan “supergroup” The Hanumen.

www.benjymusic.com

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