ROOTS, ROCK, RAMA! Love is the strongest medicine -Neem Karoli Baba “I’m here to sing kirtan, to lead kirtan, to share kirtan, sing the names of God, play music,” says Jai Uttal. He’s talking as he loads his gear into the First Unitarian Church in Portland, Oregon, for sound check. His performance will be the [...]
Dedicate Yourself to Your Destiny through Personal Contracts A few years ago, I received a challenging medical diagnosis. In my travels through the Amazon I had picked up a dozen varieties of parasites. Until then, I was convinced that other people got old or sick but that surely would never happen to me. Now I [...]
Won't You Be My Neighbor Directed by Morgan Neville “Love is at the root of everything. Love or the lack of it.” This simple yet profound emphasis on love is at the heart of the philosophy espoused by Mr Rogers. Mr Rogers was a TV star, student of childhood development, and minister. In the feature-length [...]
Aaron Baker: From Motocross Injury to Recovery and Healing The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Never has that been reflected more clearly than in this powerful documentary that chronicles the life of Aaron Baker from paralyzing spinal injury through years of recovery and healing. Coming to My Senses tells Aaron’s [...]
Coming to My Senses The documentary film Coming to My Senses follows the journey of former motorcross racer Aaron Baker. In 1999, Aaron experienced a devastating injury, breaking his neck while riding. He was paralyzed from the neck down with a prognosis that did not involve him ever feeding himself again. Yet his persistence and [...]
Ayurvedic physician Dr Vasant Lad is one of the pioneers of this practice in the modern world. Dr Lad exudes the love of a thousand grandmothers and melts hearts as he teaches and heals with the ancient Indian health system of Ayurveda. The Documentary The Doctor from India While working at the National Association of [...]
Dead Set on Living You know when people ask you, “If you could host the ultimate dinner party, who would be on the guest list?” Dead Set on Living: On Making the Difficult but Beautiful Journey from F**cking Up to Waking Up reads like the transcript of the best dinner party ever. If you [...]
The Yoga Mind: 52 Essential Principles of Yoga Philosophy to Deepen Your Practice, delivers on the promise of the title. Author Rina Jakubowicz is both a sincere teacher as well as a dedicated student of all of the limbs of yoga practice. In this user-friendly tome, she shares a number of practices. Rina organizes [...]
Even devoted yogis are familiar with that sudden surge of anger when someone cuts you off in traffic. We all have had moments of experiencing the slow-build frustration of commuting to work during rush hour. Yogini and singer Kamini Natarajan believes that traditional Sanskrit mantras have a power that can be harnessed to help combat [...]
I first met sacred music artist Ambika more than 20 years ago in a dive bar in New York City’s East Village. She was standing in front of her band at the mic, singing in a hypnotic Siouxsie Sioux kind of way, clad in black PVC clothing, driving the audience wild. Finding Devotion in India [...]