Yab-Yum Images In Tibetan Buddhist Art One of the most provocative features of Tibetan Buddhist sacred art is the frequent depiction of male and female spiritual beings locked in intimate sexual embrace – referred to in the Tibetan language as “yab-yum” or “father-mother” aspect. Whether shown seated together in meditative equipose or standing in dynamic [...]
Sinister Yogis David Gordon White University of Chicago Press What is a yogi? This is the question behind David Gordon White's new book, the last in a series which began with The Alchemical Body and continued with Kiss of the Yogini. Unlike most academic studies in this area, the book's main object of inquiry is [...]
Chocolate has become the quintessential Valentine’s Day gift, representing love, sweetness, devotion and sensuality. Its origins as the go-to gift for romantic holidays are fairly recent and involve the magic of marketing and the ‘60s, specifically the 1860s. This was when the heart-shaped candies and the heart-shaped boxes were released in force. Before [...]
Raw Brownie Recipe By Rod Rotondi In the home where I grew up, the acts of baking and offering brownies were gestures of love. At the time, the bleached white flour, refined white sugar and margarine were just part of everyday life. I now see those ingredients in a different light after nearly [...]
At a recent Yoga retreat two questions were raised: “What do you want to gain from your Yoga practice?” and “What has Yoga done for you?” The answers, suffused with “I” and “me,” implied that Yoga tends to be an egocentric practice that endeavors to improve the sense of self. That being said, an often [...]
The first time I meditated, I fell in love with the world. I was sitting in a completely dark and silent room doing nothing, as a subject in a brain wave (EEG) experiment at the University of California at Irvine. There were wires all over my head, so I couldn’t move. I was a control [...]
Teaching Sanskrit Of The Hands When Lila Lolling was immersed in her Yoga teacher training program in the Sivananda Yoga tradition, she was aware of the interpreters who were translating the course material into French, Spanish and Mandarin, among other languages. Yet she noted a striking omission: There wasn’t an interpreter for the deaf. As [...]
How better to begin each day in a way that is clean and fresh than by improving the purity and goodness of your home, yourself and your planet? Our skin, our largest organ, absorbs everything we directly apply to it. We also absorb the residues of the soaps and detergents used to clean the clothing, towels [...]
The drought-ridden Indian state of Bihar is achingly poor, chronically dusty and famous for its corrupt politicians and gun-toting bandits. But Bihar has another, quite contrasting distinction, as the place where 2,500 years ago the thirty-five-year-old Guatama Buddha realized the innermost potential of the human mind under the Bodhi tree in the present-day city of [...]
Community: Creating Karma Organic Soup Kitchen: A Quality Meal Every Sunday morning in Santa Barbara, individuals and families gather together over organic and wholesome meals served up fresh and free for the community. Inspired and prepared by Anthony Carroccio, Organic Soup Kitchen (OSK) is a nonprofit organization that believes that no person regardless [...]