Reading List; The Short Version

This is the short version of a reading list. I feel these books would be worthwhile reading for any serious yoga practitioner:

The Heart of Yoga by T. K. V. Desikachar

Yoga for Wellness: Healing with the Timeless Teaching of Viniyoga by Gary Kraftsow

Yoga for Transformation by Gary Kraftsow

Health, Healing and Beyond: Yoga and the Living Tradition of Krishnamacharya by T. K. V. Desikachar

Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness by Erich Schiffmann

Tantric Quest: An Encounter with Absolute Love by Daniel Odier

The Anatomy of Movement by Blandine Calais-Germain

The Anatomy of Movement Exercises by Blandine Calais-Germain and Andrea Lamott

Atlas of Human Anatomy by Frank H Netter, M. D.

Ideokinesis: A Creative Approach to Human Movement and Body Alignment by Andre Bernard, Wolfgang Steinmuller and Ursula Stricker

Taking Root to Fly by Irene Dowd

The Thinking Body by Mabel E. Todd

Human Movement Potential: Its Ideokinetic Facilitation by Lulu Sweigard

Sensing, Feeling and Action: The Experiential Anatomy of Body-Mind Centering by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen

Therapeutic Exercise: Foundations and Techniques by Carolyn Kisner and Lynn Allen Colby

The Only Dance There Is by Ram Das

Start Where You Are by Pema Chodron

Lao Tse’s Toa Te Ching (sometimes spelled Lao Tsu, any translation)

What Are We Seeking by T. K. V. Desikachar

The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious by Carl Jung

The Courage to Stand Alone by U. G. Krishnamurti

Awareness Through Movement: Easy-To-Do Exercises to Improve Your Posture, Vision, Imagination, and Personal Awareness by Moshe Feldenkrais

Philosophies of India by Heinrich Zimmer

Yoga: Immortality and Freedom by Mircea Eliade

First There Is a Mountain by Elizabeth Kadetsky

Thoughts Without a Thinker by Mark Epstein, MD

A Path With Heart by Jack Kornfield

Happy New Year 2007

Another Year? Just like last year, I am, once again, in a state of disbelief. I cannot believe how fast 2006 went by. I feel quite fortunate in loving what I do. In the process of teaching yoga to groups and individuals I have learned a little about the concept that time is liquid and changeable. I have been able to examine the process in a little detail, see when and where time seems to start slipping at a faster rate, when it seems to slow down. As my life becomes more and more full, more and more busy, time seems to continue to speed up. I am not going to judge this but generally time goes slower when I am not doing something I absorbed in and enjoying, time goes slower when I am waiting for something or am in a state that feels like limbo, where I am not absorbed in what I am doing but am biding my time till something else can happen. Because my work is so rewarding and my family life is so full, most of what I am involved in is wishing I had more time. More time with my daughter; more time teaching; more time writing; more time with friends; more time for so many things including practice even though some people feel I practice way to much. Recently I have noticed how little time I spend in that limbo state of waiting for something to happen. I simply do not have the time to waste and tend to fill all those spaces with productive things that get me absorbed. I even look forward to those times to myself on a subway train where I can get to certain things like reading that I would have little time for otherwise.

In any case, I hope that all of you have had as good a year as I have and that 2008 will be your best year ever. I am confident that if you have Yoga in your life it can help make this the case. Practice does some very simple but very amazing things to bring you into where you are. And that is where all the real magic happens.

Have a Happy and a Healthy New Year 2006-2007 and BEYOND.