A lot of you ask me for yoga book recommendations.
I am an avid reader and love to curl up with a book. I live in New York City and don’t have a car here (but you know I cycle everywhere) If I’m taking a trip and I have a choice to ride a train rather than rent a car, I do, so i can read rather than pay attention to the road.
I usually read more than one book at a time and switch about– as it suits my mind, mood, and attention span.
I’ve had a weekly subscription to the New Yorker Magazine since I was a teenager. So that’s usually by the bed or in my bag. I will always read good stuff over a crappy gossip magazine if in a waiting room or salon. Honestly our minds and our time are too precious to fill up with any kind of junk, whether it’s reading or eating or purchases – let’s value our good focus and attention.
1. Core Awareness by psoas expert Liz Koch. I recently attended a transformational workshop with Liz. She is an exemplary educator and shares poetic yet practical insights into how our bodies develop through an intelligent or confused core.
2. This winter I finally visited Arunachala the home of the great Indian Yogi Ramana Maharishi. While there I began reading Fire of Freedom by his great devotee Papaji, and I am still reading it. If you don’t know what Advaita Yoga philosophy is – this is an incredible guide. This yoga insight gives an understanding of who we are essentially; our most pure self, free from all that harms us.
When I was resting in Arunachala, spending time at the quiet ashram, reading and practicing yoga, eating home cooked food, drinking good South Indian coffee, and seeing old friends I began to feel calm and inspired as I recovered from over work, certain racing anxieties, and fatigue, I wondered – how can I worry so when it harms me? Who is worrying? And who is trying NOT to worry? Can there be two of me battling one against the other? Am I two? Or just one?
Advaita means NOT two. Only one. And I had a clear understanding that the self cannot harm the self; that those worries were temporary and I could simply let them go. Hard to explain but an incredible shift. This book effectively helps transform us from seeing our self as the smallest fearful aspects and experiencing a vast expansive self.
And here are some reading lists of my top titles.
Enjoy!
