With my recent travels, it has allowed more time for reading. I would like to share some information about these inspiring books and possibly inspire you to want to read them yourself.
The Four Desires
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Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity and Freedom
What a great, rare book this is! I can’t wait to meet Rod Stryker in person in February at his workshop in Austin at YogaYoga. His book is beautifully written, the profound teachings he writes about he does so in a straightforward, easily understandable way. The process in which he teaches how to bring awareness to the four desires allowed me greater understanding of how to start living my best possible life.
To give you a taste of the book its essence discusses the four desires. The first is dharma, which is in simple terms is the drive to fulfill our potential; it is the inherent drive of every being to thrive. Dharma is also the impulse toward altruism, the inner longing, known or unknown, of every individual to add his or her unique luster to the gem of creation. The term dharma has many meanings, including “law,” “path,” “order,” and “virtue.” Each of these definitions helps to define dharma as the one desire that informs the other three desires. Dharma specifically places career and work as well as the other roles we play in the world, within a larger context of serving the universe of which we are a part.
The second desire is, artha, and it is for the means necessary to accomplish your dharma. In the most basic sense, artha refers to material resources, such as money, food, physical well-being, and a roof over our head, without which fulfilling our purpose would be difficult if not impossible. The particulars and the scope of what each of us will need to fulfill our drive for artha will vary from individual to individual, but all of us even monks, have some material needs. However, artha is not confined to material wealth or abundance. The desire for artha includes all the means necessary to fulfill your soul’s desire.
The third desire is, kama, and this is pleasure. Kama is often interpreted to mean “sensuality” or “lust,” but the deeper understanding of it that comes from the ancient tradition speaks of kama as the desire for pleasure of all kinds, including closeness and intimacy, beauty, family, art, and friendship, as well as sex. The truth is that the desire for pleasure is the motivation behind all actions. Anything and everything aspired to and achieved produces a feeling of pleasure. Thus, if it were not fro kama, few things, of value in this world would exist.
The fourth and final desire is, moksha, which is the longing for liberation, true freedom. It is the intrinsic desire to realize a state free from all boundaries, including the limitations of the other three desires. This desire has been the driving force behind the world’s spiritual traditions It is the longing to know the Eternal, that which is beyond all limitations, beyond the province of the five senses and even death. It is the impulse that compels us to seek out prayer, meditation, contemplation, surrender. The desire for moksha is the longing for lasting peace or to experience the sacred, whether it is found in church, temple, mosque, contemplative solitude, Nature, or self-inquiry. Fulfilling this desire gives us entry into the rarest and most sublime heights---heaven on earth.
I encourage all to read this fabulous book, Rod’s message is life changing.
THE TWELFTH INSIGHT
James Redfield is the author of The Celestine Prophecy, The Tenth Insight, The Celestine Vision and The Secret of Shambhala. He writes widely on the topic of human spiritual awareness.
The Twelfth Insight is a story about a spiritual adventure and the power of Synchronicity. The book for me was interesting, sometimes kind of quirky, a fast read and left me understanding our oneness at a deeper level. The sequencing between actions and the known beloved characters in the book sometimes seem to move unrealistically. But, overall delighted I read it and the premise of the book was one that was thought provoking, and I am hopeful realistic in our day and time.
James Redfield explores the similarities and differences that exist among the world religions, revealing the essential messages contained within them that can energize our experience of spirituality and produce a new wave of integrity and reform that can transform our lives and our world.
I give it a thumps up and suggest everyone to read it.
Let us all continue to open to love, to truth, to alignment and our premonitions that offer us Protection, guiding intuition and higher Agape relationships, and an opening to full perception.
THE SEVEN SPIRITUAL LAWS OF YOGA
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This nice, easy read discusses the seven spiritual laws of yoga, which are: the law of pure potentiality, the law of giving and receiving, the law of karma, the law of least effort, the law of intention and desire, the law of detachment and the law of dharma or purpose in life.
Deepak states that when adhered to and practiced mindfully, the yoga principles and techniques described can be the keys to unlocking your full creative potential, your capacity for love and compassion, and your ability to find success in all areas of life.
The authors also provide you with the tools for integrating these spiritual laws into ones daily life, including meditation techniques, mantras, breathing exercises, and carefully chosen, delightfully illustrated yoga poses.
For the experienced yogi this book may feel to elementary, but it gives a firm base for any practice and is a good resource to have on your book shelf.
FIERCE MEDICINE by ANA T. FORREST
Wow, well this book is powerful. Ana tells it all about her dysfunctional, abusive youth, her pain and struggle with bulimia. Through the practice of yoga and with increasing her spiritual awareness and with a lot of hard work at behavior change, she healed herself.
Forrest recounts recovered memories of being sexually abused, starved, and neglected as a child, as an adult, she struggled mightily with drugs, alcohol, bad relationships, and eating disorders.
Through yoga and her Native American spiritual practice, she turned her trip to hell and back into a journey of awakening.
I feel most of us have struggled at times in our life with difficult emotions and unhealthy behaviors. Ana’s personal story shows we can all find underneath the numbness a radiant heart.
Ana’s story was sometimes hard for me to read, but I am so glad I read her story and I found it truly inspiring. Hard reality, she proves even with suffering, even with the pain of the past you can still overcome these obstacles and find peace and experience radical healing.
Ana for the last 35 years has been helping others move beyond the past, reconnect with their bodies, cultivate balance, and assist her yoga students to start living in harmony with their Spirits.
Awake in the World
This is a short read, a very good read and I highly suggest it. Michael Stone is a teacher of yoga and Buddhist meditation and a psycho-therapist in private practice. He is the founder and director of the Centre of Gravity Sangha, a community of yoga and Buddhist practitioners based in Toronto, where he lives.
The book is a transcribed collection of his talks, between 2004 and 2010, which include lectures in academic settings, formal talks on retreats and weekly community meetings with Centre of Gravity Sangha in Toronto.
The long and short of my take on his book is that he relays yoga is a practice done everywhere, at all the times, off and on the mat. It is a way of life, a way of thinking and acting. It is how we bring each moment to our awareness, with a loving heart connected to Spirit, to be mindful at all times, trying to meet each moment has it happens.
I really enjoyed his style of writing and his beautiful message.
My most current book that I am reading and one that I have not yet completed, but feel confident in expressing my feelings about is:
WHITE LAMA
This book is a biography of the first great American yogi and it is full of the history of yoga and the introduction of yoga in America. I feel it is a must read for any serious yogi. Trust me you will enjoy reading about the amazing, richly detailed life of Theos.
Well my friends that is all for now, more book reviews to come in the future. If you have a book that has inspired you and you would like tell us about it, please send your review my way. I am happy to share and pass on your suggested read.
With Love and Peace,
Beth
