You can also view some of my other favorite books listed on my website at this link:

True Yoga Reading List

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After hearing Blair Lewis, PA, speak last weekend at Om Life Yoga, I began reading his book. This is one I must share with you. He brings a modern-day approach to living a healthy, well-balanced and happy life, through incorporating the age-old teachings of Yoga and Meditation. The more we study these ancient teachings, the more we realize they are actually not ancient at all. The teachings of Yoga and Meditation are so prevelant today, because, they are powerful and they work. They teach us that our mind is the most powerful tool we have within us for transforming the state of our Being physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Through learning to focus and control our mind, it is possible to positively affect the state of our health and well-Being.

Here is an excerpt from this awesome book...

"My initial definition of happiness had been freedom from emotional pain, loneliness, and social awkwardness-it was a moving, getting away-from notion-an anything-but-this-would-be-fine strategy. Happiness was freedom, travel, love, sensual pleasure, food, music, etc. All of these forms of happiness invariably failed. They were not long-lasting. They did not cure that inner sense of emptiness-that gut-wrenching bellyache of loneliness.

Happiness is our essential nature. It is not created but rather revealed. You cannot increase the quantity of happiness. It is like the quiet of the early morning-when noise is eliminated, quietness reveals itself.

In my life, I have found multiple levels of "noise" that obliterate happiness. There are foods in our diet that make the body and mind too restless for happiness to be experienced. There is pain and tension throughout the body that barricades happiness deep inside us. There can be relentless train of thoughts and feelings that prevent the presence of happiness from any and all detection. To be happy requires a proper diet, a body that is comfortable and calm, and most importantly, a mind that is sturdy and stable."

Mr. Lewis simply and beautifully explains how to begin to access this infinite Happiness that lies within our Being, and for many of us, is often dormant. He also gives incredible relaxation practices and techniques for helping the reader to cultivate peace in their Body, Mind and Spirit. I've begun to practice some of these techniques and they work incredibly. I encourage you to read this book and allow your essential and ever-present happiness to be revealed.

You can purchase this book through Amazon.com by clicking on the image below:

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"The Bible of Modern Yoga"

Meaning, a book you will study from and learn from throughout your journey of Yoga and life. This is an incredible book that never grows old. I visit it often to grow deeper in my practice of Yoga and its teachings. B.K.S. Iyengar is one of the World's Foremost Teachers on Yoga. He also published a recent book called "Light on Life" which I am currently reading. Light on Yoga, however, gives you a description of the most well-known Yoga poses and their benefits. It also gives a tremendous background on the philosophical teachings of Yoga. Much I have learned about Yoga, has come from reading this book. I will share a few lines from one of my favorite parts of this book which is a poem called, Song of the Soul, about awakening to the eternal Bliss which is within us all...

"I am neither ego nor reason, I am neither mind nor thought,
I cannot be heard nor cast into words, nor by smell nor sight ever caught:
In light and wind I am not found, nor yet in earth and sky-
Consciousness and joy incarnate, Bliss of the Blissful am I...

I cast aside hatred and passion, I conquered delusion and greed;
No touch of pride caressed me, so envy never did breed:
Beyond all faiths, past reach of wealth, past feedom, past desire,
Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss is my attire...

Neither knowable, knowledge, nor knower am I, formless is my form,
I dwell within the senses but they are not my home:
Ever serenely balanced, I am neither free nor bound-
Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss is where I am found."

Click on the image below to purchase this book directly through Amazon.com:

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Translated by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood

The most popular book in Hindu religious literature; the Gospel, one may say, of India. It has profoundly influenced the spiritual, cultural, intellectual and political life of the country throughout the centuries, and it continues to do so today. Every westerner should study it if he wants to understand the mental processes of India's thinkers and leaders. The date of the Gita is generally placed by scholars somewhere between the fifth and second centuries, B.C. Here are a few lines from this masterpiece...

"When can a man be said to have achieved union with Brahman? (God) When his mind is under perfect control and freed from all desires, so that he becomes absorbed in the Atman (Individual and Universal Spirit), and nothing else. "The light of a lamp does not flicker in a windless place": that is the simile which describes a yogi of one-pointed mind, who meditates upon the Atman. When, through the practice of yoga, the mind ceases its restless movements, and becomes still, he realizes the Atman. It satisfies him entirely. Then he knows that infinite happiness which can be realized by the purified heart but is beyond the grasp of the senses. He stands firm in this realization. Because of it, he can never again wander from the inmost truth of his being.

Now that he holds it
He knows this treasure
Above all others:
Faith so certain
Shall never be shaken
By heaviest sorrow.

To achieve this certainty is to know the real meaning of the word yoga. It is the breaking of contact with pain."

I recently began reading the Bhagavad-Gita during a very difficult transition in my life. I went through moments of great fear and uncertainty as I allowed myself to let go of the old and certain path I was on to awaken to a new and uncertain path full of enrichment and growth. This book has been one of the greatest supports throughout this time. I have found great comfort in the words and wisdom of the Bhagavad-Gita and it has helped me to find security and confidence within myself in the moments when I've felt more insecure than any other time I can remember. Here are a few more lines:

"The man of faith,
Whose heart is devoted,
Whose senses are mastered:
He finds Brahman. (God)
Enlightened, he passes
At once to the highest,
The peace beyond passion."

Click the image below to purchase the Bhagavad-Gita directly from Amazon.com:
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"A rare Account" - The New York Times
This book is available at Amazon.com by clicking here:

"There has been nothing before, written in English or in any other European language, like this presentation of Yoga." - Columbia University Press

"I join with Autobiography of a Yogi's millions of readers in all parts of the world in celebrating the glorious and timeless message of this spiritual and literary classic...The book is truly an ambassador of light, illuminating the eternal ideas that have ever been our surest guide on the path of life. It is those high and noble ideals that have helped humanity thus far to survive in this mysterious universe, and that will lead us rightly in the coming millennium." - Dr. Robert Muller, Former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General, Chancellor, UN University of Peace, Costa Rica

Autobiography of a Yogi is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read... Though, I originally picked it up over three years ago, I finally finished in October of 2005. Paramahansa Yogananda was one of the most incredible Yogi's who has ever walked the planet and is greatly responsible for bringing the teachings of Yoga to the Western World. In this book, he recounts his many miraculous experiences in his faithful walk with the Divine throughout his lifetime, which spanned the years from 1893 until his passing in 1952. This book awakened and solidified the belief in me that there is so much more than meets the eye. If we allow ourselves to see beyond the Maya, or illusions of life, we can experience the miraculous and Divine in our everyday existence. This book will open up your eyes and heart and awaken you to what is possible.

The following is an excerpt from the book:

"In 1977, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the passing of Paramahansa Yogananada, the Government of India issued this commemorative stamp in his honor. With the stamp, the government published a descriptive leaflet, which read, in part:

The ideal of love for God and service to humanity found full expression in the life of Paramahansa Yogananda. ...Though the major part of his life was spent outside of India, still he takes his place among our great saints. His work continues to grow and shine ever more brightly, drawing people everywhere on the path of the pilgrimage of the Spirit."

If you love Yoga, this is definitely a book to put on your list as a must read and when the time is right, it will find its way into your hands. Click the image below to purchase this book directly through Amazon.com. Read more

Though I grew up as a Christian, it was actually when I began practicing Yoga four years ago that I became inspired to read the Bible. I had a Yoga teacher who would often tell us a story of having struggled with severe depression, so badly she spent almost a year in bed. Broke and with no where else to turn, she opened up her Bible one day and allowed it to randomly fall open. The passage she read were the words spoken by Jesus to his disciples about the Mustard Seed...

"Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." -Mathew 17:20

It was this passage that turned her life around and awakened the faith and belief in her that she could overcome her battle with depression, which she did, eventually opening up and developing one of the most successful Yoga studios in Dallas.

Perhaps her story has resonated with me so much because, I too, have struggled with depression off and on over the past four years of my life. However, it has been the teachigs of Yoga and the New Testament that have supported me in dealing with and healing my bouts of depression. Most of all, the New Testament has awakened the faith within me that I can truly realize anything I envision. It has been a tremendous source of empowerment and the most grounding and solid foundation in my life. It's the guide post, the lighthouse in the often dark sky. It is the mirror that reminds me of the truth of who and what I am. The truth that I am a child of God, a God Force who is both within me and around me all the time, and with this Force anything is possible.

Regardless of your faith, I encourage you to read the New Testament of the Bible like a True Yogi, with an open heart and an open mind. When we are truly practicing Yoga, we realize there is nothing to fear and that we can be open to learning about all faiths and religions. And, it is within this openness that we are awakened to a greater understanding and connection to our own personal faith, Creator and spiritual practice.Read more