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This is a book of funny and poignant autobiographic stories, as a yoga practitioner and teacher as well as a human being. The yoga stories include rooming with the world’s creepiest human at a yoga retreat, taking a session with the Yoga Nazi, adopting a dog under false pretenses, and battling the elements in Central American jungles. Other stories include making an ill-fated werewolf movie at age 11, dealing with a mob super in New York, and attending a horrifying toxic cookout in Massachusetts.

What is this book about?

The description calls it a book of funny and poignant autobiographical stories, written from the point of view of a yoga practitioner and teacher.

What topics does it cover?

The yoga stories include rooming with the world’s creepiest human at a yoga retreat, taking a session with the “Yoga Nazi”, adopting a dog under false pretenses and battling the elements in Central American jungles. Other stories involve an ill-fated werewolf movie at age 11, dealing with a mob super in New York and a horrifying cookout in Massachusetts.

Who wrote it?

The author named in the title is Rob Dinsmoor. The description does not call it a yoga manual, and it lists no poses or exercises.

This summary is based on the book description on the Amazon page.

What should I expect at a yoga retreat?

Retreats pack in more yoga and meditation than a weekly class, so prepare. A typical day mixes morning and evening practice with meals, rest and free time. Because it is a lot of exercise for someone who normally sits, ease in rather than doing everything: skip a session if your body is tired.

Injuries are the main hazard, and the NCCIH page on yoga says sprains and strains are the usual ones. Ask the organisers about the teachers’ training and class sizes, tell them about injuries and dietary needs, and drink enough water, especially in hot climates.

If you have a medical condition, take medicines or are pregnant, check with your doctor before booking.

More on this blog: A Short History of Yoga: From Ancient Texts to Hatha Classes and a Record Number of Americans and What Is Yoga?

Book: The Yoga Divas by Rob Dinsmoor
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This extraordinary book clearly outlines and discusses the methods for transforming both body and mind through the highest forms of tantric practice. Highest Yoga Tantra is the pinnacle of tantric systems found in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

– Part One discusses the practices common to sutra and tantra.

– Part Two presents the generation stage of Highest Yoga Tantra.

– Part Three covers the entirety of the completion stage yogas (i.e., physical isolation, verbal isolation, mental isolation, illusory body, clear light, and union).

– Part Four compares the Kalachakra and Guhyasamaja stages of completion.

What kind of book is Highest Yoga Tantra?

The description says it outlines and discusses methods for transforming body and mind through the highest forms of tantric practice. It describes Highest Yoga Tantra as the pinnacle of tantric systems in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

What will I learn from it?

The book has four parts: practices common to sutra and tantra, the generation stage of Highest Yoga Tantra, the whole of the completion stage yogas, and a comparison of the Kalachakra and Guhyasamaja stages of completion.

Who wrote it?

According to the title, the book is by Daniel Cozort.

This summary is based on the book description on the Amazon page.

How do tantric and mindfulness practices differ?

Words such as “tantra” cover different things in different traditions, and a short summary cannot do them justice. In Tibetan Buddhism the term refers to a body of advanced contemplative methods, learned within a lineage and usually after preparatory training.

By contrast, the mindfulness taught in clinics is a short, secular course. The NCCIH meditation page describes mindfulness-based stress reduction as teaching mindful meditation alongside discussion sessions and strategies for applying it to stress. Many techniques began in Eastern traditions, but the form and purpose differ between a monastery and a health program.

A reader should be wary of anyone promising dramatic physical or mental transformation. The same page says that few studies have examined potential harms, so a cautious, supervised approach makes sense. If you have a mental health condition or a history of trauma, talk with a clinician before intensive practice.

More on this blog: Where Did Yoga Come From? Its Meaning, Early Texts and What Scholars Can Say and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras: The Eight Limbs of Yoga Explained

Book: Highest Yoga Tantra by Daniel Cozort
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Spiritual power demands physical health and the contemporary Western practitioner can learn much from the ancient tradition of yoga. Yoga, meaning “union,” is a multi-dimensional discipline designed to help the individual attain health, serenity, focus, and, ultimately, union with the Divine. In the words of one master, Aleister Crowley, “Magick is a Pyramid built layer by layer. The work of the Body of Light-with the technique of Yoga, is the foundation of the whole.”
This succinct and uniquely helpful book explores the often-overlooked importance of bringing and maintaining a healthy body and a clear thinking mind to the practice of ceremonial magick or witchcraft. While many books on magick discuss the importance of ritual, few focus on the physical, spiritual, and moral qualities necessary to make those rituals effective.
“The physical body is the living temple of the Holy Spirit. A person who can’t sit in one position with comfort and quiet, who can’t breathe with evenness and regularity, who can’t temporarily still the mind of its many warring thoughts, who can’t channel powerful energies through the body because of ill health-will be hard-pressed to spiritually advance. This book will teach you do to every one of these things and more.”

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1 Minute Yoga™, written by R. Mohan and illustrated by Andrea Preda is a manual of exercises you can do at your convenience by harnessing your body rather than taking any stimulants or chemicals.

The exercises are easy to do either in a minute or some minutes each. It targets different parts of the body and based on your requirements you can do any of those particular exercises.

Who wrote it?

According to the description, it is written by R. Mohan and illustrated by Andrea Preda.

What does 1 Minute Yoga cover?

The description calls it a manual of exercises you can do at your convenience, using your own body rather than stimulants or chemicals.

Is it written for beginners?

The description calls the exercises “easy to do”.

What will I learn from it?

The exercises target different parts of the body, and you can choose the ones that match your requirements. Each takes a minute or a few minutes.

This summary is based on the book description on the Amazon page.

What counts as a break from sitting?

Movement breaks during a working day matter. The WHO physical activity fact sheet advises people of all ages to limit time spent sedentary and notes that some activity is better than none. A minute of stretching and slow breathing between tasks is a reasonable way to follow that.

Slow breathing is also a recognised relaxation technique. The NCCIH relaxation techniques page lists breathing exercises, such as slow, deep diaphragmatic breaths, among the practices that help bring about the body’s relaxation response. Try breathing in through the nose for a count of four, out for a count of six, and repeat for a minute.

Short stretches can be a pleasant pause, but they are not a substitute for medical treatment or regular exercise. If you have pain, dizziness or a medical condition, speak with a doctor before relying on any routine.

Related reading on this blog: A Ten-Minute Yoga Routine for Low-Energy Days: Six Simple Moves and What Is Yoga?

Book: 1 Minute Yoga by R. Mohan
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This DVD set is part of a greater project that is designed to aid the research in Traditional Thai Massage and find the ways to integrate it with other forms and modalities of bodywork and movement education.Disc #1 will guide you through the basic exercises of Thai Yoga Massage with narration. These 130 exercises give plenty of options for an energy balancing full body massage session. Performing all the exercises in one session aren’t called for but picking exercises mindfully based on receiver’s needs, will easily round up a 2 hour session.Disc #2 will give you an uninterrupted overview of each body position of Thai Yoga Massage. The sequences follow the basic structure of the energy balancing massage session but most likely not as a regular session would flow.The material on this DVD can be best used with the book of THE ART AND KNOWLEDGE OF THAI YOGA MASSAGE and with the beginner Thai Massage course offered by CenterPoint Shiatsu and Massage School in Minnesota, or with any training course in Thai Massage where supervision is available. The material IS NOT intended to be a “watch and do” type of thing.This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com’s standard return policy will apply.

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