• A contemporary classic by a world-renowned teacher. • This new edition adds thirty-two poems by Krishnamacharya that capture the essence of his teachings. Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, who lived to be over 100 years old, was one of the greatest yogis of the modern era. Elements of Krishnamacharya's teaching have become well known around the world through the work of B. K. S. Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, and Indra Devi, who all studied with Krishnamacharya. Krishnamacharya's son T. K. V. Desikachar lived and studied with his father all his life and now teaches the full spectrum of Krishnamacharya's yoga. Desikachar has based his method on Krishnamacharya's fundamental concept of viniyoga, which maintains that practices must be continually adapted to the individual's changing needs to achieve the maximum therapeutic value. In The Heart of Yoga Desikachar offers a distillation of his father's system as well as his own practical approach, which he describes as "a program for the spine at every level--physical, mental, and spiritual." This is the first yoga text to outline a step-by-step sequence for developing a complete practice according to the age-old principles of yoga. Desikachar discusses all the elements of yoga--poses and counterposes, conscious breathing, meditation, and philosophy--and shows how the yoga student may develop a practice tailored to his or her current state of health, age, occupation, and lifestyle. This is a revised edition of The Heart of Yoga.

    These tough realities are not given much attention by many people until midlife, when they become harder to avoid. Using a Buddhist text known as the Five Subjects for Frequent Recollection, Larry Rosenberg shows how intimacy with the realities of aging can actually be used as a means to liberation. When we become intimate with these inevitable aspects of life, he writes, we also become intimate with ourselves, with others, with the world—indeed with all things.

    

    Ideal for individuals and spiritual friends to use alone or with one another, "Inviting Silence" is a thoughtful primer on finding silence and a practical manual on meditation for seekers of every persuasion.

    The translation adheres closely to the original Japanese, with a clear style and extensive annotations. Book 1 presents translations of twenty-one chapters of Shobogenzo including Genjo-koan (The Realized Universe), Soku-shin-ze-butsu (Mind Here & Now is Buddha), Uji (Existence-Time), and Sansuigyo (The Sutra of Mountains & Water). Its several reference sections include a Chinese/English appendix of references to the Lotus Sutra, and an extensive Sanskrit glossary. 'At last I visited Zen Master Nyojo of Dai-byaku-ho mountain, and there I was able to complete the great task of a lifetime of practice. After that, at the beginning of the great Sung era of Shojo, I came home determined to spread the Dharma and to save living beings, it was as if a heavy burden had been placed on my shoulders....I will leave this record to people who learn in practice and are easy in the truth, so that they can know the right Dharma of the Buddha's lineage. This may be a true mission.'

    For years I stumbled around in a daze drinking stale, bitter coffee and grumbling “beans… beans…”. Thank Goodness I finally woke up to the world of coffee. By Immersing myself in the coffee world via reading every book I could find, visiting trade fairs, every high-end cafe I could find, and barista competitions, I realized that, while there is a huge amount of information out there free on the Internet and in artisan coffee shops, there was no single resource that connects all the dots and spells it all out for confused novice coffee drinkers.Until now.Fact: Making a great cup of coffee requires focus and commitment. This means that to make a billion dollar for-profit coffee franchise, you MUST find ways to cut corners and short change your customers.Fact: There are some GREAT coffee shops out there that care about coffee and customers and are worth every penny they charge, but they can be hard to identify, making it easy to just settle for familiar chain coffee.Fact: Making very good coffee is NOT THAT HARD. With a minimal investment in time and education you can make the best cup of coffee you’ve ever had in your life in the comfort of your own home. This book shows exactly why billion dollar for-profit coffee chains are inherently unable to produce coffee of the quality you can make in the kitchen.The Coffeeist Manifesto is half self-defense manual and half how-to instructional. By the end of it, any coffee beginner will have a foundational understanding of the coffee industry and know how to identify the good coffee shops from the bad ones. But most importantly, you’ll know how to beat them at their own game by making coffee at home that blows the cafes out of the water.Complete Table of Contents:PrefaceHow to Read This BookPart I -Coffee TheoryCoffeeists of the World, Unite!HistoryBarista's DilemmaCoffee MythsFour Keys to Killer CoffeeHome RoastingPart II - Brew MethodsCold BrewCoffee PotPress PotAeropressPour OverVacuum PotPart III - EspressoMoka PotMyPressi TwistEspresso VariationsPart IV - The Truth About Coffee ShopsCoffee Shop AppreciationThe RulesDecoding the MenuPart V - Going Beyond the BasicsThe Politics of CoffeeFrom Coffeeist to AficionadoAppendix - Green Coffee Extract

    His reply to the crowd: "A republic, if you can keep it." Now America's most respected governor explains just how close we've come to losing the republic, and how we can restore it to greatness.Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has been called "the most presidential man in America." He has brought more change to his state in a few years than most see in decades.During his tenure, Daniels turned a $700 million deficit into a billion dollar surplus, balanced Indiana's budget even during the recession, converted its once unattractive business climate into one of the strongest for private sector job growth.The Hoosier state is now a model of good and efficient governance. Its public sector payroll is now the smallest per capita in the nation. And yet services have improved across the board. Even its Bureau of Motor Vehicles -- the ultimate symbol of dysfunctional bureaucracy - has been rated the best in the country.Daniels has done this by focusing on government's core responsibilities, cutting taxes, empowering citizens, and performing what he calls an "old tribal ritual" - spending less money than his state takes in, while distinguishing between skepticism towards big government and hostility towards all government.Unfortunately few politicians have the discipline or courage to follow his lead. And worse, many assume that Americans are too intimidated, gullible or dim-witted to make wise decisions about their health care, mortgages, the education of their kids, and other important issues. The result has been a steady decline in freedom, as elite government experts -- "our benevolent betters," in Daniels' phrase -- try to regulate every aspect of our lives.Daniels bluntly calls our exploding national debt "a survival-level threat to the America we have known." He shows how our underperforming public schools have produced a workforce unprepared to compete with those of other countries and ignorant of the requirements of citizenship in a free society. He lays out the risk of greatly diminished long term prosperity and the loss of our position of world leadership. He warns that we may lose the uniquely American promise of upward mobility for all.But, the good news is that it's not too late to save America. However, real change can't be imposed from above. It has to be what he calls "change that believes in you" -- a belief that Americans, properly informed of the facts, will pull together to make the necessary changes and that they are best- equipped to make the decisions governing their own lives. As he puts it:"I urge great care not to drift into a loss of faith in the American people. We must never yield to the self-fulfilling despair that these problems are immutable, or insurmountable. Americans are still a people born to liberty. Addressed as free-born, autonomous men and women of God-given dignity, they will rise yet again to drive back a mortal enemy."

    

    You’ll be comforted and inspired by these miraculous stories about messages from heaven and love that doesn’t die.When our loved ones leave this world, our connection with them does not end. Their physical presence may be gone, but not their spirit. They send us signs from beyond, come to us in dreams, or deliver messages to us in a variety of surprising and heartwarming ways. You’ll find comfort and inspiration in these miraculous true accounts by ordinary people who have had extraordinary experiences. Read about answered prayers, divine messengers, guardian angels, premonitions, and unexplainable coincidences. This collection will comfort and inspire anyone who has lost a loved one. It will deepen your faith, renew your hope, and open your eyes to the miracles around you.

    The result is a vibrant introductory guide to studying Buddhist thought, applying its principles to everyday life, and gaining a deeper understanding of Buddhist themes in modern literature. Focusing on the most crucial topics for today’s readers, Wallis presents writings that address modern psychological, religious, ethical, and philosophical concerns. This practical, inspiring, and engaging volume provides an overview of the history of Buddhism and an illuminating analysis of the core writings that personalizes the suttas for each reader. “Glenn Wallis brings wisdom and compassion to this work of scholarship. Everyone should read this book.”–Christopher Queen, Harvard University“A valuable sourcebook with a good selection of the fundamental suttas enhanced by an eloquent introduction and comprehensive notes–altogether a very useful text.” –Peter Matthiessen (Roshi), author of The Snow Leopard and Nine-Headed Dragon River“Glenn Wallis’s new and accessible translations of some of the Buddha’s lectures to his original students, along with Wallis’s elegant guide to the texts, gives twenty-first-century readers in the modern West a fresh chance to learn from this teacher.”–Charles Hallisey, University of Wisconsin-Madison

    Having started out with ice cream van, he knows exactly how it can be done—and how to avoid the pitfalls along the way. In a series of clear and easy-to-follow chapters, Duncan removes the barriers to getting started as an entrepreneur, and helps to plan a way forward through those potentially difficult early days. He shows that there is no substitute for hard work, and insists that you must be completely honest with yourself about your own strengths and weaknesses if you are to succeed. He outlines the key attributes you will need and how you can develop them to achieve your dreams. Backed with fascinating examples from his own career and case studies from a wide range of other entrepreneurs, this book provides the perfect wake-up call for you to change your life for the better.

    This is why Professor Michael Puett says to his students, “The encounter with these ideas will change your life.” As one of them told his collaborator, author Christine Gross-Loh, “You can open yourself up to possibilities you never imagined were even possible.”These astonishing teachings emerged two thousand years ago through the work of a succession of Chinese scholars exploring how humans can improve themselves and their society. And what are these counterintuitive ideas? Good relationships come not from being sincere and authentic, but from the rituals we perform within them. Influence comes not from wielding power but from holding back. Excellence comes from what we choose to do, not our natural abilities. A good life emerges not from planning it out, but through training ourselves to respond well to small moments. Transformation comes not from looking within for a true self, but from creating conditions that produce new possibilities.In other words, The Path upends everything we are told about how to lead a good life. Above all, unlike most books on the subject, its most radical idea is that there is no path to follow in the first place—just a journey we create anew at every moment by seeing and doing things differently.Sometimes voices from the past can offer possibilities for thinking afresh about the future.A note from the publisher: To read relevant passages from the original works of Chinese philosophy, see our free ebook Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi: Selected Passages, available on Kindle, Nook, and the iBook Store and at Books.SimonandSchuster.com.

    Stephen Batchelor grew up outside London and came of age in the 1960s. Like other seekers of his time, instead of going to college he set off to explore the world. Settling in India, he eventually became a Buddhist monk in Dharamsala, the Tibetan capital-in-exile, and entered the inner circle of monks around the Dalai Lama. He later moved to a monastery in South Korea to pursue intensive training in Zen Buddhism. Yet the more Batchelor read about the Buddha, the more he came to believe that the way Buddhism was being taught and practiced was at odds with the actual teachings of the Buddha himself.  Charting his journey from hippie to monk to lay practitioner, teacher, and interpreter of Buddhist thought, Batchelor reconstructs the historical Buddha’s life, locating him within the social and political context of his world. In examining the ancient texts of the Pali Canon, the earliest record of the Buddha’s life and teachings, Batchelor argues that the Buddha was a man who looked at human life in a radically new way for his time, more interested in the question of how human beings should live in this world than in notions of karma and the afterlife.  According to Batchelor, the outlook of the Buddha was far removed from the piety and religiosity that has come to define much of Buddhism as we know it today.  Both controversial and deeply personal, Confession of a Buddhist Atheist is a fascinating exploration of a religion that continues to engage the West. Batchelor’s insightful, deeply knowledgeable, and persuasive account will be an essential book for anyone interested in Buddhism.

    

    A carefully chosen series of his instructions for concentration, meditation, magick, invocation, even sex magick are included. Crowley's descriptions of the teaching Orders A:.A:. and OTO are presented, along with the Creed of EGC. In addition, a suggested reading list of Crowley's "top-eleven" most important books is enhanced by an extensive bibliography for further in-depth research. This is the first and only introductory book that does not pretend to "improve" upon the Master's writings, but attempts to showcase them into a coherent introduction to his spiritual system. .A practicing occultist whose mastery of western magick and eastern mysticism was unsurpassed by any of his contemporaries, and who continues to be an icon for many of today's practicing magicians..The founder and prophet of the new religious movement of Thelema, best known by its oft-misunderstood catchphrase, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.".A prolific poet whose Collected Works, by age thirty, filled three volumes, and whose last published work, Olla, was subtitled Sixty Years of Song..A maverick mountaineer whose numerous innovations and world records in the sport are acknowledged by even his most vocal critics..An adventurer whose exploits in the far east were serialized by Vanity Fair magazine as "A Burmese River.".An impresario who took the violin troupe, the Ragged Ragtime Girls, on a tour of Russia..A British secret agent who marshaled his literary and occult connections to the service of his country, including (reputedly) the invention of the "V for Victory" sign as a magical antidote to the swastika..A ranked chess master who could trounce many players without even looking at the chess board..A pioneering entheogenic explorer who conducted psychedelic experiments with mescaline..Producer and star of The Rites of Eleusis, a series of ritualistic plays featuring an innovative blend of magick, drama, music and poetry. .One of the most unjustly vilified men in the history of journalism, garnering headlines like "The Wickedest Man in the World" and "A Man We'd Like To Hang."More mistruth and rumor has circulated about Aleister Crowley than perhaps any other figure in recent history. When the reporter Henry Hall introduced him to readers of the New York World Sunday Magazine, he wrote, "Some said that he was a man of real attainments, others that he was a faker. All agreed that he was extraordinary." Crowley openly defied social conventions, challenging people to examine what they really believed, and why they believed it. He confronted blind faith with rational skepticism. Yet he likewise challenged the skeptic with scientific illuminism, a systematic approach to spirituality that he described as "The method of science, the aim of religion."