A guide to reconciling Buddhist spirituality with the American way of life addresses the challenges of spiritual living in the modern world and offers guidance for bringing a sense of the sacred to everyday experience.

     Did you know that yoga practice can help lower your blood pressure, decrease inflammation and prevent age-related brain changes? Recent scientific research now backs up what were once anecdotal claims about the benefits of yoga to every system in the body. Science of Yoga reveals the facts, with annotated artworks that show the mechanics, the angles, how your blood flow and respiration are affected, the key muscle and joint actions working below the surface of each pose, safe alignment and much more. With insight into variations on the poses and and a Q&A section that explores the science behind every aspect of yoga, look no further than Science of Yoga to achieve technical excellence in your practice and optimise the benefits of yoga to your body and mind.

    The Sanskrit text is written in 210 brief, cryptic verses whose meaning has long ago sunk into darkness; the many, confusing modern attempts to explain them bear little resemblance to each other, which is just a sign of how difficult this priceless little book can be. Geshe Michael Roach is an honors graduate of Princeton University and the first westerner in the 600-year history of Sera Mey Tibetan Monastery to be awarded the degree of Geshe, or Master of Buddhism. He is known for his business bestseller, The Diamond Cutter: The Buddha on Managing Your Business & Your Life. Using a database of almost half a million pages of ancient Asian literature, Geshe Michael has produced a fresh, clear, and immediately usable translation of the Yoga Sutra in the form of a wonderful novel about a young Tibetan woman who uses the wisdom to transform the corrupt world around her into a paradise on earth. How Yoga Works has been acclaimed as a must-read for anyone who does yoga and who wants to know what the Yoga Sutra really says. It is an especially popular reading for yoga teacher training courses throughout the world, and as a personal daily guide for spiritual inspiration.

    After he had a panic attack on live television, he went on a strange and circuitous journey that ultimately led him to become one of meditation’s most vocal public proponents.Here’s what he’s fixated on now: Science suggests that meditation can lower blood pressure, mitigate depression and anxiety, and literally rewire key parts of the brain, among numerous other benefits. And yet there are millions of people who want to meditate but aren’t actually practicing. What’s holding them back?In this guide to mindfulness and meditation for beginners and experienced meditators alike, Harris and his friend Jeff Warren, a masterful teacher and “Meditation MacGyver,” embark on a cross-country quest to tackle the myths, misconceptions, and self-deceptions that stop people from meditating. They rent a rock-star tour bus (whose previous occupants were Parliament Funkadelic) and travel across eighteen states, talking to scores of would-be meditators—including parents, military cadets, police officers, and even a few celebrities. They create a taxonomy of the most common issues (“I suck at this,” “I don’t have the time,” etc.) and offer up science-based life hacks to help people overcome them.The book is filled with game-changing and deeply practical meditation instructions. Amid it all unspools the strange and hilarious story of what happens when a congenitally sarcastic, type-A journalist and a groovy Canadian mystic embark on an epic road trip into America’s neurotic underbelly, as well as their own.

    Some practice Iyengar yoga, while others practice vinyasa or restorative yoga—almost all who practice yoga have touched something deep within themselves and had their lives transformed by this ancient practice. In Yoga and the Path of the Urban Mystic, Darren Main offers a fresh, down-to-earth approach to the time-tested practice and philosophy of yoga. He shows us the way to apply the ancient wisdom of India to every aspect of life. From work and relationships, to death and dying—allowing even our busiest days to become powerful and mystical adventures, filled with all the wonder and magic that was once reserved for those living as monks and nuns. This is not a book about perfecting yoga asanas or pranayama breathing techniques. It is a book about changing the way we see the world—transforming every experience and relationship into a yoga practice unto itself. Since teachers like Swami Vivakananda and Paramahansa Yogananda brought yoga to the West, yoga students and teachers alike have sought to integrate the practice and philosophy of yoga into modern life. Find out why this best-selling yoga book has been used in yoga teacher training programs the world over and has become a modern spiritual classic.

    When Dr. Benson introduced this approach to relieving stress over forty years ago, his book became an instant national bestseller. Since that time, millions of people have learned the secret—without high-priced lectures or prescription medicines. The Relaxation Response has become the classic reference recommended by most health care professionals and authorities to treat the harmful effects of stress and high blood pressure.Discovered by Dr. Benson and his colleagues in the laboratories of Harvard Medical School and its teaching hospitals, this revitalizing, therapeutic tack is now routinely recommended to treat patients suffering from stress, including heart conditions, high blood pressure, chronic pain, insomnia, and many other physical and psychological ailments. It requires only minutes to learn, and just ten minutes of practice a day.

    Each book is a showcase of the trademark DK style that marries instructive photographs with easy-to-rea

    With engaging candor, eloquence, and wit, Paramahansa Yogananda narrates the inspiring chronicle of his life: the experiences of his remarkable childhood, encounters with many saints and sages during his youthful search throughout India for an illumined teacher, ten years of training in the hermitage of a revered yoga master, and the thirty years that he lived and taught in America. Also recorded here are his meetings with Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Luther Burbank, the Catholic stigmatist Therese Neumann, and other celebrated spiritual personalities of East and West. Autobiography of a Yogi is at once a beautifully written account of an exceptional life and a profound introduction to the ancient science of Yoga and its time-honored tradition of meditation. The author clearly explains the subtle but definite laws behind both the ordinary events of everyday life and the extraordinary events commonly termed miracles. His absorbing life story thus becomes the background for a penetrating and unforgettable look at the ultimate mysteries of human existence. Considered a modern spiritual classic, the book has been translated into more than twenty languages and is widely used as a text and reference work in colleges and universities. A perennial bestseller since it was first published sixty years ago, Autobiography of a Yogi has found its way into the hearts of millions of readers around the world.

    Since it's first publication by the Bihar School of yoga in 1969 it has been reprinted thirteen times and translated into many languages. It is the main reference text used by Yoga teachers and students of Bihar Yoga/Satyananda Yoga within the International Yoga Movenet, and many other traditions as well.This comprehensive text provides clear illustrations. step by step directions and details of chakra awareness. It guides the practitioner or teacher from the simplest to the most advanced practices of hatha yoga system. A therapeutic index is provided for use by doctors and yoga therapists incorporating recent information from research into yoga. This edition successfully brings the exposition of yoga practices to the standard of a university text.

    It contains over 650 photos and multiple variations for every asana in the primary and intermediate series plus three short forms. Its spiral binding assures easy use while practicing and the hard cover increases durability.Dimensions:Overall Height - Top to Bottom: -0.75". Overall Width - Side to Side: -10.75". Overall Depth - Front to Back: -9.75". Overall Product Weight: -2.45 lbs.

    Tias Little is a master teacher, and he brings his precise instruction to the wisdom teachings and philosophy of hatha yoga. He offers us a guided tour of the body's structure and physical anatomy, then uses this new structural awareness as grounds for exploring the subtle body. In a meaningful and pragmatic way, the book maps the connection between the body and the rich symbolism that pervades the yogic imagination, including the chakras, nadis, and koshas. We come to see how the (yoga) body cannot be seen apart from the psycho-spiritual forces that animate it. Further, Tias offers readers clear, illuminated instruction for yoga, pranayama, and meditation techniques that apply these body-mind principles. This book is essential reading for all serious students and teachers of yoga.Each chapter focuses on one of the eight key energetic/anatomy centers of the body: feet/base, pelvis, sacrum, belly, diaphragm, heart/lungs, throat, and crown. The book is organized literally from the ground up, and figuratively from physically basic to conceptual/subtle. Each chapter has a list of poses for activating and applying the lessons, guided meditations, and excerpts from yogic texts. These practical exercises allow readers to immediately integrate the chapter's lessons into their practice.

    Compiled in the second or third century CE, the Yoga-Sutra is a road map of human consciousness—and a particularly helpful guide to the mind states one encounters in meditation, yoga, and other spiritual practices. It expresses the truths of the human condition with great eloquence: how we know what we know, why we suffer, and how we can discover the way out of suffering. Chip Hartranft's fresh translation and extensive, lucid commentary bring the text beautifully to life. He also provides useful auxiliary materials, including an afterword on the legacy of the Yoga-Sutra and its relevance for us today.

    Through Zen parables, guided meditations, and personal stories, he explodes traditional myths of how we live and die. Thich Nhat Hanh shows us a way to live a life unfettered by fear.

    And practiced regularly, it can strengthen the nervous system, balance the glandular system, and harness the energy of the mind and emotion as well as the body. While general yoga technique focuses on exercise postures and breathing, Kundalini takes yoga concepts a step further by integrating them into everyday life activities.This definitive guide, fully illustrated with photographs, is an accessible introduction to this ancient practice, with information on poses and positions, diet and lifestyle, breathing and stretching techniques, chanting and meditation exercises, and general guidelines that can help anyone--beginner or advanced--gain the greatest benefit from yogic practice.

    Her focus on perseverance and overcoming adversity transforms Namaslay into a powerful, motivational guide to help you live your most authentic life.With a distinct visual format, Namaslay guides readers step by step through more than 100 yoga poses. The poses are broken down by experience level into a series of progressions and include modifications for those who can't quite achieve the full expression of a pose just yet. Full-color photos and tips on overcoming common mistakes helps people get the most out of every pose. Namaslay also features three 30-day yoga programs that focus on: de-stress, core strengthening, and back pain. You will also find specific yoga sequences that are customized for everyone from the office dweller to the endurance athlete. Written with heart, humor, and swagger, Namaslay is a book for everyone, from beginners to advanced practitioners and even the simply curious. Namaslay’s high-quality, edgy yet beautiful photographs add an artful flair that puts it in a class of its own—as appropriate for a coffee table as a yoga studio!