Advanced Yoga Practices: Easy Lessons for Ecstatic Living

This is a wonderful book that answers tons of questions about the practice of yoga and spiritual development.
The author prefers to remain anonymous and calls himself Yogani. The beauty about this writer is that he takes the mystery out of a lot of questions that arise when you are a serious yogi, giving answers in plain English, and dispensing with a lot of the evasiveness that I find a lot of teachers "specialize" in.

The book is so popular that there are AYP internet forums where yogis chat about their yoga experiences. You can also read parts of the book online.

http://www.aypsite.com/

It is such a extensive resource and we have the brilliant Yogani to thank for it.

The AYP book is a hefty volume, and is available in paperback at Amazon.com or at your local New Age-y bookstore. Yogani has also written some other books on meditation, Kundalini etc...

JAI Yogani !!

Flower Essences

I dont know if anyone is into using flower essences for healing and balancing your bioenergetic system, but if you are, I can recommend the Green Hope Farm in New Hampshire -- and if you can, ask for their catalogue... it's amazing !!

The folks at Green Hope Farm are full of information and present their work honestly and with spiritual purpose.

They even have healing essences for pets !


www.greenhopeessences.com

Book : The Way We Eat : Why our food choices matter By Peter Singer

Peter Singer is a Professor of Ethics at Princeton. He wrote an article in today's NYT about how people give to help others -- be it cash to charities or directly to a person in need, or how one might have to sacrifice a pair of good shoes to physically reach a person who is drowning in mud. How much is a life worth ? Is a life in the US worth more than a life in the poorest ghetto in Bangladesh ? He goes into motivation and a lot of other interesting thoughts on sharing ...

But he also wrote this book ..... and it deals with the ethics of our food industry. it is not a book about vegetarianism, it is a book that discusses how our food chain is affected by the economic profitability margins of the mega-conglomerate food companies -- from spinach to Thanksgiving turkeys -- how the food industry works hard to keep consumers ignorant about what really goes on and how they twist the wording on food labels and use legal loopholes to mislead consumers into believing that what they are buying is "organic" or "free range" -- when it is far from it.

He also discusses how huge retailers (McDonalds, Wal-Mart) control prices and force producers into less than desireable decisions. How the industry has applied factory processing principals to livestock -- regardless of the fact that they are living, sentient creatures.

Anyway, if you are interested in what you are eating, read this book .

Available at Amazon. com

Winter Solstice Meditation by Diksha

I love Diksha's meditation. She leads this meditation every Wed evening. I try to go as often as I can. and I LOVE her meditation den ! it is so small and cute and at the same time sooo exotic and spiritual. Wear comfortable, loose or stretchy clothes since you will be sitting for the meditation.

As a Fulbright scholar, Diksha spent quite a few years in India studying Eastern Music. She is a professional musician and teacher by day, and a yoga and meditation teacher the rest of the time! JAI Diksha!

Wednesday December 20, 7pm-9pm

the Meditation Den
415 West 44th Street NYC
(Please buzz #8 )

Evening's Program will include:
Sacred Mantras ,Chants and Affirmations
Special Guided Antar Nada Meditation
Musical Sharings
Refreshments

$15 suggested donation

Wayne Dyer's Guru, Siva Baba will be doing a New Year's Eve weekend of meditation, satsang and darshan on Long Island ! If you are feeling like treating yourself for the New Year, this could be it !

Guru Siva Baba comes to NYC quite frequently-- he actually lives in Ohio. I have been to a few of his meditations and talks. His "thing" is that he helps you work on improving your karma so that you can become rich --- and then it is your duty to find a way to help others with your wealth.

It worked for Wayne Dyer, right ?

The New Year's weekend is kind of expensive (for me) -- but keep your eye on his website because occasionally he has a meeting in a church and it is generally much more affordable.

Siva Baba has a PhD and has been a university professor in the Mid West for many years. He is educated and he speaks English very well.

You can check out his website and read about him.

http://www.sivababa.org/Events/calendar.asp

Kirtan/Sacred Music CDs from Shri Rama Publishing are dedicated to supporting homeless children in India.

The proceeds from your purchase goes to support 50 orphans, a medical center and Montisori style school.

I own the Murali Krishna CD and it is one of my favorites ! : ) (really !! - I listened to it last night before bedtime)

You'll recognize many of the mantras and it's easy to sing along ! Or it's great to just play as background music at home -- you'll find it does a marvelous job of relaxing your mind and raising the vibration in your home.

So, if you're looking for ideas for Christmas presents, why not give something that spreads cheer and peace to your friends and helps support an orphanage in India as well ! It's one of those multi layered actions-of-Grace things that snowballs and keeps on growing and helping....

Check out the website:
http://www.bookmasters.com/srirama/index.html

I hope some of you made it to the Chod healing ceremony this past weekend.

Hey, if any of you feel inclined, feel free to leave a comment ! I love hearing from you all !!

Cheap Yoga Classes :

Special promotion for yoga class at YogaWorks. 2 weeks of yoga for $25. Here's the link :http://www.yogaworks.com/newyork/promo.asp
I think that YogaWorks does vinyasa style yoga.

Some Like It HOT Yoga 206 East 63rd Street tel: 646 840-0108
Introductory Special : 1 unlimited yoga class for 7 days for $35.00
www.somelikeithotyoga.com
This studio only teaches "hot yoga", Bikram or Power Vinyasa. These are strenous yoga practices. Also, the hot yoga and Bikram are done in a room heated to about 100 degrees to make you sweat. This is not a recommended yoga style for you if you suffer from high blood pressure.

So take this opportunity to try out different styles of yoga. Even if you dont like it, it is an education and you will pick up some extra tips along the way. I am a firm believer in trying out everything, that way you learn what really works for you.

Tibetan Chod Healing Ceremony

Dungse Rigdzin Dorje Rinpoche

Sat Dec 9 and Sun Dec 10 2 sessions per day : 4pm -545PM & 545PM -730PM
598 Bway, NYC

$195 suggested donation. Pay what you can.

Bring blanket and pillow as you will be lying on the floor for the session. It is recommended that you attend both days (all 4 sessions) as the whole healing is done in 4 parts.

All you have to do is lie on the floor, and relax as the monks chant their healing chants over you. There will be a brief explanation before the sessions.

Contact: Moke Mokotoff 212 741 4443
www.zandokpalri.org

Anusara Yoga

Check out Kristina's website www.yogafly.com

Kristina Lanuza is my lovely, amazing friend and fellow yoga teacher.

Her website has amazing links and tons of great information ! Look for her teaching schedule (she teaches somewhere everyday !!! ) and try to participate in one of her classes. I've heard she breaks out in song in the middle of teaching !

And you may recognize her from Kirtan --- she has an angelic voice and she sings with Kamaniya and many other Kirtan artists. She even has her own CD !

Soooo much talent in one tiny package.

Namaste

Next time you take a shower think about this....

There are many ways to work Ahimsa (non-violence) into your life... it is just a matter of being aware and mindful of your everyday choices and allowing yourself to always be guided by compassion . It's a whole new way to think about what you do !!

One of the ways is to be aware of the cosmetics you use... the mega-corporations are famous for the cruel testing of their chemical preservative laden products on live animals. There are other cosmetic companies that purposely avoid that. Read the labels on your cosmetics, shampoos, bath soaps etc. to check for the "no animal testing" logo which is a little rabbit or a green paw print. An easy place to find these cosmetics is your local health food store.

In response to political pressure, some of the larger cosmetic companies make claims that they no longer use or have reduced animal testing. Do some research and see which companies are "Cruelty Free".

Here are a few companies to get you started:

Avon is supposedly the first of the major cosmetic companies that stopped animal testing to become "Cruelty Free".

The Body Shop was founded on the principle of having "Cruelty Free" cosmetics and skin care.

Philosophy cosmetics (available at Sephora) says it makes a point to only test their products on human beings.

Another hot and trendy company that refuses animal testing has a new boutique on 7th Avenue and 20th Street. It is called Malin+Goetz. Their special line of cosmetics and fragrances run the gamut from shampoo and conditioner to perfumed candles. It's modern, new, fresh and trendy. Just like us ! : )

Hari OM

Hi
If you want to extend your Thanksgiving celebrations get over to Sivananda Yoga on W. 24th St on Sunday. They are having a satsang followed by a Thanksgiving meal (veggie).
price : by donation .

Upcoming events :

Wed Dec 6 Satsang with Joan Suval at 7pm . by donation
Fri Dec 8 Kirtan with Kamaniya* at IYI at 8pm - $10 suggested donation

*FYI - This will be your last chance to chant with Kamaniya for a few months because she is taking off to work on recording her own CD !! Yes ! we have all been begging her to make a CD and now our wish is about to materialize. Cant wait !!

Sat Dec 16 OM Fiesta 7:30 pm Integral Yoga Institute $15 Per person suggested donation
This is a special event where a large group (you too) will chant a "rolling OM" . It is very powerful. I love it and I often wish I could do it in my own class but you need to have 25+ students to have it work. the more people who show up for this, the better it will be.

Special promotion for yoga class at YogaWorks. 2 weeks of yoga for $25. Here's the link :

http://www.yogaworks.com/newyork/promo.asp

Thanksgiving Recipe ....

Thanksgiving time is here already !!! I was sort of thinking about posting some recipes on my blog, but thought maybe that would be just toooo hokey .... but lo and behold, I was reading an article about Thanksgiving ( pointing out that due to the spike in homicides during the holiday season, knives and family ought not to mix) by the celebrity chef and author Anthony Bourdain and he gave out my favorite cranberry relish recipe in his own inimitable way.

So here it is, from the keyboard of Chef Anthony Bourdain :

"Some final suggestions: If you're tired of canned cranberry sauce and want to do better; simply throw a lot of raw, uncooked cranberries into a food processor — with a few chunks of unpeeled orange and a fistful of sugar. Chop the hell out of all of it and serve. Delicious cranberry relish. Even a chimp could make it."

There you go. It's easy and truly delicious. I often make it on a Friday night and eat it for breakfast on the weekends. Full of vitamin C. To be honest, if it's in the fridge, I snack on it all weekend.

Here are my culinary tips : make it the day before to allow the flavors and sugar to blend. Dont use too much sugar as the sweetness accelerates with time. Also, you could throw a chopped apple in the food processor too.

Oh, and Chef Bourdain forgot to mention -- wash everything before you throw it all in the food processor. But I guess you knew that.

Try this recipe out. I think you'll love it.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving !!

Fast Food Nation

Remember Ahimsa ?

This is the principle behind vegetarianism -- Ahimsa means "non-violence" or "do no harm".

I had sent around an email before explaining this but just to re-cap, "violence" translates to ANY harm done to another living thing --- if you break a branch off a tree, if you say nasty, cutting things to your friend, if you cheat someone in business, if you are disloyal to your spouse, if you take advantage of someone .... these things all do harm/violence to another. And clearly, killing an animal or a bug or a human is raw violence.

Anyway, here's the point : go see the movie "Fast Food Nation" this weekend .

Yogis promote vegetarianism as a healthful and peaceful way of life. If you are trying to follow a spiritual path, vegetarianism definately helps you along. I am not pushing you to be a vegetarian. It is totally up to you and you can still come to yoga class. But the fact is, that we in the Western world, do not relate to exactly what is on our fork because we are totally ignorant and disconnected as to how that food got on our plate (from spinach to porkchops).

So go see this movie at least for the educational value of learning something about the food industry. ( I dont think this is a movie for young children though). And keep in mind that yogis say that you are what you eat, and that you should respect your body by only eating food that is fresh, pure and healthful. (Satvic)

Let me know what you think.

OM

Vegetarian restaurants

Here are another 2 vegetarian restaurants you can try. They are vegan (no animal products at all = no meat, no eggs, no dairy). The point is, try these places out -- see how fabulously delicious and exciting vegetarian eating can be, and then you can think about working more "meat-free" meals into your routine.


Angelica's is a pretty place, even though they call it a "kitchen".

Angelica's Kitchen 300 E 12th Street NYC (between 1st and 2nd Ave)
212 228-2909

www.angelicakitchen.com

Then you can go hang out in the East Village.

My lovely friend Kamaniya (you know her as the Kirtan Godess ) recommends the Wild Ginger Cafe at 380 Broome St ( Btwn Mott and Mulberry Street - in the Chinatown area)
(212) 966-1883 . Kamaniya says the Pan-Asian cuisine is delicious !

www.wildgingernyc.com


This is all so cool. I love New York.

The Universe's Plan for You

I copied this from the Daily OM (www.dailyom.com) for you to read and be inspired.
It boils down to do your best and things will fall into place for you ! It's all going to be OK.


November 9, 2006
Cosmic Support
The Universe's Plan For You

The path that speeds us toward our dreams can be a challenging and complex one, so it's easy to get bogged down in confusion and insecurities. We often hesitate at the start of that path, questioning our purpose or our capabilities. Yet we should be moving forward joyously, eager to discover what destiny has in store for us.

The universe has plans for us that eclipse anything we have dreamed of thus far. Though we must work diligently to fulfill our potential and to accomplish our individual missions, the universe is aware of both the quests we chose before birth and the goals we have formulated in adulthood. If we accept that it us watching over us and believe that it will facilitate our eventual success, the universe will provide us with the assistance and opportunities that enable us to make significant progress on our journeys of ambition. Nothing happens without a purpose. Whether we attract success or repel it depends on our willingness to stay open to a wide range of possibilities and to embrace concepts like synchronicity.

The universe is always ready to care for our needs, but we must not write off its loving attention as mere circumstance or chance. Likewise, we must endeavor to ensure that our egos do not become a barrier that prevents us from recognizing that even perceived mistakes and strife can be profound lessons that smooth the progress of personal evolution. When we understand that we only need to enthusiastically try our best to realize our objectives, the universe will take care of the details, propelling us forward in its unstoppable current. We may not always immediately understand the significance of certain experiences, but our trust will help us choose wisely at each crossroads.

The universe wants to see you accomplish your goals. No matter how long you've dallied or hesitated, it will always be there to put its plan for you in motion at the first sign of your faith. You can make the most of this aid by acquiescing to it rather than fighting it-nurture your dreams but do not attempt to micromanage every detail along the way.

The universe will provide you with guidance and, if you heed that guidance, you will find your formerly stressful quest for success will become a journey of great joy.

Things to do this weekend Nov 11-12

Rubin Museum of Art 150 W 17th St. -- New exhibition on Mongolian art, also exhibition of early Sikh devotional art.

Saturday Nov 11 7pm Iyengar Yoga 120 West 22nd St. 2005 Film : "Live! Light on Life" - part of the membership drive. Price not listed. call: 212 691-9642

Sun Nov 12 OM Yoga 826 Bway 6th Floor . 212 254 9642
Workshop and Kirtan with Krishna Das $45 (in advance)
Worshop 2PM Kirtan 7PM

N.I.C.E. film festival in Tribeca. New Italian filmakers show their films. $10. check it out at www.tribecacinemas.com . At the end of the film, you get to hear the film directors/producers talk about their films and the audiences get to vote for the best film.

me? I will be teaching yoga at a children's charity event in Chinatown on Saturday.

Yoga Passbook

People ask me a lot about the Yoga Passbook. The deal is that you get 320 passes to 120 yoga, dance, pilates etc studios around NYC. there is a one time fee of $75. You get 2 passes for each studio. I kind of approximated that to 30 cents per class !

You can go to the web site and look at the list of participating studios before you sign up.

Hope y'all enjoy it.

For more information call 212 808-0765
or www.health-fitness.org

Charitable hearts ....

I am fascinated by all the ways people find to give and help others. Some people write a check. Could be a very generous check. Some people wander around at night in the freezing cold looking for homeless people to offer them coats. There are so many different ways. One yogi artist I know used to help low income people grow community gardens on the Lower East Side.

The best ways I find are the places where people help one set of people which snowballs into helping and educating another set of people, and another set and another set.... and so it grows.

Anyway, the point to this is that I am starting to collect stories on all the ways, large and small that people find to help. if you have any stories, you are welcome to let me know and I will post it. Maybe in the end, it will inspire one of us to have a good idea !

One of my favorite stories of someone who could not turn her back is about a gynocologist from Australia who went to visit Africa and saw the intense physical and social suffering of so many young African women that she left her home and started a gynecological surgery clinic in Africa. She had no money, no funding but she couldnt ignore all these girls whose lives were being destroyed by ignorance and lack of access to a very simple surgical procedure.

I will look for the link to this lady and her clinic and I will post it later.

A Yogi Dentist ! !

My friend (and yoga teacher extraordinaire) Kristina, told me about this dentist -- and he's a long time yoga teacher !!!

I met him today and got x-rays and my teeth cleaned and all is well ! He is lovely and friendly and calm. He plays soft jazz music in the background (But I hear he plays mantra CDs too).

So if you are in need of a good dentist in mid-town Manhattan, you can try Dr. Paul Friedman on East 55th Street.

Here's his website : www.yogidentist.com

And here is a link to Kristina, just FYI : www.yogafly.com (you can hear her magical chanting !)

Nina Planck is a remarkable woman who has championed "real food " -- the way food was prepared and grown before the days of industrialized food production. You know, food in its natural state , free from industrial interference, hormones, pesticides etc etc. Even the meats come from free range, grass fed animals.

To this end, she has organized Real Food Markets --- farmer's markets which sell food made/grown by local farmers, artisans and purveyors of traditional foods. The foods come from the North East states.

There are 2 locations in NYC. One in Soho and the other in Greenwich Village. Weekends only.

Here is the link to learn more : www.realfood.info

This is very cool stuff. Very yogic too. It is what the yogis call "satvic" = "pure" food that is natural, wholesome and promotes good health, joyousness, calm attitude and peacefulness. Satvic foods enhance your meditation practice.

OM

For all you who would like to try a vegetarian meal, there are quite a few nice restaurants around town, everything from vegan to macrobiotic. If you are thinking you might like to try vegetarianism, but think it is too boring or too much trouble, eating out at veggie restaurants is a good way to get inspired. You get to try delicious foods, prepared in innovative ways and you can gradually see that living veggie does not mean deprivation !!!

Here are just a couple of suggestions:

Souen 28 East 13th St (by University Place) 212 627-7150

Jivamuck Tea 841 Bway / upstairs (13th St) 212 353-2487 - this is a casual cafe in the new Jivamukti Yoga Studio. You can go there for a smoothie, a cup of tea or a whole delicious meal. ( I had their vegan lentil soup there recently and it was yummy!)

Lots to do This Weekend in New York City !!! Nov 4-5 , 2006

At Integral Yoga --W 13th Street
Saturday Nov 4 at 7PM Kirtan with WAH! $20-$25

At Tibet House --22 West 15th St
Friday Nov 3 at 7PM Lama Surya Das "Spontaneous Meditation" $15
Saturday Nov 4 10AM - 5PM "Spontaneous Meditation" $95

The Second Festival of Universal Sacred Music
Saturday & Sunday, November 4 - 5 at The Merkin Concert Hall, NYC
Roop Verma will be playing. He is a well reknowned sitar player and teacher.

At Sivananda Yoga 243 W. 24th Street
212 255-4560
Saturday & Sunday November 4th-5th

Ven. Tenzin Yignyen was ordained as a monk by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, and entered Namgyal Monastery in Dharmsala, India in 1969. In1985 he received the monastery's highest degree, "Master of Sutra and Tantra" with highest honor.A mandala is a cosmic diagram that represents the dwelling place or celestial mansion of a deity. Both the deity, who reside in the mandala and the mandala itself are recognized as pure expressions of Buddha's fully enlightened mind.

Saturday, November 4, 12:15pm workshop:Tibetan Painting: The Sand Mandala
Sunday, November 5, 6:45pm (price ??? unlisted )


I did not see a price listed, so I suspect it might be by donation. I have gone to Tibetan monk events before in various places, including the Sand Mandala at the Asia Society, and they are always educational and peaceful. The money you spend will be donated to support their monasteries in Tibet and India (many escaped to India to avoid persecution and death in Tibet).
The monasteries often double as orphanages for young children.

The sand mandala itself is a work of art of extraordinary detail and workmanship. And then they sweep it away..... as everything in life is unreal (temporary). So it is worth going to see them working on a mandala.

Hope you enjoy the weekend !!

I came across a blog today by a Veterinarian. I reprint her story here so that we can all learn how to best take care of our pets. A silly, preventable mistake cost one small cat her life.


A little kitten came in the other night - the owner had accidentally put her dog's flea product on the kitten. The kitten was starting to have tremors. This is something we see with some frequency. These are products bought over the counter, and they have an insecticide called permethrin in them. This is a product that is generally well-tolerated by dogs. However, cats are not small dogs, and cats do NOT tolerate this medication - they are much more sensitive to it.

Some people accidentally put the dog tube on the cat, some people actually think well, just a little should be ok, and try it on the cat. I've even had people figure that since it was bought over the counter, it should be safe, and they've put the whole large dog tube on a cat. The more the cat gets, the bigger the problem.

The ironic thing is, there are products available that are much safer and in my experience work a lot better. (Most of the cats that come in with this toxin still have fleas running around on them!). Permethrin in cats causes potentially severe tremors and seizures. The worst of these last anywhere from 24-72 hours. We bathe the cats to get the product off, then treat them with a muscle relaxant called Robaxin first, then we move on to other drugs as needed (there is a limit on how much Robaxin we can use). Sometimes the tremors are quite challenging to get under control, and we really have to work at it with multiple drugs, lots of TLC and nursing care, etc.

Once the tremors are controlled, the cats generally start eating, but may have residual twitching for a week or so. Until today, I had not lost one of these that I tried to treat. But for some reason, this little kitten's tremors were very bad, required lots of medication. I don't know if he had a side effect from the medication, or if he had some other problem on top of the medication. But we lost him today, and it just tears me apart because this is so preventable.

So, DON'T put your dog's flea medication on your cat. (BTW, these medications are clearly labeled not for use on cats). Better yet, get Frontline or Advantage from your vet (I think you can get these online too). I am not one to push specific products here, but these two products are so much safer and so much more effective. A warning though - the dog product Advantix is NOT safe for cats (causes tremors as well). So don't confuse Advantage with Advantix. Better yet, always double check the label before applying the product. Oh, and if you do use one the permethrin products on your dog (check the label), don't let your cat around your dog. The cat can rub on the dog and get sick just from that.

Hi

I just found 2 herbal teas that I like and I thought I would pass it on to y'all.

First one is Tulsi Tea (holy basil). It is an Indian herb plant and it has a very pleasant taste. I really liked it when I first had it. Then I found out that it has antioxidant properties and it has a de-stressing effect ! It makes you mellow !! You can find it a larger health food stores. $5

the second tea is from a company called the Republic of Tea -- which you can find at most fancy food stores -- They have a line called the Be Well Red Teas. I found the Get Clean detoxing tea to be good. I was feeling kind of bloated and heavy and I drank this for 2 days and I think I felt better ! $10

Yoga To The People

Yoga Class for $10 in the East Village.

Check out the website at www.yogatothepeople.com

See this photo? This isnt my cat, but I have a cat that looks just like this one !!

She's a PRINCESS. and she does excellent yoga.

I think she was an Opera singer in a past life because she loves to m-e-e-o-o-w! (showtime usually starts about 2AM)

Namaste !

Free Yoga Pass

"Yoga Passbook" 320 free passes for 120 yoga, dance and pilates studios. One time fee of $75
(if you use all 320 passes = 25 cents per class)

call 212 808-0765 . Sponsored by American health and fitness alliance.
or www.health-fitness.org

I know some other yogis that have used this passbook and they say it is a great way to try different studios all over NYC.


Namaste

Hari Om

I was teaching a late class tonight at IYI and since I had some time to kill before the class, I walked down 8th Ave from 23rd Street to 13th Street. Perfect weather. It was just marvelous ! So many new cute stores and restaurants. The New London Pharmacy (smells great), Cuban food, French food, Korean food, outside cafes... just wonderful.

I LOVE New York. I am so lucky to live here.

Anyway, so I taught my class. I think I frazzled my students because I made them attempt hand stands -- how else can they learn ? But I the second good part of my evening is that I bumped into another teacher -- and through him I may have the opportunity to teach yoga in Central Park ! Very cool.

Well, here I am. Posting a blog. Still trying to figure out the difference between a blog and a website, other than I dont actually own the blog.

They say you can send me comments on this site... so please send me some comments. That way I know you are out there and I am not just sitting here typing to myself !

Namaste