Yoga is so much more than a physical practice.
If you would like to take your yoga beyond the mat, you will find below my blog, book recommendations, films and folk to inspire your journey beyond the mat.
Please find my blog by clicking the link below
‘The art of listening comes from a quiet mind and an open heart.’
Originally known as Richard Alpert, Ram Dass travelled to India in 1967 where he met his guru, Neem Karoli Baba. Alongside Timothy Leary, Richard was a professor at Harvard. Their experiments with psychedelics led to their dismissal.
Ram Dass travelled, taught and wrote extensively including this book which beautifully describes the experiences and practices that led to his heart-centered living and teaching.
Ram Dass created the ‘Love Serve Remember Foundation’ which offers podcasts, videos, blogs and training.
www.ramdass.org
Eknath Easwaran was an Indian spiritual teacher, writer and translator. He founded the ‘Blue Mountain Centre for Meditation’ focussed on the teaching of ‘passage meditation’ which he developed over his many years of research and practice.
‘Make your life a work of art’
The Bhagavad Gita opens, dramatically, on a battlefield, as the warrior Arjuna turns in anguish to his spiritual guide, Sri Krishna, for answers to the fundamental questions of life. ‘The battlefield is a perfect backdrop, but the Gita’s subject is the war within, the struggle for self-mastery that every human being must wage’ to live a life that is meaningful, fulfilling, and worthwhile.
www.bmcm.org
‘Remember: what you seek in meditation is your own Beloved, your own inner intelligence, your own awareness, and your own truth.’
One evening in the early 1970s, while sitting in her Manhattan living room, Sally Kempton was overcome by a feeling of all-encompassing, unconditional love that seemed to come out of nowhere. She had never known that love like this was possible. The experience lasted for 24 hours, and turned her life around.
An early voice in the second- wave feminist movement, spirituality was the last thing on her agenda. But her experience that night affected her so powerfully that within a year she had given up her career as a journalist to immerse herself fully as a student and teacher of spiritual awareness.
Drawing on her forty years as a teacher and fellow meditator, Sally teaches us how we can connect to our inner longings and creative shakti (energy) to allow the transformative gifts and blessings of meditation to unfold. With playfulness and devotion - two key attitudes in sustaining a daily practice - she shares indispensable guidance for this voyage of self-discovery.
https://www.sallykempton.com/
Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh was a global spiritual leader, poet and peace activist, revered around the world for his pioneering teachings on mindfulness, global ethics and peace.
In 1982, he founded Plum Village Monastery in France to offer retreat and study for anyone wishing to practise meditation. The documentary offers a rare and wonderful insight into Thich Nhat Hanh and life inside Plum Village.
www.plumvillage.org
‘I’m a researcher, storyteller, and (currently enraged) Texan who’s spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy.’
Drawn from her personal stories and inimitable, candid style, the ‘Call to Courage’ is about how bravery can arise from engaging with our deepest vulnerabilities.
www.brenebrown.com
Filmed toward the end of Ram Dass’ life at his home in Maui, this short documentary is an intimate presentation of his reflections on a life of spiritual practice.
A poetic meditation on life, death, and the soul’s journey home.
www.ramdass.org