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A Yoga Library

Here is a list from my growing library on the art, science and practice of yoga, meditation, and the spiritual path.

  • The Day with Yoga by Elisabeth Haich
One of the first books I bought at the Bodhi Tree bookstore in West Hollywood in the very early 80s. The cover is stained, the spine taped, and typical of many of my most cherished books, it holds between its pages several "bookmarks" that serve as a sort of addition to the marginalia. These bookmarks are repositories of other stories that have come to live inside the pages of this book.

  • The Bhagavad Gita translated from the Sanskrit by Juan Mascaro
In 1982, I was living in South Pasadena and working in downtown LA. While Vroman's bookstore was close by, it was the Bodhi Tree that I considered my favorite independent bookstore. Eventually, I would work for Vroman's, but I still made the trek to West Hollywood and make an afternoon out of browsing the stacks at the Bodhi Tree. Looking back upon these visits now, I would call them none other than pilgrimages. I was seeking enlightenment or, more precisely, to be enlightened beyond the narrow view of religion I had acquired from my years learning the Catholic catechism. I was drawn to yoga and the Hindu tradition after taking a one unit Hatha yoga class in college. I still have this copy of The Bhagavad Gita. The covers are well-worn and have come loose from the original binding. The pages are now quite yellow, but its message, which I still read, remains clear. This small book has an honored place on the floor next to the meditation cushion that sits in front of the altar I have created for my daily practice.

  • Awareness by Anthony de Mello 
This book was a gift from the author Lara Santoro. We met in Taos, New Mexico at a writing seminar during the summer of 2006. She was a guest speaker, a journalist, a former foreign correspondent, who was, when I met her, working in a swanky Taos restaurant and awaiting the publication of her first novel Mercy. When Mercy was finally published, I helped coordinate an author's event at a local independent bookstore close to my home not in the desert but near the beach. Following the bookstore event, my husband and I hosted an open house in our home. Lara spent the night with us, and before departing, she gave me this book as a thank you. Santoro's novel features a priest who provides counsel to a journalist who has seen too much war. Santoro told me that she fashioned the character of her priest after the real life priest, and author, Anthony de Mello. This book had been important to her, and it became very important to me. For several years, I took this book off of the shelf to reread, allowing its message to sink into my skin like the ink on its pages. If I were to loan this book to an unsuspecting reader, she would find as many notes and questions and arguments on its pages, and in my own hand, as those presented by the author. One of the most enduring lessons from this book, and echoed by the priest in Mercy, is the notion of blindness--as opposed to awareness--and what we are capable of committing in its name.
  • Yoga and the Quest for the True Self by Stephen Cope
From time to time, the yoga studio I have been attending off and on over the years will publish an online newsletter. This newsletter often leads with the feature of a local yoga teacher. One of the studio's teachers, Savita Geuther, has been teaching meditation classes as well as restorative and gentler forms of asana flow at the studio for many years. When she was featured in the newsletter, she was asked about the various teachers, teachings, and books that had either influenced her or had been pivotal to shaping her own manner of instruction. She referred to this title by Stephen Cope, which, she believed laid out very clearly the path of this practice for the devoted and disciplined student of yoga. I had previously attended Savita's meditation classes and quickly came to admire and respect her personal discipline and quiet teaching. I took her recommendation to heart and purchased a copy of this book. At 358 pages, including appendix and index, this is a comprehensive tome. It balances scholarship with Cope's personal journey from practitioner to teacher. Savita was right. If you, too, are interested in learning more about the practice of yoga, and what is at stake when undertaking all eight limbs of the practice--or the path of Raja yoga--you to need to carve out a space on your book shelves for this one. 
  •  Ethics for the New Millennium by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
  • Yoga Mala by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois
  • A Path with Heart by Jack Kornfield  
  • Awakening to the Sacred by Lama Surya Das
  • Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison
  •  The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali translation and commentary by Sri Swami Satchidananda
  • The Secret of the Yoga Sutra: Samadhi Pada by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD
  • The Soul's Code by James Hillman
  • The Psychology of Yoga by Georg Feuerstein
  • Devotion by Dani Shapiro
  • Letting Go of the Person You Used to Be by Lama Surya Das
  • Your Illustrated Guide to Becoming One with the Universe by Yumi Sakugawa
  • The Great Failure by Natalie Goldberg
  • Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen Writings and Pre-Zen Writings compiled by Paul Reps
  • Meditation: A Journey from the Known to the Unknown by S. Krishnamurthy
  • The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan W. Watts
  • Meditations on Peace by Sister Wendy Beckett
  • Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananada
  • Ashtanga Yoga: The Practice Manual by David Swenson
  • The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton
  • The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd
  • House of Prayer No. 2: A Writer's Journey Home by Mark Richard 
  • The Rumi Daybook: 365 Poems and Teachings from the Beloved Sufi Master selected and translated by Kabir and Camille Helminski
  • Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West by Daniel Ladinsky as translator
  • Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh
  • Mala of the Heart edited by Ravi Nathwani and Kate Vogt
  •  The Subject Tonight is Love: 60 Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz translated by Daniel Ladinsky
  • To Bless This Space Between Us by John O'Donohue
  • The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran  
  •  Letting Go of the Person You Used to Be by Lama Surya Das
  • Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong by Norman Fischer 
  • Make Me One with Everything by Lama Surya Das  
  • Light on Life by B.K.S. Iyengar
  • The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times by Pema Chodron 
  • Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living by Krista Tippett

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