Book Club
One of the things I get asked about the most is what books I would recommend. So, i thought I would compile a list of some of my favourites so they are here for your reference. Whether you are looking for yoga philosophy or a novel to dive into, you can find some of my favourites here. I will continue to update this list as and when something I wish to recommend comes up and I hope you can continue to come back here for inspiration again and again.
Yoga Philosophy / Living Yoga
Eastern body, Western Mind
SYNOPSIS:
In Eastern Body, Western Mind, chakra authority Anodea Judith brought a fresh approach to the yoga-based Eastern chakra system, adapting it to the Western framework of Jungian psychology, somatic therapy, childhood developmental theory, and metaphysics and applying the chakra system to important modern social realities and issues such as addiction, codependence, family dynamics, sexuality, and personal empowerment.
Four Chapters on Freedom
SYNOPSIS:
This is a book based on Rishi Patanjali’s Yoga sutras. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra is considered to be the theoretical foundation of Raja Yoga and is one of the most important discourses on yoga and meditation. It consists of four parts, Samadhi Pada, Sadhana Pada, Vibhuti Pada, and Kaivalya Pada, each containing 196 sutras or maxims. The book includes the four parts of the Sanskrit text, along with their translation. Swami Satyananda Saraswati has covered each verse with in-depth explanation and commentary, and has also explained the path to master Raj Yoga. His discourses on yoga and its philosophy will help every individual who is looking to tread down the path of enlightenment through meditation and contemplation.
Yoni Shakti
SYNOPSIS:
In this courageous and radical book, Uma Dinsmore-Tuli explores the sexual politics of yoga from a perspective that sees women's spiritual transformation as the most revolutionary force.
Packed with fascinating real life stories and vibrant testimony, as well as history and philosophy and practical guidance, Yoni Shakti is about freedom and power, encompassing yoga, sex, health and spirituality.
Tantra Illuminated
SYNOPSIS:
Tantra Illuminated takes the reader on a fascinating journey to the very heart of Tantra: its key teachings, foundational lineages, and transformative practices. Since the West s discovery of Tantra 100 years ago, there has been considerable fascination, speculation, and more than a little misinformation about this spiritual movement. Now, for the first time in the English language, Tantra Illuminated presents an accessible introduction to this sacred tradition that began 1,500 years ago in the far north of India. Using translations from from primary Sanskrit sources and offering a profound look at spiritual practice, this book reveals Tantra s rich history and powerful teachings.
How yoga works
SYNOPSIS:
The Yoga Sutra is the great motherbook of all the yoga works ever written; it was composed by the Indian master Patanjali some 2,000 years ago. 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.
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.
*Skill in action
SYNOPSIS:
This book will ask you to explore the deeply transformational practice of yoga, and to become a social change agent so that you can create a world that is just for all. This book explores liberation for ourselves and others, while asking us to engage in our own agency, whether that manifests as activism, volunteer work, or changing our relationships with others and ourselves.
Skill in Action clearly defines power and privilege, oppression, liberation, and suffering, and will invite you to take steps to make changes in your life to create a world that allows all of us to be free. The end of each chapter includes a sample practice so that you can put this wisdom into action in your daily life. These sample practices include breath-work, asana, meditation and interpersonal relational work.
Yoga for a world out of balance
SYNOPSIS:
Every aspect of our life has a part to play in the greater ecological system, Michael Stone explains in this book. How do we bring this large view to our yoga practice? According to Stone, our responsibility as human beings is to live in a sustainable and respectful way. He says two things need to change. First, we need to understand the relationship between our actions and the effects of our actions. Second, once we see the effect of our actions in the human and non-human world, we need practical skills for learning how to make changes.
Using the five principles (yama) described in the Yoga-Sutra attributed to Patanjali, Michael Stone offers a basis for rethinking ethical action and the spiritual path.
Mind Body Bowl
Did you know I have a book? It’s not something I talk about all the time, but it is something that I’m really proud of creating.
SYNOPSIS:
This book is a celebration of eating well and finding the right balance for you. We are all individuals and one prescriptive programme will never suit us all. Mind Body Bowl helps to guide and sign post some key parts of the journey towards connecting with our own body and mind in order to find our own individual sense of balance. The book includes a selection of plant based recipes that are nourishing and delicious, focusing on simple, fresh ingredients that are easy to source. With half of the book devoted to recipes, the other half focusses on how we can use the breath, meditation, yoga and other practices to calm our minds; how we can discover the best style of exercise to suit our bodies.
Other Inspiration / Essential Reading
Daring Greatly
SYNOPSIS:
Every time we are faced with change, no matter how great or small, we also face risk. We feel uncertain and exposed. We feel vulnerable. Most of us try to fight those feelings - or feel guilt for feeling them in the first place.
In a powerful new vision Dr Brené Brown challenges everything we think we know about vulnerability, and dispels the widely accepted myth that it's a weakness. She argues that, in truth, vulnerability is strength and when we shut ourselves off from vulnerability - from revealing our true selves - we distance ourselves from the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives.
Daring Greatly is the culmination of 12 years of groundbreaking social research, across every area of our lives including home, relationships, work, and parenting. It is an invitation to be courageous; to show up and let ourselves be seen, even when there are no guarantees.
A New Earth
SYNOPSIS:
In Eckhart Tolle's ground-breaking book, he gives you the spiritual framework to:
- Understand yourself better
- Manage, manifest and achieve your goals
- Reach your full potential
- Channel conflict into something positive
- Change negative habits
- Live in the moment
Open your mind and follow Tolle's guidance to happiness and health.
*White fragility
SYNOPSIS:
Anger. Fear. Guilt. Denial. Silence. These are the ways in which ordinary white people react when it is pointed out to them that they have done or said something that has - unintentionally - caused racial offence or hurt. But these reactions only serve to silence people of colour, who cannot give honest feedback to 'liberal' white people lest they provoke a dangerous emotional reaction.
Robin DiAngelo coined the term 'White Fragility' in 2011 to describe this process and is here to show us how it serves to uphold the system of white supremacy.
*Why I am no longer talking to White People About RacE
SYNOPSIS:
The book that sparked a national conversation. Exploring everything from eradicated black history to the inextricable link between class and race, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race is the essential handbook for anyone who wants to understand race relations in Britain today.
*Me and White Supremacy
SYNOPSIS:
Me and White Supremacy teaches readers how to dismantle the privilege within themselves so that they can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on people of colour, and in turn, help other white people do better, too.
When Layla Saad began an Instagram challenge called #MeAndWhiteSupremacy, she never predicted it would spread as widely as it did. She encouraged people to own up and share their racist behaviours, big and small. She was looking for truth, and she got it. Thousands of people participated in the challenge, and over 90,000 people downloaded the Me and White Supremacy Workbook.
The updated and expanded Me and White Supremacy takes the work deeper by adding more historical and cultural contexts, sharing moving stories and anecdotes, and including expanded definitions, examples, and further resources.
*How to be an antiracist
SYNOPSIS:
In this rousing and deeply empathetic book, Ibram X. Kendi, founding director of the Antiracism Research and Policy Center, shows that when it comes to racism, neutrality is not an option: until we become part of the solution, we can only be part of the problem.
Using his extraordinary gifts as a teacher and story-teller, Kendi helps us recognise that everyone is, at times, complicit in racism whether they realise it or not, and by describing with moving humility his own journey from racism to antiracism, he shows us how instead to be a force for good.
Women Who Run With Wolves
SYNOPSIS:
In the classic Women Who Run With The Wolves, Clarissa Pinkola Estes tells us about the 'wild woman', the wise and ageless presence in the female psyche that gives women their creativity, energy and power. For centuries, the 'wild woman' has been repressed by a male-orientated value system which trivialises women's emotions. Using a combination of time-honoured stories and contemporary casework, Estes reveals that the 'wild woman' in us is innately healthy, passionate and wise.
The Happiness Advantage
SYNOPSIS:
Most people want to be successful in life. And of course, everyone wants to be happy. When it comes to the pursuit of success and happiness, most people assume the same formula: if you work hard, you will become successful, and once you become successful, then you'll be happy. The only problem is that a decade of cutting-edge research in the field of positive psychology has proven that this formula is backwards. Success does not beget happiness.
Based on the largest study ever conducted on happiness and human potential (a survey conducted by the author of more than 1,600 students), Harvard lecturer Shawn Achor shares seven core principles of positive psychology that each one of us can use to improve our performance, grow our careers, and gain a competitive edge at work. He reveals how happiness actually fuels success and performance, not the other way around. Why? Because when we are happier and more positive we are more engaged, creative, resilient to stress, and productive.
Please note, the links all take you to Amazon where I will receive affiliate ‘earnings’ through sales. However i do encourage you to support your local independent book shops.
* All affiliate earnings from these books with * will be donated to support those creating spaces dedicated to improving accessibility of yoga for BIPOC communities.
