Yoga Cures by Tara Stiles

Among all the things to be thankful for - friends and family this past year, facebook and blogging friends, and the good books I have read and loved, and even the ones I've had reservations about, in part or the whole.

One of my few book purchases this month has been Yoga Cures: Simple Routines to Conquer More Than 50 Common Ailments... by Tara Stiles. It has yoga positions that are familiar but geared towards helping with common and not so common ailments like acne, the flu, a broken heart, traveler's anxiety, wrinkles, and getting some zzz's (sleep)! It's a fun book to read if you already do some yoga, and doing the poses are a good way to get in your exercises, even if you don't suffer from any of the ailments it helps to cure!

Inversion poses, for instance, can help to get blood and oxygen to the brain and help wake you up if your thinking processes are slow at the moment. In any case, if you find yourself standing in a long line on Black Friday, just bend forward from the waist a few seconds to stay awake!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Misadventures of a Garden State Yogi by Brian Leaf

Maybe a little bit unorthodox, but a fun memoir, especially for those who do yoga or want to find out more about getting the most out of yoga. and kripalu yoga.

Chapter 2:
" I wanted to practice and study yoga as much as possible, so I incorporated it into my Georgetown classes in every way that I could. For philosophy class, I wrote a paper entitled "Was Plato the Founder of Yoga?".... And for Catholic imagination class I wrote "Did Jesus Do Yoga?" 

There are yoga practice hints throughout the memoir and appendices with sample yoga practices, meditation techniques, guided relaxation tips, and Ayurvedic recomendations for a healthy lifestyle.

Title: Misadventures of a Garden State Yogi: My Humble Quest to Heal My Colitis, Calm My ADD, and Find the Key to Happiness by Brian Leaf will be released October 9, 2012.

About the author: Brian Leaf is the owner and director of the New Leaf Learning Center in Massachusetts. He has studied, practiced, and taught yoga, meditation, and Ayurveda for 23 years. Information:http://www.misadventures-of-a-yogi.com/praise.html

I received a review copy of the memoir from the publisher, New World Library.

Book Review: Finding My Balance, a Memoir by Mariel Hemingway

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify the author and title for readers.

"It seems to me that before I discovered meditation I traveled from one want to the next, seeking comfort and joy in winning acting roles and the love of my peers, or even things as trivial as a silk carpet or the perfect physique.... " (ch . 12)

Title: Finding My Balance: A Memoir by Mariel Hemingway
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (January 30, 2003)
Source: library

Comments: Mariel Hemingway, granddaughter of the writer Ernest Hemingway, writes the memoir of life as a member of the famous family and describes how she navigates through the minefield of her life, eventually "Finding My Balance." She uses yoga as a help to reach that goal. Her memoir alone is interesting, but adding yoga to the mix makes the book both useful and informative. At the end of the memoir are detailed instructions for basic yoga moves, with pictures and instructions.

Publisher's description: "Actress Mariel Hemingway uses the lessons and practices of yoga as a starting point for her own personal reflections and a larger-than-life family story. The result is a searingly honest memoir that is firmly practical, as well as a moving narrative of the author's struggle to deal with a complex and often stressful life.

Mariel was the third daughter born to Jack Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway's son, and Byra Whittlesey. Her older sister, Muffet, suffered for years from instability, while middle sister Margaux, a celebrated actress and model, eventually died of the effects of her driven lifestyle. Their mother, Byra, was darkly moody and emotionally quixotic, and made no secret of her disdain for her husband, while Jack, himself insecure in no small part because of his celebrated father, a man he never really felt he knew, was an indifferent parent at best.

Even before she was a teenager, Mariel was forced to assume the role of stable center of her family. In just about every way, she never really had a childhood of her own, a situation that was exacerbated by her sudden thrust into celebrity when she was first cast in sister Margaux's film "Lipstick," then in Woody Allen's "Manhattan." Suddenly, Mariel was a movie star."

© Harvee Lau of Book Dilettante. Please do not reprint without permission

Sunday Salon: Yoga, Anyone?

Welcome to the Sunday Salon. Click on the logo to join in.

I've taken up yoga! I've dabbled with yoga in the past, attending a class or two and reading yoga how-to books. I dropped in to three classes by different teachers this week and like what I found. I didn't even mind working up a sweat. It felt and feels good! Next on the list was to get yoga togs. Doing yoga in sweats just doesn't cut it; they bunch up.

Thanks to reading Yoga Bitch by Susan Morrison last week, I am now a dedicated yoga fan. Last week I also reviewed Endangered by Pamela Beason, a mystery novel about a missing toddler and the great outdoors, plus endangered cougars in Utah. The other book I read was for a blog tour - The Personal History of Rachel DuPree, a novel about African-American homesteaders in the South Dakota Badlands in the early 1900s.

Right now, I'm reading a travel memoir for another tour Borneo Bob, which I'll post tomorrow.

What have you been reading recently?