HINDU SOUL RECIPES - PUSHPESH PANT

RATING: C-

I decided to buy a few recipe books recently - whilst several were on offer. Alas, this one did not contain much that I will be able to make myself. Most recipes contain either ingredients I do not use or cooking methods I find hard to use.

I would recommend this book to someone taking a look at Indian cookery, but only if they have no personal dietary choices already in place and are flexible with methods of cooking.

ACROSS MANY MOUNTAINS - YANGZOM BRAUEN

RATING: A-

I can relate well to the calm peace that accompanies death in old Tibet. I have found this to be the case in my own experience and it is nice to know that I am not the only person with this attitude towards death, which often seems to be the case for me. I can also relate to accepting that anyone - from a friend to a bug - may once have been a close relative or lover. This too I have found to be the case from personal experience. In fact, I appear to have far much more in common with Tibetan attitudes than those of the places I was born and have lived.

The ability to be at peace with dying - rather than desperately struggling to keep the body alive by medical interventions I can also relate to. I have no intention of forcing my body to outlast my all with pill-popping, etc. When it is ready to expire, I will await my next birth.

I found this book to be a beautiful story of value both to those seeking entertainment and those seeking to learn more of the Tibetan culture. It taught me that many things I had believed in but not found alive in my own were present in the Tibetan culture.

BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO YOGA - HOWARD KENT & CLAIRE HAYLER

RATING: C-

Although I am no longer a beginner, I decided to buy this book at the reduced cost of $2. It is a good basic guide, although I personally prefer something leaning more towards a specific Indian version than Yoga in general. The book does cover the whole eight limbs of Patanjali's Yoga sutras, although as usual the asanas, meditation, and pranayama get pride of place.

Of specific interest were some of the unnamed bends and stretches - I think these may be useful to slip in on days when I do two short sessions rather than one long practice. I find that reading Yoga books brings about a positive attitude and replaces the encouragement of a teacher that might be present were I not a home practitioner.

PASSAGE THROUGH INDIA - GARY SNYDER

RATING: C+

A retro travel journal complete with pictures.

If you are interested in how and where a couple of Westerners traveled a few decades ago, photos of various places in India, or the past of Allen Ginsberg, this would be of interest to you. I enjoyed learning how far places are from each other and what travel methods were around back then - in case I ever am lucky enough to visit for myself. Many of the places mentioned in the book would be places that I too would like to see, someday....

LETTING GO OF THE PERSON YOU USED TO BE - LAMA SURYA DAS

RATING: B

I found the references on karma and omniscience interesting in the first chapter. I agree that the more we learn from the bad bits of life the better - we should get rid of it asap rather than have it come back again and again until we do learn and correct ourselves!!Gradually learning what needs to be learned - rather than failing over and over can only be progressive.

The 'Ham-so' breathing exercise reminded me of the deity breathing I have been working on - the breath goes in and out different places though...

It was interesting to observe how far I had got in accepting loss already, compared to the old me. Unlike a Buddha, who recognizes ALL, I can only see SOME of the origins of my own karma - however, since taking he ACI course on karma and personal investigations a few years ago, I can find the origin of several things that crop up in my life - and people I formerly knew give me vision-memories of former lives I have shared with them from time to time.

It was interesting to read the chapter relative to the Medicine Buddha - as this has been something I have been working with over the past months. Again, the section referent to mindfulness meditation was also useful as this I also something I have worked with a LOT in the past. I am going to work on one of the exercises given in this book as a refresher. I was also interested to read the references to birds and nature towards the close of the book.

ALL YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT HAPPINESS, LIFE AND LIVING - HHDL/RAJIV MEHROTRA

RATING:B-

I would note that the dream state mentioned on page 8 can be attained with more ease while awake. I was interested to chart my progress over recent years on the 3-reliefs from suffering on page 16. The chapter on reincarnation was especially interesting. I enjoyed the mixture of simplicity and complexity throughout the entire book.

The book is basically a categorized grouping of Q&A between the author and HHDL. I would recommend the book to those interested in learning from HHDL and those wanting to re-read some of his pet topics.

THE BOOK OF YOGA - LUCY LIDELL

RATING: B

This book is far from new to me, as I have had a copy in my possession - on and off - for circa a decade. I first purchased a copy second hand at a library sale in NSW, hoping to teach my son Yoga as part of his home schooling studies. However, he preferred walking and gardening as activities and the book sat round on the shelf - til my best friend Ralph encouraged me when I was toying with the idea of taking up Yoga in order to help my arthritic back.

My 'incurable' (according to Western medicine) back was cured and multiple additional benefits began to appear as I got more and more involved in Yoga... When I moved to England in 2009, I only bought 3 books with me and could not cram my copy of this book in my suitcase. It has only been recently that I picked up a second second hand copy online and have slowly re-read it. I have used the Sivananda style of Yoga mostly, although I have also practiced Tibetan Heart Yoga when I had a full half hour spare.

I would recommend this book to those seeking a companion to home Yoga, beginners looking to practice safely in their own home or have a guideline to out-of-class top ups, and the more experienced practitioner hoping to add something to - or as in my case - review and renew their practice.