Resources
Reading & Writing are powerful practices and ways to train the mind.
books we've written
We hope you enjoy our books!
Writing is a practice and a powerful way to train the mind.
books we've written
buy now
Written without “yoga jargon,” Feeling Happy explores the nature of happiness as a basic human capacity—and illuminates how suffering, imbalanced emotion, and confusion can cast a veil over one’s ability to truly feel happy.
What is the fully embodied experience of happiness, and is there any way for it to last? Feeling Happy helps you explore what happiness is and offers practical steps toward cultivating happiness as a deep, embodied expression of life and connection to others. Using familiar examples from everyday life, traditional understanding of one’s search for happiness, stories, and humor, Freeman and Taylor demonstrate how to find your way back home to the essence of who you are, and the direct experience of what it feels like to be truly happy.
The book offers 24 accessible practices—meditations, simple movements, and breathing exercises—along with 22 black-and-white illustrative photos as guides along the path toward fully embodying happiness. These practices together with insight into the nature of being, will allow you to wake up and integrate the physical body, heart, and mind through the breath so that even in difficult times, compassion, equanimity, and happiness can emerge.
Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor draw from their years of experience practicing and teaching yoga, meditation and the philosophical interfacing of yoga and Buddhism to explore what happiness is and to offer practical steps toward cultivating happiness as a deep, embodied expression of life. They offer insight into the nature of happiness as a basic human capacity—and illuminate how suffering, imbalanced emotion, and confusion can cast a veil over one’s ability to truly feel happy.
Some of the practices included:
What is the fully embodied experience of happiness, and is there any way for it to last? Feeling Happy helps you explore what happiness is and offers practical steps toward cultivating happiness as a deep, embodied expression of life and connection to others. Using familiar examples from everyday life, traditional understanding of one’s search for happiness, stories, and humor, Freeman and Taylor demonstrate how to find your way back home to the essence of who you are, and the direct experience of what it feels like to be truly happy.
The book offers 24 accessible practices—meditations, simple movements, and breathing exercises—along with 22 black-and-white illustrative photos as guides along the path toward fully embodying happiness. These practices together with insight into the nature of being, will allow you to wake up and integrate the physical body, heart, and mind through the breath so that even in difficult times, compassion, equanimity, and happiness can emerge.
Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor draw from their years of experience practicing and teaching yoga, meditation and the philosophical interfacing of yoga and Buddhism to explore what happiness is and to offer practical steps toward cultivating happiness as a deep, embodied expression of life. They offer insight into the nature of happiness as a basic human capacity—and illuminate how suffering, imbalanced emotion, and confusion can cast a veil over one’s ability to truly feel happy.
Some of the practices included:
- Focusing and calming the mind
- Observing and engaging the breath as a guide
- Working with difficulty and vulnerability
- Keeping a tender and open heart
- Building authenticity and presence
- Attuning to yourself and to others
- Cultivating kindness and compassion in complex times
- And more
Feeling Happy
by Richard Freeman & Mary Taylor
buy now
In uncertain times, the traditional Indian epic the Bhagavad Gita is uniquely suited to guide us through our fear, confusion, and paralysis and help us find the way forward on the path of compassion and love. Here, Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor, both deeply respected yogic teachers, offer a practical, immediately relevant interpretation of the Gita that emphasizes self-reflection and waking up in our modern world. Following the traditional sequence of teachings in the Gita—from its opening scene in which the protagonist, Arjuna, finds himself in the middle of a battlefield, torn by the various paths of action he might choose in the process of awakening—Freeman and Taylor interweave insight into how these classic teachings are relevant for modern readers struggling with what it means to live responsibly in challenging times.
With quotes, citations, and a full, original translation of the text, they look at how the Gita’s teachings relate to the turmoil that arises for Arjuna, and any of us in the face of crises of conscience, spirit, and form. By exploring the essential themes such as love, wisdom, and karma and offering embodiment exercises to apply the teachings, When Love Comes to Light guides us in the step-by-step process of waking up to our intelligence and toward living a balanced life.
With quotes, citations, and a full, original translation of the text, they look at how the Gita’s teachings relate to the turmoil that arises for Arjuna, and any of us in the face of crises of conscience, spirit, and form. By exploring the essential themes such as love, wisdom, and karma and offering embodiment exercises to apply the teachings, When Love Comes to Light guides us in the step-by-step process of waking up to our intelligence and toward living a balanced life.
When Love Comes to Light
by Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor
Other languages: Chinese Edition, Spanish Edition
buy now
The Art of Vinyasa: Awakening Body and Mind through the Practice of Ashtanga Yoga takes a look at yoga as a meditation in motion that produces profound inner change. Exploring Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga not as a gymnastic feat but as a meditative form, Richard and Mary reveal that doing the practice—and particularly the vinyasa, or the breath-synchronized movements—in a deep and focused way allows practitioners to experience a profound awakening of the body and mind. It also develops an adaptable, flexible practice that can last a lifetime.
The Art of Vinyasa
by Richard Freeman & Mary Taylor
Other languages: Spanish Edition, Chinese Edition
buy now
The Mirror of Yoga: Awakening the Intelligence of Body and Mind is a welcome resource to all yoga practitioners who wish to better appreciate the profound philosophy underlying their practice. Richard’s wide-ranging discussion includes the Upanishads and Samkhya philosophies, the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, the eight limbs of Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga, and much more. He also explores the role of the guru, chanting, meditation, and the yogi imperative of offering service to others.
The Mirror of Yoga
by Richard Freeman
Other languages: Spanish Edition, Chinese Edition
buy now
Women have many secrets. But a woman’s secret relationship with food and her body can overshadow other aspects of her life, filling her with obsession, shame, and fear. Many women waste countless years focusing on food and appearance, rather than spending energy on what holds deepest meaning for them.
What Are You Hungry For?
by Lynn Ginsburg and Mary Taylor
BOOKS WE’VE READ OVER THE YEARS AS WELL AS SOME OF OUR CURRENT FAVORITES.
Books That Inspire Us
Featured Read
Reading List
We hope you enjoy our books!
BOOKS WE’VE READ OVER THE YEARS AS WELL AS SOME OF OUR CURRENT FAVORITES.
Books That Inspire Us
Featured Read
buy now
If you’ve never heard of Maria Ressa, I am honored to be the first to mention her name to you. If you do know who she is, you probably know why she is one of my heroes. She is person who places truth, honesty and care for others above all else—even her own safety and freedom. Ressa is a Filipino American journalist and activist who spent almost 20 years as investigative reporter in Southeast Asia for CNN and in 2012 founded her own digital media company, Rappler. She is a Professor at the School of International Public Affairs at Columbia University and has become an internationally acclaimed figure fighting for freedom of the press while keeping truth alive. In 2021 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, alongside Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov.
“How to Stand Up to a Dictator” chronicles Ressa’s life story and demonstrates the tenacity she has had in sticking with the pursuit of truth, freedom and an attempt to help relieve suffering in this world by being a champion against the epidemic of lies that has swept like wildfire through many political systems worldwide over the last number of years.
From “How to Stand Up to a Dictator”
“What I have witnessed and documented…is technology’s godlike power to infect each of us with a virus of lies, pitting us against one another, igniting, even creating, our fears, anger and hatred…Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without all three, we have no shared reality and democracy as we know it—and all meaningful human endeavors—are dead.”
“How to Stand Up to a Dictator” chronicles Ressa’s life story and demonstrates the tenacity she has had in sticking with the pursuit of truth, freedom and an attempt to help relieve suffering in this world by being a champion against the epidemic of lies that has swept like wildfire through many political systems worldwide over the last number of years.
From “How to Stand Up to a Dictator”
“What I have witnessed and documented…is technology’s godlike power to infect each of us with a virus of lies, pitting us against one another, igniting, even creating, our fears, anger and hatred…Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without all three, we have no shared reality and democracy as we know it—and all meaningful human endeavors—are dead.”
How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future
by Maria Ressa
Download
It’s ideal to go directly to the source when studying any topic. In terms
of yoga theory, philosophy, and mythology that would mean that the
best path is to read original versions of traditional texts. Original texts
often have many layers of meaning that unfold over years of practice
and a willingness to read and re-read texts under different
circumstances. However, if you don’t speak Sanskrit that can be a
problem. Some eager students decide to learn Sanskrit, but still the
reading can be slow. So, a reasonable alternative is to read a number
of different translations (and commentaries) on the same text and
compare them. That way you notice biases that may be reflected in the
different versions.
Our list includes:
Our list includes:
- Yoga Sutra
- The Bhagavad Gita
- Contemporary Books about Yoga
- Yoga Practice Books
- Anatomy Books
- Contemporary Buddhist Books
