Read Along With Satia (RAWS)

I haven't done one of these in a while but since I am concluding my exploration of A Course in Miracles, it is time for me to redirect my focus. I would love to have someone with whom to discuss what I'm reading.

The first choice is a very thick book by Osho called The Book of Secrets: Keys to Love and Meditation. Obviously, there are meditation exercises. To quote Osho's words, "These techniques will not mention any religious ritual. No temple is needed, you are quite enough of a temple yourself. You are the lab; the whole experiment is to go on within you. This is not religion, this is science. No belief is needed. Only a daringness to experiment is enough; courage to experiment is enough."
There are a lot chapters and although it can appear to be a daunting text, when I started reading it once before I found the reading of the text easy and very interesting.



Yoga and the Quest for the True Self by Stephen Cope has been on my bookshelf for entirely too long. I'm eager to read it but then I'm eager to read all of the books in this RAWS. Cope has a background in psychotherapy and brings this knowledge to his experience with yoga. On another level, this book is also a memoir about Cope's personal relationship with himself and yoga, merging western and eastern beliefs into something different, if not unique. I am intrigued by the idea of how yoga can help with working on and healing the self and this book is pretty high on my priority list at this point in time. I have a cd on which the author leads a very gentle and easy yoga practice which, if indicative of this book's content, promises that this book will be a pleasure to read.



Mysticism: The Preeminent Study in the Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness by Evelyn Underhill is a classic in literature on mystics and mysticism, although it focuses predominantly on Christian mystics. This book will likely be the most scholarly and, perhaps, a more challenging choice but one that promises to be provocative and inspiring. The first half of the book explores the history of mysticism while the second half invites the reader to apply the experiential ideals behind mysticism. I've always been attracted to the mystics because my own spirituality tends to be more intellectually based.

Teachings on Love by Thich Nhat Hanh will be the most gentle of the books, the easiest to read. I love Thay's teachings and do not doubt that I will adore this book, whether I read it with another person or I read it on my own. He has written so many wonderful books and I've never been disappointed by a one. Although after a while his lessons become redundant there are some truths that need to be repeated. I have no doubt that the teachings contained within this book will be so full of compassion and the deepest, most pure kind of love, that it would be a shame for me to have this book and not read it before I die.

The Yoga of Breath: A Step-by-Step Guide to Pranayama by Richard Rosen is one of the few books available about pranayama yoga, a part of the yoga practice that focuses on breath. This a beginner's guide to pranayama so even for those who are completely unfamiliar with how to incorporate breathing into your yoga practice, this book is an excellent starting place. I've been wanting to spend time with breath work and am curious to read this book to see what insight it will offer. To appreciate the benefit of breathing, stop now and breathe deeply three times and then see how you feel. It is amazing the power we have in our own breath and a shame how often we forget this power in our own lives.

So these are the choices for this round and since I want to start one of these by 1 July I guess there is a time limit on voicing an interesting in reading along with me. I hope someone will join me. I love reading these deeply spiritual books but I love discussing them as well.