Spiritual transformational yoga takes a step-by-step approach through the eight limbs of yoga. Most people initially come to the mat because of the physical practice and all the benefits that yoga offers for strengthening the body and increasing flexibility. The actual point of yoga is to unite oneself with God. Yoga is not a religion but is open to all religions. It is a spiritual discipline that can provide helpful tools to strengthen one's faith. The eight limbs of yoga provides a path to oneness with God. The first two limbs concentrate on external and internal values. Next comes the postures to prepare the body physically to sit in prayer and meditation for periods of time. Breath work is incorporated after the physical practice to calm the mind even further for meditation. It is then that the individual begins withdrawing from the senses, going inward to focus and being, then eventually meditating and being one with God. Dr. Sally Bassett has written this book based on her experience of traveling and leading groups to over 120 countries. Sally has practiced yoga; prayed and/or meditated on the banks of the Ganga River in India, an abbey with Trappist monks, a convent with the Sister of Saint Benedict, in Muslim prayer rooms throughout the world, and a French ashram in the Loire Valley; sung gospel songs around campfires with rural women in Uganda; sat with monks in silence across Asia; listened to the beliefs from Native American Indians in Western United States; prayed in cathedrals across the globe lighting candles too numerous to count; and hiked hundreds of miles of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain. Sally is a humanitarian, world traveler, seeker, and founder of Peace through Yoga Foundation. Sally's enthusiasm toward life as well as her creative and spiritual approach to yoga have been keys to her success. Her yoga journey has included a twelve-year ownership of two yoga studios, teaching yoga and philosophy as an adjunct professor at Butler University and cofounding the Yoga and Spirituality program at Christian Theological Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. Sally lives and teaches yoga in the village of Zionsville, Indiana, when she is not traveling the world. All proceeds go to Peace through Yoga Foundation (www.peacethroughyoga.org).

"Transformational Yoga emphasises that every individual has the capacity to experience pure consciousness by practising certain yogic postures and techniques that can purify the impurities lying within the life energy centres of the body, awaken and activate them for spiritual uplift and allow the body to strengthen itself from the energy thus released. This book projects such transformational yogic asanas and have been carefully selected only for beginners. Arranged sequentially along with coloured photographs, these asanas, carry short descriptions on the method to be followed, lay out the benefits to be obtained by practising them, provides short and illustrated explanations on chakras, yogic bodies and prana, and discusses the use of mantras and pranayama in releasing stress. This easy-to-follow book on yoga will appeal its readers for its lucid text, simplistic and practical approach and aesthetic presentation.

Routledge Handbook of the Tourist Experience offers a comprehensive synthesis of contemporary research on the tourist experience. It draws together multidisciplinary perspectives from leading tourism scholars to explore emergent tourist behaviours and motivations. This handbook provides up-to-date, critical discussions of established and emergent themes and issues related to the tourist experience from a primarily socio-cultural perspective. It opens with a detailed introduction which lays down the framework used to examine the dynamic parameters of the tourist experience. Organised into five thematic sections, chapters seek to build and enhance knowledge and understanding of the significance and meaning of diverse elements of the tourist experience. Section 1 conceptualises and understands the tourist experience through an exploration of conventional themes such as tourism as authentic and spiritual experience, as well as emerging themes such as tourism as an embodied experience. Section 2 investigates the new, developing tourist demands and motivations, and a growing interest in the travel career. Section 3 considers the significance, motives, practices and experiences of different types of tourists and their roles such as the tourist as photographer. Section 4 discusses the relevance of ‘place’ to the tourist experience by exploring the relationship between tourism and place. The last section, Section 5, scrutinises the role of the tourist in creating their experiences through themes such as ‘transformations in the tourist role’ from passive receiver of experiences to co-creator of experiences, and ‘external mediators in creating tourist experiences'. This handbook is the first to fill a notable gap in the tourism literature and collate within a single volume critical insights into the diverse elements of the tourist experience today. It will be of key interest to academics and students across the fields of tourism, hospitality management, geography, marketing and consumer behaviour.

Spiritual Information is a collection of one hundred essays that explore a portion of the vast interdisciplinary approaches to the study of science and religion. Individually and together, the essays show how the study of ourselves, our planet, and the universe helps us understand our place as spiritual beings within God’s universe. The book is a tribute to Sir John Templeton and his pioneering commitment toward new research that results in “one hundredfold more spiritual information than humankind has ever possessed before.” It begins with essays that reflect on Sir John’s principal domains of interest and expertise: free-enterprise based finance and accelerating spiritual progress. Themes of the sections are: •Science-Religion Dialogue •Cosmology, Physics, and Astronomy •Mathematics, Musicology, and Speculation •Biological Evolution—the Human Being •Social Evolution—the Human Mind and Heart •Religion and Health •The Nature of the Divine •Theology and Philosophy •Faith Traditions “Sir John’s leadership has enabled us to edge ever closer to the frontier where knowledge meets wisdom at the threshold of ‘ultimate reality,’” notes the editor in the preface to this volume. As Spiritual Information presents an overview of how far we have come in the science and religion dialogue, it also opens windows to the vast possibilities for additional research and further advances in spiritual information.

We, Sharda and Margot, feel very honored to be able to write and edit such a book. Our spiritual journey has led to the passion of bringing together and sharing the thoughts we ourselves have come across in our lives by meeting gurus, swamis, like-minded seekers, managers, teachers, entrepreneurs, academics, students, and by reading books and practicing spiritual techniques. We also have gained much spiritual inspiration from the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother to whom we are grateful. The thoughts presented in this book already exist in the East and West. Integrating them into the way we do business, can help us to regain trust and respect in business even in the current economic crisis. We aim to convince others of our deep belief that spiritual practices and a spiritual orientation help make life more enjoyable and makes us better human beings through helping us to live in line with our karma in every context of life, in our roles as employees, entrepreneurs, managers, leaders, mothers, or fathers, etc.

A comparative statement of the various religious dogmas concerning the soul and its destiny, and of Akkadian, Hindu, Taoist, Egyptian, Hebrew, Greek, Christian, Mohammedan, Japanese and other magic. Chapter I - Modern Spiritualism On The Soul Chapter Ii - Hindu Souls Chapter Iii - Egyptian Souls Chapter Iv - Chaldean Souls Chapter V - Greek And Roman Souls Chapter Vi - Neoplatonism On The Soul Chapter Vii - Christian Souls Chapter Viii - Relic Worship Chapter Ix - Chinese Souls Chapter X - Japanese Souls Chapter Xi - The Possibility Of A Spiritual World Considered Chapter Xii - The Possibility Of A Spiritual World Further Considered Chapter Xiii - The Possibility Of A Spiritual World Further Considered Chapter Xiv - The Possibility Of A Spiritual World Further Considered Chapter Xv - Religion In General Chapter Xvi - The Evolution Of Social Virtue Chapter Xvii - Hindu Yoga Chapter Xviii - Chinese Yoga Chapter Xix - Egyptian Yoga Chapter Xx - Akkadian Yoga Chapter Xxi - Mohammedan Yoga Chapter Xxii - Hebrew Yoga Chapter Xxiii - Yoga Of The Essenes Chapter Xxiv - The Roman Stoics As Yogis Chapter Xxv - Christian Yoga Chapter Xxvi - Yoga In General Chapter Xxvii - Results Of Practice And Indications Of Progress Chapter Xxviii - Earthly Immortality Chapter Xxix - Yoga As A Process Of Evolution Chapter Xxx - Conclusion

Using fascinating case stories, Dr. Yvonne Kason shares the results of her research and experience counselling hundreds of STE experiencers.

The Routledge Handbook of Health Tourism provides a comprehensive and cutting-edge overview of the philosophical, conceptual and managerial issues in the field of health tourism with contributions from more than 30 expert academics and practitioners from around the world. Terms that are used frequently when defining health tourism, such as wellbeing, wellness, holistic, medical and spiritual, are analysed and explored, as is the role that health and health tourism play in quality-of-life enhancement, wellbeing, life satisfaction and happiness. An overview is provided of health tourism facilities such as thermal waters, spas, retreats and wellness hotels and the various challenges inherent in managing these profitably and sustainably. Typologies are given not only of subsectors of health tourism and related activities but also of destinations, such as natural landscapes, historic townscapes or individual resources or attractions around which whole infrastructures have been developed. Attention is paid to some of the lifestyle changes that are taking place in societies which influence consumer behaviour, motivations and demand for health tourism, including government policies, regulations and ethical considerations. This significant volume offers the reader a comprehensive synthesis of this field, conveying the latest thinking and research. The text is international in focus, encouraging dialogue across disciplinary boundaries and areas of study and will be an invaluable resource for all those with an interest in health tourism.

Between 1927 and 1950, Sri Aurobindo--one of the foremost Indian philosophersof the 20th century--perfected a new kind of spiritual practice he called the"Integral Yoga." This volume brings together a comprehensive selection of SriAurobindo's letters pertaining to the practice of this discipline.