The Path of Practice - Linda

[Guest guest]

Dear Linda,

 

Here is the link for this book:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Path-Practice-Womans-Ayurvedic-Healing/dp/0345434846/sr=8-1/qid=1163347044/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-3705301-9949662?ie=UTF8&s=books

 

Here a a few reviews of the book as well from Amazon:

 

Useful and worth reading, April 1, 2006

Reviewer: Samantha G. Zeitlin (la jolla, CA United

States) - See all my reviews

I learned of this book at a lecture on Ayurvedic

medicine, which was the first time I had heard about

these practices.

 

I agree with the other reviewers who praised Tiwari's

prose. In general the book is relaxing and easy to

read.

 

I also agree with the reviewers who found some of the

religious imagery a bit over the top. I think most of

the anecdotes come across as far-fetched, wishful

thinking.

 

Nevertheless, the recipes are useful, and it also

serves as a nice reference for a variety of meditation

practices. Much of what she says strikes a balance

between traditional practices and modern-day life with

Western medicine. I like that she doesn't completely

discount science, although some of her advice (to

drink rainwater, for example, as if it's safe to do

that anywhere!) seems ignorant and unsafe to me.

 

Perhaps what I found most frustrating is that Tiwari

herself has chosen to effectively 'check out' of

society. I would find her more useful as a role model

if she had found a way to merge her Vedic practices

with a successful career doing something other than

teaching meditation, cooking and music while living in

a log cabin.

 

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The Path of Practice , December 9, 2005

Reviewer: ascent magazine (Montreal Canada) - See all

my reviews

I wish I could read this book aloud to cancer

sufferers. Written as part memoir, part how-to guide,

The Path of Practice is a conversational,

self-described "course in healing and in living." Bri

Maya maintains that "all pain is a reminder that we

have strayed from the natural rhythms of life," and

this book acts as a guiding light to bring us back.

My fascination with The Path of Practice took hold in

the chapter on Bri Maya's personal ordeal with ovarian

cancer. After fighting a two-and-a-half-year battle

with operations and allopathic treatments, while

simultaneously building a fast-paced career as a New

York fashion designer, she retreated to the wintry

woods of Vermont to die alone.

In that Vermont cabin, Bri Maya reconnected with her

Indian roots of self-sustainment by baking Indian

breads, sifting grains and grinding masalas. She spent

six months immersed in journaling, meditation and

prayers, and when she emerged from her retreat the

cancer that had pervaded her vital organs had gone

into remission. Bri Maya continued learning about the

Vedas, reconnecting with Divine Mother, and

disseminating her knowledge. She founded and runs the

Wise Earth School of Ayurveda, and a charity, called

Mother Om Mission, to reunite at-risk communities with

the universe's natural rhythms.

Bri Maya has delved into a lifetime of experience and

boiled it down into The Path of Practice, briefly but

precisely explaining the key principles of sadhana,

mantra, mudra, meditation, pranayama, chakras,

ancestral legacies, cosmic sound and silence, doshas

and cycles of the moon. Peppered with personal

examples and appropriately chosen quotes from Vedic

lore, this book is an excellent primer or reference

book for those who feel drawn to reconnect with innate

natural rhythms in their daily lives.

The chapters on "Sound medicine and spirit healing"

and "The inner sound of the human voice" were of

particular interest to me. Tejas, or soul vibration,

"makes cosmic sound audible and produces our inner

powers of transformation, our inner voice and

intuition." She explains chanting exercises, prayers

and mantras, and stresses the power of vibration and

periods of silence. As I practised the Sanskrit

chants, I serendipitously learned that the vibration

will scare my kittens away from scratching up the

rugeureka!

This book is a valuable cross-section of practices

that facilitate a deeper connection with universal

rhythms. Bri Maya's prose is lulling, accessible and

entirely readable for the Ayurvedic novice, with

enough comprehensive content to satisfy seasoned

practitioners.

 

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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

 

Ancient wisdom, October 16, 2005

Reviewer: Beata P. (Poland) - See all my reviews

It is not a book for the faint of heart, neither is it

right for those who desire definite and concrete

answers to their lives problems. While Bri Maya Tiwari

offers a full richness of ancient Ayurvedic practices

which may lead to deep insights they are far from what

our Western culture would define as definite. Nothing

is definite or concrete when you open your heart and

mind to the wisdom of your own inner self. It is a

very feminine quality which leads one to intuitive

learning from our very own heart. If you are looking

for ways to connect with the wisdom of your deeper

self through finding your ancestral roots and your

connection to the Divine Mother you may find the book

helpfull. Bri Maya's journey opened the doors which my

culture kept shut for over one thousand years, the

doors to the the vast ocean of universal knowledge

(knowledge that does not rely purely on reason) that

dwells within us and is available to an ardent seeker.