Join us at our Ning site for first chat 7/5/09

Hey all... please join us and invite your fellow readers for our first Heart of Yoga chat at http://namastebookclub.ning.com . We'll do it from 5-10 p.m. on 7/5/09. Let's chat about the first couple of chapters. What is your experience so far? How do you like the book? What really grabs you? What do you find helpful for your practice? Have you learned new things/techniques? What do you take away most after reading?

Also, we'd love feedback on what you want out of the club. Finally, stay tuned for a fun contest to win book #2. We have an excellent selection and can't wait to share it with you. More on the contest soon...

Chat with you this coming Sunday. Namaste.

The Book #1 Winner is....

Ladies and gentlemen, yogis and yoginis we have a first book. Thanks first of all to the nearly 50 people who voted. Pretty great turn-out for a little book club that was starting only a week ago. All three choices were dynamite, but one was clearly the favorite. So, starting one week from today (to give you all a chance to get the book if you haven't got it) we will begin reading together Heart of Yoga by T.K.V. Desikachar.

Here are some locations to get it, but of course in the interest of reduce, reuse, recycle we always encourage visiting your local library or borrowing it from a friend. Also some great used bookstores still exist and supporting local businesses is terrific. But, if you can't find the book at any of those locations here are some on line sources:

Powells: http://bit.ly/zKAAt

Alibris: http://bit.ly/E00dO

Amazon: http://bit.ly/dzc3X

Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/14wD0V

Stay tuned for for details on how we will do the club. Send us any and all suggestions here, via email at yogabookclub@gmail.com, or on twitter @namastebookclub. Be sure to join us at our ning: http://namastebookclub.ning.com and become our fan on Facebook.

Thanks again to all who voted and we can't wait to have you join us as we go to the heart of yoga together. Namaste.

Yoga Journal blogged about us!

Thanks to Yoga Journal for blogging about our book club and suggesting people follow/join! We love the press and welcome all new folks to join us on the journey. Check it out: http://blogs.yogajournal.com/yogabuzz/

Join us at Ning.com so we can chat/discuss

Be sure to join us at http://namastebookclub.ning.com/ so we can chat and have discussions about the books. see you there once we've got our first pick. Don't forget to vote!

Tada! The final three!! VOTE!

Here are the final three candidates for Namaste Book Club's first book. These were chosen on the basis of comments, tweets and emails. Please vote (at the right) and we'll announce the winner on Sat. 6/27/09. We will begin the book club exactly one week later so everyone has time to get the book and get going. You can also click on the links below to get more info on each choice so your decision is an informed one. Happy voting!



Yoga Mala http://bit.ly/2X94UA

Heart of Yoga http://bit.ly/dzc3X

Light on Yoga http://bit.ly/4BWSdF

Book #1 options

We are really excited because it seems like some serious interest in joining us on this reading/learning journey. So here's what we're thinking: let's give it a week or so to decide upon book #1. We've had several book suggestions. Let's get some feedback then next Saturday we can announce our first book and go from there. Sound good? If you have alternative book suggestions please post them in the comments (you can do so anonymously if you wish).

Initial suggestions:

Yoga Sutras:

(if we chose this we could do it in sections as an addition to another book or alone. we'd need to pick a version, so: different versions, which do you like best?....)

http://bit.ly/InjhT B.K.S. Iyengar

http://bit.ly/JGohZ Geshe Michael Roach and Lama Christine McNally

http://bit.ly/15YwUI Sri Swami Satchidananda

Alternative Books:

http://bit.ly/GQnxj Gregor Maehle

http://bit.ly/JxOwf Judith Anodea

http://bit.ly/dzc3X T. K. V. Desikachar

http://bit.ly/HMoGe Richard Rosen

http://bit.ly/kzQn4 Multiple authors incl T. K. V. Desikachar

http://bit.ly/2X94UA S.K.Pattabhi Jois

http://bit.ly/uUFmT Michael Stone

http://bit.ly/1Tu8cW Eckhart Tolle

http://bit.ly/kH3xZ Stephen H. Phillips

http://bit.ly/109ETo B.K.S. Iyengar

http://tinyurl.com/rxmrrj Janice Gates and Linda Sparrowe

http://bit.ly/11B5nF Leslie Kaminoff


We welcome all feedback on these books and also on how you think best to conduct the club so everyone can enjoy it.

Namaste!

     And so it begins:  a book club for yoga fans, practitioners, teachers and explorers.  It has been suggested that perhaps the best place to start is with the Yoga Sutras.  A challenge for sure, but a great way to share our passion.  Look here for an update on this and feel free to comment if you are interested.  We are looking for any input into how best to conduct an "on-line" book club.  

Some thoughts:

1.) Different people take on the task of "leading" the discussion of our books.  One month someone is the main blogger, another month another blogger and so on.  That way the wealth is spread evenly. 

2.) Discussion could take place in the form of comments.  How is the book affecting you? Are you using it in your practice?  Do you use it when teaching?  What did you learn that is new?  What is not great about it? What would you recommend/not recommend about it?  and so on

3.) If a book is really gripping us we can focus on it for longer.  Perhaps to start a month/ book.  

Let me know your thoughts!  Excited to have this journey with you all... Happy Reading and Namaste!