Author: Richard Freeman File Type: epub A radical presentation of the most rigorous form of contemporary yoga as meditation in motion. The Art of Vinyasa takes a unique look at Ashtanga yoga as meditation in motion that produces profound inner change. Two of the most well-respected teachers of the Ashtanga style of yoga, Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor, explore this rigorous practice not as a gymnastic feat, but as a meditative form. They reveal that doing the practice--and particularly the vinyasa, or the breath-synchonized movements--in such 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. Freeman and Taylor give an in-depth explanation of form, alignment, and anatomy, and how they work together in the practice. They also present a holistic approach to asana practice that includes an awareness of the subtle breath, and seamlessly merges yoga philosophy with practical technique. Unlike other books on Ashtanga, The Art of Vinyasa does not follow the linear pattern of the sequences of postures that are the hallmark of Ashtanga yoga. Instead, it interlinks the eight limbs--yama and niyama (ethical practices) asana (postures) pranayama (breathing) pratyahara (nongrasping of the senses) dharana (concentration) dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (harmony, insight)--and shows how to establish an internally rooted yoga practice. The book will be fully illustrated with fifty halftones by esteemed photographer and cinematographer Robert Muratore, along with thirty illustrations. **

Author: Allen C. Guelzo File Type: pdf Beneath the surface of the apparently untutored and deceptively frank Abraham Lincoln ran private tunnels of self-taught study, a restless philosophical curiosity, and a profound grasp of the fundamentals of democracy. Now, in Lincoln A Very Short Introduction, the award-winning Lincoln authority Allen C. Guelzo offers a penetrating look into the mind of one of our greatest presidents.If Lincoln was famous for reading aloud from joke books, Guelzo shows that he also plunged deeply into the mainstream of nineteenth-century liberal democratic thought. Guelzo takes us on a wide-ranging exploration of problems that confronted Lincoln and liberal democracy--equality, opportunity, the rule of law, slavery, freedom, peace, and his legacy. The book sets these problems and Lincolns responses against the larger world of American and trans-Atlantic liberal democracy in the 19th century, comparing Lincoln not just to Andrew Jackson or John Calhoun, but to British thinkers such as Richard Cobden, Jeremy Bentham, and John Bright, and to French observers Alexis de Tocqueville and Franiois Guizot. The Lincoln we meet here is an Enlightenment figure who struggled to create a common ground between a people focused on individual rights and a society eager to establish a certain moral, philosophical, and intellectual bedrock. Lincoln insisted that liberal democracy had a higher purpose, which was the realization of a morally right political order. But how to interject that sense of moral order into a system that values personal self-satisfaction--the pursuit of happiness--remains a fundamental dilemma even today.Abraham Lincoln was a man who, according to his friend and biographer William Henry Herndon, lived in the mind. Guelzo paints a marvelous portrait of this Lincoln--Lincoln the man of ideas--providing new insights into one of the giants of American history.ReviewWritten with grace and flair, this brief biography of Lincoln draws on the authors unexcelled knowledge of the subject to offer incisive interpretations of Lincolns early life, his antebellum career, his ideology of free labor, his rise to the presidency, and his leadership in a war that preserved the United States as one nation and freed it from the blight of slavery.--James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of FreedomThe small volume provides an impressive amount of historical and intellectual context, and offers an expert summary of Lincolns thought. --Indiana Magazine of HistorySuccessfully distills an epic life into the essence of [the] man in [a] pocket-size volume. - Washington Times Guelzos book will fill a notable void in the always expanding field of Lincoln studies. This new volume from Oxford should enjoy pride of place as the best short biography of Lincoln available.--Rick Beard, Executive Director, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and MuseumAbout the AuthorAllen C. Guelzo is Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era and Director of Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College. He is the author of Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation The End of Slavery in America and Abraham Lincoln Redeemer President, both winners of the highly prestigious Lincoln Prize.