Movies: Go Further, with Woody Harrelson. This wacky documentary by Ron Mann released in 2004 takes place on a fun bus that is fueled by soy oil, showing Woody traveling across North America inspiring people to eat more non processed foods, to check out hemp paper, and to jump into a sun salutation and see how it feels. The movie is so hilarious and inspiring you may want to buy a bus, paint it, hire me as your yoga teacher and travel to spread the word that we need to have way more fun in life, get really healthy in silly ways and sing to cows in fields
Available at “alternative” video stores..

Books: Conversations with God, Book One. This is the only one of the three I took the time to read. Very warm, uplifting and gently inspiring. It feels like it addresses your life where you’re at and inspires you rather than asking you to take large, drastic steps to improve.
Excuse Me your Life is Waiting, Lynne Grabhorn. An early student of Esther and Jerry Hicks of the acclaimed motivational movie, The Secret, Lynne shares her real life experience with candid easy-goingness about how what you are feeling will determine your life’s outcomes. This woman’s writing style defies reverence. In short, Lynne is a hoot, be prepared for enthusiastic, (I’m a writing snob) rather sloppy writing and if this doesn’t bother you, you will be able to enjoy this book.

School: Waldorf. This private school (tuition about $11,000. per year) goes from kindergarden to the end of high school. The basis of the curriculum is based on the scientist, visionary and prophetic Rudolph Steiner. Please google him and check out this school. There are two locations in Toronto, one central close to Castle Loma and a northern school at Bathurst St. and Hi-way 7. My daughter went there and the attitude of the school changed our lives after we left the public school system. We found that our home life (no TV, spending time together, learning in nature, conscious parenting) was supported by the system, which is run by the parents, rather than a board that is headed in a hierchical manner.

School: Transformational Arts College, Toronto. This college and centre was co-founded by Gord Riddell and Kathy Ryndak in 1988. Part-time course and full-time classes provide a large array of holistic and energetic studies. Students are empowered by helping them to tap into their inner learner/healer. The original Greek meaning of education is upheld: to bring forth that which is already known or to draw out from within.

Book: Ask and it is Given, Learning to Manifest Your Desires. Esther and Jerry Hicks (The Teachings of Abraham) This is a basic book about how to use your mind’s energy to bring into your life what you want in all areas. It’s like a workbook to the Movie, The Secret.

Book: The Law of Attraction, The basics of the Teaching of Abraham. Esther and Jerry Hicks. This book reveals how all things, wanted and unwanted, are brought to you by this most powerful law of the universe: the law of attraction; that which is like unto itself is drawn.

The Untethered Soul. Michael A.Singer, 2007. This is the book I am writing now in another writer’s experience. The author reveals how we muddle ourselves with useless mind chatter which is our ego and how to transform out of this into witness mind increasing our awareness and truly creating our experiences.

A New Earth, Awakening to your life’s purpose. Eckhart Tolle Do I need to mention this book after all the press it has received including the author’s clever use of the mass media of Oprah? I have this book on CD as well and listen to it in the car, I almost know it off by heart now.

The Mind of the Cells. Satprem. This book is a rich in depth investigation of how we connect to universal intelligence when we resonate at its core. Not the lightest of reading. I read this on Christmas Day as a present to myself, and was standing up and cheering.

J. Krishnamurti. Just buy his books. Or get them from the library. I had an affair with his writing for four years. I felt alive and like I made sense again when I started reading it. He elicits how to live, not how to manage our lives or create them, but that we are life itself and that we do not need the anesthesia of tools or religion to live this life but that we can directly experience it. You could start with his book: Total Freedom, or Education and the Significance of Life, and please see The Awakening of Intelligence.

Power vs. Force, The Hidden Determinants of Human Behviour. David R. Hawkins. Hayhouse Inc. Here’s an excerpt: “On examination, we’ll see that power arises from meaning. Power is always associated with that which supports the significance of life itself. Power appeals to what uplifts, dignifies, and ennobles. Force must always be justified, whereas power requires no justification.” P. 132.

Book: Ojja 2, Gaal & Reine-Claire. These Montreal based teachers are exploring the power of vibration and breathe to transform the cells. You can order this book on line at gaiayoga.com. The website is poor and will not outline their work well. I recommend this book and their “workbook” The Yoga of Sound.

Seat of the Soul, Gary Zukav. Any of Gary Zukav’s work is worth investigating. This book will not be dated. It touches the truths of our life and assists our relationships.

Soulmates, Reflections on Love’s Mysteries. Thomas Moore. Great book for developing self-responsibility and being in a relationship without tripping it up with projections.

Care of the Soul. A guide for developing depth and sacredness in everyday life. Thomas Moore again. Great to get these on CD and listen to them in a meditative state.

Book: The Myth of Freedom. Chogyam Trungpa. This is an in depth view of meditation, and its use. More than this, it reveals how we think that keeps us living with a clear lens of the world and choose to view it with a limited perspective due to fear. Check out an of Chogyam Trungpa’s books, there are many diverse titles. This Bhuddist teacher has his teaching Centre here in Eastern Canada.

Barbara Brennan, Light Emerging, This book became an accessory in my back pack for a year or so. I’d loan you my copy but it’s all tattered.In Barbara Brennan's second book LIGHT EMERGING: The Journey of Personal Healing, she continues her exploration of the Human Energy Field, or aura, the source of our experience of health or illness. Drawing on many new developments in her teaching and practice, she shows how we can be empowered to understand and work with our most fundamental healing power: the light that emerges from the very center of our humanity. You will discover: • How each of us can tap our innate power to heal ourselves and others. • Startling information about energy interactions in relationships and how to break through negative patterns to new, positive contracts with those closest to us. • The crucial connection between healing, creativity, and transcendence.

Creating Sacred Space, Karen Kennedy. This book is available through the Toronto Public Library system. A wonderful, easy read on how to de-clutter even the most unimaginable get-rid-of-its that are taking up space in your home. Reading this book when I was 30 changed my life. It was the beginning of “prosperity consciousness” in my personal and professional life. Meaning, I learned that by making space in my home and getting rid of awful trinkits loved ones had given me, and books I felt I must get around to reading, I came home and lived MY life. One great advice tip I always remember: If you have a book you can’t decide to get rid of, donate it to the library. I donated 5 boxes.

Novel: Expecting Adam, Martha Beck. A Harvard PHd finds out she is pregnant with a baby with Down’s Syndrome. A fresh, intelligent memoir about getting real (about what you deem important in life) and still living in an academic community. After this book, Beck describes herself as a “recovering academic.”

Book: The Joy Diet. Martha Beck. This reliable author uses her real life experiences to help you develop ten supportive behaviours that will help you live through the unpredictability of each day’s journey.

Book: Path of Empowerment Barbara Marciniak. This book is about developing the wisdom required to live in a world of chaos. It is described as: “Creative solutions for changing beliefs, reclaiming your power, and creating a world of unlimited possibilities.”

Novel: Eat, Pray, Love. Elizabeth Gilbert. Too fun. A young woman gets bulled over by life and finds her truth again by traveling to India, Indonesia and another country that starts with “I”. I almost fell out of the hammock laughing during this one.

Cookbook: Enlightened Eating, Caroline Dupont. To help make sense of eating “raw” foods and other highly nutritious tasties, to feel inspired to try such healthy eating and to have recipes to make it interesting. Caroline’s book is available on line.

Book: Writing Down the Bones. Natalie Goldberg. This book will inspire you to touch that authentic need to write, your book, your memoir, a poem. Natalie’s honest, provocative book on writing will reach you deep down to the core of what it is you want to say.

Book: No Boundary. Ken Wilber. Forever the academic, intellectual teacher, Ken Wilber leads us into the physical experience of non-duality that could evoke a state of consistent peace and tranquility on a cellular level.

Book: Moola Bandha. The Master Key. Swami Buddhananda This book is for yoga enthusiasts, particularly Ashtanga students who wish to further their understanding of this root “lock” that harnesses the energy at the bottom of the spine. This is rich reading for more advanced students who wish to progress in their studies.