Spira Yoga is not just an exercise studio; we also aim to educate on mindful living and nutrition. In this blog, you will find three fantastic book recommendations. These books will enrich your life and challenge your soul and intellect!
Enjoy your summer reading,
Dora - owner of Spira Yoga, yoga teacher, and mindfulness educator
The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World
This book was recommended to me by one of my students, Cam, he regularly comes to my classes, and we often get into philosophical discussions after class. Was I glad to have read this book! All that I have learned and taught came full circle and became connected.
Much nonsense has been circulated in our popular culture about brain hemisphere differences; yoga is especially guilty of propagating harmful feminine and masculine, left vs. right brain ideology that has been proven completely wrong. I try my best during my lectures to shed light on the truth; I am so glad I came across this book, finally a single source that explains not just how the left and the right brain communicate but also how when there is no balance between the use of the two hemispheres, our culture and society suffers.
Have you noticed how everything in our world is becoming more black and white?
You are right; I am wrong
Logic is everything
Spirituality, humor, and metaphorical thinking is less and less
Binary, group thinking without criticism is on the rise
Less space is held for ambiguity and complex discussion
If you are like me and have noticed these trends, you may want to pick up this book, also available on audio, and dive into it despite its girth.
You will discover how our brain's left hemisphere has highjacked our thinking and culture!
We must start using our right hemisphere, or our binary, narrow-focused left brain hemisphere will create more conflict in our culture. The left hemisphere's logic-oriented, problem-solving, and narrow vision is needed to exist in our world. But without the right hemisphere's ability to see wholeness, ambiguity, emotional intelligence, and unconscious comprehension, we become robots that further and further alienate ourselves from each other, nature, and spirituality.
So read the book, folks, and start using both sides of your brain! :-)
The Raven's Gift
A Scientist, a Shaman, and Their Remarkable Journey Through the Siberian Wilderness
This is an adventure travel book by a Ph.D. chemist who stumbles into the shamanic culture of the old Siberian Wilderness. The book is an entertaining, educational read on far away cultures far-away and different ways of engaging with the universe. Jon Turk, the writer, is refreshingly honest as he grapples between his logical western brain and the magical way of thinking provided by our right brain hemisphere that has been lost in our current modern world.
OK, so you rather read a novel?
Here is one that you must read with your right brain hemisphere. :-)
Master and the Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
One of the greatest classics of Russian Literature, also available on audio, and the narration by Julian Rhind-Tutt is superb!
Written during Soviet Russia, nothing is as-is. The whole book is an allegory to the grotesque, absurd, and crazy, a cultural criticism without naming the culture, without speaking directly. If you are not familiar with Russian cultural history, you may benefit from reading literature explanatory notes from here.
Laugh out loud while you cringe in the painful realization of the actual message; a true classic for a reason.
Are you interested in studying with Spira, reading more books, discovering better life choices? Check out our training.