This collection of poems is dedicated to the Yoginis the author has met in course of her research and travel. A pronounced sense of sacredness and spirituality characterizes these women of the mystic Yogini cult which venerates the all powerful Divine female figure, the "Yogini". The enigma of these tantric goddesses intrigued the author. These poems are a tribute to the forgotten Yoginis and are an attempt to write about the silence, light and space in the life and love meanderings of the Yogini.

• Shares vivid, experiential descriptions of the author’s sessions with master Lalita Devi wherein she imparted the essential principles of the Mahamudra to him physically, verbally, and energetically • Presents new translations of the most significant sacred books, including the Shiva Sutras, the Pratybhijna Hrdayam Sutra, and the Spandakarika, each presented in language that preserves their spontaneous mystic flow • Pairs the author’s intellectual study of the sacred texts with direct transmissions from his teacher, with each perspective shedding light on the other In 1975, in an isolated Himalayan forest, Daniel Odier met Lalita Devi, a tantric yogini who took him on a mystical journey beyond the limits of sexual experience to transcend the ego, recognize the true self, and rediscover the Divine nature of absolute love. Now, Odier shares the secret teachings and self-realization practices of the Kashmiri Mahamudra (meditation on the mind itself) and the Pratyabhijna (the School of Sudden Recognition). The author offers vivid descriptions of his sessions with Lalita Devi wherein she imparted the essential principles of the Mahamudra and the yoga of emotions to him physically, verbally, and energetically. Lalita Devi knew the principal texts of Kashmiri Shaivism by heart. New translations of the most significant sacred books, including the Shiva Sutras, the Pratyabhijnahrdayam, and the Spandakarika, are provided by Odier along with chants and poems from the yogini tradition. Presented in language that preserves their spontaneous mystic flow and restores their original ancient female origins, Crazy Wisdom of the Yogini offers a profound inside look at authentic tantric teachings.

For those who wonder what relation actual Tantric practices bear to the "Tantric sex" currently being marketed so successfully in the West, David Gordon White has a simple answer: there is none. Sweeping away centuries of misunderstandings and misrepresentations, White returns to original texts, images, and ritual practices to reconstruct the history of South Asian Tantra from the medieval period to the present day. Kiss of the Yogini focuses on what White identifies as the sole truly distinctive feature of South Asian Tantra: sexualized ritual practices, especially as expressed in the medieval Kaula rites. Such practices centered on the exchange of powerful, transformative sexual fluids between male practitioners and wild female bird and animal spirits known as Yoginis. It was only by "drinking" the sexual fluids of the Yoginis that men could enter the family of the supreme godhead and thereby obtain supernatural powers and transform themselves into gods. By focusing on sexual rituals, White resituates South Asian Tantra, in its precolonial form, at the center of religious, social, and political life, arguing that Tantra was the mainstream, and that in many ways it continues to influence contemporary Hinduism, even if reformist misunderstandings relegate it to a marginal position. Kiss of the Yogini contains White's own translations from over a dozen Tantras that have never before been translated into any European language. It will prove to be the definitive work for persons seeking to understand Tantra and the crucial role it has played in South Asian history, society, culture, and religion.

The sixty poems in this book are windows into the mind/body/spirit experiences that come about through yoga practice. Each poem is named for a posture or breath exercise and is inspired by the physical properties of the pose or some aspect of breathing that led the poet to deeper understanding. Listening to these poems read aloud, or contemplating them on one’s own, will help yoga students understand their own struggles and inspire them on the way to personal transformation.

The poems of the fourteenth-century Kashmiri mystic Lal Ded, popularly known as Lalla, strike us like brief and blinding bursts of light. Emotionally rich yet philosophically precise, sumptuously enigmatic yet crisply structured, these poems are as sensuously evocative as they are charged with an ecstatic devotion. Stripping away a century of Victorian-inflected translations and paraphrases, and restoring the jagged, colloquial power of Lalla's voice, in Ranjit Hoskote's new translation these poems are glorious manifestos of illumination.

The yoga and classical dance traditions of India have been inextricably entwined for millennia. The exacting hand gestures, postures and movements of Indian classical dance can only be achieved through yogic concentration. Conversely, the esthetics, symmetry, and dynamism of dance enhance the practice of yoga. These two traditions, so complementary and essential to one another, are united and explicated for the first time in A Yoga of Indian Classical Dance. Twenty-five years ago Roxanne Kamayani Gupta embarked on a journey of dance and yoga, yearning to unlock their mysteries and discover their common origins. As a twenty-year-old student from America she was miraculously and mysteriously absorbed into Indian culture, became a Hindu, and began an odyssey so unusual and unique that the reader will be enchanted by its telling. Choosing the path of the dancer, Roxanne Gupta accomplished what no Western woman had done before: being accepted and trained by Indian masters and then performing in the Indian classical traditions--from the palaces of maharajas to the arts festivals of Europe and America--while at the same time achieving a doctorate in the anthropology of religion and being initiated into a number of yogic traditions. Having mastered the classical form of Kuchipudi dance and studied with teachers of the hatha and kriya yoga traditions, she brings together these two great streams of consciousness and practice. In this tantric approach to yoga and dance, expressed through the body and through a yoga of emotions, we see the traditions embodied in a manner that embraces the totality of the human experience. The result is the dance of the yogini, the sacred feminine initiatress who dances with one foot in nature and the other in the realm of the gods. With extensive photographs of innovative yoga routines, Roxanne Kamayani Gupta distills her experience into techniques for yogic study certain to assist students of all levels to achieve a dynamic, beautiful, and graceful practice.

For thirty years, author Felicitas Kusch-Lango held space for women in yoga and meditation classes, in women’s circles, and in her practice as an astrologer and coach. These experiences gifted her with unique insights into the many rich layers of what it means to be a woman. Building on her observations over the years, this collection of poems presents an invitation for women to claim their age, love their bodies, and embrace a wild, elegant, and wise self as they age. Empowering, mystical and contemplative, it serves as an inspiring companion for all women who want to age soulfully. Initiation You have lived long enough. You have learned how to pause. You have released restlessness. And now you see beauty, Everywhere.

Yoga’s restorative power is revealed in this “uplifting” memoir about finding “an oasis of peace in the midst of crises large and small” (Publishers Weekly). At the age of fifty, author, parenting expert, and Huffington Post blogger Kathryn E. Livingston thought everything in her life would click into place. Instead, she felt like she was falling apart. She was consumed by panic and anxiety, neglecting her body, always expecting the worst. Until her discovery of yoga helped her find peace. This is a memoir about two transformative years in Kathryn’s life, an account of her relationship with a compassionate teacher who taught her to trust herself and the universe, even while facing the death of her parents, her children leaving home for college, and breast cancer. It’s about recognizing the mind-body connection and finding the way back to mental and physical health. The story of how yoga weaves its magic throughout a woman’s life, yoga aficionados and beginners alike, as well as anyone who has ever faced tragedy head on, will benefit from Kathryn’s journey. Above all, Yin, Yang, Yogini is a memoir about reinvention, with yoga as the backdrop for change—a blueprint for evolving in midlife and in midstride, learning to let go of the past, and living with trust in the present moment.