We’ve got some exciting titles rounding out our Spring 2012 list, and our April release Practical Centering: Exercises to Energize Your Chakras for Relaxation, Vitality, and Health by Larkin Barnett is no exception.

Efficient breathing is the master key to healing the body and soul, especially when combined with deep abdominal core strength.  Practical Centering provides a comprehensive regimen using deep relaxation breathing, core strength, affirmations, self-massage, stretching, color therapy and meditation. These practices are designed to awaken the chakras, or energy centers in the body.  Daily movements become an opportunity to enjoy the physical sensation of a strong core and loose muscles, and this in turn calms the mind and opens the spirit.

See below for an EXCLUSIVE excerpt!

Excerpt from Chapter 4: Practice the Rocking Motion for the Seven Rocking Massage Exercises*

Breathing for the Rocking Massage

Yoga teaches that your breath or “life force” runs through each of your “energy centers” or chakras. The most important element of The Rocking Massage is deep relaxation breathing. This aids in muscle relaxation and the fluid rocking motion. If you hold your breath or breathe shallowly the muscles tighten.  Deep relaxation breathing involves long, slow, even inhalations and exhalations through your nose.

Preparation for the Rocking Massage

• This time is just for you. Work out away from outside distractions.  You may want to play soft music or light a candle.  You will need a slightly cushioned mat, a blanket, or a towel placed on a carpet.  A yoga sticky mat will not work. Your body cannot slide along it.  It may be necessary to slightly elevate your head. Place a folded towel under your head. Keep the towel flat. The back of your head needs to gently slide during the rocking motion.

Starting Position for the Rocking Massage Exercises:

To start, lie on your back down on the mat with knees bent, feet flat, and legs hip-width apart, arms resting across your chest.  Place your heels about 12 inches away from your hips.

Discover that the actual motion is a continuous, slow rhythmic action. The body rocks backward and automatically rolls forward in response. The rhythm seamlessly repeats itself without pausing.  Breathe slowly and smoothly as you progress through the movements.

Start Practicing the Rocking Massage Motion:

• Keep your feet in place and initiate the rock and roll motion of your body from a gentle push of your feet against the floor. The motion starts from the heels and reverberates into your pelvic floor. This is called your “heel/sit-bone connection.” Your sit bones are the bones located at the base of your pelvis.  (You can feel them when you rock side to side in a sitting position.)
• Your entire body moves as a unit, backwards and forward, with no pauses. These are tiny ranges of motion weight shifts of the entire body. Your body moves approximately 1-2 inches backward and 1-2 inches forward.  This is a sliding motion of your body along the floor produced by the rocking.
• Keep your lower back and abdominal area relaxed. Your lower back does not press against the floor. That would tighten your lower back. This is the opposite intention. The small rocking motion allows your lower back to gently lengthen (when the body moves backward) and “naturally arch” (when the body slides forward). Gradually allow all of the tension within your back muscles to dissipate.
•  Relax your neck, jaw area, and directly behind your ears. The head will gently slide. Your chin moves up and down as a natural reaction to the slight push from your feet.
• Drape your arms across your body.  Relax your arm and hand muscles by allowing the weight of them to give into gravity.  You are in the “zone” when the back of your shoulder girdle and head slide along the floor.

Try not to make the gentle rock happen.  Allow the rocking motion to sequence freely through your whole body. Your entire body naturally knows what to do ­— if you relax each part.

*© 2012 Quest Books, Inc.  This excerpt may not be used for commercial purposes without the permission of Quest Books. For more information contact publicity@questbooks.net.

On Tuesday, The Quotable Krishnamurti editor Robert Epstein was featured in an in-depth interview with BlogTalk radio’s Online with Andrea host Andrea R. Garrison.

Don’t miss this wonderful interview.  Click here to listen to the interview online.

The Quotable Krishnamurti is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.

Andrea R. Garrison is on Facebook andTwitter.

Click here to read the interview online, or read it below via Scribd.

Sojourns of the Soul is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.

To learn more about the author, visit her website or connect with her on Goodreads and Facebook.

The popular spiritual blog DailyOM featured The Unconditioned Mind as a ‘Library Pick’ for December, and posted an excerpt from Chapter 2: Observation.  The excerpt can be read online here.

Also in December, the book was featured on the website Jiddu-Krishnamurti.net, complete with an author profile and review.

On December 9, the Ojai Valley News printed a profile article about the book and its ties to the local community.  The article, which appears on page two, can be read here.

And, finally, on December 13 an insightful review written by Rene Wadlow was posted on Theosophy.net.  The review can be read online here or via Scribd below.

The Unconditioned Mind is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.

During the course of this half-hour interview, Russell discusses his experience as co-founder of the twenty-year government-supported ESP research program at Stanford Research Institute (SRI).  From NASA to the CIA, Targ uses the research from this program to present the best scientific evidence for the reality of psychic abilities.

Click here to listen to the interview, or visit Deepak Chopra’s blog for more information about the interview and Russell’s upcoming book.

The Reality of ESP is available for pre-sale on Amazon.  For more information about Russell Targ, visit his website.

• Red Shambhala: Magic, Prophecy, and Geopolitics in the Heart of Asia by Andrei Znamenski is reviewed on page 18.
• A Dictionary of Western Alchemy by Jordan Stratford is reviewed on page 21.
• Working Class Mystic: A Spiritual Biography of George Harrison by Gary Tillery is featured and reviewed on page 20.
• An excerpt from Working Class Mystic, featuring Harrison’s fascination with Krishna, begins on page 35.

Here is a link to a PDF of issue #203.  You may also view the reviews and excerpt via Scribd below.

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Working Class Mystic is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.

To learn more about the author, visit his website or connect with him on Facebook and Twitter.

A Dictionary of Western Alchemy is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound. Visit the author’s website for more information, or connect with him on Facebook and Twitter.

Red Shambhala is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.  Learn more about the book on Facebook.

 

Last night, War and the Soul: Healing Our Nation’s Veterans from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder author Edward Tick was featured in a special two-hour interview with BlogTalk radio’s Online with Andrea host Andrea R. Garrison.

Don’t miss this wonderful interview.  Click here to listen to the interview online.

For more information about Ed Tick, visit his website.

War and the Soul is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.

Andrea R. Garrison is on Facebook and Twitter.

The Winter Solstice: The Sacred Traditions of Christmas

In the excerpt, you will learn all about the birth of Santa Claus and the many histories and traditions surrounding the character.

Click here to read the excerpt online.

The Winter Solstice is available on Amazon.

The Magical Buffet is on Facebook and Twitter.

Sojourns of the Soul: One Woman’s Journey around the World and into Her Truth

***A wonderful review appears in issue 164 of New York Spirit magazine.  Click here to read the review online.

***On November 14^th, the popular book blog Girl from the Ghetto posted Sojourns of the Soul as a 2011 Holiday Gift List featured item. Click here to see the feature.

***On November 21^st, Sojourns of the Soul was featured on another popular blog, She Reads and Reads.  Click here to read the post.

***On November 23^rd, Whirl magazine published a review and event listing for Dana’s tour.  Read the review here.

***Also on November 23^rd, Pittsburgh’s North Journal did a profile piece about Dana and her new book.  The article can be read online here.

***On November 25^th, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review also did a wonderful profile article on Dana.  Click here to read it online, or read the article via Scribd below.

***On December 5^th, Four Corners magazine posted an excerpt of the book, taken from Chapter Two: The Heart of Angkor.  Click here to read the excerpt online.

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Sojourns of the Soul is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.

To learn more about the author, visit her website or connect with her on Goodreads and Facebook.

Girl from the Ghetto is on Facebook and Twitter.

Whirl magazine is on Facebook and Twitter.

Journal North is on Facebook and Twitter.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review is on Facebook and Twitter.

Click here to watch! 

Working Class Mystic is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.

To learn more about the author, visit his website or connect with him on Facebook and Twitter.

You can read more about the event in this USA Today piece.

Quest Books is a sponsor of this wonderful concert, and Gary Tillery’s spiritual biography of John Lennon, The Cynical Idealist, will be represented at the event.

The Details:

31st Annual John Lennon Tribute Concert

Saturday December 10, 2011

Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, NYC.

7pm show, doors open at 6pm.

• Seated General Admission- $60
• Standing General Admission- $25.00

Click here for more information and to order tickets.

The Cynical Idealist is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.

Gary’s new book, Working Class Mystic: A Spiritual Biography of George Harrison, is also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.

To learn more about the author, visit his website or connect with him on Facebook and Twitter.

On November 30, The Magonia Review of Books published an insightful review.  Click here to read the review online, or view it via Scribd below.

In the November/December issue of Theosophy Forward, A Dictionary of Western Alchemy was chosen as a Notable Book.  The review reads:

The book under review here is not an introduction to alchemy, but it is an extremely useful compilation of alchemic terms and symbols, explained with admirable clarity. Anyone interested in alchemy for its own sake or as an important cultural stream in Western thought will benefit from having this work to consult. As our friend Stephan Hoeller (Theosophist and Gnostic) is quoted on the back cover of the back cover of the book: “Jordan Stratford’s fine work is precisely what has been missing on the shelf of every student of the ‘Great Art.’ Accurate, insightful, and accessible!”

Click here to read the full review.

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A Dictionary of Western Alchemy is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.

Visit the author’s website for more information, or connect with him on Facebook and Twitter.

You can find information on how to sign up to receive Theosophy Forward here.

You can listen to the interview here.

Working Class Mystic is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.

To learn more about the author, visit his website or connect with him on Facebook and Twitter.

KPRI is on Facebook and Twitter.

“I really weave together many of the teachings that overlap and interwove,” Micucci said. “The one theme that unites all of these journeys is that of transformation, the transformation of the self at the deepest level, where I was challenged to strip away all previously limiting beliefs and perceptions so that I could step into my true essence and power.”

Click here to read the full interview.

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Sojourns of the Soul is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.

To learn more about the author, visit her website or connect with her on Goodreads and Facebook.

The Sewickley Herald is on Facebook and Twitter.

This interview was originally published November 23, 2011.

The excerpt is taken from Chapter Six: Krishna, and can be read online or via Scribd below.

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Working Class Mystic is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.

Learn more about the author on his website, Facebook and Twitter.

Reality Sandwich is on Facebook and Twitter.

This excerpt was originally published on Reality Sandwich on November 18, 2011.

The review* can be read either by subscription online, or via Scribd below.

Sojourns of the Soul is available
on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and
IndieBound. To learn more about
the author, visit her website or find
her on Goodreads and Facebook.
The Albuquerque Journal is on
Facebook and Twitter.

*This review was originally published in the Albuquerque Journal October 9, 3011.

The two titles, both of which received great praise, are Politics and the Occult: The Left, the Right, and the Radically Unseen by Gary Lachman and Christian Gnosis by C. W. Leadbeater.

Read both reviews via Scribd below.

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Politics and the Occult

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

IndieBound

Christian Gnosis

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

IndieBound

]]> http://questbooks.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/two-quest-titles-reviewed-by-the-scientific-and-medical-network-2/feed/ 0 Xochi (sōchē) Adamé Politics & the Occult Cover Art 344K JPEG http://questbooks.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/the-magical-buffet-interviews-jordan-stratford-on-alchemy/ http://questbooks.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/the-magical-buffet-interviews-jordan-stratford-on-alchemy/#comments Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:11:35 +0000 Quest Books http://questbooks.wordpress.com/?p=3294 ]]> On November 6^th, The Magical Buffet posted an interview conducted with Jordan Stratford, author of our newest title A Dictionary of Western Alchemy.  The interview covers alchemy and Gnosticism, and how each relates to today.

To read the full review, click here.

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 To learn more about the author, visit his website.

A Dictionary of Western Alchemy is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.

The Magical Buffet is on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

Click here to watch the interview online.

Just Trust Me is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.

To learn more about G. Randy Kasten, visit his website or connect with him on Goodreads.

Halloween is a Hoax!

Let’s be honest: when the kids come to your door yelling “trikertreat!” these little hoodlums are practicing extortion. Because what does “trickertreat” really mean? It means that either you pay them off with a treat, or they’re going to engage in some act of vandalism, and soon. They know where you live. They’re already disguised, and since they’re minors, they know darn well whatever they do isn’t going to go on their adult record if they do get caught. They plant weeds in your window box, release a thousand crickets in your yard, or paint your car, all with near impunity. 

Now, the darn thing is that the kids who do the real vandalism on Halloween skip right past the trickertreat part. They just head out with rolls of toilet paper, shaving cream and old fish heads to play their tricks. The kids who yell “trickertreat” aren’t remotely prepared to do any actual damage. They’re too busy collecting candy and being supervised by their parents, back in the penumbra of the porch light, to trash your house. So try telling them “trick!” and see how they respond. They’ll probably just slink away and try the next house, while you stand there laughing. Don’t let them bully you.    

But since you’re probably nicer than I am, you may do the co-dependent thing, and make them feel more powerful than they deserve by pretending to be frightened by their costumes, their outright threats, or both. And why not? You’ve already engaged in a few dishonest acts surrounding this particular holiday. How many bags of candy did you buy on October 1, which developed mysterious leaks, and had to be replaced –several times—before October 31?  Or did you deliberately buy candy you didn’t like so you wouldn’t be tempted to sneak any, while assuring yourself that even though you don’t like that candy, surely all those costumed kids will love it? Yeah, right. 

So promote some honesty this Halloween. Tell those kids they don’t scare you, that you recognize Teddy and Sophie right through their ghost and angel costumes, and that you ate all the good candy anyway. A lesson in good old fashioned honesty is the best gift you can give. You may change a life and steer a few of them away from a life of crime. 

Or they may just think you’re a weird old scrooge. 

–by G. Randy Kasten

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Just Trust Me is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.