Reading list

Suggested further reading about our activities and destinations:

YOGA

The Wisdom of Yoga, Stephen Cope
A contemporary look at the Sutras of Patanjali, one of yoga's fundamental texts. Cope explains the Sutras and their relevance to modern life using case studies of friends and other students. A readable and sensitive book, The Wisdom of Yoga puts physical asana practice into the larger context of the yoga philosophy and understanding.

The Complete Book of Yoga, Swami Visnu Devananda
Swami Visnu Devananda was one of the pioneering yoga teachers in the west and his classic text has been used for decades as the standard text on hatha yoga. Illustrated with postures it also includes background on yoga philosophy, breathing, meditation and higher levels.

The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace, NE Sjoman
With hundreds of varieties of yoga available, how did we come to be where we are? After exensive research Sjoman discovered up the oldest contemporary documentation of asana practice hidden in an Indian palace (where both Ashtanga's Pattabi Jois and BKS Iyengar studied). In his commentary he outlines a fascinating account of the development of asana practice and poses the intriguing question: what have we lost along the way?

Hatha Yoga, Theos Bernhard
Bernhard was one of the earliest western pioneers to immerse himself in the yoga tradition. His 1948 account of the postures and breathing practices he was taught retains an air of fascinated discovery that's not dissimilar to a travel book. It's really interesting to hear how he was put through an intense yoga programme ('after three months I could hold the headstand for two hours'); meanwhile he references what he was taught with quotes from ancient texts such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, amongst others. Berhard was one of the early western seekers to immerse himself in the India tradition; unlike many who venture there today, he paid for it with his life – killed in Tibet while on the hunt for ancient scriptures.

Be Here Now, Ram Dass
In a former incarnation Ram Dass was once Dr Richard Alpert, partner in crime and academic collegue of Timothy Leary who pioneered LSD and various other hallucinogenic in the 1960s. After various psychedelice shenanigans Alpert then disappeared to India, discovered yoga and spirituality and it today a highly revered teacher and chant master. Be Here Now charts Alpert's fascinating transformation from drug to yoga guru as well as offering a holistic guide to yoga and spiritual living.

THAILAND

Guns, Girls, Gambling, Ganja, Pasuk Phongpaichit, Sungsidh Piriyaragsan, Nualnoi Treerat
The title is misleading: this is a collection policy research aimed at informing the government as to what it's missing out on in terms of earnings from arms, prostitution and the like. While it's hardly a rip-roaring shoot-em-up account, it does provide some great insight into Thailands various black markets as well as the figures and personalitites that populate it.

The Falcon of Siam, Axel Aylwen
Swashbuckling adventure tale set in 17th century Thailand. Aylwen details the exploits of the historical figure Constantine Phaulkon who lived off his wits in and around Siam and the South China Seas. As the author notes much of the records of Thai history were destroyed when the Burmese invaded the then-capital of Ayudhya in the 18th century; so who knows? It's a great tale, though.

Thailand: A short history, David K Wyatt
This standard political history of Thailand is a clear, readable exposition of Thai history from earliest known origins. Particularly interesting is the expansion and contraction of the Thai state in and out of today's nearby countries, and the Thailand's various experiments with absolute monarchy, constitutional monarchy, military dictatorship and democracy (not necessarily in that order and something which the country still hasn't worked out yet).

MOROCCO

The Sheltering Sky, Paul Bowles
A fictional account of the Moresbys, an American couple travelling in the Sahara in the 1950s. Some journeys, as the cover spiel states, are better left unmade... Tense, dark and gripping, the couple gradually come to discover – with horror - the desolation in their own hearts, as well as thqat of the vast, barren expanse around them. In its own way The Sheltering Sky (it's all but that) is a sort of Saharan Heart of Darkness.

EGYPT

Smuggling on the Red Sea, Henri de Monfreid
The legendary Red Sea adventurer here details his exploits smuggling hashish from Djibouti to Egypt in 1915. de Monfreid tells of a fascinating trip from the very south of the Red Sea taking in many details of the landscape and sea life of the coast of Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt - as well as his escapades with the veritable jungle of human life he encouters. Crooked Italians, renegade Bedouins, dodgy Greeks and cold Englishmen are all thrown into the mix in a story that is both educational and entertaining.

Yoga retreats, yoga holidays, yoga Egypt, Thailand, Morocco