Cave in the Snow: A Western Woman's Quest for Enlightenment

Talk in May @ Shambhala NYC
"The Eight Worldly Concerns

with Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo"

I was fortunate to hear Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo talk about the 6 Paramitas, in Tushita center, in McLeod Ganj. I learned insightful things from her presence and her speech.

I'm very curious about here book: "Cave in the Snow: A Western Woman's Quest for Enlightenment".

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo was born in London in 1943. When she was 20 years old she traveled to India, and soon after met her teacher. In 1964, she became one of the first Western women to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun. After twelve years of study and frequent retreats during the long Himalayan winters, she sought complete seclusion. She found a remote cave, where she practiced intensively for twelve years. Cave in the Snow: A Western Woman's Quest for Enlightenment is the story of her life. Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo is a renowned champion for the rights of women to attain spiritual enlightenment. She is the founder of Dongyu Gatsal Ling, a nunnery in India.

3 Recommend Books for Writing Development

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within (Shambhala Library) by Natalie Goldberg


Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott


Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis by Ed.D. Joan Bolker and Victoria Hartman

Book List for January: mindfulness, creativity, zen and yoga

Books about mindfulness, creativity, zen and yoga....

Ordered from Amazon, waiting for it to arrive:

Yoga and You: Energizing and Relaxing Yoga for New and Experienced Students

Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food

Collaborative Circles: Friendship Dynamics and Creative Work

Returning to Silence

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Your Life (Gawain, Shakti)

The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life

The Body Has a Mind of Its Own: How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better- by Sandra Blakeslee and Matthew Blakeslee

"The Body Has a Mind of Its Own: How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better" by Sandra Blakeslee and Matthew Blakeslee, is a book I found in the Chicago O'Hare airport while waiting for the flight back to New York City.

I am very curious about it. I just started reading it, and would love to share some quotes and ideas as I go along. So for now, here's what 2 reviews wrote:

From Publishers Weekly

What do golfer's yips, the ability to see auras and the hypnotic appeal of video games all have in common? Each arises from the brain's body map. New York Times science contributor Sandra Blakeslee and her son, science writer Matthew Blakeslee, begin with a quick overview of the sense of touch. According to the Blakeslees, body maps are created by the brain, using touch, to spell out the brain's experience of the body and the space around it. These maps expand and contract to include objects such as clothing, tools or even your car. Some of the more interesting subjects the Blakeslees cover include muscle tone disorders, phantom limb sensations in amputees and the inaccurate body images associated with anorexia. Sketches and sidebars explore topics in more detail, while a glossary explains technical terms. With its breezy this is so cool style, this entertaining book will appeal to readers who prefer their science lighthearted and low-key. (Sept. 11)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

This popular synthesis of a technical field in neuroscience explores how the brain constructs its models of the body. Entangled with the perception of self, these maps are multitudinous and dynamic, as experimenters have discovered. The Blakeslees ground the idea of mental maps in the work of Wilder Penfield, a 1940s researcher whose probes on the brains of living people localized which areas of the brain represent which parts of the body. Subsequently, scientists have refined the concept of body maps, a history that binds the Blakeslees' informative explanations of specific maps, case studies, and psychic disorders. Expressed in an amiable, we're-all-in-this-together manner, their tour describes one's personal space and its extension to one's clothes, tools, instruments, and sports gear. The body in motion generates its own set of changing mental maps, distinguishing the graceful from the clumsy. Maps are plastic, report the Blakeslees, yet they also have permanence: successful dieters may still feel overweight, and amputees retain a map of the missing limb. Varied and revealing, this will intrigue readers interested in the clinical perspective on self-perception. Taylor, Gilbert --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Official Site

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"Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

"Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, was recommended to me by Suzanne, the sweet girlfriend of my boyfriend's flat-mate and long-time buddy, Greg.

We were talking about my interests and her studies, and she recommended this book to me, since I was talking about the 'aesthetic experience' and 'meditation' and transformative experiences, values and so on. She asked if I know of this hard-to-pronounce scholar and his theory of flow, and I didn't. She explained he writes about people's experiences after they see an art exhibition, which reminded me of Pierre Bourdieu, a sociology and education scholar I've studied about, but this was different. There would be less French complications and more down-to-earth spiritual air to this, perhaps. In any case, my eyes were wide open, my ears perked up, and I was TOTALLY interested.

Fast-forward a few weeks, and I lay my hands on a fascinating book, in the Chicago O'Hare airport - and guess what? I can hardly pronounce its author's name. Flow? I guess there aren't too many 'flow' theories out there. This is probably it!

I'm reading it like I sometimes like to read books- from the middle, back and forth, on random pages. Tasting it.
So far, it keeps me very interested and mystified!

I'd love to share what I learn from it here.


Wiki: "Flow" Psychology

Wiki: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Vid of M.C on 'Positive Psychology" [7 min.]

Vid of M.C. on "Flow Theory" [3 min.]

The book on Amazon

"If the Buddha Dated" by Charlotte Kasl

"If the Buddha Dated: A Handbook for Finding Love on a Spiritual Path" by Charlotte Kasl was given to me by a house-maid of a luxurious Southampton villa, who was inspired by Buddhism and thought I would like it. I do like it very much! I am grateful for receiving this gift from her.

Being on a spiritual path, for me, means being honest with myself and comitted to be as good as I can. To be "fully human being," as Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, my spiritual teacher, would say. So it is very interesting to explore this notion in two! How to be kind to myself by finding a partner who can be kind to himself (or herself), and how to cultivate a relationship that is deeply honest and kind.

To synchronize with our partner, it helps us if we are synchronize our own body and mind. To be authentic with our lover, we need to search for that authenticity within ourselves. And that means being brave to handle the ugly parts as well as to acknowledge the beautiful parts.

It also helps, as the book suggests and gives exercises, to know ourselves, and our values. What do we actually want, or need from a partner? What would we like to give? The clearer this is, the easier it is to see if it's a match between two people.

Ultimately, the spiritual relationship is deep, willing to cope with whatever arises, combines mind and body of the two lovers, and brings out the best of both.

What do you think or feel about this subject?

Charlotte Kasl Official Site

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Getting Things Done / by David Allen

"Getting Things Done - The Art of Stress-Free Productivity" by David Allen, was recommended to me by my precious friend, Michal Harari, who helps people achieve their life goals, dreams and visions.

I often find myself procrastinating, or planning to do one thing and then doing something totally else. Sometimes I have a long list of things to do and then I feel guilty about not doing those things, or not accomplishing all of them. I have gone to a time-management workshop in New York once, and it opened my mind to the possibilities of efficient planning.

This book guides us to create a system that works, and more importantly, that works for us. It explains how our brain gets in our way of "flowing" with activities and feeling great, and how we can stop interfering with this natural flow. Once we let it be, and understand how our mind actually works, in relations to goal-achievement, we can achieve a lot, and feel great and energized!

I am very interested in this idea, because I prefer doing many things and feeling energized, joyous, harmonious and flowing, rather than stuck, disappointed, frustrated, and guilt-stricken.

So, I am reading this book, trying to implement it in my life and see how it goes. So far it has been really good. Maybe I can share some quotes here, and some experiences of the process.

Recommended!

Official site

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