"We are wellness. We are consciousness. That is our natural state. Disease is an imposter." As one of the world's only female experts on the ancient Indian tradition of Ayurvedic medicine, renowned teacher Bri. Maya Tiwari has devoted her heart and soul to sharing the philosophy and methods that saved her from terminal cancer and redirected her life. Now, in The Path of Practice, she offers a short course in healing and living and reveals how she has gone back to the sources of Ayurvedic wisdom to reclaim time-honored, natural, and spiritual techniques for contemporary life. Diagnosed with ovarian cancer at twenty-three, Bri. Maya was given two months to live. Her doctors' advice: die painlessly with heavy dosages of morphine. Instead, in the middle of winter, she left her career as a popular fashion designer in New York City and began several months of intensive meditation and holistic nutrition alone in a remote Vermont cabin. By Spring, her health and vitality had been restored. Inspired by dramatic visions and dreams of her family and ancestors, Bri. Maya became a student of one of India's few living masters of the traditional Vedas. Today, healthy in body and spirit, she devotes herself to teaching the wisdom practices of the Vedas to help others heal emotional and spiritual discomfort, dis-ease, and physical illness. In The Path of Practice, Bri. Maya's gentle, compassionate voice instructs you in living life consciously in the present moment, so that you can recover your natural rhythms and align yourself and your inner cycles with the universe. With particular emphasis on using the primordial feminine healing power of shakti--which everyone possesses--Bri. Maya leads you through the daily practice, or sadhana, of a three-part wellness program that includes nutrition and cooking with whole foods, breath work and meditation, and chanting with healing sounds. Encouraged by the inspirational stories of Bri. Maya's life and those of others who have made these simple but powerful practices an integral part of their lives, you will learn how to take charge of your own health. Through Bri. Maya's unique philosophy and practice of "cosmic memory," you will discover your personal, body wisdom and intuition, your singular mission in the world, and your connection to the divine within you and around you. Filled with illuminating insights, easy-to-follow recipes, and meditations and exercises that can be adapted to different lifestyles and traditions, The Path of Practice is one of the only holistic programs designed for women by a woman. Imbued with the spiritual strength and centeredness of its remarkable author, here is a practical and profound book you will turn to time and time again for instruction, wisdom, and peace of mind....

"An extraordinary book . . . [that] illuminates the wonderful truth of who we are. . . . As a result, we heal our bodies and our lives on the deepest levels."
--CHRISTIANE NORTHRUP, M.D.
Author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom

"Bri. Maya Tiwari's The Path of Practice offers great insights into how we all have the power to heal."
--DEEPAK CHOPRA

"The Path of Practice brilliantly brings forth the full orchestra of ancient healing wisdoms and practices into the lives of modern women. A must reading for every woman who wants a definitive guide to self-discovery, wholeness, and healing."
--ILANA RUBENFELD
Author of The Listening Hand: Self-Healing Through the Rubenfeld Synergy Method of Talk and Touch

Autorentext

Bri. Maya Tiwari

Leseprobe
I am a Vedic monk--a brahmacharini. Since my initiation in
1992 by my teacher, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, I have
dedicated my life to living in accordance with the natural
rhythms of the universe; to teaching the wisdom and healing
practices of the Vedas, the holy scriptures of India which
date back to 1500 B.C.E.; and to helping others heal physically
and emotionally. At my center, the Wise Earth School of
Ayurveda, in the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina, I
teach the knowledge and practice of sadhana and Ayurvedic
healing.

Because of my experiences, I have a great deal of
information--about breathwork, meditation, sound, yoga,
and wholesome nutrition--that can help people, especially
women, live healthy lives, cultivate healing communities,
and help themselves and others heal from physical and emotional
ailments. My students include doctors, nurses, yoga instructors,
nutritionists, artists, social advocates, inner-city
youth mentors, and interested laypeople.

Wise Earth sadhana teachings are intended for everyone--
women, men, and children. Indeed, 35 percent of my students
are men. However, this book has a strong focus on
women, because they are the staff-holders of sacred life and
nurturance. The aim of The Path of Practice is to evoke, inform,
strengthen, and safeguard the memory of women as
guardians of sacred healing. It is also meant to help men become
awakened to the Mother's primordial healing energy
that has existed within them from ancient times. Indeed, all
but a few of the spiritual teachers whose work has informed
my practice are men.

In addition, I conduct the Mother Om Mission, a charitable
organization whose purpose is to educate at-risk communities
about sadhana lifeways and to familiarize men and
women with the primordial healing power that every human
being possesses. I also travel all over the world conducting
workshops for those interested in learning the path of practice,
or sadhana.

Sadhana is a Sanskrit word whose root, sadh, means to
reclaim that which is divine in us, our power to heal, serve,
rejoice, and uplift the spirit. Sadhana practices encompass all
our daily activities, from the simple to the sublime--from
cooking a meal to exploring your inner self through meditation.
The goal of sadhana is to enable you to recover your
natural rhythms and realign your inner life and daily habits
with the cycles of the universe. When you begin to live and
move with the rhythms of nature, your mind becomes more
lucid and more peaceful and your health improves. Your entire
life becomes easier.

As you begin your journey along the path of practice, you
must make the promise to yourself that you are willing to
take a very clear look at yourself. Allow yourself to recognize
the various disguises and false faces that you have assumed
over the years. As you come to acknowledge and know each
one, you will also come to see beyond them to your truest
self. As you find out more about yourself and your strengths
and weaknesses, you will also learn about your body, mind,
and spirit, and their innate power. You will awaken to your
own self-healing abilities. Whatever conventional, Western
medical treatments you use, you will always be able to use
your own natural abilities as well.

On the path of practice, we adopt the belief that disease happens
from within, and so must any cure. We decide that any
lack of peace or disease or illness becomes an occasion to go
deeper into ourselves, to examine where we must make
changes in order to heal our bodies, feelings, or lives. We accept
that our ailment is an assignment, and that to complete
it satisfactorily, we must do research into it and into ourselves.
Each of us is unique; no one else can complete our assignment
for us. We can't even depend on the inherent
beneficence of the universe to save us. The universe will support
us, and will help us by revealing its sacred rhythms. It will
help us see where we have gotten off balance and will
always allow us to realign with it. But we have to do the
work of self-reflection and healing that fits our individual inner
life and outer life. On our individual path on the human
journey, each of us is meant to learn the truths of our physical,
mental, and spiritual li…