Inprint - New Books of interest by Jeanne Spiro

The Loving Relationships Treasury by Sondra Ray. (Celestial Arts, $14.95, Paperback.)

The Loving Relationships Treasury presents Sondra Ray’s unique approach to finding, achieving, and maintaining the deepest, most fulfilling relationships possible. Featuring sixty essays selected from her series of relationships books, the collection captures the core of her teachings through heartfelt writing.

Ray writes about a new paradigm, a paradigm of joy. It is the unholy relationship made holy, with gratitude and praise being the building blocks to mutual bliss. This new paradigm begins with us. We cannot remain stuck in old patterns and habits and expect to create new healthy relationships. To be happy in a relationship, we must first be happy with ourselves. Each relationship is a spiritual workshop, a holy interpersonal environment for the evolution of two souls who are aware of the deeper reason they are together, who take the time to allow a higher vibration to flow through them, and make equality and wholeness a way of life.

This collection takes us on a progressive journey from the very practical to the deeply sacred. Ray’s thoughtful counsel inspires us to integrate intimacy and spirituality within every significant relationship, with ourselves, our mates, our parents, our children, our colleagues, and our world.

The Times of Our Lives by Louise Hay and Friends, compiled by Jill Kramer. (Hay House, Inc., $14.95, Paperback.)

The true experiences featured in this book have been culled from the writings of some of the most renowned writers and teachers in the fields of self-help, transformation, social consciousness, and spirituality. These stories reflect metaphysical miracles; momentous milestones; heartwarming, humorous, and sometimes heartbreaking reminiscences; and extraordinarily poignant personal accounts. As you read this anthology, you’ll be reminded that truth is not only stranger than fiction, it’s infinitely more interesting.

Louise Hay writes, “Over the years, as I’ve read the words of the authors who’ve contributed to this book, I’ve often thought, ‘What an incredible collection of ideas, revelations, and inspiration!’ I’ve long wanted to present some of the outstanding stories within these works in one place so that you, the reader, can be as entertained, enlightened, and enthralled as I’ve been. So within these pages, you’ll find some of the most fascinating true accounts you’ll ever come across. The contributors are from virtually every walk of life and have gone through a diverse array of experiences that will evoke wonder, awe, laughter, tears, amazement ... yes, all of these emotions and more! Please enjoy this book, and hopefully it will inspire you to be more cognizant of the touching, wondrous, and miraculous occurrences that are a part of your own life.”

Magical Symbols of Love and Romance by Richard Webster. (Llewellyn Publications, $12.95, Paperback.)

A candlelight dinner, wine, and roses are obvious choices when you want to woo a special someone. But this is only the tip of a colossal heart-shaped iceberg when it comes to expressing love and creating romance.

From pearls to pomegranates, tulips to truffles, vodka to Venus, Richard Webster introduces a wide array of items that signify this complicated emotion. Going back to prehistoric cave paintings, Greek and Roman myth, and the origin of Valentine’s Day, he offers a colorful history of love rituals, spells, charms, and aphrodisiacs.

The purpose of this book is to provide a wide selection of symbols that you can use to improve the quality of your love life. They are arranged in different categories, each containing a modern success story that illustrates how individuals have used these powerful symbols to attract a partner, stimulate marriage, or resolve relationship issues. A handy reference and practical guide rolled into one, this book also advises on how to use these symbols in your own life.

Star Guide to Guys by Elizabeth Perkins. (Llewellyn, $12.95, Paperback.)

Is your hot yoga teacher a high-strung Virgo or a sensitive Pisces? Could the cutie in the coffee shop be the Leo of your dreams? Thanks to astrology, women can get the nitty-gritty on a crush before leaping into the murky depths of a relationship.

All too often, a woman gets emotionally involved with a man before she knows what’s she’s getting into. It’s possible to save a lot of trouble and heartbreak by checking out a man’s astrological chart before getting to the emotional point of no return. This guide gives the negative and positive traits, likes and dislikes, of each sign and describes in general what makes them tick.

Just as important as learning about him is learning about your relationship needs and personality style. When you are aware of your most important issues, you can determine if he’s a great guy for you, or just a great guy. Most women will spend part of their lives without a partner. Do you know what your strengths and assets are when it comes to being a happy single woman? We all have the power to be happy, whether we have a man in our life or not. When we enjoy loving relationships with others, pursue our interests and love ourselves enough to see that our needs are met, life can be sweet, no matter what.

Every Bite is Divine: The Balanced Approach to Enjoying Eating, Feeling Healthy and Happy, and Getting to a Weight that’s Natural for You by Annie B. Kay. (Life Arts Press, $16.95, Paperback.)

Our modern environment, filled with junk foods and empty calories, pushes us toward weight gain. At the same time we are inundated with media images that suggest we are failures if we aren’t model thin. This culture of mixed messages undermines our ability to be happy with who we are.

The essential message of Every Bite is Divine is that we each have a perfect natural weight and shape. By remembering how to care for ourselves lovingly, we allow ourselves to gracefully create our unique and healthy body. Crash diets are not in this picture. Through yoga and other methods of relaxation and rediscovering our individual self-care basics, we can find our true self. We can enjoy life—including eating as we love to eat—and reach a healthy contentment with our own reality, even if it doesn’t match the picture popular culture sells.

Every Bite is Divine helps you to discover why diets put our mind and body in the mode to gain, not lose, weight and gives simple ways to reverse this trend. It shows us how we are continually bombarded with cues to eat exactly what’s wrong for us, and how we can inoculate ourselves. When fight or flight turns into stew and chew, we can short circuit the cycle, manage stress, and drop pounds the healthy way.

Remembrances of Times Past: Stories and Photos Recalling Life in the Twentieth Century by Marta Hiatt. (Northern Star Press, $15.95, Paperback.)

“When the phone rang everyone stopped what they were doing, and listened. But they weren’t listening to the answering machine to hear who was calling, they were listening to the number and sound of the rings. Were they long or short? How many were there? Back in the forties many people had a party-line, so there were usually other families sharing a line with you. We used a hand-crank to call someone, and each home had its own ring made up of one or more short or long turns of the crank, so every time the phone rang everyone had to listen to the ring to distinguish if it was for them. It sounds very primitive today, but we didn’t even have phone books then, we got the number from the operator, and not everyone had a telephone. A long-distance call was so rare the whole family would usually gather excitedly around the phone when one came in. Then we would talk very quickly because the calls were enormously expensive.”

— Adrian D’Angelo, photographer, born in 1939, in Toronto.

Remembrances of Times Past is an informative and entertaining trip down memory lane. It is a collection of personal stories from people who were eye-witnesses to the dramatic changes in American life in the 1900s. Included are over two hundred black and white photos and the author’s own commentary on our enormously changed world.

This is a book that will appeal to both a younger audience who will be amazed at the way things were, and older people whose own memories will be stimulated by reading these stories and viewing the photographs.

Superbrain Yoga by Master Choa Kok Sui. (Institute for Inner Studies Publishing Foundation, Paperback.)

The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that energy healing was among the most likely alternative therapies sought out by those looking for non-traditional medical help. In Superbrain Yoga, Maser Choa Kok Sui, shows us how to provide our brains with the energy fuels necessary to keep our brains fit and functional, reducing or eliminating senior moments, and increasing brain power.

Imagine a world in which the common mental effects of aging, memory loss, dementia, Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s diseases can be diminished simply and successfully. Also imagine an environment in which school-age kids can increase their brain power with a two minute daily exercise, thereby becoming smarter, getting better grades, and having more self confidence.

Traditional medicine may still be baffled by the inner workings of the brain and how its 100 billion cells and complex network of nerve synapses function, but Master Choa incorporates both traditional medicine and hard scientific research with energy healing and spiritual training, thereby allowing him to tap into a variety of sources of knowledge. He says that the mystery of healing should be available to anyone. Superbrain Yoga is a simple tool that can be used to facilitate this process.