I am busy preparing for my appearance at the Divine Moon Festival, August 18-20. The festival takes place in Portland (Dorset) England, and features artists reflecting a wide variety of spiritual traditions including Yoga, Christian mysticism and Buddhism.

If you are going to be anywhere near England during the month of August, you should make it a point to attend the festival. Visit the festival website now and see for yourself what an exciting event it will be.

Yogis don’t smoke. I think everybody knows that, but there are still plenty of other people who are still smoking. Shiva, the first yogi who lived 7000 years ago, said that the first secret of success is “firm determination.” 

If you want to be successful in a task such as quitting smoking you should take a firm determination or inner vow that you are going to do something about it. I recently wrote a book Start Meditation, Stop Smoking that provides a yoga guide for quitting smoking. Also I just wrote an article Five Reasons Why It Is Time to Stop Smoking  If you need some more convincing before you make a decision or vow to stop smoking then read the article, you will be glad that you did.

Imagine, going on a yoga retreat in Egypt and combining it with a tour of all the great sites of ancient Egypt. It sounds like the treat of a lifetime, and it is. Some of my colleagues are offering a Yoga retreat in Egypt combined with a Nile tour. It will take place from 28 November through 11 December, 2006. For more information visit the website http://www.nilebliss.com

P.S. I will also be at the retreat

I guess there are many people who begin the practice of yoga or of meditation and wonder “will this work?” It’s a natural thought because in the first stages you may not feel that you are making any progress.

Noticeable results come only after days and months of steady practice. It is best to practice on a daily basis (rather than only when you visit a yoga class). Learn a few asanas (yoga postures) and practice them at home on a daily basis. Learn a meditation technique and also practice that every day.

Actually learning the asanas or the meditation technique is not difficult (even children can learn them) the difficult part is to do it daily. It takes a bit of “work” but if you can put aside some time every day, you will surely be successful in moving towards your goals.