August 2021 Spiritual and Self-Help Book Picks

NOTE: Every month, bestselling author of “The Universe is Talking to You,” and founder of Elevated Existence, Tammy Mastroberte, chooses her picks for new books, audios and card decks in the spiritual and self-help field. None of these picks are sponsored or paid for — they are her honest picks that she shares with others!

 

 

“Change Your Paradigm, Change Your Life,” by Bob Proctor
When I saw Bob Proctor had a new book, I knew I had to have it! He was a featured teacher in The Secret and is an amazing teacher on success, the law of attraction and more. To change your life—you MUST change your paradigm or mental programming. Any time you try to do something out of the ordinary, your paradigm will try to stop you. It’s up to you to change it and in this book, Proctor is sharing you his proven methods for doing so.

You will discover his Paradigm Shift process and learn what paradigms are and how they guide every move you make; how to identify your paradigms; how to make your own Paradigm Shift; ways to transform your finances, health and lifestyle when you change your paradigm; and guidance on how to replace a paradigm that doesn’t serve you well with a new one that frees you to create the life you really want.

 

 

“Hollywood to the Himalayas: A Journey of Healing and Transformation,” by Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati

Settle in for this enlightening memoir of a reluctant spiritual seeker who finds much more than she bargained for when she travels to India.

As a Stanford grad in the midst of getting her PhD in Psychology, Sadhvi Sarawati was comfortable with her life. Despite years of grappling with an eating disorder and trauma from her early childhood, she felt as if she was successfully navigating her way through early adulthood. When she agreed to travel to India to appease her husband—and because she loved the food—Sadhvi would have never imagined that she would be embarking on a journey of healing and awakening.

This memoir describes Sadhvi’s odyssey towards divine enlightenment and inspiration through her extraordinary connection with her guru and renewed confidence in the pleasure and joy that life can bring. Now one of the preeminent female spiritual teachers in the world, Sadhvi recounts her journey with wit, honesty, and clarity and, along the way, offers teachings to help us all step onto our own path of awakening and discover the truth of who we really are—embodiments of the Divine.

 

 

“The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn’t and Get Stuff Done,” by Kendra Adachi

The chorus of “shoulds” is loud. You should enjoy the moment, dream big, have it all, get up before the sun, track your water consumption, go on date nights, and be the best. Or maybe you should ignore what people think, live on dry shampoo, be a negligent PTA mom, have a dirty house, and claim your hot mess like a badge of honor.

It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed by the mixed messages of what it means to live well.
This book by Kendra Adachi, the creator of the Lazy Genius movement, invites you to live well by your own definition and equips you to be a genius about what matters and lazy about what doesn’t. Everything from your morning routine to napping without guilt falls into place with Kendra’s thirteen Lazy Genius principles, including:

• Decide once
• Start small
• Ask the Magic Question
• Go in the right order
• Schedule rest

Discover a better way to approach your relationships, work, and piles of mail. Be who you are without the complication of everyone else’s “shoulds.” Do what matters, skip the rest, and be a person again.

 

 

“Make Some Noise: Speak Your Mind and Own Your Strength,” by Andrea Owens

Certified life coach and bestselling author of “How to Stop Feeling Like Shit,” Andrea Owen is pushing women to step out of their outside of rigid societal expectations and shows them how to take back control of their lives — and make them their own — in her newest book.

Owens deconstructs common behavior patterns that sabotage our power as women, and instead suggests new behaviors for creating a life that truly serves our desires and needs. From unlearning the notion that women should stay quiet and take up little space to trusting one’s inner wisdom, this is a guidebook for powerful change.

 

 

“Manifesting: The Practical, Simple Guide to Creating the Life You Want,” by Kris Ferraro
Too often we walk through life in a state of lack, choosing to focus our attention on our deficiencies and allowing our minds, bodies, and spirits to swirl with discontent and negativity. But when our focus and attention is sunk in darkness, that becomes all we experience in our lives. This book offers a different approach and teaches how to focus on what you wish to have or achieve, instead of despairing over what you are missing.

Author Kris Ferraro is a practitioner and teacher in the areas of healing, growth, and metaphysics who has used manifesting in her own life and practice for years. In this book, she guides readers to envision and create the lives they’ve always dreamed of with real, actionable steps, exercises, and wisdom.

 

“Post-Divorce Bliss: Ending Us and Finding Me,” by Jude Walsh

Did you divorce after a long marriage? Are you feeling lost and unsure of what is next? Then it’s time to create a new and better post-divorce life, and the author Jude Walsh teaches you how from her own experience. After a long marriage, she suddenly found herself in the position where the life she knew was gone and she had to make a choice to create something new. To heal here own pain of the divorce and create a different future she developed eight practices, and she shares them in this book. It is her passion to help other women create the life of their dreams and thrive after divorce. You will discover how to shift your perspective, go beyond grief and loss, transform the trauma you carry, balance. Your body, manage your money, discover your tribe, create new traditions and re-story your life. Get ready to create the bliss you desire and move into a whole new world.

 

“Spiritually Fly: Wisdom, Meditations and Yoga to Elevate Your Soul,” by Faith Hunter
Global yoga and meditation teacher Faith Hunter is known for her ability to help others remember their inherent worth and live more soulful, joyful lives. In this book, she shares the seven principles behind her life philosophy―the “Spiritually Fly Sutras” ― inspiring each of us to embrace our unique flow, on and off the mat.

The Spiritually Fly Sutras are dynamic, sacred principles grounded in movement, breathwork, sound, and self-reflection. When practiced together, Hunger teaches, “They have the ability to inspire and ignite an inner revolution.”

She also shares the stories that led to each sutra, and as a young Black girl in the South whose brother was dying of AIDS contracted from a blood transfusion, she often struggled to trust in spirit and God. Her own spiritual journey brings a fresh, grounded vibe to her teachings, as she seamlessly blends classic yoga wisdom with modern-day living.

To help you integrate each sutra into your life, she also shares “SoulPrints”―exercises and reflections including yoga asanas and kriyas, journaling prompts, pranayama, chakra explorations, and practices for each of the “three Ms”: mantra, mudra, and meditation.

 

 

“Wisdom is Bliss: Four Friendly Fun Facts that Can Change Your Life,” by Robert Thurman

Robert Thurman, the preeminent scholar and interpreter of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy for the modern world, leads us on a joyful exploration into the nature of reality through Buddha’s threefold curriculum of “super-education.”

“Buddha had to be an educator, rather than a prophet or religion founder, since he had achieved his goal of exact and complete understanding of reality by using reason, experiments to open his own mind, and vision to do so,” Thurman writes. “From his own experience, he could help [others] as a teacher by streamlining the process. He could not just transplant his realization into their minds. They could not get their own realizations just by believing whatever he said. He could only provide them with a prospect of full realization along a path of learning and experiencing they could follow-they would have to travel on their own.”

This book is your invitation to travel that same road. Deeply felt and bracingly direct, it doesn’t teach about the teaching-it is the teaching. Get ready to get real, and have fun along the way, as you chart a path to reliable, lasting happiness.