Reference Library
This is the Svaha Concepts reference library, where you will find links to information my clients, friends, family, and I have found interesting — primarily books, but also newsletters, mailing lists, and other places of interest.
I’ll do my best to keep it organized and current, as well as adding new content as often as I can, so check back frequently to see if there is anything new.
If you have suggestions, comments, or requests, by all means contact me and let me know! Please remember that there are a lot of books in the world; just because I haven’t listed something here doesn’t mean that I am not recommending it — it just means I haven’t discovered it yet!
All the links to other sites (such as Amazon.com) open in a new window, so you need not worry about losing your place on my page.
Enjoy!
Personal Growth and Eclectic Spirituality
The Remembering Room
Helping bright, creative women break free from others’ expectations and reclaim their wholeness
and power.
Jon Hansen is guide, teacher, coach — and a good friend and brother-in-spirit. Our work together
has changed my life, in simple and yet profound ways. So it’s with great joy and pride that I
recommend his website
The Remembering Room and his work.
You’ll observe from the style of his site that I had the privilege of helping him develop it, and
he and I are in the process of collaborating on other aspects of his work as well. Stay tuned for more
news on that front!
Adyashanti began teaching in 1996 at the
request of his Zen teacher, with whom he’d been studying for 14 years. As his website says, he
“dares all seekers of peace and freedom to take the possibility of liberation in this life seriously.”
His website is a treasure-trove of free recordings of his
teachings (several hours' worth) as well as videos. Enjoy!
Ken Wilber is a tremendously influential philosopher and a key founder of the Integral Institute.
Having provided that link, I have to say that as much as I respect and value his work — which is a lot — I also find his websites very difficult to navigate. His books, however, are amazing in their depth, creativity, intelligence, and deep common sense. They can also be challenging; he’s certainly not one of the humble spiritual teachers! Nonetheless, his writing is intellectual, insightful, and often very funny.
You can find them on
Amazon.com
Zen master Dennis Genpo Merzel has been recognized and applauded by other Zen masters, Catholic priests, Rabbis, and many other luminaries in the medical, psychological, spiritual, and even military worlds. His Big Mind/Big Heart teachings, several hours' of which are available as free downloads from his website, have been called “groundbreaking” and “an evolutionary leap forward into consciousness.”
Communication & Relationships
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg, PhD
“Communication” is one of those words tossed about by everyone from corporate Human Resources
experts, psychologists, politicians, all the way on to our friends, parents, children, and partners. In the
process, it’s gotten dangerously close to becoming a fad (just note the proliferation of communication
workshops, each purporting to teach critical skills for teamwork, negotiation, or how to improve relationships).
All that being said, Rosenberg’s concepts are simple, powerful, and effective. Having read it, I was
able to immediately implement some of his suggestions on offering complimentary feedback in ways that really
connected and made a difference.
With a forward by Arun Gandhi, founder and president of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, this book
is thought-provoking and provides easy-to-understand tools that you can start using immediately.
See it on Amazon.com
How the Way We Talk can Change the Way We Work by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey
With this book, Lahey and Kegan have taken the idea of the corporate communication workshop to completely new
levels. Highly practical and at the same time breaking new ground in the field, this book offers a step-by-step
approach to really understanding what’s going on with communication in the workplace, how it affects every
aspect of corporate effectiveness as well as personal effectiveness, and what to do about it.
See it on Amazon.com
Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting
Fulfillment by Martin Seligman
This really is an amazing book. The whole notion that psychology is ready to study what makes people happy
and productive (as opposed to so much study of pathology and what makes people sick and depressed!) is
delightful in its own right, and Dr. Seligman has done a masterful job of presenting the material. While this
is not a self-help book per se, it does offer tools — including a series of self-evaluations (also
available at the University of Pennsylvania
Authentic Happiness site) — to help readers understand their strengths and how they can adjust their
viewpoints to become happier. It’s grounded in solid research; it’s not “fluffy” in
any way.
See it on Amazon.com
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi
The last name, since I know you’re wondering and won’t be able to focus on what I have to say about
the book until you know, is pronounced “chick-SENT-me-high.” Or at least so I’m told. The
book itself is fascinating, and incredibly relevant given its original publication date in 1991. Simply put,
Czikszentmihalyi conducted a study of when people felt most engaged, most interested, most (my word) alive.
Not surprisingly to me, at least, it turned out that it was generally when they were engaged in a focused
activity with clear rules, definite skills to be mastered, and an optimal level of challenge (i.e., they were
“pushed” but not overwhelmed). He defines that state as “flow.” Again not surprisingly,
the Western standard of leisure (not doing much, watching television, hanging out — forgive my cynicism)
generally does not produce a flow state. Very well worth reading!
See it on Amazon.com
The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work by John M. Gottman, Nan Silver
Whether you’re married or not, if you’re in a relationship or ever expect (or want) to be in
a relationship, you owe it to yourself to read this book. Dr. Gottman spent years studying what makes
couples “work” versus break up, and his findings and insights pretty much stand traditional
marriage therapy on its head. Since in general traditional marriage counseling simply doesn’t work
that not only makes complete sense, but sounds like a good thing to me! Speaking of work — the principles
and practices Gottman lays out are definitely hard work — but who said that being in a relationship was
supposed to be easy? Fun, happy, rewarding, and sometimes infuriating, certainly; but not easy. Get this book;
you and your partner will thank you.
See it on Amazon.com
Causes
Shakti Rising is a ground-breaking women's recovery program located in downtown San Diego. The life-saving and astonishingly effective work they are doing is beginning to receive the national recognition it deserves. Their web site is packed with information that changes often. I urge you to visit the site, contribute if you can, and participate if you can. They have orientation events twice a month on Friday evenings that include wonderful vegetarian food, as well as many other events during the year.
The San Diego Zoo is justifiably world-famous. The thousands of visitors it and the Wild Animal Park host each year may not be quite as aware of the very significant work done by the Zoological Society in many conservation efforts worldwide. The Society has annual memberships at many levels and they also offer options to donate to a specific projects.
The Nature Conservancy is similarly world-renowned for its work saving habitat the quick way — they just buy it. Well, obviously it‘s not quite that simple, but that is the basis of their approach. You can find more details at their How We Work page.
Alley Cat Allies advocates a trap-neuter-release program proven to be far more effective in controlling feral cat populations than any others. If you are a cat-lover, with a concern about feral cat populations or with a soft spot for any animal, take a look at their web site and contribute if you can.
The Anza-Borrego Foundation is a conservancy organization dedicated to preserving the fragile desert terrain and ecology within and around the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. These are beautiful, diverse — if somewhat severe to the unaccustomed eye — lands that support a wide range of wildlife, including the endangered bighorn sheep. There are wildflowers in spring the likes of which you would never expect to see in these dry lands, and the various hiking trails provide wonderful explorations — especially Palm Canyon!
Fun Stuff
Svaha by Charles de Lint
No doubt you have wondered about the name of my company: Svaha Concepts. It was selected after reading
this fabulous book, one of a number of fabulous books by de Lint. Briefly, “svaha” is a Native
American word referring to the time between seeing the lightning and hearing the thunder.
See it on Amazon.com
Then check out de Lint's home page for more information about him, his life, his books, and some extra goodies — including a fabulous poem entitled Tower & Bear.
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Yes, it’s a children’s book. Read it anyway, especially if you love word-play. This book hasn’t
been out of print since it was first published in 1962. Wow.
See it on Amazon.com
Rock Creek Lake is one of the all-time most beautiful places on this earth. If you enjoy camping at all, you owe it to yourself to visit this place at least once. There are tons of things to do — hiking, fishing (great trout-fishing!), wildflowers, birdwatching, horseback riding, and just lazing around.
Chocolate & Zucchini is the unique name of the astonishing culinary blog written by Clothilde — a young (late 20s) Frenchwoman who spent a few years in the Silicon Valley (she’s a software engineer) and now lives in Paris. Her writing is amazing — far more literary and fluent than 95% of native English professional writers — and the descriptions of food! the recipes! oh my!
All About Braising by Molly Stevens
I’ll spare you the long list of my favourite cookbooks (if you want the list, send me an e-mail through
my contact form!), but this is the one I’m currently raving
about. Braising doesn’t have to be a very long process — she has some great quick-braised seafood
and other not-so-slow recipes. Overall, this is the sort of cookbook one wants to cook through from front to back.
And it doesn’t require an exotic pantry, either.
See it on Amazon.com