OmChat Book Club

The OmChat Book Club, loosely affiliated with Willow Street Yoga Center, meets from September through June, usually the 2nd Sunday of the month. Our first meeting this year is September 13, 2009. We start at 6:30pm with a pot-luck supper. We begin our discussion around 7:30pm and end by 8:30-9:00pm. Finishing the book (or even beginning the reading) is not a requirement to come to OmChat and enjoy the discussion and pot-luck dinner. We rotate our meeting place among the homes of our members. (We are still finalizing our location for September.)

The OmChat Book Club formed in 2001 out of the desire of a handful of Willow Street students to explore some of the books that underlie the yogic teachings they had been introduced to through their practice of yoga. The scope of OmChat has shifted in that time to include many other works broadly defined as spiritual reading.

Among the many books we’ve chosen over the past couple of years are Autobiography of a Yogi, A New Earth (Eckhart Tolle), and Climbing the Blue Mountain: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey (Eknath Easwaran). From time to time, we also have had meetings without a book, including presentations on Ayurveda, the Gayatri Mantra, and Yoga Nidra. We even have movie nights! (Ten Questions for the Dalai Lama). As you can see, we are an eclectic group with wide-ranging spiritual interests.

This year, we will do something different. We will read and discuss a single book over the first 3 months (September/October/November). The book is a fine translation of The Ramayana by William Buck. You are most likely familiar with the main characters - Prince Rama, his wife Sita, his brother Lakshman, and the devoted monkey god, Hanuman. Here's your chance to really dive deep into the story which underlies so much of the yogic tradition. It is a long book, so we will read just Part 1 for September (about 135 pages). The book can be ordered from amazon.com or from anusara.com, or found in some of the area Borders Bookstores (check their website for availability).

If you are interested in joining us, or want more regular information on OmChat, including updates on where we will be meeting each month, please join our OmChat Group list at Yahoo.com. Send an email to . You will receive a response asking you to confirm your request to join and shortly thereafter you will be on our email list.

Hope to see you soon!

Namaste