Confessions of a Gypsy Yogini is a collection of teachings taken from the author's own life, gained from "experience through mistakes, learning the hard way." After an early life as a �quasiradical, hippie, horse trainer, and environmentalist,� Marcia Dechen Wangmo became a Buddhist. Over the next three decades, through encounters with respected Tibetan masters and an enduring student-teacher relationship with a famed yogi, she moved deep into the hidden world of Vajrayana Buddhism.

Written as a guidebook for others and presented within a Buddhist framework, Confessions offers a fresh approach to traditional teachings. The author turns an unflinching eye on her own shortcomings and painful experiences in a series of revelations proving that, despite appearances to the contrary, she has been a far from ideal student. "I confess to not eradicating ignorance from the core," she begins. Interweaving insights gained from her personal experience, step by step she draws readers closer to the fruits of Buddhist practice: the ability to see things as they truly are.

Confessions of a Gypsy Yogini: Experience through Mistakes, Marcia Dechen Wangmo, Rangjung Yeshe, Paperback, 164 Pages, $17.95

AKA Marcia Binder Schmidt is a renowned Buddhist translator, editor and writer. Together with Erik Pema Kunsang, she established Rangjung Yeshe Institute that has been dedicated to offering educational and practice support for practitioners and scholars of Tibetan Buddhism. Since its inception in 1981, Rangjung Yeshe Institute has held seminars and retreats around the world for thousands of students. In 1997 this Institute was expanded to include a more scholastic approach, which now offers B. A., M.A., and PHD degrees in language and philosophy. In 1986 as an offshoot of this Institute, Erik and she created Rangjung Yeshe Publications. (www.rangjung.com). They have translated and produced over sixty-two titles that have been translated into thirteen different languages. Marcia has helped to develop retreat centers and study groups all over the world and has begun to teach in recent years, sharing her humor and human approach to traditional Tibetan Buddhist practice.

	Contents: CONFESSIONS of a Gypsy Yogini: Experience through Mistakes
	Foreword	vii
	Introduction	1
	Paradise Lost	9
	Red or Blue Pill	17
	The Path Less Traveled	29
	Contemplation	39
	The Teacher Component	49
	Bodhichitta	59
	Meditation	71
	Healing with Tara	81
	Conduct	95
	Integration	105
	Yes to Possibilities	123
	Acknowledgments	133
	APPENDICES	135
	Appendix 1	137
	Vipashyana	137
	Appendix 2	143
	Tara Liturgies	143
	Works Cited	151
	Notes	155