Swan Dive

Michael Burke has traveled through a number of careers since he graduated from college. The first was as an astronomer, working at observatories in the U.S., Hawaii and Iran. He then went back to school to obtain a Master’s Degree in City Planning. He worked in New York City’s Planning Department and later became an Assistant Professor at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture and City Planning. Michael changed direction again when he found a loft in Soho and began to paint. He has been an artist for more than 30 years - painting, drawing, and creating aluminum books and sculpture. He has exhibited the work extensively in the U.S., Japan, and Europe. Although he has written and published poetry over the years, Michael has only recently arrived on the mystery scene. He has published three mystery novels starring detective Johnny “Blue” Heron; Swan Dive, Music Of The Spheres, and Out Of Mind.

"Don't expect just tulle and toe shoes. In this fascinating insider's tale, NYCB dancer Pazcoguin reveals her world. . . . A striking debut." —People Award-winning New York City Ballet soloist Georgina Pazcoguin, aka the Rogue Ballerina, gives readers a backstage tour of the real world of elite ballet—the gritty, hilarious, sometimes shocking truth you don’t see from the orchestra circle. In this love letter to the art of dance and the sport that has been her livelihood, NYCB’s first Asian American female soloist Georgina Pazcoguin lays bare her unfiltered story of leaving small-town Pennsylvania for New York City and training amid the unique demands of being a hybrid professional athlete/artist, all before finishing high school. She pitches us into the fascinating, whirling shoes of dancers in one of the most revered ballet companies in the world with an unapologetic sense of humor about the cutthroat, survival-of-the-fittest mentality at NYCB. Some swan dives are literal: even in the ballet, there are plenty of face-plants, backstage fights, late-night parties, and raucous company bonding sessions. Rocked by scandal in the wake of the #MeToo movement, NYCB sits at an inflection point, inching toward progress in a strictly traditional culture, and Pazcoguin doesn’t shy away from ballet’s dark side. She continues to be one of the few dancers openly speaking up against the sexual harassment, mental abuse, and racism that in the past went unrecognized or was tacitly accepted as par for the course—all of which she has painfully experienced firsthand. Tying together Pazcoguin’s fight for equality in the ballet with her infectious and deeply moving passion for her craft, Swan Dive is a page-turning, one-of-a-kind account that guarantees you'll never view a ballerina or a ballet the same way again.

DIVA stint as a bodyguard sucks Cuddy into a vicious divorce case/divDIV/divDIVDivorce will not be easy for Hanna Marsh. Her drug-dealing husband, Roy, is a cruel man, whose greed makes him unwilling to part with anything he owns—including his money, wife, and daughter. Hanna’s lawyer is terrified of Roy, but has the sense to hire John Francis Cuddy, private detective, to protect Hanna during the negotiations. Cuddy doesn’t wait to get mean with Roy, and the result of his tough talk is clear as soon as they return to Hanna’s temporary residence: her daughter’s kitten slaughtered on the floor./divDIV /divDIVCuddy makes Roy pay for his vile behavior, humiliating the drug pusher in an attempt to set his wife free. But when Roy takes a headfirst dive out a hotel window, leaving behind a murdered prostitute and a missing shipment of cocaine, suspicion falls on Cuddy. To save his client’s life, Cuddy must put his own on the line./div

Comprehensive and easy-to-follow, this original Pilates best-seller produces real results. It includes three levels of workouts and six routines that provide something for every person who wants the strength, flexibility, fitness and pain relief that have made Pilates workouts so popular. Pilates exercises offer a complete fitness system. They combine key elements of yoga and bodywork with original techniques that strengthen the "core" muscles of the torso while increasing flexibility throughout the body. Rather than building bulk, the techniques create sculpted muscles, reduce stress and increase energy. Special Features of this Book * A thorough introduction to the history and philosophy of Pilates' techniques * Detailed descriptions of 115 Pilates exercises in basic, intermediate and advanced routines * 176 step-by-step photographs illustrating the exercises * A special chapter on pain relief for back, knees, hips, shoulders, ankles and feet * A special section for athletes, with strength-building and flexibility exercises This New Edition Includes Special Sections on * The Stamina Stretch-to increase breathing capacity and support core abdominal muscles * The B-Line Core-to give support for routines, a trimmer waist and relief from back pain * How to change the way you walk to prevent back pain and tension headaches * Back-strengthening routines for rotational sports like golf, tennis and racquetball * Upper-body exercises for computer users Most Pilates books don't address the different needs of beginners, advanced practitioners and athletes-but this book is different. Written by a former top college athlete, it can be used by both beginners and instructors to complement sports-training programs. The exercises are also perfect for people who simply want to get in shape. Use this book as your personal training manual as you explore your fitness potential to the fullest!

Covering mat work and apparatus, Pilates, Second Edition, is the most respected and comprehensive guide available. Exercises include photo sequences, level of difficulty ratings, recommended resistance ranges, and instructions and reasons for performing the movements. Many exercises include variations for increasing or decreasing the challenge.

For yoga to be used safely as medicine and to meet the needs of today's society, yoga postures should evolve by embracing the current evidence base. Medical Therapeutic Yoga provides this evolution. * This book serves as a modern, non-dogmatic, evidence-based guide to yoga posture and breath prescription based on the most current biomechanical and neurophysiological theory and common mechanisms of injury. * Medical Therapeutic Yoga covers injury prevention and wellness, clinical evaluation and diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation, and organizational and professional health and well-being. * The book applies yoga as medicine for physical therapy, occupational therapy, athletic training, sports medicine, pain management, and physical and rehabilitative medicine. * Evolution of the postures and breath techniques, via the evidence-based precepts presented in the book, will provide a patient-centered biopsychosocial model of assessment through the lens of integrative medicine and orthopaedics. * Medical Therapeutic Yoga brings a large body of work, known as medical therapeutic yoga, to health care professionals, making provision for safe and relevant application of yoga postures as medicine. * The book is accompanied by an online reference of photographic sequences for medical yoga program planning and prescription. This book will be invaluable for health care professionals, yoga therapists, and yoga teachers, including but not limited to: * physical therapy and manual therapy * chiropractic * osteopathy and orthopaedics * physical and rehabilitative medicine * occupational therapy * athletic training * massage therapy