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The more serious golf enthusiasts know that arizona is not just one big, dry desert. They know that it is home to some of the best golf vacations in the country. A number of arizona golf vacations cater to golf enthusiasts of all skill levels, from novice to experienced, age, budget and interest.

For instance, golfers who want to improve their golfing skills and take their game to a higher level can enroll in professional arizona golf schools, where they undergo rigorous training. Suffice it to say that getting trained in arizona golf schools is well worth the money. Many golfers who have gone on arizona golf vacations have come away more skilled and knowledgeable about the game, particularly those who were fortunate to have been tutored by professional and semi-professional golfers.

For the avid golfers who prefer an arizona golf vacation that is a little more relaxing and laid back, arizona boasts of a few luxury golf resorts. These arizona luxury golf resorts are often where the professional golfers practice and play golf. In addition, these golf resorts have luxurious amenities that would rival those offered in most luxury cruise ships. Fine dining, room service, saunas, workout rooms, first-rate caddies -- all these are available to those who choose to spend their arizona golf vacation in one of the luxury golf resorts. The golf courses are not only great for playing,they are some of the most scenic too in the country.

Even if there is only one golf enthusiast in the family, the rest of the family are sure to find something fun to do during an arizona golf vacation, not just play golf! arizona is a state that has a number of great destinations and tourist attractions, particularly for those who want a luxurious vacation. Phoenix, for one, has several four-star hotels that can cater to anyone's needs. You can find out more about golf vacations and golfing tips at

For the avid golfers, though, there is nothing like going on arizona golf vacations and play their heart out. Most people may see arizona as a hot, dry desert area, but the serious golfers know that it is a place where they can find the greenest greens and some of the most scenic golf courses.

Article by Dean Forster of http://www.golftipsofthemonth.com . Learn more about the game of golf, vacations and golf packages at Golf Tips

Five thousand years ago Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, spoke the Bhagavad-gita (the Song of God) which contains information about God, the living entities, karma (action and reaction in this world), time, and the material energy.

The Bhagavad-gita is one of the Vedic literatures. The word veda (from which the word Vedic comes) means knowledge. The Vedic literatures deal with spiritual and material subject matters. The knowledge they contain is perfect, because of its perfect source. God, or God's devotees in disciplic succession from God.

The Bhagavad-gita teaches us that the soul is unbreakable, unchangeable, insoluble, everlasting, immovable, and neither burnt nor dried. l The Vedic literatures inform us that there are many eternal souls of whom the chief is Krishna, who is maintaining all of the other souls. The Bhagavad-gita explains that the body, which we (who are souls) identify ourselves with in the material world, is simply a machine. It is, of course, a very complex, wonderful machine. Nonetheless, it is still a machine.

In the way that one drives a car, the soul is driving the body. Unfortunately the soul thinks that it is the body, so the characteristics that pertain to a particular body are thought by the soul to be its characteristics. For example: if the body is white, has a gigantic nose, is female, and is born in the United States; the soul thinks that it is an American white woman that needs a nose job.

Because of the soul's identification with the characteristics of the body, he (the soul) identifies others according to their machine, body characteristics, and forms alliances and animosities accordingly. Thus he develops family attachment, racism, nationalism and even specism; which are all manifestations of the same disease misidentification of the self with the body). When the soul becomes Krishna conscious he no longer distinguishes between living entities because of the differences in the bodily encagement; therefore he sees the true equality of all beings.

The soul is situated along with God (the Supersoul) in the heart of this machine. The soul is driving this machine according to his desires. The Supersoul is observing the soul's actions, and waiting patiently for the soul to become frustrated in its attempts to enjoy through manipulating the machine body.

When the soul decides that its attempts at enjoyment have been futile and that all future endeavors will miserably fail, he may decide to seek out God. At this point Krishna sends His representative in the form of the spiritual master to guide the soul on its spiritual path. The soul, being covered by the material energy, is not capable of perceiving the existence and direction of the Supersoul who is situated next to him in the heart. Therefore the Supersoul directs His external representative (the spiritual master) to help the sincere searcher.

The Vedas call the present age the "Age of Kali" the age of quarrel. This age began approximately 5,000 years ago. In this age people are less for tunate, less intelligent, shorter lived, have shorter memories, and have weaker bodies. Good qualities such as sympathy for other seducation, truthfulness, cleanliness, forgiveness, and mercyare quickly disappearing. society is beset withcheating, diplomacy, and violence. The so called leaders of society are encouraging intoxication, illicit sex, gambling, and meat eating, which are considered the principles of irreligiousity.

There is one good quality in this age. That is, simply by chanting the Lord's names, one can escape the miseries of this age, and go back to the kingdom of God at the end of life. Krishna incarnates in every age to preach the religious practice that is applicable for that particular age. In other ages Krishna taught meditational yoga, or temple worship, or sacrifice.

Krishna appeared about 500 years ago as Lord Caitanya. This advent was predicted in the Vedic literatures more than 5,000 years ago. Lord Caitanya taught the religious practice recommended for this age, Sankirtana, the congregational chanting of the Lord's names: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare rama Hare rama rama rama Hare Hare.

Devotees of the Krishna consciousness movement engage in the chanting of the Lord's names in public, distributing transcendental literatures (which encourage others to chant), and performing personal meditation on the Lord's names (called Japa). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For more wisdom, visit http://www.bkgoswami.com and click on books.

Have you ever received one of those timeshare "vacation offer" phone calls or e-mails? You know, the ones that promise lodging and park admission for a fraction of the regular cost if you attend a timeshare presentation. If so, you may have wondered about them and if they're worth pursuing. Well, I'm not embarrassed to stand up and say, "I did it!" My mother and I went on a vacation together, and for the first three days we took advantage of one of those too-good-to-be-true timeshare vacation offers. Here are my experiences:

Last spring, my grandma received an unsolicited phone call from an outfit offering cheap Orlando hotel rooms and Disney park tickets. My grandma had always wanted to go, so she phoned my mother and asked her to look into it. My mom learned that this company (Vacation Showroom, Inc.) was offering a $99/person "vacation package" for stays in any or all of several cities (Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, Williamsburg, and Las Vegas). The Orlando stay promised 3 nights in a hotel only 5 minutes from the Disney parks plus one one-day park pass per person. She was also informed that she'd have to pay a $30 booking fee, that the Orlando location would cost an extra $29/person, and that she was required to attend a timeshare sales presentation breakfast. Thinking that this would be an affordable way to take my grandma on a vacation, she bought it. It cost her $228 to purchase the package. Alas, my grandmother passed away before this trip, and I went in her place.

The package promised "quality" lodging within 10 minutes of attractions, such as the AmeriHost, Ramada Plaza 1000, or the Radisson Barcelo. We could not specify one of these hotels -- one would be selected for us based on availability at the time of reservation. As it turned out, we were booked into the Amerihost, which of the three hotels was the closest to walt Disney World. I did some research before the trip and confirmed that the Amerihost did offer free shuttles to walt Disney World. The reservation agent mentioned we'd need to confirm our late (8:00 p.m.) arrival on the morning of check-in day. Dutifully, my mother called before we left for the airport to confirm our arrival. So far, so good.

Our flight arrived in the early evening and we got a taxi to the Amerihost -- we did not rent a car, as the hotel had a shuttle to walt Disney World. Upon arriving at the hotel, we wandered around a bit trying to find the vacation package check-in desk, which turned out to be WAY in the back of the hotel. We wasted a good half hour on this. Finally, my mother checked-in with the vacation Showroom timeshare folks and received a hotel voucher. Voucher in hand, we went to the hotel's check-in desk to get our room and crash. Alas, this was not to be. When it came our turn to check-in, we were informed that even though we'd confirmed our stay just that morning, the hotel had overbooked and that we could stay at the Ramada Plaza 1000 instead. We both said, in unison, "We don't have transportation!" But the hotel staff wouldn't budge. after a lot of complaining and haggling, they finally agreed to give us transportation over to and back from the Ramada. We were instructed to go back to the vacation Showroom office to book our timeshare presentation meeting (required to get the park tickets) and then go to the Ramada.

So we hauled our luggage back to the office, signed up for the timeshare presentation ($20 deposit required), and got a lift in a van from one of the employees ($5 tip). It was a good 20-25 minute drive over to the Ramada. When we checked in, we learned that not only was there no shuttle to Disney, but that the restaurant had just closed and there wasn't even an eatery within walking distance. So we trudged up to our room, ordered subs from a delivery place, and fell into exhausted sleep. Not an auspicious beginning to our trip.

The next morning we presented ourselves at the vacation Showroom office at opening time (8:00 am) to inquire about the return transportation we were promised. My mother got deflected, so I tried. after insisting strongly, the rep said she was getting us transportation. It turned out that she'd called a town car company, and upon depositing us back at the Amerihost, the driver insisted on $40 for the trip. No way! I marched in and spoke to an employee at the check-in desk and they paid the driver. We did give the driver a $5 tip, however.

Finally, we get to check-in to the Amerihost. A "smoking" oom was the only room available, but we took it so we could get on with our day. Unfortunately, by the time we'd hauled our luggage up to the room, the last morning shuttle had left. We asked at the concierge desk about transportation to Animal Kingdom, and we were told that their driver could take us both for $20. Eager to get going, we agreed. The trip was fine, and we tipped another $5.

The timeshare presentation was the following day. While we were both dreading this, we knew it had to be done to get the park tickets. So we showed up in the hotel lobby at the appointed time and got a ride over to the Silver Lake Resort. There we waited for the timeshare presentation. As it turned out, individual sales reps came out and called out individual names -- one sales rep for each party. Yikes! We thought we'd be in a safe, group setting.

Our timeshare sales rep led us into a large meeting room where 40 small tables and chairs were arranged. A very meager "breakfast buffet" was set up along the side -- it was the usual continental breakfast fare, and not very appetizing. after chit-chatting about his family, and accidentally spilling his coffee on my Mom, he began talking in general about how valuable vacations are and the value of saving money on them. All of this we knew, but hey, whatever. after about an hour of this, he gave us a tour of the two- and three-bedroom condos at the Silver Lake Resort. They looked okay -- nothing to compare to the Disney vacation club resorts, but still okay. Then it was time for the hard sell. He got out his calculator and told my Mom what her monthly payments would be when she bought the timeshare. My mother very politely asked questions and expressed genuine interest, but very firmly said she could not make a decision immediately. He pushed more, and more, and more. When my mother didn't budge, he got frustrated (he actually put his head in his hands and heave a huge sigh!). Eventually, after another hour, he got angry -- no kidding. He made it clear that we'd wasted his time. Ha! He'd kept us an hour longer than we'd been told the timeshare presentation would take. When he finally gave up and let us go, I smiled and thanked him for his time. He turned away gruffly. And because he'd run over his allotted time, we got back to the Amerihost late and missed the shuttle. We spent another $25 to get to epcot.

The good news? We did get the two one-day park tickets after the presentation. Well, they were actually vouchers, but we had no problem exchanging them for actual tickets at guest Relations at the parks.

All in all, the experience cost us $346 when you add in the transportation costs. At regular rates, it would have cost $69/night to stay at the Amerihost, plus $53 x 2 for the tickets, for a total of $313. Plus, we wouldn't have had the overbooking hassle (regular customers were given rooms), the transportation mess, nor the wasted half-day and aggravation of the timeshare presentation.

Was it worth it? If we'd taken advantage of the lodging in the other cities (two nights each in Ft. Lauderdale, Williamsburg, and Las Vegas at no additional charge, if you don't count the timeshare presentation that comes with each visit) and had our own transportation, maybe -- but that's a big maybe. Otherwise? NO WAY! We hated the hassle, we hated the lack of control, and we hated the high-pressure timeshare sales presentation. This was no deal. And while I wouldn't call it a scam, I don't think "over-priced hype" is too far off the mark.

My advice? Stay clear of timeshare presentations unless you've got time and money to waste.

Copyright Jennifer Marx, PassPorter Travel Press. All Rights Reserved.

About the Author: Jennifer Marx is the author of over 40 print books, including the award-winning, best-selling PassPorter Walt Disney World guidebook. She is married to author Dave Marx and mom to two kids who love Disney. Read more of Jennifer's articles on Disney and general travel at http://www.passporter.com and in the popular Disney discussion forums.

The eight limbs of yoga, as described by Maharishi Patanjali, in the yoga Sutras, are a system of steps toward absolute bliss or enlightenment. The first four limbs (steps) are primarily concerned with ethical guidelines, developing awareness of the energy body, and physical mastery.

The last four limbs are concerned with development of consciousness through meditation. The physical body is a capsule for the soul (Jiva). The physical body has basic functional demands, and sensory demands, for pleasure. Transcending awareness beyond the physical senses grants us peace with ourselves.

If the general population of this planet would follow ethical guidelines, and transcend their awareness beyond the physical barrier of the body, we would have world peace. Just to listen, observe, and act, guided by our empathic sense is a good start toward helping others.

When you contemplate the first two limbs of yoga (Yama and Niyama), you will notice they flow in harmony with every moral code in existence. The principles of Yama and Niyama are universal laws for mankind.

You may have noticed that ten is a common number for moral codes. The Ten Commandments are another example of ethical guidelines. With ten fingers on our two hands, it makes it easy for humans to remember. Hence, we have five Yamas and five Niyamas, for a total of ten.

Yama are restraints, but are sometimes called Thou Shall Nots by western yoga teachers. It is not enough to observe them. It is much more important to live by them in our actions, words, and thoughts.

Copyright 2007 Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, has written many books on the subject of Yoga. He is a co-owner and the Director of yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center, in Attleboro, MA. http://www.riyoga.com He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. To receive a Free Yoga e-book: "Yoga in practice," and a Free Yoga Newsletter, please visit: http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html