A practical guide to vocally resonating your energetic and psychological centers to balance the emotions, purify the soul, and dissipate negative states • Explores the intimate connections between specific sounds and syllables, the 7 chakras, and their corresponding psychological traits • Provides toning exercises using these seed sounds to re-tune and purify the chakras, leading to spiritual transformation and wholeness as energetic blockages and negative states are dissipated • Includes 66 minutes of audio tracks to guide you through each exercise and the toning of each chakra’s sounds Using the Sacred Alphabet--the universal sounds of all languages--sound-healing teacher James D’Angelo explores the intimate connections between vowel, consonant, and syllable combinations, each of the 7 chakras, and their corresponding psychological traits. He explains, for example, how the vowel sound “uh” connects to the root chakra and is found in such words as “support” and “trust,” words deeply linked to the emotional character of this chakra. Revealing the voice as the master instrument for transformation--attested by the spiritual traditions that use chanting as an aid to enlightenment--he provides an extensive selection of vocal exercises to re-tune and purify each chakra and dissipate any related negative states as well as exercises that incorporate multiple chakras for general well-being. The accompanying 66-minutes of audio tracks guide you through each exercise and the proper toning of each chakra’s sounds. In uniting these sacred seed sounds with their corresponding chakras and psychologies, the author shows how you can enhance the power of these syllables and purposefully harness them for healing, states of deep meditation, and spiritual development. By bringing you closer to the voice of the Absolute, your own voice can be the conduit to the blissful union the soul so deeply desires.

In this vivid, contemporary translation, Victor Mair captures the quintessential life and spirit of Chuang Tzu while remaining faithful to the original text.

A guide to the foundational practice of “smiling to the organs” to promote deep relaxation and internal health • Presents exercises that dissolve the physical and mental tensions that can cause energy blockages and unhealthy chi flow • Shows how to recognize illness at its inception on the organ level and how to balance the emotions to heal it The Inner Smile is a practice that focuses gratitude and joy on the internal organs to resolve the physical and mental tensions that can lead to illness. In Taoism negative emotions--anger, sadness, depression, fear, and worry--are seen as low-grade energy that causes chronic disease and steals our major life force by creating energy blockages. Master Mantak Chia shows that the internal awareness produced by the simple yet powerful Inner Smile meditation practice flushes the organs of poisonous negative energy that may be blocking chi energy flow in order to nourish the entire body. Just as a genuine outer smile transmits positive energy and has the power to warm and heal, an inner smile produces a high grade of energy that promotes powerful internal healing, deep relaxation, happiness, and longevity. Smiling to the organs and thanking them for the work they do helps to reawaken the intelligence of the body, which, once activated, can dissipate emotional imbalances and inner disharmony before serious illness manifests.

Stephen Eskildsen's book offers an in-depth study of the beliefs and practices of the Quanzhen (Complete Realization) School of Taoism, the predominant school of monastic Taoism in China. The Quanzhen School was founded in the latter half of the twelfth century by the eccentric holy man Wan Zhe (1113–1170), whose work was continued by his famous disciples commonly known as the Seven Realized Ones. This study draws upon surviving texts to examine the Quanzhen masters' approaches to mental discipline, intense asceticism, cultivation of health and longevity, mystical experience, supernormal powers, death and dying, charity and evangelism, and ritual. From these primary sources, Eskildsen provides a clear understanding of the nature of Quanzhen Taoism and reveals its core emphasis to be the cultivation of clarity and purity of mind that occurs not only through seated meditation, but also throughout the daily activities of life.