Learn on-the-go meditation techniques to improve your concentration and memory and enhance your self-esteem, using this unique visual guide. Follow the clear, step-by-step instructions anytime, anywhere--at home, on the beach, or on a business trip. Practice meditations sitting on a simple, upright chair; there's no need to fold yourself into uncomfortable positions. Explore a variety of meditation techniques, from mindfulness meditation to tai chi, to find the practices that suit you. Use the short "mini-meditations" to sample a variety of different styles. Find out the benefits of meditation on your mind and brain, examining how it works and the scientific evidence behind its effects. Whether you are new to meditation or looking to expand your existing knowledge, this practical guide on how to meditate provides everything you need to start (or continue) your meditative journey.

The mind contains the seeds of its own awakening—seeds that we can cultivate to bring forth the fruits of a life lived consciously. With Mindfulness, Joseph Goldstein shares the wisdom of his four decades of teaching and practice in a book that will serve as a lifelong companion for anyone committed to mindful living and the realization of inner freedom. Goldstein’s source teaching is the Satipa??hana Sutta, the Buddha’s legendary discourse on the four foundations of mindfulness that became the basis for the many types of Vipassana (or insight meditation) found today. Exquisite in detail yet wholly accessible and relevant for the modern student, Mindfulness takes us through a profound study of: • Mindfulness of body, including the breath, postures, activities, and physical characteristics • Mindfulness of feelings—how the experience of our sense perceptions influences our inner and outer worlds • Mindfulness of mind—learning to recognize skillful and unskillful states of mind and thought • Mindfulness of dhammas (or categories of experience), including the Five Hindrances, the Six Sense Spheres, and the Seven Factors of Awakening "There is a wealth of meaning and nuance in the experience of mindfulness that can enrich our lives in unimagined ways," writes Goldstein. In Mindfulness you have the tools to mine these riches for yourself.

The 25th anniversary edition of the classic, comprehensive guide on meditation posture and how to carry its benefits into everyday life—for practitioners of all skill levels When it comes to meditation practices, the body is as important as the mind—a fact that may come as a surprise to the many people who regard meditation as a strictly mental activity. But, as Will Johnson shows, the physical aspect of the practice is far too often underemphasized. The alert-yet-relaxed sitting posture that is the common denominator of so many meditative techniques is a wonderful aid for clearing the mind and opening the heart, but it also works to activate the natural healing energies of both body and mind. In this essential guidebook, Will Johnson shows how meditation, too often misunderstood as a mental practice, can be immeasurably enriched through an embodied approach. The Posture of Meditation features a range of simple practices based on the principles of alignment, relaxation, and resilience. This classic book—now with a new section detailing the transformative power of the path of somatic meditation—has helped thousands of people to begin their meditation practice, to refine it, and to experience depths they never thought possible.

Zen master Julian Daizan Skinner guides the reader through a sequence of meditation techniques that can safely lead even a complete novice through to advanced levels. Based on his own long experience of the Rinzai Zen tradition, as taught by the great seventeenth-century masters, Hakuin and Bankei, Daizan highlights the key points for success and addresses the pitfalls. Structured around a traditional teaching framework called "The two wings of a bird," Daizan clearly lays-out how these methods build and combine to create a transformative and sustaining practice. The book contains an extremely useful section describing the experiences of western practitioners who have successfully applied this framework within the pressures of modern life. The final section features key source texts in translation, making the book a complete introduction and guide to Zen meditation. The work of a master, the book speaks at a deep level, with utmost simplicity.

Learn simple breathing techniques, along with the most effective meditation methods and QiGong practised sitting or in movement, including traditional and lesser-known techniques, from down-to-earth descriptions, and over 250 illustrations, hand-drawn by the author (B&W). This book is meant for anyone and everyone interested in learning meditation, regardless of age, sex, physical or mental state or ability, religious or spiritual views, and previous experience in meditation practice. Meditation will be regarded as a tool, or vehicle, you might use along your path. The techniques taught within, are not follow-along meditations, that you can just do step-by-step, prescribed for specific goals, situations, or life events. The goal of this volume is to help you understand meditation, empowering you with the knowledge and experience to build up your own routine and your very own, personal meditation practice.

Looking for the latest research and practices on character strengths and mindfulness? Curious about how character strengths can supercharge your mindfulness practice? Or how mindfulness can help you deploy your best qualities? Look no further - the answers are in this book!

What is meditation? Why practice it? Which techniques is best? How do I do it? The answers to these often-asked questions are contained in this down-to-earth book, making it of enormous value for anyone who wishes to begin and maintain a meditation practice. Written by a Western Buddhist nun with solid experience in both the practice and teaching of meditation, How to Meditate contains a wealth of practical advice on a variety of authentic techniques, from what to do with our minds, to how to sit, to visualizations and other traditional practices. Best of all, McDonald's approach is warm and encouraging. The next best thing to private instruction!

This book is a comprehensive and practical guide to Buddhist meditation, providing a complete introduction for beginners, as well as detailed advice for experienced meditators seeking to deepen their practice. Kamalashila explores the primary aims of Buddhist meditation: enhanced awareness, true happiness, and liberating insight into the nature of reality. This third edition includes new sections on the importance of the imagination, on Just Sitting, and on reflection on the Buddha.

If You Can Breathe, You Can Meditate: A Practical, Secular How-To Guide to Meditation is an indispensable new book that demystifies the practice of meditation, stripping away religious and philosophical associations that have been ascribed to this timeless and universal activity. It brings clarity and focus to something that is entirely normal, completely human, and positively habit-forming. Meditation is not magic, nor is it a religion. It will not allow you to break the laws of physics and levitate or visit astral realms. Meditation is simply a process of focused objective attention--a mental exercise, nothing more and nothing less. While it is often lumped together with mysticism or appropriated by New Age believers alongside their chakras, crystals, and auras, meditation is in fact a straight-forward, secular practice that can help to improve your health and quality of life. Among the potential benefits of meditation are relief from stress, anxiety, and depression, lowered blood pressure, reduction in cholesterol levels, effective pain management, improved sleeping patterns, increased energy, and enhanced creativity and intuition. A skeptic by nature and a scientist by training, author Morgan D. Rosenberg brings a refreshingly direct and pragmatic perspective to this plain and practical instruction manual for those interested in meditation. Broken down into a series of step-by-step chapters, If You Can Breathe, You Can Meditate guides the reader through the various aspects of meditation, providing convenient, easily referenced resources including a section addressing frequently asked questions and a comprehensive bibliography that will assist with further investigation and reading on the subject. Dispel your misconceptions and discover the realities of meditation and mindfulness, as this thoughtful and insightful guide presents a practical way to engage in a beneficial routine of mental exercise rooted in the fundamental, reasonable principles of meditation.

THE LIFE-CHANGING BESTSELLER. MINDFULNESS reveals a set of simple yet powerful practices that can be incorporated into daily life to help break the cycle of unhappiness, stress, anxiety and mental exhaustion and promote genuine joie de vivre. It's the kind of happiness that gets into your bones. It seeps into everything you do and helps you meet the worst that life can throw at you with new courage. The book is based on Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). MBCT revolves around a straightforward form of mindfulness meditation which takes just a few minutes a day for the full benefits to be revealed. MBCT has been clinically proven to be at least as effective as drugs for depression and it is recommended by the UK's National Institute of Clinical Excellence - in other words, it works. More importantly it also works for people who are not depressed but who are struggling to keep up with the constant demands of the modern world. MINDFULNESS focuses on promoting joy and peace rather than banishing unhappiness. It's precisely focused to help ordinary people boost their happiness and confidence levels whilst also reducing anxiety, stress and irritability.