Meditation For Dummies
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- Product Details
- About the Author
- Table of Contents
Meditation has been used for centuries to reduce stress, increase energy, and enhance overall health and well-being—so it's no wonder more and more people in today's fast-paced and stress-centric world are adopting this age-old practice. If you want to achieve a greater state of calmness, physical relaxation, and psychological balance, Meditation For Dummies is your life raft. Covering the latest research on the health benefits of meditation, this new edition explains in plain English how you can put meditation into practice today and start reaping the benefits of living a more mindful life.
Whether you're new to meditation or a seasoned practitioner coming back for a refresher course, this plain-English guide provides a wealth of tips and techniques for sitting (or lying) down with your mind to meditate successfully. From preparing your body for meditation to focusing your awareness and being open to the present moment, it covers everything you need to put distractions to rest and open yourself up to a meditation practice that works for you.
- Provides the latest research on the causes of happiness and how meditation can improve your mood
- Includes a new chapter on the growing trend of meditation in the workplace
- Explains how meditation and other mindfulness practices have made their way into hospitals, schools, prison, and military groups
- Illustrates the benefits of taking time to consciously cultivate mindfulness through meditation
If you're ready to find some zen and benefit from all meditation has to offer, this friendly guide sets you up for success.
ISBN-13: 9781119251163
Media Type: Paperback
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: 05-23-2016
Pages: 416
Product Dimensions: 7.40(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.90(d)
Stephan Bodian is an internationally known author, psychotherapist, and teacher. He leads regular intensives and retreats and offers spiritual counseling and mentoring to people throughout the world. His bestselling app Mindfulness Meditation (with Mental Workout) has been praised in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 3 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 4 Where to Go from Here 4 Part 1: Getting Started With Meditation 5 Chapter 1: Embarking on Your Meditation Journey 7 Getting an Overview of How the Journey Unfolds 9 Different paths up the same mountain 9 The view from the summit — and from other peaks along the way 11 The taste of pure mountain water 12 There’s no place like home — and you’ve already arrived! 13 Developing and Directing Awareness: The Key to Meditation 16 Building concentration 17 Opening to receptive awareness 18 Using contemplation for greater insight 19 Cultivating positive, healing states of mind 19 Making Meditation Your Own 20 Designing your own practice 20 Troubleshooting the challenges 21 Chapter 2: Why Meditate? 23 How Life Drives You — to Meditate 24 The myth of the perfect life 24 When things keep falling apart 25 Dealing with the postmodern predicament 27 Four popular “solutions” that don’t really work 29 How to Survive the 21st Century — with Meditation 30 Advanced technology for the mind and heart 31 The mind-body benefits of meditation 32 A Dozen More Great Reasons to Meditate 35 Awakening to the present moment 35 Making friends with yourself 35 Connecting more deeply with others 35 Relaxing the body and calming the mind 36 Lightening up! 36 Enjoying more happiness 36 Experiencing focus and flow 36 Feeling more centered, grounded, and balanced 37 Enhancing your performance at work and at play 37 Increasing appreciation, gratitude, and love 37 Aligning with a deeper sense of purpose 37 Awakening to a spiritual dimension of being 38 Chapter 3: Zen and Now: Where Meditation Comes From 39 Making the Indian Connection 41 Classical yoga: The path of blissful union 41 Early Buddhism: The roots of mindfulness meditation 42 Indian tantra: Finding the sacred in the world of the senses 43 To the Roof of the World — and Beyond 44 Ch’an (Zen): The sound of one hand 44 Vajrayana Buddhism: The way of transformation 45 From the Middle East to the Rest of the West 46 Christian meditation: Practicing contemplative prayer 46 Meditation in Judaism: Drawing closer to God 48 Meditation among the Sufis: Surrendering to the Divine with every breath 49 The Americanization of Meditation 50 Transcendentalism and Theosophy (1840–1900) 50 Yoga and Zen prepare the soil (1900–1960) 51 Meditation reaches Main Street (1960 to the present) 51 The Latest Developments in Meditation 53 Take two meditations and call me in the morning 53 Talking back to Prozac 54 Transforming classrooms with mindfulness 55 Meditation in the workplace 55 Chapter 4: Your Brain on Meditation and How It Impacts Your Life 57 Tracing the Origins of Meditation Research 58 Wiring up yogis and Zen monks 58 Studying TM and the relaxation response 60 Measuring the health benefits of meditation 61 Assessing the limitations of the early research 62 Mapping the Meditative Brain 62 Shifting mindfulness to center stage: Jon Kabat-Zinn and MBSR 63 Creating a working map of the brain 65 Pinpointing the location of positive emotions 65 Seeing how meditation changes the brain 66 Part 2: Beginning Your Meditation Practice 69 Chapter 5: Laying the Foundation: Motivation, Attitude, and Beginner’s Mind 71 Beginning (and Ending) with Beginner’s Mind 72 Exploring What Motivates You to Meditate 74 Improving your life 77 Understanding and accepting yourself 77 Realizing your true nature 78 Awakening others 78 Expressing your innate perfection 78 Living in Harmony with Your Meditation 79 Chapter 6: How Your Mind Stresses You Out and What You Can Do about It 83 Taking a Tour of Your Inner Terrain 84 Sifting through the layers of inner experience 85 Discovering how turbulence clouds your mind and heart 89 The Bad News: How Your Mind Stresses You Out 92 Preoccupation with past and future 94 Resistance to the way things are 94 A judging and comparing mind 95 Learned helplessness and pessimism 96 Overwhelming emotions 96 Fixation of attention 97 Clinging to a separate self 98 The Good News: How Meditation Relieves Suffering and Stress 98 Developing focus and concentration 99 Allowing spontaneous release 100 Penetrating your experience with insight 100 Chapter 7: Mindfulness Meditation: Awareness of the Here and Now 105 Turning Your Attention Inward 106 Relaxing Your Body 108 Developing Mindfulness 110 Focusing on your breath 110 Expanding to sensations 114 Welcoming whatever arises 115 Training Your Puppy: Reining In Your Wandering Mind 116 Chapter 8: Preparing Your Body for Meditation 119 Putting a Snake into a Stick of Bamboo — or the Subtle Art of Sitting Still 120 How to Sit Up Straight — and Live to Tell About It 121 What to do from the waist down — and other fantasies 124 Straightening your spine without rigor mortis 128 Zafus, benches, and other exotic paraphernalia 131 Chapter 9: Where to Sit, What to Wear, and Other Practical Stuff 137 What to Wear: Choosing Comfort over Fashion 138 When to Meditate: Any Time’s the Right Time 139 First thing in the morning 139 Before bed 139 Right after work 139 Lunch hours and coffee breaks 140 While waiting for your kids and at other predictable downtimes 141 How Long to Meditate: From Quickies to the Long Haul 141 What to Eat and Drink — and Avoid — before You Meditate 142 Where to Meditate: Creating Sacred Space 143 Why it’s best to stay put 144 How to pick the right spot 144 How to set up an altar — and why you may want to bother 145 Chapter 10: Just Doing It: Discipline, Effort, and Letting Go 149 Discipline Just Means “Again and Again” 150 Making a commitment to yourself — and keeping it 150 Being consistent, day after day 151 Restraining yourself, both on and off the cushion 152 The Right Kind of Effort: Not Too Tight or Too Loose 153 Giving your energy 100 percent 154 Applying yourself earnestly 154 Making an effortless effort 154 Knowing How to Let Go and What to Let Go Of 157 Suspending judgment 157 Accepting 158 Letting go 158 Unmasking 158 Surrendering 159 Chapter 11: Opening Your Heart with Love and Compassion 161 How Your Heart Closes — and How You Can Open It Again 162 Some factors that keep closing your heart 163 Some good reasons for keeping it open 164 Discovering your “soft spot” 166 Love begins with you 167 Feeling out the four dimensions of love 168 Generating Love for Yourself and Others 169 Opening the gates 170 Directing the flow 170 Transforming Suffering with Compassion 172 Some preliminary exercises for generating compassion 173 Transforming suffering with the power of the heart 174 Part 3: Troubleshooting and Fine-Tuning Your Practice 179 Chapter 12: Meditating with Challenging Emotions and Habitual Patterns 181 Making Friends with Your Experience 182 Embracing your thoughts and feelings 183 Naming your experience 183 Welcoming whatever arises 184 Meditating with Challenging Emotions 185 Anger 186 Fear and anxiety 187 Sadness, grief, and depression 189 Unraveling Habitual Patterns with Awareness 190 Naming your “tunes” 191 Expanding your awareness 191 Feeling your feelings 191 Noticing your resistance and attachment 191 Finding the wisdom 192 Getting to the heart of the matter 193 Infusing the stuck place with being 194 Working with patterns before you get stuck 194 Setting Patterns Aside — for Now 195 Letting go (or letting be) 195 Shifting attention 196 Moving the energy 196 Acting it out in imagination 196 Acting it out in real life — mindfully 197 When Meditation May Not Be Right for You Now 199 Choosing a Therapist to Help with Your Patterns 200 Talk is important, but you need to do more 200 Shop around 201 Choose the person, not the credentials 201 Find a therapist who meditates 201 Chapter 13: Troubleshooting Common Roadblocks and Side Effects 203 Navigating the Roadblocks on Your Meditative Journey 204 Sleepiness 205 Restlessness 205 Boredom 206 Fear 206 Doubt 206 Procrastination 208 Hypervigilance 208 Self-judgment 208 Attachment and desire 209 Pride 210 Avoidance 210 Bypassing 211 Enjoying the Side Effects of Meditation without Getting Sidetracked 211 Rapture and bliss 212 Visions and other sensory experiences 213 Waves of emotion 214 Energetic openings 214 Chapter 14: Developing a Practice That Works for You 221 Fitting the Puzzle Pieces Together 222 Know your motivation 223 Play to your strengths and fill in the gaps 224 Experiment, trust your intuition, and then settle down 225 Create a regular practice 225 Whenever Two or More of You: Meditating with Others 228 Joining or forming a meditation group 228 Attending your first workshop or retreat 229 Monk for a day: Creating your own solitary retreat 230 Part 4: Meditation In Action 233 Chapter 15: Cultivating Spirituality 235 What Does Spirituality Mean, Anyway? 236 The “perennial philosophy”: Where all religions converge 238 From faith to fruition: The levels of spiritual involvement 240 Dissolving or expanding the self: The point of spiritual practice 241 The Path of Devotion: In Search of Union 245 Mantra: Invoking the Divine in every moment 247 The practice of the presence of God 247 Guru yoga: Tibetan devotional practice 248 The Path of Insight: Discovering Who You Are 250 Expanding your boundaries 251 Looking into the nature of mind 253 Asking “Who am I?” 254 How to Find a Teacher — and Why You May Want to Bother 255 Choosing the right kind of teacher 256 Why you may need a teacher 257 What to look for in a teacher 258 How to find a teacher 260 Chapter 16: Don’t Worry, Be Happy — with Meditation 263 Checking Out the Hallmarks of Genuine Happiness 264 Recognizing happiness as your inherent condition 264 Experiencing a predominance of positive emotions 266 Accepting what life brings 267 Being in the flow of life 268 Meaning and belonging 268 Understanding an integrated definition of happiness 269 Studying Up on the Art and Science of Happiness 270 Why bother being happy? 270 The Buddhist understanding of happiness 271 The science of meditation and happiness 271 The insights of positive psychology 272 Finding True Happiness with Meditation 274 Savoring the moment 274 Fostering flow 275 Developing gratitude 276 Learning to forgive 277 Cultivating optimism 279 Chapter 17: Meditating in Everyday Life 281 Being at Peace with Every Step: Extending Meditation in Action 282 Coming back to your breath 283 Listening to the bell of mindfulness 284 Repeating a phrase to help yourself be mindful 285 Noticing how situations affect you 287 Applying meditation to familiar activities 287 The Family That Meditates Together: Partners, Children, and Other Loved Ones 291 Meditating with kids 291 Meditating with partners and family members 293 Meditative lovemaking 293 Chapter 18: Using Meditation for Healing and Performance Enhancement 297 Meditation Has the Power to Help Heal Your Body, Too 298 What healing really means 299 Understanding how meditation heals 300 Embracing the healing power of imagery 304 Exploring five healing meditations 305 Meditation Can Enhance Your Performance at Work and Play 312 Enjoying past success 314 Rehearsing peak performance 315 Starting your workday with mindfulness 316 Part 5: The Part of Tens 319 Chapter 19: Ten Commonly Asked Questions about Meditation 321 Will Meditation Make Me Too Relaxed or Spaced Out to Succeed at Work or School? 321 How Can I Find the Time to Meditate in My Busy Schedule? 322 Can I Meditate in a Chair or Lying Down Instead of Cross-Legged on the Floor? 323 What Should I Do about the Restlessness or Discomfort I Experience While Meditating? 323 What Should I Do If I Keep Falling Asleep While I Meditate? 324 How Do I Know If I’m Meditating the Right Way? 325 Can I Meditate While I’m Driving My Car or Sitting at My Computer? 325 Do I Have to Give Up My Religious Beliefs to Meditate? 326 What Should I Do If My Loved Ones Don’t Support My Meditation Practice? 326 Can Meditation Really Improve My Health? 327 Chapter 20: Ten Favorite All-Purpose Meditations 329 Practicing Relaxation 329 Following Your Breath 330 Walking Meditation 331 Mindful Eating 332 Cultivating Lovingkindness 333 Softening Your Belly 334 Healing with Light 335 Grounding into the Earth 336 Practicing a Half Smile 337 Peaceful Place 337 Part 6: Appendixes 339 Appendix A: Meditation Resources 341 Organizations and Centers 341 Secular approaches 342 Spiritual approaches 343 Websites 347 Books 349 Appendix B: About the Audio Tracks 353 How to Access the Audio Tracks 353 What You’ll Find on Dummies.com 353Table of Contents
Foreword xvii