| MEDITATION |
| Page 10 of 10 |
A Noble Heart by Pema Chodron Average Rating: "After having enjoyed Pema Chodron's wonderful video set "Good Medicine" (6305642842), Her "Noble Heart" set of 6 cassettes was greatly enhanced. I could picture her orchestrating this retreat at her Monastery in Eastern Canada. That is exactly how this tape set is arranged. She provides an enjoyable, enthusiastic lecture with examples, stories, personal experiences, input from her Master Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, etc. For each of the 12 segments (sides of cassettes) she also includes meditations and visualizations as appropriate. Topics include:
1. Bodhichitta Practice--ego, 3 noble principles, etc.
2. cultivating friendliness through meditation--posture, calm abiding (shamatha), working with thoughts, non-grasping mind...
3. developing inner strength/trust--experiencing reality, the 4 limitless ones (loving kindness, compassion, joy, & equanimity, materialism...
4. The Practice of Maitri (loving kindness)--the roots of suffering and happiness, ignorance, etc. Great presentation on Maitri practice!
5. Compassion practice--your "soft spot," ego's weaknesses, addiction and obsession, dualistic thinking, far & near enemies of practice, pity/overwhelm/forgiveness
6. Unlimited joy & equanimity--stages of practice, openness, melting practice, big sky mind, etc.
7. Tonglen (sending & receiving)--shunyata--openness of being, awakening Bodhichitta, stages of tonglen practice, dissolving the armor of self-protection, etc.
8. Meditation & wisdom--post-meditation, purity, categories of meditation, prajna (wisdom/understanding), etc.
9. Generosity, discipline, & patience--categories of them, undoing deep-seated patterns, antidote to aggression, etc.
10. Joyful exertion--the nondual paramitas, contemplation, exertion, nonduality, etc.
11. Shunyata Meditation--groundlessness, nature of mind, opening mind, contemplating equanimity, nongrasping, etc.
12. Bodhichitta to the world--connectedness, limitless compassion, dissolving barriers, the Dharmic habit, Bodhichitta slogans (only touched on here--see her "Start Where You Are" for this).
Overall, it's almost like being there. A wonderful experience. She covers lots of ground in her easygoing, warm, and wise style that balances theory with practice. A gem." Publisher: Sounds True, Incorporated | More reviews: amazon.com
Meditations (Puffy Books) by Sylvia Browne Average Rating: "These meditations are wonderful in and of themselves. If you read Sylvia Browne's other books an Encounter with a Prophet and Conversations with God these meditations take on even more powerful meaning." Publisher: Hay House | More reviews: amazon.com
Retrieve Your Destiny: Living the Soul's Path by Kelly Howell Average Rating: "Like another Howell reviewer, I found Kelly's diction amateurish and irritating. She should hire a professional to do the reading.
I also do not enjoy having questions planted through the guided meditation, instead of leading you to ask your own questions (the story is full of "and you wonder . . ." followed by a question). Some of the questions are so annoying I have to fast forward past them (which pulls me out of the relaxation and concentration). For example as she introduces the male sage in the story she asks, ". . . is he a mystic or a trickster?" That's irrelevant to the meditation. That type of questioning detracts from the relaxation and jars you out of the examination of your own internal questions.
I also don't like having the sage be gender-specific. She uses a sage who is a man. If the gender was left open, your imagination could fill in a type of person with whom you feel most comfortable.
The 2nd track of just music is good for putting me to sleep, but I'm disappointed with this purchase overall." Publisher: Brain Sync | More reviews: amazon.com
Chakra Meditation by Layne Redmond Average Rating: Layne Redmond gives readers an interactive journey through the seven vital energy centers (chakras) with Chakra Meditation. Accompanied by an interactive CD, she teaches us the traditional practices used to balance each of the chakras. These practices are designed to remove energetic obstacles and blockages in order to transform and revitalize our tissues and cells, not only to create a radiant body and mind, but also to increase that internal flow of energy that will dissolve troubling and repressed memories of the past, cleanse our minds of anxiety and tension, and increase our natural intuition. Publisher: Sounds True, Incorporated | More reviews: amazon.com
Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?: Healing in the Gospels by Georg Kuhlewind What is the power that Jesus calls to awaken in us? What does it mean to be healthy and whole? How can we open ourselves so that the healing power can heal what is sick? How can we awaken this power in ourselves? "Wilt thou be made whole?" is the question Jesus addressed to the paralyzed man who had waited in vain for years at the Pool of Bethesda. Not really answering, he replies that he has no one to carry him down when the angel stirs the waters. "Take up your bed and walk," Jesus tells him, and the man was made whole and walked. What passed between them? What communion or communication took place in the interval between the paralyzed man's "excuse" and Jesus' injunction? What did the man receive through Jesus' words? Georg Kühlewind shows how meditation can bring us closer to that event. Beginning with a meditation-based account of the embodied psycho-spiritual human being, Kühlewind describes the preconditions and possibilities of healing in the Gospels. He goes on to discuss in depth and detail, through meditations, Christ's various psychological and physical healings. The unique quality of this book is that Kühlewind utilizes the healings in the Gospels as themes for meditation--spiritual exercises that can bring us to a more intimate understanding of Christ's healing power. In this way, Kühlewind shows us how to approach a deeper understanding of the healing process itself and begin to heal ourselves. In the process, we come to understand the Gospels and ourselves in a new way. Publisher: Lindisfarne Books | More reviews: amazon.com
Aleph-Bet Yoga: Embodying the Hebrew Letters for Physical and Spiritual Well-Being by Steven A. Rapp Average Rating: "Presumably aimed at an audience of observant Jews afraid that hatha yoga is the pork of exercise, which will steal their souls from Yahweh and deliver them to Shiva and Shakti, this Romper Room approach tries to coax reluctant couch latkes onto the mat by showing just how much the yoga poses resemble Hebrew letters. (Look Ma! I made an Aleph!)
One can practice hatha yoga without adopting the beliefs of Vedanta or Hinduism, just as a Hindu can eat a piece of gefilte fish without feeling an overwhelming urge to put on tefillin.
Anyone who wants to try to learn hatha yoga from a book instead of a class would be well advised to buy one of the texts written by a specialist. Any of the Iyengar books, for example, or Donna Farhi's excellent work, or Erich Schiffman's. There are also superb DVDs that will help one learn in the privacy of one's shtetl.
" Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing | More reviews: amazon.com
The New Meditation Handbook with Guided Meditations: Meditations to Make Our Life Happy and Meaningful by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Average Rating: "If you're looking into getting a regular meditation practice going, this is what you are looking for. This audio book is really wonderful." Publisher: Tharpa Publications | More reviews: amazon.com
Pharmacy For the Soul: A Comprehensive Collection of Meditations, Relaxation and Awareness Exercises, and Other Practices for Physical and Emotional Well-Being by Osho Average Rating: "The author has done an excellant job of clarifying life's challanges and provides straight forward remedies to help us overcome them. As a student of personal developement this has been an inspiring lesson in what we can accomplish." Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin | More reviews: amazon.com
Sounds of Tantra: Mantra Meditation Techniques from Tools for Tantra by Harish Johari Average Rating: "While I think the CD is valuable in that many mantras are compiled on it, I do think the quality could have been higher. The author does not identify the mantras before recitation, leaving the listener to figures which mantra is being chanted. Also the background instruments almost drown out the author's voice." Publisher: Destiny Recordings | More reviews: amazon.com
Inviting Silence: Universal Principles of Meditation by Gunilla Norris Average Rating: "Gunilla Norris' book is incredible. She teaches without teaching.
Reading her book is a meditation in and of itself. The book carries you into meditation through her words...It is a soul's journey from noise to silence from beginning to end.
When finished you will crave the "silence" she writes about. You'll read it over and over just to make sure you get every last bit of wisdom she has to share.
She'll make you believe "silence" is magic.
It is a must ! I want more!" Publisher: Bluebridge | More reviews: amazon.com
|
books 
