Being Zen: bringing meditation to life by
We can use whatever life presents, Ezra Bayda teaches, to strengthen our spiritual practice--including the turmoil of daily life. What we need is the willingness to just be with our experiences--whether they are painful or pleasing--opening ourselves to the reality of our lives without trying to fix or change anything. But doing this requires that we confront our most deeply rooted fears and assumptions in order to gradually become free of the constrictions and suffering they create. Then we can awaken to the loving-kindness that is at the heart of our being.
While many books aspire to bring meditation into everyday experience, Being Zen gives us practical ways to actually do it, introducing techniques that enable the reader to foster qualities essential to continued spiritual awakening. Topics include how to cultivate:
* Perseverance : staying with anger, fear, and other distressing emotions.
* Stillness : abiding with chaotic experiences without becoming overwhelmed.
* Clarity : seeing through the conditioned beliefs and fears that "run" us.
* Direct experience : encountering the physical reality of the present moment--even when that moment is exactly where we don't want to be.
Like Pema Chödrön, the best-selling author of When Things Fall Apart, Ezra Bayda writes with clear, heartfelt simplicity, using his own life stories to illustrate the teachings in an immediate and accessible way that will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers.
Beyond the Relaxation Response by
From the bestselling author of The Relaxation Response , a practical program that may help you:
* Relieve headaches, backaches, and chest pains
* Lower blood pressure and cholesterol
* Mitigate insomnia and decrease anxiety
In just minutes a day, you can easily master the stress-reduction techniques that have helped millions conquer or alleviate one of today's most serious and widespread health problems. Employing neither drugs nor doctors, Dr. Benson's program is considered by many to be the most beneficial step forward in personal health and well-being in our time.
Controlling Stress and Tension by
Controlling Stress and Tension takes a multifaceted, holistic approach to stress management. The first part of the book discusses the stress problem and our potential for achieving solutions to it. The next chapters examine potential stress-producing elements in everyday life. The remainder of the book offers techniques for alleviating stress and tension. Personal journal activities and self-assessments placed throughout the book encourage readers to apply the concepts they have learned to themselves. These activities are brought together at the conclusion of the book, helping readers develop their own stress-management program. The Seventh Edition is highlighted by a new art and photography program and journaling exercises incorporated into the book (in previous editions, journaling activities were offered in a separate supplement). Stress, Stressors, and Stress Management, Systems That Control Stress Arousal, The Body's Response to Stress, Stressful Emotions, Thoughts, and Beliefs, The Human Spirit, Patterns of Behavior, Demands and Expectations, Human-Environment Interaction, Relationships, Trauma and Terror, Stress in the Workplace, Breathing and Relaxation, Muscle Relaxation, Autogenics and Visual Imagery, Yoga and Stretch-Relaxation, Meditation, Physical Activity, Your Personal Stress Management Plan. For college instructors and students, or anyone interested in issues relating to stress management.
Guided Mindfulness Meditation by
Perhaps no other person has done more to bring mindfulness meditation into the contemporary landscape of America than Jon Kabat-Zinn. Through a number of research studies, and through Kabat-Zinn's pioneering work at the University of Massachusetts Medical School where he is founder of its world-renowned Stress Reduction Clinic, mindfulness is finally being recognized as a highly effective tool for dealing with stress, chronic pain, and other illnesses.
Now with this four-part home training course, Jon Kabat-Zinn offers listeners the definitive mindfulness meditation practice on CD. We are not trying to actively achieve a state of deep relaxation-or any other state for that matter-while practicing mindfulness, he teaches. But interestingly, by opening to an awareness of how things actually are in the present moment, we often taste very deep states of relaxation and well-being of both body and mind.
Course objectives:
Utilize body and mind meditations in daily practice Practice mindful yoga with clear, safe and simple instructions Describe the basic state of being which is present awareness Compare the results of unmoving, sitting meditation to a movement meditation such as mindful yoga Join the bestselling author of Coming to Our Senses (Hyperion, 2005) and Wherever You Go, There You Are (Hyperion 1995) to develop and deepen your personal mindfulness practice, and to taste the universal aspects of stillness, clarity, wisdom, compassion, and well-being that Guided Mindfulness Meditation offers.
Inviting Silence by 
Lovingkindness : the revolutionary art of happiness by
Throughout our lives we long to love ourselves more deeply and find a greater sense of connection with others. Our fear of intimacy--both with others and with ourselves--creates feelings of pain and longing. But these feelings can also awaken in us the desire for freedom and the willingness to take up the spiritual path.
In this inspiring book, Sharon Salzberg, one of America's leading spiritual teachers, shows us how the Buddhist path of lovingkindness can help us discover the radiant, joyful heart within each of us. This practice of lovingkindness is revolutionary because it has the power to radically change our lives, helping us cultivate true happiness in ourselves and genuine compassion for others. The Buddha described the nature of such a spiritual path as "the liberation of the heart, which is love." The author draws on simple Buddhist teachings, wisdom stories from various traditions, guided meditation practices, and her own experience from twenty-five years of practice and teaching to illustrate how each one of us can cultivate love, compassion, joy, and equanimity--the four "heavenly abodes" of traditional Buddhism.
Quiet Mind: a beginner's guide to meditation by
This unique book-and-audio program brings together some of the country's most beloved meditation teachers. Each contributor presents a short written teaching along with an audio recording of a guided practice. Quiet Mind features:
* Sakyong Mipham on shamatha , the practice of tranquillity
* Larry Rosenberg on vipassana , the practice of clear seeing
* Edward Espe Brown on zazen , the practice of freedom
* Sharon Salzberg on metta , the practice of lovingkindness
* Judith Lief on tonglen , the practice of transformation
* Tulku Thondup on healing the body and mind through meditation
* Yoga teacher Richard Faulds on the link between yoga and meditation
Includes a 78-minute CD.Audio CD also available in the Library
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Body Image Dissatisfaction by
Despite ongoing criticism of strict beauty ideals, cosmetic surgeons and diet pill manufacturers continue to thrive and tolerance for body flaws seems to lessen every day. More and more people have begun to internalize a need for physical perfection. And the psychological distress that accompanies body image dissatisfaction leaves many individuals in a long-term struggle. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Body Image Dissatisfaction is a manual for practitioners seeking to help clients let go of self-judgment and preoccupation with body image. Mindfulness and acceptance approaches target the underlying anxiety and perfectionism that keep many trapped in destructive relationships with their bodies. This book presents a clear plan for showing clients how to clarify their values to help broaden their lives and refocus on what is most meaningful and vital to them. It presents a clear ACT protocol, complete with sample scripts, therapy exercises, case studies, and worksheets, for treating body image dissatisfaction. You'll learn from a wide range of clinical examples of body image dissatisfaction, some of which explore manifestations in medical populations. The treatment protocol in this book can be effectively applied to both men and women, across a wide age range.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for the Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Trauma-Related Problems by
New Directions in the Treatment of PTSD Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) offers a promising, empirically validated approach to the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma related problems. In this volume, you'll find a complete theoretical and practical guide to making this revolutionary new model work in your practice. After a quick overview of PTSD, the first part of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for the Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Trauma-Related Problems explains the problem of experiential avoidance as it relates to trauma and explores the verbal nature of post-traumatic stress. You'll learn the importance of mindfulness and acceptance in the ACT model, find out how to structure sessions with your clients, and examine the problem of control. The section concludes by introducing you to the idea of creative hopelessness as the starting point for creating a new, workable life after trauma. The book's second section offers a practical, step-by-step clinical guide to the six core ACT components in chronological order: *Creative hopelessness *The problem of control *Willingness and defusion *Self-as-context *Valued living *Committed action Each chapter explains how to introduce these topics to clients suffering from PTSD, illustrates each with case examples, and offers homework for your clients to use between sessions.
Calming Your Anxious Mind: How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Free You from Anxiety, Fear, and Panic by
The Mindfulness Solution to Anxiety Drawing on techniques and perspectives from two seemingly different traditions, this second edition of the self-help classic Calming Your Anxious Mind offers you a powerful and profound approach to overcoming anxiety, fear, and panic. From the evidence-based tradition of Western medicine, learn the role your thoughts and emotions play in anxiety. And, from the tradition of meditation and the inquiry into meaning and purpose, discover your own potential for presence and stillness, kindness and compassion-and the tremendous power these states give you to heal and transform your life. Use this encouraging, step-by-step program to: *Learn about the mechanism of anxiety and the body's fear system *Develop a healing mindfulness practice-one breath at a time *Start on the path to presence, stillness, compassion, and loving kindness *Practice acceptance during mindfulness meditation *Feel safe while opening up to fearful and anxious feelings
Happiness: Essential Mindfulness Practices by
Born in Hue, Vietnam, Thich Nhat Hanh is a Buddhist monk, poet, scholar, and human rights activist. In 1967, he was nominated by Martin Luther King, Jr., for the Nobel Peace Prize. He is author of more than one hundred books, sixty in English. Previous best selling books include The World We Have and Buddha Mind Buddha Body. He lives at Plum Village, his meditation center in France, and travels worldwide, leading retreats on the art of mindful living.”
The Mindful Path Through Worry and Rumination by
Do you find yourself ruminating about things you can't control? Worrying about those yet-to-complete goals and projects? What about just feeling like you're not the person you want to be? People who worry and ruminate find it difficult to stop anxiously anticipating future events and regretting or rethinking past actions. Left unchecked, this tendency can lead to mental health problems such as depression and generalized anxiety disorder. The Mindful Path Through Worry and Rumination offers powerful mindfulness strategies derived from Buddhist spiritual practices and proven psychological techniques to help you stop overthinking what you can't control-the future and the past-and learn how to find contentment in the present moment.
