How to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Making Friends with Your Mind by Pema Chodron

How to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Making Friends with Your Mind By Pema Chodron ***How to Meditate Has Been Named One of Library Journal's Best Books of 2013*** Pema Chodron is treasured around the world for her unique ability to transmit teachings and practices that bring peace, understanding, and compassion into our lives. With How to Meditate, the American-born Tibetan nun presents her first book exploring in depth what she considers the essentials for a lifelong practice. When we look for a meditation teacher, we want someone who has an intimate knowledge of the path. That's why so many have turned to Pema Ch?dr?n, whose gentle yet straightforward guidance has been a lifesaver for both first-time and experienced meditators. With "How to Meditate," the American-born Tibetan Buddhist nun presents her first book that explores in-depth what she considers the essentials for an evolving practice that helps you live in a wholehearted way. More and more people are beginning to recognize a profound inner longing for authenticity, connection, compassion, and aliveness. Meditation, Pema explains, gives us a golden key to address this yearning. This comprehensive guide shows readers how to honestly meet and openly relate with the mind to embrace the fullness of our experience as we discover: •The basics of meditation, from getting settled and the six points of posture to working with your breath and cultivating an attitude of unconditional friendliness •The Seven Delights-how moments of diffi culty can become doorways to awakening and love •.Shamatha (or calm abiding), the art of stabilizing the mind to remain present with whatever arises •Thoughts and emotions as "sheer delight"-instead of obstacles-in meditation Here is in indispensable book from the meditation teacher who remains a first choice for students the world over. "Pema is one of our most beloved and helpful teachers-practical, compassionate, and wise. How to Meditate is a great way to take her teachings to heart and develop a meditation practice."--Jack Kornfield, author of "A Path with Heart" and "A Lamp in the Darkness" "This new book is a great compilation of meditation instruction which she has personal given to many of her students over the years. These instructions have brought so much help to others that it has made her one of the most loved and revered Buddhist teacher in this modern world. With a brilliant mind and an absolutely cheerful attitude toward life, she practices what she teaches. She is a great support and friend to thousands of readers, and I am very sure that this book will help many in their everyday lives, as she makes this genuine attempt to reach us all."--Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche Excerpt: The mind is very wild. The human experience is full of unpredictability and paradox, joys and sorrows, successes and failures. We can't escape any of these experiences in the vast terrain of our existence. It is part of what makes life grand-and it is also why our minds take us on such a crazy ride. If we can train ourselves through meditation to be more open and more accepting toward the wild arc of our experience, if we can lean into the difficulties of life and ride of our minds, we can become more settled and relaxed amid whatever life brings us. There are numerous ways to work with the mind. One of the most effective ways is through the tool of sitting meditation. Sitting meditation opens us to each and every moment of our life. Each moment is totally unique and unknown. Our mental world is seemingly predictable and graspable. We believe that thinking through all the events and to-dos of our life will provide us with ground and security. But it's all a fantasy, and this very moment, free of conceptual overlay, is completely unique. It is absolutely unknown. We've never experienced this very moment before, and the next moment will not be the same as the one we are in now. Meditation teaches us how to relate to life directly, so that we can truly experience the present moment, free from conceptual overlay.. Part One: The Technique of Meditation1. Preparing for Practice and Making the Commitment2. Stabilizing the Mind3. The Six Points of Posture4. Breath: The Practice of Letting Go5. Attitude: Keep Coming Back6. Unconditional Friendliness7. You Are Your Own Meditation Instructor Part Two: Working With Thoughts8. The Monkey Mind9. The Three Levels of Discursive Thought10. Thoughts as the Object of Meditation11. Regard All Dharmas as Dreams Part Three: Working With Emotions12. Becoming Intimate with Our Emotions13. The Space within the Emotion14. Emotions as the Object of Meditation15. Getting Our Hands Dirty16. Hold the Experience17. Breaking with the Emotion18. Drop the Story and Find the Feeling Part Four: Working with Sense Perception19. The Sense Perceptions20. The Interconnection of All Perceptions Part Five: Opening Your Heart to Include Everything21. Giving Up the Struggle22. The Seven Delights23. The Bearable Lightness of Being24. Beliefs25. Relaxing with Groundlessness26. Create a Circle of Practitioners27. Cultivate a Sense of Wonder28. The Way of the Bodhisattva About the Author Ani Pema Ch?dr?n was born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in 1936, in New York City. She attended Miss Porter's School in Connecticut and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. She taught as an elementary school teacher for many years in both New Mexico and California. Pema has two children and three grandchildren. While in her mid-thirties, Ani Pema traveled to the French Alps and encountered Lama Chime Rinpoche, with whom she studied for several years. She became a novice nun in 1974 while studying with Lama Chime in London. His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa came to Scotland at that time, and Ani Pema received her ordination from him. Reviews "With her gentle approach and clear treatment of difficult concepts, Buddhist nun Pema Ch?dr?n ("When Things Fall Apart") is a wonderful leader for those who want to begin or deepen a mindfulness meditation practice (shamatha). . . She presents it all with an appropriate humility, sharing her own struggles as an ongoing student, her insights as a sought-after teacher, and a belief that readers should ultimately become their own teachers. Indeed, by embracing the wisdom and practicing the exercises in this book, readers will be well on their way."-Vanessa Finney, San Francisco Book Review, May 2013 "Pema is one of our most beloved and helpful teachers-practical, compassionate, and wise. How to Meditate is a great way to take her teachings to heart and develop a meditation practice." -Jack KornfieldAuthor of "A Path with Heart" and "A Lamp in the Darkness ""This new book by Ani Pema is a great compilation of meditation instruction which she has personally given to many of her students over the years. These instructions have brought so much help to others that it has made her one of the most beloved and revered Buddhist teachers in this modern world. With a brilliant mind and an absolutely cheerful attitude toward life, she practices what she teaches. She is a great support and friend to thousands of readers, and I am very sure that this book will help many in their everyday lives, as she makes this genuine attempt to reach us all."-Dzigar Kongtr?l Rinpoche "Meditation doesn't remove pain, or alleviate the negative energy flowing through the world. This is the information which beloved teacher Chodr?n offers readers at the beginning of this new book. Meditation will, however, relieve suffering, not by changing our outer environment but by turning our attention inward to make peace with ourselves. The aim is not to transcend our feelings of pain and distress. Instead, it is to open our hearts and minds to accept what we are feeling in any given moment even if that feeling is difficult. The gifts that Chodr?n's meditation has to offer are steadfastness, clear awareness, courage, attention to the moment, and learning to not make too big a deal of things. The hallmarks of her teaching are gentle encouragement and loving acceptance. While she provides guidelines for getting started and exercises to keep us going, her greatest teaching is the lesson she shows us on every page: to show compassion for ourselves as we struggle with life's challenges and to base our success on the journey not the goal." -Anna Jedrziewski Retailing Insight Magazine "Ch?dr?n's voice is gently humorous, always kind, and seemingly infinitely wise." -THE LOS ANGELES TIMES