From a holistic health expert, an easy-to-use, informative introduction to one of today’s most popular spiritual practices: meditation. A great place to start on your mindfulness journey, this book explores the history of meditation and its origins as well as its practical applications. In addition to outlining how meditation can improve the quality of your life, Amy Leigh Mercree covers different forms of the practice, from mantra meditations to moving meditations. Meditation is a proven method of finding calm and coping with our crazy world. Amy Leigh Mercree explores the history of this ancient practice as well as its practical applications—including decreased anxiety and a more contented life. In addition to outlining the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual ramifications of meditating, she includes a selection of easy-to-follow guided meditations.

In the “Little Bit of” series: a fresh, accessible introduction to the increasingly popular spiritual practice of mindfulness: being present and peaceful in the moment. In these fast-paced modern times, mindfulness can keep us centered, calm, and energized—no matter how much the outside world keeps distracting us. Thanks to Amy Leigh Mercree’s accessible introduction, beginners can master this spiritual practice. You’ll learn methods for cultivating inner peace, accessing a deeper creativity, and creating a healthier body, along with rituals that support these mindfulness techniques.

An uplifting, lighthearted, and compelling memoir that recounts the author's lifelong spiritual journey. The grief from the passing of his mom is transformed to gratitude, forgiveness, and joy as he moves along the healing path with the help of his dog, Roy. Along the way, the author, Daniel Hertz, becomes a devoted meditation practitioner and an award-winning teacher and counselor. A pivotal part of the journey is a nearly monthlong stay at a mountain shrine in India where Hertz meets a swami who eventually arranges his marriage. The story merges lively classroom scenes from his thirty-one years as a teacher and counselor in the Minneapolis Public Schools with his twenty-six-year adventure as a student and faculty member at the Meditation Center in Minneapolis. Looking back over his life, Hertz sees that true healing began when he accepted that the one thing in life certain to happen is change.

More and more people are feeling the pressures of life, being literally overwhelmed in today's accelerating world of constant change. We are all being challenged with the need to relax and cultivate mental peace to counter the growing stresses within our own lives and what we see around us. How do we keep up our energy and stay mentally and physically balanced so that we can maintain our composure and prevent harm to ourselves? How can we return to a road of vibrant health, boundless energy, peace of mind and wellbeing? The answer is through meditation. The ancient practice of meditation teaches you how to calm your mind to nd an internal mental peace and tranquility despite all the stresses surrounding you. The bene ts of learning how to meditate include the ability to enjoy a quiet empty mind, better health, more energy, and wellbeing. There are not just physical and mental bene ts to meditation but profound spiritual bene ts as well, which is why meditation has become a foundational practice within many spiritual traditions. Even so, few people know how to meditate correctly to reap all its possible bene ts, and even fewer understand how it helps nurture spiritual growth and spiritual strength. In this small book you will learn everything you need to know, including answers to the most often asked questions, to be able to master four of the most common meditation practices found across the world. You will learn how to recite mantras or prayers to quiet your mind. You will learn how to watch your thoughts and behavior with alert awareness, called vipassana mindfulness meditation practice, so that your wandering thoughts calm down. If you learn how to constantly watch your mind and your behavior with an inner mindfulness, you will be continually practicing self-improvement and purifying your consciousness. You will also learn visualization concentration practice, which has been used by many famous scientists, to cultivate the ability to hold visual images in your mind without wavering. Lastly, you will learn the methods of cultivating your breath, or respiration, through yoga pranayama practices and anapana practices that teach you to watch your breathing to calm your mind, and even attain high spiritual states called samadhi. While you will learn how to master the big four methods, other meditation techniques are also introduced that come from not one, but from a variety of spiritual traditions. These methods will not only teach you how to live better, but will also give you the tools for mastering this thing we all have called "consciousness" and learning about the true nature of your mind. The results of meditation practice not only lead to greater internal peace, but physical changes such as the rousing of internal energies that lay the foundation for higher spiritual growth and wellbeing. These physical changes include more energy, the healing of internal illnesses, muscle softening, greater flexibility and longevity. You will learn how to lay this foundation through the meditation practice of quieting the mind, how these internal energies arise and what they do, and how wisdom and merit-making can actually lead you to even higher stages of meditation progress. You'll also nd answers to the most typical questions about the diet for meditation practice, sexual discipline, and even how to detoxify the body for better health, all of which may speed your meditation progress. Most of all, you will learn how to set up a practice schedule for meditation that ts into in a busy life. In short, if you wanted just one book on how to meditate for yourself or your friends in order to teach them how to practice, this contains all you need to know.

An easy-to-use, informative introduction to one of today's most popular spiritual practices: meditation. Meditation is a proven method of finding calm and coping with our crazy world. Amy Leigh Mercree explores the history of this ancient practice as well as its practical applications--including decreased anxiety and a more contented life. In addition to outlining the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual ramifications of meditating, she includes a selection of easy-to-follow guided meditations.

Unlock the potential of your heart and mind through the power of mantras with this accessible introduction to the practice of chanting. For thousands of years, the sacred sounds of mantras have been used for healing, self-discovery, and enhanced wellbeing. Chanting a mantra can have a profound effect on your state of mind, elevating your consciousness, altering your emotions, and bringing you peace. A Little Bit of Mantras presents an introduction to these sacred, spiritually empowering words, phrases, and sounds. It explores the history of mantras and how they work, and gives you chants that you can use with your yoga, meditation, or other daily practice.

Through quotations from a wide variety of people, and through his own thoughtful reflections, Jonathan Lazear encourages men to look at their overextended lives and think about how they should be spending that precious resource, time. For every day of the year, here are inspiring words to help men discover a new sense of themselves. Introduction by Anne Wilson Schaef, author of Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much.