Quote of the book: "Imagine a world where you could: De-stress effortlessly, Feel centered no matter what, Easily create an oasis of calm anywhere in your day, Feel powerfully connected to life, Begin to perceive stress as optional. All without changing anything from your busy schedule!"
I was a bit skeptical but the author actually delivers on his promises, with this small (140 pages) but well structured book.
This book is perfect for the absolute beginner, the very busy people and the more advanced meditation student. What I especially liked here is a good description of the potential pitfalls and the most likely "problems" you might come across while learning to meditate or while meditating.
The book is structured around 3 parts: the journey, the essentials, and the techniques. This again makes it very useful to read through as beginner or advanced meditator.
There are 20 meditation techniques illustrated in this book (each covered in 3-4 pages). Each meditation technique description starts with a background, benefits, description of the technique itself, tips and common problems some might experience learning or using the technique.
I understand the author wanted to cover 20 techniques to show you can practice meditation anytime and everywhere. Still if you happen to start with meditation I would suggest to start with 2-3 techniques max, as you probably get overwhelmed when attempting the 20 techniques shown here from the start (the author mentions this risk though). Less is more.
This is a really nice small book to get you started. Excellent done!
Techniques covered are:
1. Power breath
2. Breathing energy
3. Breath of Life
4. Chi Gung Breath for Calm
5. Body awareness
6. Total awareness
7. Eating with awareness
8. Walking with awareness
9. Showering with awareness
10. Commuting with awareness
11. Total awareness at the gym
12. Anchors I
13. Anchors II
14. Magnify Heart Energy
15. Magnify Wisdom
16. The Open Body
17. Chi Gung for Calm
18. White Light
19. Seeing the Good in All people
Bonus technique: Dealing with Anger
Similar books I recommend are:
- Full Catastrophe Living, by Jon Kabat-Zinn (more body/mind mindfulness related, still a great read)
- Anger: Buddhist Wisdom for Cooling the Flames, by Thich Nhat Hanh (on mindfulness and dealing with strong emotions; search also for Plumvillage, France or EIAB, Germany)
- Other books by Thich Nhat Hanh (as he has a great way to cover mindfulness with great empathy).
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Part 1: The Journey (Chapters 1-2)
1. Why Meditate....and Why Now?
2. Journey to your Heart
Part 2: The Essentials (Chapters 3-7)
3. The 8 Laws of Meditation
4. The 5 Secrets of Super Calm
5. The 11 Thieves
6. Seven sages for your Journey
7. Take time for Calm
Part 3: The Techniques (Chapter 8-15)
8. The path of 13000 steps
9. The path of the present
10. The path of remembering
11. The path of heart
12. The path of focus
13. The path of open body
14. The path of visualization
15. The ideal day: putting it all together
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