The Art of Meditation [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

This two CD set is a wonderful introduction to meditation by a respected teacher and author. It is particularly well-suited to Western audiences although Goleman has pretty deep and thorough knowledge of the Eastern traditions. However, he sticks to the basics here which is exactly what most people need.

With respect to his choice of meditations, I agree with them completely and this combination is not always easy to find on other audio programs. Specifically, he covers breath meditation, body scan meditation, walking meditation and mindfulness meditation.

The breath meditation is important because it's a practice foundation and trains the attention to stay on the desired object. It also illicits the relaxation response and it important preparatory work for any other methods. The body scan is a nice compliment to this meditation because it focuses on body awareness, relaxing the muscles and coming into the body while getting out of the head. In short, this is great for deep relaxation and increased body awareness which often results in heightened awareness and experience of emotions as well.

The walking meditation is not something I see in a lot of audio programs, but it is well suited to people who like to move and particularly for Westerners who may not want to meditate sitting down. It uses the sensations of walking as the object of meditation and there are different levels of attention and speed that could be applied in order to match the current mind state. I particularly like walking meditation because if you are agitated, you can start out at a bit faster a clip and just focus on left.... right.... left... right... and the major sensations going on. As you become calmer, you can dial into to more subtle sensations and break the walking into more stages such as lift.... move.... and place..... As the mind slows down, you can slow down your pace following your intuition and this is often a good way to calm a very agitated mind.

The mindfulness meditation talks about the basics of a more expanded practice that widens the awareness to include other bodily sensations and emotional states. It uses the breath as an anchor for attention, but whatever is most coming up can be used as a temporary object. This increases the practioners awareness of sensations, subtle emotional states, etc. This increased awareness carries over to daily life and overall the meditation form a good progression.

All of the meditations are short, maybe around 15-20 minutes. This is a good length for a beginner and the audio program doesn't contain so much detail to be overwhelming. There is also a lot of useful commentary, but he keeps it simple and clean. I am confident to recommend this product to first time meditators without reservation.

As you progress, you may want to purchase BREATH BY BREATH by Rosenberg and then maybe Buddhadassa Bikkhu's MINDFULNESS WITH BREATHING - A Guide for Serious Beginners. The latter of these two is a big step up all at once. However, it is concise, an excellent refernce and makes a nice forward progression from BREATH BY BREATH. You can check out my listmania list for additional meditation resources which appears on my profile. You may have to page through more than one page to get to it because I've done quite a few lists.

The one thing I liked so much about this tape was the step by step approach employed by Daniel Goleman. I was able to do new meditational techniques, such as walking meditation, etc., that I had never done before. The only reason I didn't give five stars to this flawless tape was the lack of clarity and resonance of Daniel Goleman's voice, perhaps putting the volume higher can help. Daniel really gets down to business here and really teaches you effectively how to meditate and say good-bye to stress, anxiety, insomnia, aches, pains, headaches,many illnesses, etc. Hey this guy could be a pharmaceutical company's nightmare, since you run the risk of helping yourself get well, without the use of medicines.

I've listened to many meditation tapes and this one is the best so far. Goleman provides you with good insight about the benifits of meditation then gives you four great exercises. It's very relaxing. Everyone I've recommended it to has also liked it. After awhile, you no longer need the tapes to meditate.