Sayadaw U Tejaniya

Sayadaw U Tejaniya teaches insight or “vipassana” meditation at Shwe Oo Min Dhamma Sukha Forest Meditation Center in Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar. He's unique among the more high-profile monastic teachers of his tradition in that, though he began practice under his teacher at age thirteen, he didn't enter monastic life till he was nearly forty—after an active career in his family's textile business. His teaching emphasizes the application of awareness to every aspect of life, de-emphasizing the centrality of practice forms even as he teaches them rigorously—and his style is relaxed, funny, and informed by his intimate knowledge of the workaday world. He has taught in Australia, China, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Indonesia, Israel, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United States.

Doug McGill

Doug McGill is a meditation teacher, writer, and a former New York Times reporter and Bloomberg News bureau chief based in New York City, Tokyo, London and Hong Kong. A meditator since 1980, his primary meditation teachers are the vipassana teacher, Sayadaw U Tejaniya, and the direct path teacher, Rupert Spira. Doug founded the Rochester Meditation Center in Rochester, MN in 2004 and teaches meditation combining progressive and direct path practices.

"When I first met the Sayadaw in Myanmar, it was like I had stum­bled across a hidden treasure of wisdom that I knew would change my life. This book may very well do the same for you." —Alexis Santos, Insight meditation teacher and senior student of Sayadaw U Tejaniya

"This is an enormously helpful approach to mindfulness training. With a focus on the states of mind wherever we are, Relax and Be Aware is an invitation to well-being and freedom." —Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart

"Relax and Be Aware reminds us what is essential to mature mindful­ness practice. To be wholly present beyond a meditation cushion or retreat requires intention in each thing we do. It is this persistent effort to cultivate an observing mind that enables us to see things as they are and not as we wish them to be. This powerful way of being nourishes wisdom that liberates us from suffering." —Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Happiness

"Sayadaw offers simple, clear instructions for being aware. While simple, clear instructions do not mean the practice is easy, if we are willing to engage, they are very effective. His instructions and daily reflections encourage us to cultivate awareness and wisdom all the time—not simply in formal sitting and walking practice, but in the fullness of our lives." —Andrea Fella, Co-Guiding Teacher of Insight Meditation Center, Redwood City, California