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Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness as a Path to Freedom

The Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness as a Path to Freedom

$19.95 USD
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Book description

Spirituality & Practice "Best Books of 2021" Award Winner

Tap into the wisdom of the body with down-to-earth practices that allow the body to become the source of mindfulness. Willa Blythe Baker introduces meditation practice as the cultivation of a way of being rather than a way of doing. It is a way of being that is self-aware, self-compassionate, and embodied. This way of being is not limited to practice on the cushion or on the yoga mat—somatic mindfulness is available at any moment, activated by attention to the body’s wisdom and its teachings.
Willa Blythe Baker

Willa Blythe Baker

Author Bio

WILLA BLYTHE BAKER, PhD is the founder and spiritual director of Natural Dharma Fellowship and its retreat center Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in Springfield, NH. She was authorized as a lineage holder (lama) in the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism after twelve years of monastic training and two consecutive three-year retreats. She was a visiting lecturer in Buddhist Ministry at Harvard Divinity School from 2013 to 2017. She is a member of Clark University’s Council of the Uncertain Human Future, sits on the advisory board for One Earth Sangha, and is on the contemplative faculty of the Mind and Life Institute.

Willa is the author of several books including The Wakeful Body, The Arts of Contemplative Care, and Everyday Dharma. She is the translator (Tibetan to English) of Tarantha’s Lamrim Essence of Ambrosia: A Guide to Buddhist Contemplations. Her articles have appeared in Lion’s Roar, Buddhadharma Magazine, Tricycle Magazine, Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Journal of Buddhist-Christian Studies, The Tibet Journal, and a number of anthologies. She is currently working on a translation of a memoir by the Dzogchen master Jigme Lingpa.

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Praise for the book

Roshi Joan Halifax

abbot, Upaya Zen Center

“This remarkable book brings the body into clear focus as a medium of awakening.”

Shiva Rea

founder of Samudra Global School of Living Yoga and author of Tending the Heart Fire

“The Wakeful Body is a wisdom treasure bringing forth the insights, life stories, hidden teachings, and practice pathways on how to tend the ‘agriculture of the soul,’ including knots, entanglements, and uprooting embodied suffering toward liberation and integration. Lama Willa’s experience and collection of teachings on the power of flow, dance, and movement practices in Tibetan Buddhist traditions is a rare treasure offered by a pioneering teacher with great benefit to all. Emaho! A classic is born for future generations.”

Susan Bauer-Wu

PhD, RN, president of the Mind & Life Institute and author of Leaves Falling Gently

“In a most refreshing way, Lama Willa invites us to wake up to the wisdom of our bodies. Her skillful and practical guidance, informed by years of deep practice in yoga and Tibetan Buddhist meditation, literally moves us in new ways to be embodied and get out of our heads. The Wakeful Body is a treasure of a book filled with countless gems to nourish and ground. It will be a trusted resource for years to come that I will return to time and time again.”

Will Johnson

author of The Posture of Meditation and Breathing through the Whole Body

“The Wakeful Body is a gift to the world and cements Willa Blythe Baker as one of our strongest and most convincing voices of a deeply somatic approach to Buddhist practice. Baker persuasively theorizes that meditation is misconceived as something we do with our mind. Far more profitable is an exploration of bodily experience, and this shift in focus from mind to body changes everything for the aspiring meditator. Filled with anecdotes from her life, we follow her journey of awakening as she enters as a young novitiate on the path and emerges as one of the most important teachers of our time.”

Anam Thubten

author of Choosing Compassion

“The human body is a sacred form full of potential. This book lays out rich and practical guidance to utilize it as a doorway to healing and spiritual awakening.”

Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel

author of The Logic of Faith

“A beautifully written expression of devotion to the body as teacher—wherein one can clearly feel the depth and authenticity of the author’s exploration and practice.”
Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness as a Path to Freedom

Willa Blythe Baker

The Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness as a Path to Freedom

$14.99 USD