Meditation Guides

Buddhist Mindfulness: A Guide for Readers

Buddhist Mindfulness: A Guide for Readers

Buddhist Mindfulness: A Guide for Readers Buddha Statue at Mahabodhi (Bodh Gaya, India) Today the term "mindfulness" has become a buzzword heard everywhere from elementary schools to corporate offices to the military. Generally speaking, when we use the term in secular life, we're referring to the ability to purposefully place our attention on our present [...]
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Being Mindful of Body, Thoughts, and Feelings | Heart Medicine

Being Mindful of Body, Thoughts, and Feelings | Heart Medicine

3 Guided Mindfulness Meditations An Excerpt from Heart Medicine by Radhule Weininger As we encounter difficulties, mindfulness is crucial: it allows us to be present, here and now, with nonjudgmental, moment-by-moment attention. Penetrating a LRPP [Long-standing, Recurrent, Painful Pattern] with mindfulness dissolves the LRPP’s power source and creates opportunity for profound change. The energy that has [...]
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The Art Of Listening: Chanting and Meditation

The Art Of Listening: Chanting and Meditation

Shambhala Publications · The Art Of Listening: Chanting and Meditation Listening to Buddhists suttas and chants is considered a form of meditation practice called bhāvanā (translated as: practice, making to become) and it helps to cultivate the qualities we need for meditation and the path. In this audio recording, Dr. Sarah Shaw introduces two sections [...]
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Practices of Direct Pointing

Practices of Direct Pointing

Spreading Out the Vision An Excerpt from Hidden Zen Gazing at Distant Mountains The first practice we will examine is a bodily method of direct pointing. Specifically, it uses the eyes and vision to change our way of experiencing. In Zen training, and particularly during zazen, the eyes are used in a specific manner that [...]
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The Power of Meditation beyond Mindfulness

The Power of Meditation beyond Mindfulness

Meditation and Yoga An excerpt from The Genius of Yoga Yogis know what studies are showing: meditation is a remarkable tool for bringing mental health and physical well-being and healing. They know this through millennia of experience working with meditation and observing the results, like teachers who watch students learn and grow in music, language, and [...]
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Free Guided Audio Meditation from Ralph De La Rosa

Free Guided Audio Meditation from Ralph De La Rosa

Creating Boundaries from the Inside Out A 20-Minute Guided Audio Meditation with Ralph De La Rosa, author of Don't Tell Me to Relax ENTER YOUR EMAIL TO RECEIVE A 20-MINUTE GUIDED AUDIO MEDITATION.   We all have moments when we wish we could say “Hell no!” but don’t, or situations where we choose to tolerate [...]
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Anam Thubten on Meditation: The Art of Resting

Anam Thubten on Meditation: The Art of Resting

What follows is the entire chapter on meditation from Anam Thubten's No Self, No Problem It is very good to ask from time to time, “What am I searching for?” This is a very powerful question. We may be surprised and shocked when we figure out what we have been up to. Often we discover [...]
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Free Download | Guided Meditations with Devon & Craig Hase

Free Download | Guided Meditations with Devon & Craig Hase

How Not to Be a Hot Mess A Survival Guide for Modern Life ENTER YOUR EMAIL TO RECEIVE THREE GUIDED VIDEO MEDITATIONS TO YOUR INBOX. Authors of How Not to Be a Hot Mess, Craig and Devon Hase, offer a series of meditations that are short, introductory practices you can do anytime and anywhere to [...]
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A Meditation for Daily Life

A Meditation for Daily Life

Relax An Excerpt from Relax and Be Aware Relax and be aware. Many meditators think that being aware means focusing on an object with a great deal of energy. In fact, exertion like this causes tension because it’s the result of trying hard to create a positive or happy state of mind, which actually is [...]
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Paths and the Utilization of Bliss

Paths and the Utilization of Bliss

Harmonies with Enlightenment An excerpt from Our Human Potential Thirty-Seven Harmonies with Enlightenment Four establishments in mindfulness The thirty-seven harmonies with enlightenment are essential ingredients of the path. They are divided into seven sets, the first of which is comprised of the four establishments in mindfulness. These are the establishments in mindfulness of body, feeling, [...]
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Mindfulness and Acceptance

Mindfulness and Acceptance

Mindfulness Sitting Practice with Acceptance An Excerpt from From Mindfulness to Insight Posture Sit on a cushion in a kneeling or cross-legged position, or on a chair with the back self-supporting; lengthen the spine, with a natural curve in the lower back, and relax the shoulders so that the chest opens; open the eyes slightly [...]
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7 Things I Learned As a Beginner to Meditation

7 Things I Learned As a Beginner to Meditation

You want to improve your health and overall wellbeing, and so you have made the decision to start practicing meditation. A question you now face is: where to begin? What lies ahead? Read what I learned through my experience as a beginner to meditation. By Michelle Ehrensaal Student Intern, Shambhala Publications Related Products Start Here [...]
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The Path of Insight

The Path of Insight

Reflections on From Mindfulness to Insight by Choden How Our Book Came to Be I thought I would write a little about how our book From Mindfulness to Insight came to be. The three authors—Rob, Heather, and Choden—are co-founders of the Mindfulness Association which was set up in 2010 to run face-to-face and online mindfulness, [...]
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How You Breathe Is How You Feel

How You Breathe Is How You Feel

The following is an excerpt from The Monkey Is the Messenger by Ralph De La Rosa The Breath as a Resource "There is no need to struggle to be free; the absence of struggle is in itself freedom." —Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche The breath is a most precious resource that we routinely ignore. Simply put: no [...]
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Q&A with Ralph De La Rosa | Author of The Monkey Is the Messenger

Q&A with Ralph De La Rosa | Author of The Monkey Is the Messenger

Meditation and What Your Busy Mind Is Trying to Tell You Ralph De La Rosa Answers the Top 5 Questions About The Monkey Is the Messenger Could you give us a brief summary of The Monkey is the Messenger? It’s a book that, at the onset, is about the nature of repetitive thoughts and rumination—why we have [...]
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Free Download | A 15-Minute Guided Audio Meditation from The Monkey is the Messenger

Free Download | A 15-Minute Guided Audio Meditation from The Monkey is the Messenger

The Monkey Is the Messenger: Meditation and What Your Busy Mind Is Trying to Tell You “You don’t have to have it together for this practice at all. You just have to breathe.” —Ralph De La Rosa ENTER YOUR EMAIL TO RECEIVE a 15-minute guided audio meditation with Ralph De la Rosa, author of The [...]
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Free Download | A Plan for Happiness from Radically Happy

Free Download | A Plan for Happiness from Radically Happy

Radically Happy: A User’s Guide to the Mind ENTER YOUR EMAIL TO RECEIVE TWO PLANS FOR HAPPINESS AND THE FIRST CHAPTER OF RADICALLY HAPPY AS A PRINTABLE PDF. Spending time with someone you love, laughing at a funny story, eating your favorite food—we experience happiness in many different ways, but maintaining that feeling can often be [...]
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Two Bonus Exercises from Radically Happy

Two Bonus Exercises from Radically Happy

Using Every Activity to Support the Present Moment We are excited to share two bonus meditation and mindfulness exercises with you created by Phakchok Rinpoche and Erric Solomon, the authors of Radically Happy. Exercise 1 Walking Meditation Begin by standing in a natural position, eyes open, facing whichever direction you are about to travel in. Keep [...]
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Strengthening Mindfulness | An Exercise from The Path of Insight Meditation

Strengthening Mindfulness | An Exercise from The Path of Insight Meditation

Three Mindfulness Exercises 1. Daily sitting log. Here is a way to strengthen daily practice and to see its cycles more clearly. For one month or two, keep a small notebook at the place where you sit. Each day note down how long you sit. Then note down in one sentence the general qualities of [...]
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Living the Sutras | Free Yoga Class + Meditation Audio

Living the Sutras | Free Yoga Class + Meditation Audio

Follow an engaged and balancing 25-minute asana class from Kelly DiNardo, and then get a higher perspective on your worries with Amy Pearce-Hayden’s 8-minute guided meditation. Enter your email to listen. Email Address *     *You are agreeing to receive promotional messages from Shambhala Publications. You may unsubscribe at any time. Living the Sutras$16.95 [...]
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It Was One of Those Lovely Mornings | An Excerpt from Meditations

It Was One of Those Lovely Mornings | An Excerpt from Meditations

The Solitude It was one of those lovely mornings that have never been before. The sun was just coming up, and you saw it between the eucalyptus and the pine. It was over the waters, golden, burnished—such light that exists only between the mountains and the sea. It was such a clear morning, breathless, full [...]
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Conscious Conduct | An Excerpt from The Path of Insight Meditation

Conscious Conduct | An Excerpt from The Path of Insight Meditation

The Five Training Precepts The First Aspect: Conscious Conduct or Virtue The first aspect, conscious conduct or virtue, means acting harmoniously and with care toward the life around us. For spiritual practice to develop, it is absolutely essential that we establish a basis of moral conduct in our lives. If we are engaged in actions [...]
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Book Club Discussion | Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

Book Club Discussion | Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

Each month, the Shambhala employees gather to discuss a new book as part of our Shambhala Publications Book Club. After each meeting, we will be sharing the notes from our discussion with you to spark your own thoughts and conversations. Our October pick was Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice by [...]
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The Nyingma Summer Seminar: Reflections on a Buddhist Retreat

The Nyingma Summer Seminar: Reflections on a Buddhist Retreat

By Sanje Phillips This July, I attended the Nyingma Summer Seminar at the Mangala Shri Bhuti retreat land in Ward, Colorado, with Dzigar Kongtrül Rinpoche, Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel (wife), and Dungse Jampal Norbu (son). Over one hundred attendees with varied demographics sat daily meditation sessions, participated in the teachings, endured periods of silence and the usual [...]
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Remembering S.N. Goenka

Remembering S.N. Goenka

We join our palms and say goodbye to a teacher who had an immense impact on the world. S.N. Goenka was a pioneer in making Vipassana meditation widely available to a secular audience. Over 170 meditation centers have been established around the globe under his auspices. His legacy will resound indefinitely.   29 January 1924 [...]
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Rodney Smith on What it Means to Awaken

Rodney Smith on What it Means to Awaken

Awakening$24.95 - PaperbackBy: Rodney Smith Add to Cart An Interview with Rodney Smith, author of Awakening: A Paradigm Shift of the Heart Shambhala: In your new book you take on the possibly daunting task of describing what enlightenment is and how it happens. To what extent can it even be described? Rodney Smith: I think [...]
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