Ruthy Alon's description of Feldenkrais work in Mindful Spontaneity is a favored text of a generation of Feldenkrais enthusiasts. Alon weaves experiential and theoretical information in a poetic yet pragmatic language. These simple and unexpected suggestions will help everyone who suffers from restricted movement or pain to find a new sense of freedom.
“The Artist’s Way for the twenty-first century.” —Nancy Coleman, PhD, clinical psychologist, writer, facilitator, and teacher Settle your mind, connect with the moment, and unleash your creativity with this unique and mindful art journal. In our demanding, fast-paced culture, it’s increasingly important to find ways to decompress and recuperate from the busyness and stress of life. More and more, mindfulness and creativity are being recognized as antidotes to the speed and overstimulation of modern society. This beautiful book combines the two, offering both creative and meditative practices to provide a guided journey into contemplative art for healing, relaxation, deeper connection, and greater well-being. Rather than focusing on any one medium or art form, this unique guide offers basic meditation instructions, and a variety of creative prompts and activities—from collage and coloring to meditative mark making and sketching to photography and perceptual exercises—making it perfect for anyone who wants to deepen and cultivate their mindfulness and creativity. With these artistic and introspective practices, you’ll put meditation into action, and learn to view yourself and your own creative process without judgment or aggression. Using Be, Awake, Create, you’ll see beyond habitual patterns, discover the richness of your world, and recognize the ordinary magic of your own creativity, with greater freshness of expression and spontaneity. By cultivating awareness and allowing yourself to play in the open space of artistic creation, you’ll come to discover all of the positive impacts mindfulness and creativity can have on every area of your life.
This volume offers a rich and accessible introduction to contemporary research on Buddhist ethical thought for interested students and scholars, yet also offers chapters taking up more technical philosophical and textual topics. A Mirror is For Reflection offers a snapshot of the present state of academic investigation into the nature of Buddhist Ethics, including contributions from many of the leading figures in the academic study of Buddhist philosophy. Over the past decade many scholars have come to think that the project of fitting Buddhist ethical thought into Western philosophical categories may be of limited utility, and the focus of investigation has shifted in a number of new directions. This volume includes contemporary perspectives on topics including the nature of Buddhist ethics as a whole, karma and rebirth, mindfulness, narrative, intention, free will, politics, anger, and equanimity.
What can you uniquely give the world? We often sell ourselves short with self-limiting beliefs, but most of us would be amazed and delighted to know that we do have something special - our distinctive passions and talents - to offer. And what if I told you that what you have to give will also enable you to live a life of true contentment? How is that possible? It happens when you embrace and curate your own simply luxurious life. We tend to not realize the capacity of our full potential and settle for what society has deemed acceptable. However, each of us has a unique journey to travel if only we would find the courage, paired with key skills we can develop, to step forward. This book will help you along the deeper journey to discovering your best self as you begin to trust your intuition and listen to your curiosity. You will learn how to: - Recognize your innate strengths - Acquire the skills needed to nurture your best self - Identify and navigate past societal limitations often placed upon women - Strengthen your brand both personally and professionally - Build a supportive and healthy community - Cultivate effortless style - Enhance your everyday meals with seasonal fare - Live with less, so that you can live more fully - Understand how to make a successful fresh start - Establish and mastermind your financial security - Experience great pleasure and joy in relationships - Always strive for quality over quantity in every arena of your life Living simply luxuriously is a choice: to think critically, to live courageously, and to savor the everydays as much as the grand occasions. As you learn to live well in your everydays, you will elevate your experience and recognize what is working for you and what is not. With this knowledge, you let go of the unnecessary, thus simplifying your life and removing the complexity. Choices become easier, life has more flavor, and you begin to feel deeply satisfying true contentment. The cultivation of a unique simply luxurious life is an extraordinary daily journey that each of us can master, leading us to our fullest potential.
"Forget cheesy fairytales and outdated advice, "Heartstrings: A Relationship & Love Field Guide" is your down-to-earth guide to navigating the wild world of love in the 21st century. Think of it as a mix tape of juicy insights from psychology, relatable stories from literature, and real-world tips for tackling modern relationship challenges. This book doesn't promise a picture-perfect ending, but it equips you with the tools to write your own love story – from mastering communication to spicing things up in the bedroom and navigating the ever-present glow of your phone. So, grab a cup of coffee, curl up, and get ready to unlock the secrets to deeper connections, personal growth, and a whole lot of love."
“Irvine . . . strikes an engaging, self-deprecatory tone as he criticizes his field for its aloofness and failure to engage with the world as it is.” —The Creativity Post Why am I here? What does it all mean? These are the big questions we all ask ourselves at some point. Offering an enlightening approach to these universal conundrums this book explores how mindfulness can reveal hidden solutions to life’s mysteries. Weaving together philosophy and mindfulness to reveal how we can become wiser and happier simply by paying attention to everyday life, Dr Ben Irvine illustrates how the feeling of existential angst can be turned into a sense of wonder and opportunity. Offering a positive approach to the common problem of existential angst, he teaches how to embrace life’s uncertainties through the transformational practice of mindfulness meditation, and provides practical and thoughtful meditations for everyday life, bringing us back to the here and now.
Living Mindfully Across the Lifespan: An Intergenerational Guide provides user-friendly, empirically supported information about and answers to some of the most frequently encountered questions and dilemmas of human living, interactions, and emotions. With a mix of empirical data, humor, and personal insight, each chapter introduces the reader to a significant topic or question, including self-worth, anxiety, depression, relationships, personal development, loss, and death. Along with exercises that clients and therapists can use in daily practice, chapters feature personal stories and case studies, interwoven throughout with the authors’ unique intergenerational perspectives. Compassionate, engaging writing is balanced with a straightforward presentation of research data and practical strategies to help address issues via psychological, behavioral, contemplative, and movement-oriented exercises. Readers will learn how to look deeply at themselves and society, and to apply what has been learned over decades of research and clinical experience to enrich their lives and the lives of others.
The Essential Sangharakshita was first published by Wisdom Publications in 2009. It is an anthology, arranged according to the pattern of a mandala, drawn from Sangharakshita’s writings. It expresses the author’s deep knowledge and love of the Buddhist tradition and of Western culture. Communicated clearly and warmly, there is something here to give any reader an entrance to the world of the Dharma.
Singing with Your Whole Self: A Singer’s Guide to Awareness through Movement teaches performers to use the Feldenkrais Method of neuromuscular education to ameliorate problems of tension, muscle strain, and illness in order to obtain optimal vocal performance. With new lessons and chapters on kinesthetic imagination and neuroplasticity, this second edition features unique, modularized Feldenkrais lessons designed specifically to liberate function in singers and other voice professionals. The first part of the book presents the theory behind the approach in an easy-to-understand and concrete fashion. The remaining chapters explore anatomy by area and explain usage and problems, as well as how both relate to singing. Finally, an appendix allows performers to find lessons that are most effective for a specific problem. As a valuable exercise guide, the second edition of Singing with Your Whole Self is an essential resource for singers at all levels and in all styles.
The first authoritative volume on the totality of Buddhism in the West, Westward Dharma establishes a comparative and theoretical perspective for considering the amazing variety of Buddhist traditions, schools, centers, and teachers that have developed outside of Asia. Leading scholars from North America, Europe, South Africa, and Australia explore the plurality and heterogeneity of traditions and practices that are characteristic of Buddhism in the West. This recent, dramatic growth in Western Buddhism is accompanied by an expansion of topics and issues of Buddhist concern. The contributors to this volume treat such topics as the broadening spirit of egalitarianism; the increasing emphasis on the psychological, as opposed to the purely religious, nature of practice; scandals within Buddhist movements; the erosion of the distinction between professional and lay Buddhists; Buddhist settlement in Israel; the history of Buddhism in internment camps; repackaging Zen for the West; and women's dharma in the West. The interconnections of historical and theoretical approaches in the volume make it a rich, multi-layered resource.