Books Discussed at Our Weekly Sittings
Brach, Tara, (2019) Radical Compassion. In this heartfelt and deeply practical book, Tara Brach offers an antidote: an easy-to-learn four-step meditation that quickly loosens the grip of difficult emotions and limiting beliefs.
Kabat-Zinn, Jon, (1994) Wherever You Go There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life. This book maps out a simple path for cultivating mindfulness in one's own life. It is for both those coming to meditation for the first time and to longtime practitioners.
Winston, Diana, (2019) The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering Your Natural Awareness.
A practical guide to experiencing natural awareness—an effortless and spacious state of resting in the depth or our being.
Salzberg, Sharon, (2020) Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World. From one of most prominent figures in the field of meditation comes a guidebook for how to use mindfulness to build our inner strength, find balance, and help create a better world.
Boorstein, Sylvia (1995), It's Easier than You Think. Using delightful and deceptively powerful stories from everyday experiences, Buddhist teacher Sylvia Boorstein demystifies spirituality, charts the path to happiness through the Buddha's basic teachings and develops a realistic course toward wisdom and compassion. A wonderfully engaging guide, full of humor, memorable insights, and love.
Heller, Rick, (2015) Secular Meditation. As meditation teacher Rick Heller shows, the benefits of the practice extend beyond the personal to enrich relationships with others, with one’s community, and with the world. In Secular Meditation, step-by-step instructions, personal stories, and provocative questions teach empathy for others, stress reduction, and the kind of in-the-moment living that fosters appreciation for life and resilience in the face of adversity. Heller simplifies what is often found mysterious, describing and providing detailed instructions for thirty-two different practices, ensuring that anyone can find the right one.
Gunaratana, Henpola (2011), Mindfulness in Plain English. Author Bhante Gunaratana, a renowned meditation master, takes us step by step through the myths, realities, and benefits of meditation and the practice of mindfulness. The book showcases Bhante’s trademark clarity and wit, as he explores the tool of meditation, what it does, and how to make it work.
Kabat-Zinn, Jon (2018), Falling Awake: How to Practice Mindfulness in Everyday Life. Science shows that the tangible benefits of a mindfulness meditation practice are impossible to ignore. Kabat-Zinn explains how to incorporate them into our hectic, modern lives.
Rosenberg, Larry (2013), Three Steps to Awakening: A Practice for Bringing Mindfulness to Life. The deceptively simple three-phase method presented here is a meditation practice that can be worked with for a lifetime. Larry Rosenberg looks to Zen, to Insight Meditation, and to the teachings of J. Krishnamurti to find three kinds of meditation that anyone can do and that complement each other in a wonderful way: (1) breath awareness, (2) breath as anchor, and (3) choiceless awareness.
Boorstein, Sylvia (2008), Happiness is an Inside Job. This book offers warm, wise, and helpful ways we can experience happiness even when the odds are against us.
Chodron, Pema (2000), When Things Fall Apart. A collection of talks Pema Chodrone gave between 1987 and 1994, the book is a treasury of wisdom for going on living when we are overcome by pain and difficulties.
Goldstein, Joseph (2003), Insight Meditation: A Psychology of Freedom. The fruit of some twenty years' experience leading Buddhist meditation retreats, this book touches on a wide range of topics raised repeatedly by meditators and includes favorite stories, key Buddhist teachings, and answers to most-asked questions.
Beck, Charlotte J., and Smith, Steven (2009), Nothing Special. The best-selling author of 'Everyday Zen' shows how to awaken to daily life and discover the ideal in the everyday, finding riches in our feelings, relationships, and work.
Hanh, Thich Nhat (1996), The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation. In this beautiful and lucid guide, Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh offers gentle anecdotes and practical exercise as a means of learning the skills of mindfulness--being awake and fully aware.
Salzburg, Sharon (2002) Loving Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness. This book shows us how the Buddhist path of lovingkindness can help us discover the radiant, joyful heart within each of us.
Brach, Tara (2004). Radical Acceptance. Beginning to understand how our lives have become ensnared in this trance of unworthiness is our first step toward reconnecting with who we really are and what it means to live fully.
Hanson, Rick (2009), Buddha's Brain: the Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom. This book presents an unprecedented intersection of psychology, neurology, and contemplative practice, and is filled with practical tools and skills that you can use every day to tap the unused potential of your brain and rewire it over time for greater well-being and peace of mind.