Gimian Carolyn Rose - Mindfulness in action: making friends with yourself through meditation and everyday awareness

Reading Mindfulness in Action feels like sitting with a good friend. The kind voice, thoughtful words, and rich territory of discussion are a lovely gift for newcomers and seasoned meditators from all traditions.

Sharon Salzberg, cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society and author of Real Happiness at Work

From one of the great spiritual teachers of all times, a book on mindfulness that inspires a fresh and open engagement with our inner and outer world. This guide to meditation has psychological depth, humor, and, above all, an illuminating wisdom that dances through every page.

Tara Brach, PhD, author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge

Here Chgyam Trungpa shows us how, by simply sitting still, we can reconnect with the profound gentleness and luminous wisdom of being human. Whether you are new to mindfulness or an experienced practitioner, this text is indispensable for learning how to wake up to the vastness and goodness of everyday life.

Michael Carroll, author of Awake at Work, The Mindful Leader, and Fearless at Work

Mindfulness in Action is a book about meditation, about the practice and experience of mindfulness and awareness, and about how these meditative qualities influence our everyday lives. It is a practitioners book: a book for people who want to practice meditation and also apply meditative insight to their lives. It includes practice instructions, as well as insights into the principles and aspects of meditation that are the foundations of mindfulness. Shaped for todays mindfulness audience, this book presents a broad, secular approach to meditation and teaches how to practice awareness to improve ones life.

CHGYAM TRUNGPA (19401987)meditation master, teacher, and artistfounded Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, the first Buddhist-inspired university in North America; the Shambhala Training program; and an international association of meditation centers known as Shambhala International. He is the author of numerous books, including Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, and The Myth of Freedom.

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Mindfulness in Action

Making Friends with Yourself through Meditation andEveryday Awareness

Chgyam Trungpa

Compiled, arranged, and edited by Carolyn Rose Gimian

SHAMBHALA

Boston & London

2015

Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Horticultural Hall

300 Massachusetts Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts 02115

www.shambhala.com

Cover art by Michiko Imai

2015 by Diana J. Mukpo

Afterword 2015 by Carolyn Rose Gimian

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Trungpa, Chgyam, 19391987, author.

Mindfulness in action: making friends with yourself through meditation and everyday awareness/Chgyam Trungpa; edited by Carolyn Rose Gimian.

First edition.

pages cm

eISBN 978-0-8348-0028-1

ISBN 978-1-61180-020-3 (hardcover)

1. MeditationBuddhism. I. Gimian, Carolyn Rose. II. Title.

BQ5612.T77 2015

294.34435dc23

2014023013

To the vast family of all those who practice and live mindfully

Contents

Just when we think that life couldnt get any more disconnected or accelerated, another technology or another shift in our worldview propels us even faster into the future. We often feel that we cant keep up and we cant slow downbut we know that we must find a way to connect. Paradoxically, we are constantly connected through our devices and our social media, yet with all this interaction, many people report feeling more lonely and alienated, lacking a sense of community. So we need other ways to connect with ourselves and with the world. We need connections that will ground us.

Many people have discovered that mindfulness offers them a down-to-earth yet immediate way to connect with themselves. It is simple acceptance, described here as making friends with yourself. It is, as well, a means to unlock creativity and compassion. Meditation is a powerful technique for developing mindfulness, which can help us discover a way of being that is authentic, relaxed, and gentle. Meditation also offers a way of reexperiencing and investigating our world, as well as providin the means to develop greater awareness and to work with our emotions.

Mindfulness in Action: Making Friends with Yourself through Meditation and Everyday Awareness is, as the title suggests, a book about mindfulness and its application in the context of our whole life. The book focuses on the practice of meditation as a tool for developing mindfulness and explores how mindfulness and awareness influence our everyday life. It is a book for people who want to explore mindfulness through the practice of meditation and also apply meditative insight in their lives. It includes instructions for the practice of meditation, as well as an in-depth look into the principles of mindfulness.

Tens of thousands of us in the Western world now practice various forms of meditation and mindfulness regularly, as well as other contemplative mind-body disciplines. Mindfulness techniques are being effectively used in schools, hospitals, the military, and many workplaces. This book is not about the specific application of mindfulness to any one profession, problem, or sector of society. Rather, its about the fundamental experience of mindfulness and awareness, which can be applied in many settings.

The technique of meditation that is offered here is unique but closely related to other approaches to mindfulness meditation. It is a form of meditation that stresses openness and engagement with our world. This technique for mindfulness meditation is compatible with other approaches in that it emphasizes a sense of presence, simplicity, and the development of peace. It is also about developing insight and clear seeing in ones practice and daily life. The author invites people to try his approach, but the insights offered in this book apply to whatever approach to mindfulness meditation you employ.

Part One of the book introduces the practice of meditation in some detail, connecting it with a sense of heart and with experiences of gentleness, clarity, a positive experience of aloneness, and the discovery of compassion. In Part Two, the author offers us further perspectives on the foundations of mindfulness, which are presented here as strategies for deepening and enlivening our practice of meditation as well as for linking practice with everyday experience. In Part Three there are additional meditation instructions that address working with the emotions, as well as a discussion of walking meditation and working with our awareness in group retreat situations. There is also an exploration of how meditation makes us less self-centered, enabling us to be more open and available to our world. The final chapters of the book focus on working with the emotions in practice and everyday life, as well as touching on the intriguing possibility of a mindful society.