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Title: How to Meditate : A Guide to Self-Discovery by Lawrence LeShan ISBN: 0-316-88062-0 Publisher: Little, Brown Pub. Date: 14 September, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.6 (15 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The Place To Start For Beginners
Comment: I stumbled across this little book in the 1970's and have been recommending and sending it to friends, relatives, and acquaintances ever since. It is what it is: an introduction to meditation for beginners and the curious. It is simple, straight-forward, practical, unpretentious, and easy to read and comprehend. Therefore, it is the perfect starter book. It offers an introduction to a variety of meditative techniques but, rather than advocating any of them, urges readers to experiment with the different techniques until what is most comfortable and/or productive for them. After reading it and determining a favored technique, the reader can move on to something heavier. One of the things I have always liked about LeShan is the fact that, in this book, he acknowledges some of the more (potentially) startling by-products or side-effects of meditation but does not emphasize them. This may be a disadvantage as well as an advantage, but this is an introduction to some meditative techniques, not an encyclopedia of meditative practices.
Anyone interested in exploring meditation should have this book and give it a try. Since it was written there has been considerable research into the benefits of anti-stress practices. The medical community is beginning to catch onto the non-intrusive, non-addictive, non-injurious benefits of meditation as an antidote to stress. Perhaps you should, too. With this book and some practice you can learn to take a chill instead of a pill. And if it does not offer enough for you, at least it provides some direction to finding out what will be.
Read the book. Practice the techniques for a month or two. The benefits from the breathing exercises alone, if you honestly and consistently apply them, will lead you to extoll the virtues of this little, big book that is still influential more than twenty-five years after it was first published.
Rating: 3
Summary: good but is not deep enough
Comment: Leshan has written a book that presents some meditation exercises gathered from the tibetan, christian and other religions. The meditation techniques are valid and they do work. He gives good advice on using meditation as a method of self discovery. However, the author is a psychologist and know very little about mysticism. What suprised me is his flippant attitude toward mysticism. He writes that he does not understand why the mystics talked about the ways meditation must be performed. The author attempts to divorce meditation from its mystical aspects and this is very unwise. Meditation is steeped in the tradition of yoga and eastren religions. The purpose of meditation is to attain nirvana or union with God, which is very lofty indeed. Meditation invokes a cosmic energy called prana. When enough is accumalated it clears the mind and body of obstructions. This can lead to symptoms of dizziness, difficulty breathing for a short while, symptoms of what appear to be heart attacks, rapid heartbeat, headaches and so forth. These are nothing to be alarmed about. However, Leshan does a disservice to his readers by treating the mystics and their teachings in such a off hand manner. Meditation is serious buisness and it cannot be divorced from its religious aspect, no matter what Leshan says. The mystics studied meditation and its effects for thousands of years, they know what they are talking about. Leshans book is good as an introduction to meditation. But the serious seeker should look to other sources. A good place to start is to get a book called Energies of Transformation by Bonnie Greenwell. She is a Psychologist who does not disparage the mystics, but provides a book, which shows the effects of meditation in a non biased view.
Rating: 5
Summary: A gem of a book
Comment: I bought this book in order to have a basic yet comprehensive guide to mediation. I had dabbled a little in the practice over the years and knew the basic breath-counting/mantra technique. But I was looking for additional guidance, having already picked up (and discarded) the "Idiot's Guide to Meditation." For me, that book and others like it spend too much time on details of chakras, postures, and energies. I wanted something broader, something that concentrated on the internal, spiritual aspects of meditation rather than on the specifics of different traditions. All religions have their own schools of meditation, and I wanted commonalities, not New Age cliches. I found what I wanted it in this book.
Leshan, a trained psychotherapist, and researcher presents a concise, comforting, and comprehensive guide to the subject. He's very eclectic in his approach--his sources include Christian mystics, Zen Buddhists, and Hindu yogis. He points out what they all have in common, takes what's useful from each traditiona, and distills them into something that's workable for a beginner. He dispels many of the myths that surround meditation-as-fad in our society and stresses the role of individual discipline. He suggests the general outlines of programs, but leaves the actual choices up to you.
The only problem that I had with this book is probably related to its original date of publication--1973. Back then, meditation was still a "way-out" hippie practice that most people looked upon with suspicion. As a result, Leshan goes to considerable lengths to justify the practice for skeptical Westerners. He does a good job with this, but nowadays those parts of his book are less necessary. Nonetheless, this book retains its value as a classic guide to meditation. For me, at least, it's a keeper.
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Title: How to Meditate: A Step-By-Step Guide to the Art and Science of Meditation by John Jyotish Novak ISBN: 1565897161 Publisher: Crystal Clarity Publishers Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: Meditation for Dummies by Stephan Bodian ISBN: 0764551167 Publisher: For Dummies Pub. Date: 18 February, 1999 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
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Title: Meditating to Attain a Healthy Body Weight by Lawrence Leshan ISBN: 0553373722 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 April, 1995 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Medium, the Mystic, and the Physicist: Toward a General Theory of the Paranormal by Lawrence L. LeShan ISBN: 1581152736 Publisher: Allworth Press Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Cancer As a Turning Point: A Handbook for People With Cancer, Their Families, and Health Professionals by Lawrence LeShan ISBN: 0452271371 Publisher: Plume Pub. Date: 1994 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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