The Meditator's Workbook: A Journey to the Center

by Matthew Flickstein, Henepola Gunaratana (Foreword by)

Overview

Using hands-on exercises, journal entries, guided meditations, and lively vignettes, The Meditator's Workbook will help you:

• Live more deeply and joyfully in the moment
• Uncover the true source of stress
• Resolve grief
• Explore and express forgiveness
• See through the inevitable distortions of the mind
• Recognize and actualize your goals
• Find real inner peace and a thoroughgoing well-being

Whether your goal is to reduce stress or to gain deeper insight and mastery over your inner life, this simple, straightforward guidebook is the tool to use for learning why and how to meditate. Through its unique workbook-style presentation, The Meditator's Workbook leads you to discover your own starting point, teaches you how to gain mental clarity and remove the obstacles you inevitably encounter, and helps you to identify the insights that are appropriate to each stage of your journey to spiritual and psychological maturity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780861717095
Publisher:	Wisdom Publications MA
Publication date:	01/30/2012
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	210
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Matthew Flickstein is a psychotherapist, meditation teacher, and the founder of The Forest Way Insight Meditation Center in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. In more than twenty years of leading personal development workshops, he has trained almost 15,000 people across the US, including other teachers.

Bhante Gunaratana was ordained at the age of twelve as a Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka, earned his PhD in philosophy from The American University, and has led meditation retreats, taught Buddhism, and lectured widely throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. Bhante Henepola Gunaratana is the president of the Bhavana Society in High View, West Virginia, where he lives.

Table of Contents

Foreword XI

Acknowledgments XIII

Introduction

The Goal of the Journey 2

Stages of the Journey 4

Navigating Obstacles 6

Meditation: Calming the Mind 12

Chapter 1 Searching for the OX

Insights: Happiness Versus Inner Peace 15

Obstacles: Gratification and Resistance 16

Path: Reviewing Our Lives 16

Exercise: Tracing a Path Through Life 17

Exercise: Identifying Symptoms of Stress 20

Chapter 2 Discovering the Footprints

Insights: True Power Comes from Within 25

Obstacles: Missing the Obvious 27

Path: The Power of Images 28

Exercise: Recognizing Unachieved Goals 31

Chapter 3 Perceiving the OX

Insights: We Can Reprogram Our Minds 33

Obstacles: Self-Blame 34

Path: Uncovering Our Shadow Self 34

Exercise: Illuminating Shadows 40

Exercise: Attaining Goals 48

Chapter 4 Catching the OX

Insights: The Unresolved Past 55

Obstacles: The Temporary Relief of Bypassing 57

Path: Resolving Our Open Issues 59

Meditation: Working with Distractions 61

Exercise: Expressing Forgiveness 68

Exercise: Resolving Grief 80

Exercise: Settling Conflicts 90

Exercise: Confronting Fears 97

Chapter 5 Taming the OX

Insights: Becoming Aware 103

Obstacles: Perceptual Distortions 104

Path: Gaining Perspective 105

Exercise: Discovering the Source of all Stress 107

Exercise: Encountering Perceptions 112

Meditation: Developing Awareness of Habits 121

Meditation: Walking Meditation Instructions 130

Exercise: Cultivating Clear Comprehension 146

Chapter 6 Riding the OX Home

Insights: Here and Now 151

Obstacles: KnowledgeVersus Knowing 151

Path: Living in the Moment 152

Exercise: Exposing Illusions About Time 153

Exercise: Exposing Illusions About Space 156

Exercise: Expanding Mindfulness 159

Chapter 7 The OX Transcended

Insights: Cause and Effect 163

Obstacles: Slow Progress 164

Path: Right Effort 165

Exercise: Developing Lovingkindness 169

Chapter 8 Both OX and Self Transcended

Insights: Selflessness 179

Obstacles: Dualistic Thinking 179

Path: Moving Beyond Mind Traps 181

Exercise: Examining Problems 185

Exercise: Exploring Self-Definitions 188

Chapter 9 Reaching the Source

Insights: Freedom 195

Obstacles: Subtler Identifications 196

Path: Advanced Instructions 198

Meditation: Removing Subtle Obstacles 199

Chapter 10 In the World

Insights: Living an Enlightened Life 205

Obstacles: Teaching Through Words 206

Path: Living Life as a Teaching 207

Exercise: Living Life as a Teaching 209

Conclusion 213

Suggested Readings 215

Index 217

About the Author 227

Editorial Reviews

"This is the kind of book that can change a person's life and point the way to peace and happiness."

Bhante Henepola Gunaratana

"A book to do rather than simply to read, to be worked with slowly but also joyfully."

NAPRA ReView

"Thorough, insightful, and comprehensive."

Meditation Pathways

"The format makes the mediations easy to follow, simple to do, and very effective."

New Age Retailer