Between interstates and county lines, life in rural Missouri unfolds in a progression of simple moments that carry the weight of every hard thing gone by. Parker and Melinda are searching for themselves in the hollows of their estranged marriage. Parker, haunted by the demons of addiction, lives every moment at the edge of an undiagnosed disorder - a darkness that steals his awareness and throws him into convulsions. Melinda, on an odyssey of her own, knows Parker's struggles all too well,...

The 25th anniversary edition of the classic, comprehensive guide on meditation posture and how to carry its benefits into everyday life—for practitioners of all skill levelsWhen it comes to meditation practices, the body is as important as the mind—a fact that may come as a surprise to the many people who regard meditation as a strictly mental activity. But, as Will Johnson shows, the physical aspect of the practice is far too often underemphasized. The alert-yet-r...

The emphasis on the mind in meditation can be somewhat misleading: If we pay attention only to mental processes and overlook the experience of the body, we can remain stuck in our heads and not be able to break free of the involuntary thinking that we find so claustrophobic and toxic. This short, practical guide helps us embrace the fact of our embodiment—the experience of the sensations, movements, and gestures of the body—and to realize that mindfulness is the natural state of awareness ...

Explores the Buddha’s own words on breathing meditation for healing, wholeness, and a deeper understanding of his teachings• Explains the complete series of steps in the Buddha’s Satipatthana Sutta for refining awareness of the breath, from posture and center of gravity to extending breath awareness beyond the nostrils, lungs, and abdomen to the entire body• Shows that stillness in meditation refers only to the mind, not to the body• Reveals breath to be a ...

Presents three simple yogic principles from Tilopa's Song of Mahamudra• Explains how balance is the key to achieving higher consciousness• Includes somatic koansMahamudra, literally "the great gesture," is often looked upon as the highest manifestation of consciousness known within the Tibetan Vajrayana tradition. In Yoga of the Mahamudra, Will Johnson explains how it is possible to bring forth the condition of mahamudra naturally by utilizing the ...

An account of spiritual awakening told through the rites of passage of a father and son• Reveals the essential role spirituality can play in our mundane lives• Celebrates not only traditional rites of passage, but also the more subtle moments of change that continually take place within each of us• Reflects on the power of prayer and intention in guiding our life journeyPart spiritual travelogue, part personal memoir, The Sailfish and the Sacred Mountain...

A guide to meditative breathing practices in Western religions and how these practices provide a direct experience of God• Reveals how Western spiritual traditions, such as the Book of Genesis, the Jewish teachings of ruach, and the poetry of Rumi, contain hidden instruction for meditative breathing practices• Explains how breathing practices can bring all of us, including Christians, Muslims, and Jews, closer to a direct experience of the palpable presence of God

An exploration of the use of cannabis as a sacrament in spiritual practice• Provides instructions for using marijuana for the spiritual practices of spontaneous movement, ecstatic dance, sitting meditation, and gazing meditation, allowing you to open the body’s energies more fully and get closer to the Divine or your higher self• Includes a new translation of the Five Moral Precepts of Buddhism, adapted to include energetic practices and the judicious use of entheogenic sub...

• Explores the culminating instruction of the Buddha in the Satipatthana Sutta to breathe through the whole body• Teaches you how to alter your physiology to move beyond the static consciousness of mindfulness to a natural, spontaneous state of embodied awareness• Provides instruction and somatic koans for practicing the core principles of radiant mindfulness—awakening the body, liberating the breath, and opening up to vision and soundDrawing on the Buddha’...

• Shares practices to show how sitting meditation can be reconnected to lived, bodily experience and help you rediscover your natural somatic radiance• Explores how the modern thought-focused frame of mind introduces patterns of holding and tension into our bodies• Draws on techniques from the Buddhist, Sufi, and somatic wisdom traditions as well as insights from the author’s own teachers and collaborators, including Ida Rolf and Judith AstonThe modern practice of s...

The first collection of poems translated into English from the forbidden volume of the Divan of Rumi• Presents Rumi’s most heretical and free-form poems• Includes introductions and commentary that provide both 13th-century context and modern interpretationAfter his overwhelming and life-altering encounters with Shams of Tabriz, Rumi, the great thirteenth-century mystic, poet, and originator of the whirling dervishes, let go of many of the precepts of formal religion...

Poems and commentary that open the door for a new generation to experience the ecstatic and embodied spiritual truths contained in Rumi’s poetry• Reveals how the four practices of eating lightly, breathing deeply, moving freely, and gazing intently can invoke the divinity within us all• Explains how these practices dissolve the self’s need for identity so that we may experience a state of transcendent ecstasy and union with the divine• Takes Rumi’s path to finding G...