Mindfulness in Action: Making Friends with Yourself through Meditation and Everyday Awareness

by Chogyam Trungpa, Roger Clark (Read by)

Overview

The rewards of mindfulness practice are well proven: reduced stress, improved concentration, and an overall sense of well-being. But those benefits are just the beginning. Mindfulness in action—mindfulness applied throughout life—can help us work more effectively with life’s challenges, expanding our appreciation and potential for creative engagement. This guide to mindful awareness through meditation provides all the basics to get you started but also goes deeper to address the questions that naturally arise as your practice matures and further insight arises. A distillation of teachings on the subject by one of the great meditation masters of our time, this book serves as an introduction to the practice as well as a guide to the ongoing mindful journey.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781511308823
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	10/20/2015
Edition description:	Unabridged
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 6.75(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Chögyam Trungpa (1940–1987) was a pioneer in presenting the teachings of mindfulness in North America. Buddhist meditation master, teacher, and artist, he is the author of numerous books including Smile at Fear: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery; Work, Sex, Money: Real Life on the Path of Mindfulness; and Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior.

Read an Excerpt

From the Foreword:

Mindfulness in Action is a treasure.  What a gift this book is to the world!  I can hardly believe Chogyam Trungpa's presence in the text  —- as alive as ever, and as contemporary as ever, featuring mindfulness and awareness so elegantly and so centrally in his signature guises as meditation teacher, friend, and mystery person.  
It is uncanny to read this book, at least for me, since his early writings, like Meditation in Action (I am holding my copy of it, with the price tag on the cover: $1.75) were such an inspiration in my own early meditative trajectory. His voice in Mindfulness in Action is the same —- unique, incredibly friendly, down-to-earth, and brilliant.  It’s marvelous to have this new material from him, so skillfully brought together by editor Carolyn Rose Gimian, come to us at this particular time, as mindfulness becomes more and more integrated into mainstream culture. Carolyn discovered, ordered and shaped these disparate pieces into a coherent, contemporary, and compelling compilation of Trungpa's perspectives on mindfulness.
Trungpa’s teaching style, vocabulary, and commonsensical but uniquely penetrative ways of offering examples of what he is talking about will be valuable for enriching the practice of long-term mindfulness meditators, and also, perhaps, for expanding  their ability to bring it more fully into the world.  It will be equally valuable for beginners.
 
Jon Kabat-Zinn

Table of Contents

Editor's Preface ix

Part 1 Making Friends with Yourself

1 Meditation: An Intimate Relationship with Ourselves 3

2 Discovering Our Capacity to Love 9

3 How to Meditate 14

4 The Teddy Bear of Breath 27

5 Cool Boredom 32

6 Gentleness 36

7 Rhinoceros and Parrot 40

8 The Present Moment 45

9 The Bridge of Compassion 52

Part 2 Foundations of Mindfulness

10 First Thought 61

11 Appreciation 70

12 Life Force 76

13 Spontaneous Discipline 83

14 Touching the Surface of Mind 91

15 Recollection 97

Part 3 Mindfulness In Action

16 Touch and Go 105

17 Medication and the Fourth Moment 114

18 The Sword in Your Heart 122

19 Galaxies of Stars, Grains of Sand 129

20 The Fringe of Our Emotions 138

21 The Heart of Emotion 146

22 A Mindful Society 153

Editor's Afterword 162

Acknowledgments and Gratitudes 176

Sources 179

A Short Biography of Chögyam Trungpa 183

Index 186

Editorial Reviews

Mindfulness is the direct path to insight—and no one has ever illuminated that wonderful path more skillfully than Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.”
—Pema Chödrön

“With simplicity and warm-hearted wisdom Chögyam Trungpa invites you to discover your own mindful dignity and presence. These earthy and profound meditation instructions give you courage… encouragement to step beyond your habitual self to discover spacious awareness and embodied compassion.”
—Jack Kornfield, author of The Wise Heart

“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, Ph.D., author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge

“Mindfulness in Action is one of the best introductions to the practice of mindfulness that I have read. It is accessible, fresh and filled with real world advice on how to bring awareness and gentleness into the busyness and pressure of our everyday lives. . . . which will contribute to reducing the anxiety levels of our society as a whole.”
—Congressman Tim Ryan, author of A Mindful Nation and The Real Food Revolution

“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, Co-Founder of the Insight Meditation Society and author of Real Happiness at Work

“In Mindfulness in Action, a highly trained meditation master shows us—in stunningly simple language and images—how mindfulness is not a single event, but rather an unfolding journey of discovery that will sustain us throughout our entire life. It’s an important contribution to the growing body of mindfulness writing.”
—Barry Boyce, editor-in-chief of Mindful magazine and editor of The Mindfulness Revolution

“Here Chögyam 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

“In 1973 in Vermont, Chogyam Trungpa taught me the basics of mindfulness in a startlingly relevant way, leading twenty years later to my addressing what he called America's “super-sized problems” by teaching mindfulness to leaders in education, business, law, environment, science, and activism.  His powerful presence is alive in this book—including his fierce wisdom, his honest and loving compassion, his fabulous unsparing sense of humor, and his thoughts on the state of America. I can’t imagine a more valuable book at this time.”
—Mirabai Bush, Senior Fellow, Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, and author of Contemplative Practices in Higher Education

From the Publisher