Meditation History

The authors of the best-selling Bold and The Rise of Superman explore altered states of consciousness and how they can ignite passion, fuel creativity, and accelerate problem solving, in this groundbreaking book in the vein of Daniel Pink's Drive and Charles Duhigg's Smarter Faster Better.

This is not the meditation of yesterday. This cutting-edge advance in integrative medicine will help you live a healthier, pain-free, more balanced life.

Stress is our internal response to an experience that our brain perceives as threatening or challenging. Trauma is our response to an experience in which we feel powerless or lacking agency. Until now, researchers have treated these conditions as different, but they actually lie along a continuum. Dr. Elizabeth Stanley explains the significance of this continuum, how it affects our resilience in the face of challenge, and why an event that's stressful for one person can be traumatizing for another.

These three sutras are the most important texts for the Chan (Chinese) and Zen (Japanese) Buddhist traditions, though they are very different in character and provenance. The Diamond Sutra (Vajracheddikā Prajña Pārāmitā Sutra in Sanskrit) has the distinction of being 'the earliest complete survival of a dated (11 May 868) printed book’. It was found in the Dunhuang Caves in China in 1900. The title, Diamond Cutter, outlines its purpose, which is to cut through ignorance to attain to perfect wisdom or ultimate reality.

A quick guide to the history of the world's most popular meditation practice. From the time of the Buddha to the age of meditation apps, this straightforward introduction gives an entire overview of the use of the term "mindfulness" in Buddhist meditative traditions. Drawing upon years of experience through practicing, researching, and teaching the history of mindfulness, Dr. Sarah Shaw offers the first-ever accessible guide to the roots of this ancient meditation technique that continues to benefit millions throughout the world.

In Part One, you will learn the meaning of many new concepts: What is Buddhism, and what are the nine yanas taught by it?

This is a summary of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations. Meditations is essentially a scrapbook of thoughts written over a 19-year period; it’s not ordered and it repeats itself frequently as ideas reoccurred to the author at different times. For this reason, it can be hard for a casual reader to extract the myriad messages contained within. This summary helps in that by interpreting Meditations and reducing it from around 50,000 words down to 4,400. While it has been interpreted, the author has done his best not to embellish it.

Based on extensive cultural studies and long years of practice, Livia Kohn creates a new typology of meditation, based on six distinct ways of accessing the subconscious. In a special chapter on each type, she outlines the physiology, world view, and traditional practice as well as its modern medical adaptations and organizational settings. Providing a thorough theoretical framework combined with a comprehensive, analytical overview, the book greatly advances our understanding of meditation.

Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. The Meditations is divided into 12 books that chronicle different periods of Marcus' life. Each book is not in chronological order and it was written for no one but himself. The style of writing that permeates the text is one that is simplified, straightforward, and perhaps reflecting Marcus' Stoic perspective on the text.

Sitting in stillness, the practice of meditation, and the cultivation of awareness are commonly thought to be the preserves of Hindus and Buddhists. Martin Laird shows that the Christian tradition of contemplation has its own refined teachings on using a prayer word to focus the mind, working with the breath to cultivate stillness, and the practice of inner vigilance or awareness.

Understanding how your ADHD brain works is the first step to conquering the pesky symptoms that have been plaguing your life for far too long. You don’t have to stumble through life any longer. With help from this definitive guide to living with ADHD as an adult male, you can and will take back control of your life and find the happiness and peace that has been missing for far too long.

Unlock your healing power with chakra meditation. Your chakras are your body’s vital energy centers, and their health can impact your physical and mental wellbeing. Drawing on rich traditions and hundreds of years of knowledge, Essential Chakra Meditation shows you that practicing intention and purpose can transform your mind, body, and spirit.

Chanting is more than just words. In Mantra Meditation, renowned kirtan artist Radhika Das introduces us to the world of modern chanting and reveals its profound origins, showing us that we do not need to be a good singer, a yoga practitioner, or a follower of any religion or set of beliefs to...

The Eightfold Path is the most widely known formulation of the Buddha's teaching. It is ancient, reaching back to the Buddha's very first discourse, and it is highly venerated as a unique treasury of wisdom and practical guidance. The teaching of the Eightfold Path challenges us to grasp the implications of that vision, and asks us to transform ourselves in its light. Like the teaching itself, this work covers every aspect of life.

Many people hear the word "Buddhism", and they think it is a religion. However, a person of any religion can bring Buddhist principles into their life without giving up their religious beliefs. Buddhism is a simple and practical philosophy, practiced by more than 300 million people worldwide, that can make your life better and help you find inner peace and happiness.

A Roman Emperor. A battlefield journal. A timeless code of calm. Discover a full-bodied listening experience crafted to help you lead, persevere, and act with intention in a chaotic world. This bold, modern audiobook adaptation of Marcus Aurelius’ timeless reflections has been translated for raw philosophical clarity, voiced with power, and enriched with historical context. It is more than a new translation. It is a historical gateway into Marcus’ world, and your own civilizational legacy.

Do you want to live a happier and more peaceful life? When people hear the word "Buddhism", they automatically assume that it refers to a religion. Anyone, regardless of religious affiliation, can incorporate Buddhist principles into their daily lives without having to give up their own. More than 300 million people around the world are practicing Buddhism, a simple and practical philosophy that can improve your life and help you find inner peace and happiness. Buddhism is a way of life based on a spiritual path that ultimately leads to enlightenment.

"Live each day as if it were your last." Written in Greek by the only Roman emperor who was also a philosopher, without any intention of publication, Marcus Aurelius's Meditations offers a remarkable series of challenging spiritual reflections and exercises developed as the emperor struggled to understand himself and make sense of the universe.

By calling everything into doubt, Descartes laid the foundations of modern philosophy. With the celebrated words "I think therefore I am," his compelling argument swept aside ancient and medieval traditions. He deduced that human beings consist of minds and bodies; that these are totally distinct "substances"; that God exists and that He ensures we can trust the evidence of our senses.

René Descartes was a central figure in the scientific revolution of the 17th century. In his Discourse on Method he outlined the contrast between mathematics and experimental sciences, and the extent to which each one can achieve certainty. Drawing on his own work in geometry, optics, astronomy and physiology, Descartes developed the hypothetical method that characterizes modern science, and this soon came to replace the traditional techniques derived from Aristotle.