A powerful meditation practice for connecting with your body's innate, guiding wisdom. Have you ever had a "gut feeling" about a certain person or situation? Or a sense of intuition about how to respond to a particular challenge in your life? There's nothing magical or mystical about those kinds of scenarios. In fact, our body contains immense wisdom not directly available to our conscious mind, and it is continually communicating to us in the form of bodily feelings, impressions, sensations, corporeal intuitions, and felt senses. However, because most of us are so cut off from our somatic experience, we are quite unaware of this dimension of our body's expression. Although this intelligence may feel hidden most of the time, the wisdom of the body can actually be a guide for us in living our lives fully and also in responding compassionately to others. Through a meditation practice called Somatic Descent, Reggie Ray shows us how to connect with our body's intuitive intelligence. In Somatic Descent we see that the body is always showing us what sort of response, direction, or action may be called for at any given time, and can in fact be relied upon as a primary practical resource for decision-making in our everyday life. The book will include links to online audio recordings of the guided meditations to further aid the reader.

A senior Buddhist teacher offers fundamental body-based meditation practices that prove enlightenment is as close to you as your own body Many of us experience life through so many conceptual filters that we never recognize the freedom and joy that are inherent in us—and are in fact the essence of who we are. We can grow old not realizing that one of the most powerful tools to escape the painful knots we tie ourselves in is, literally, at our fingertips: our body. With The Awakening Body, Reggie Ray cracks open the shell of the mind-body dichotomy and presents six fundamental body-based practices that connect us back to who we really are. These practices cut through the mental fabrications through which we experience our world and lead us directly to the richness of living a fully present, embodied human life. This book includes a link to free downloads of recorded guided practices.

A powerful meditation practice for connecting with your body's innate, guiding wisdom. Have you ever had a "gut feeling" about a certain person or situation? Or a sense of intuition about how to respond to a particular challenge in your life? There's nothing magical or mystical about those kinds of scenarios. In fact, our body contains immense wisdom not directly available to our conscious mind, and it is continually communicating to us in the form of bodily feelings, impressions, sensations, corporeal intuitions, and felt senses. However, because most of us are so cut off from our somatic experience, we are quite unaware of this dimension of our body's expression. Although this intelligence may feel hidden most of the time, the wisdom of the body can actually be a guide for us in living our lives fully and also in responding compassionately to others. Through a meditation practice called Somatic Descent, Reggie Ray shows us how to connect with our body's intuitive intelligence. In Somatic Descent we see that the body is always showing us what sort of response, direction, or action may be called for at any given time, and can in fact be relied upon as a primary practical resource for decision-making in our everyday life. The book will include links to online audio recordings of the guided meditations to further aid the reader.

A respected teacher presents the core and essential wisdom of Tibet and shows us the possibilities of "enlightenment in this present life" through the meditative practice of Pure Awareness. Perhaps the most precious teaching Tibet has to offer the modern world is the practice of meditation. Reginald Ray presents the essence of this tradition through the somatic practice of Pure Awareness—a unique kind of meditation that is thoroughly grounded in the body and in ordinary experience. This fundamentally transformative practice offers the possibility of enlightenment in this present life and invites us into the immensely powerful journey that Tibetan tantric spirituality has to offer. Includes a link to a free download of audio meditations.

Spirituality & Practice "Best Books of 2021" Award Winner A highly practical and approachable guide to somatic meditation with easy practices for accessing the body's inherent mindfulness, from an expert in somatic meditation. Tap into the wisdom of the body with down-to-earth practices like "Surrendering to the Breath" and "Befriending Feelings" that allow the body to become the source of mindfulness. Willa Blythe Baker introduces meditation practice as the cultivation of a way of being, rather than a way of doing. It is a way of being that is self-aware, self-compassionate, and embodied. This way of being is not limited to practice on the cushion or on the yoga mat--somatic mindfulness is available at any moment, activated by attention to the body's wisdom and its teachings. Discover the three layers of embodiment, from the earth body of flesh and blood, the subtle body of sensory experience and emotion, and the awareness body of consciousness. The three parts of this book explore these layers through turning attention to the physical, energetic, and mental dimensions of human experience. By diving deep into the body, readers will find that they already have what they need. Concentration, wisdom, compassion, kindness, and joy are waiting there.

One of the most thorough, yet accessible, introductions to the Tibetan Buddhist worldview ever published The author presents complex and sophisticated teachings and practices in nontechnical language, using engaging stories and personal anecdotes to illustrate his points. Indestructible Truth presents Tibetan Buddhism in its traditional form but also shows how the Tibetan traditions are applicable to the problems and challenges of modern life in the West. In Indestructible Truth, Tibetan Buddhism is introduced not as an exotic religion, but rather as an expression of human spirituality that is having a profound impact on the modern world. In addition, it presents the point of view of meditation and the practice of the spiritual life, paying special attention to contemplative practice and meditation as taught in the Kagyu and Nyingma schools.

What does it mean to "meditate with the body"? Until you answer this question, explains Reggie Ray, meditation may be no more than a mental gymnastic —something you can practice for years without fruitful results. In Touching Enlightenment, the esteemed author of five books about Buddhist history and practice guides you back to the original practice of the Buddha: a systematic process that results in a profound awareness in your body rather than in your head. Combining the scholarship that has earned him international renown with original insights from nearly four decades practicing and teaching meditation, Reggie Ray invites you to explore: How to enter fully into communion with your embodied natureThe insights of Tibetan yoga, from guidance on breathing and working with discomfort to its challenge to modern practitioners on the path to realizationWhy "rejected" experience becomes imprinted in the body —and how to receive it anew to reconstitute your human way of being Karma of cause and karma of result —taking full responsibility for your lifeYour three bodies—the physical, the interpersonal, and the cosmic "To be awake, to be enlightened, is to be fully and completely embodied. To be fully embodied means to be at one with who we are, in every respect, including our physical being, our emotions, and the totality of our karmic situation," writes Reggie Ray. In Touching Enlightenment, he offers you a map of unprecedented clarity and power for embarking on the journey toward ultimate realization in and through the body.