Embodied Meditation: Mindfulness, the Body, and Daily Life (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781916249233)

The way mindfulness is usually taught reflects the disembodiment of the modern world. Often meditation is taught without pleasure, free-flow or the body at all. Even the translated term "MINDfulness" reflects this. Sadly, this misses a lot of what makes meditation so powerful, and ensures it doesn't integrate into daily life.

Throughout this refreshing take on meditation, Mark and Karin draw on their experience from the world of martial arts, dance and yoga. They offer a clear, no-nonsense and humorous roadmap to making your meditation more embodied.

This books contains techniques suitable for:

• People newer to meditation who want a clear, practical system
  
• Movement lovers (e.g. yogis and dancers) who want an approach to meditation that fits well with their skills
  
• Experienced meditators who want to go deeper into embodiment

You'll learn:

• How most meditation is disembodied
• A guide to the most common meditation challenges (including distraction, sleepiness and trauma)
• Over 30 embodied techniques (many that you won't find anywhere else)
• The most impactful and practical techniques for busy people (and how to build a regular practice around your lifestyle)
• A practical 'bridge' to bring meditation into your day-to-day life (work, childcare, sex, computer use, etc.)

Promise: If you meditate, there will be something fresh and useful here to help deepen your practice. Take a look.

"This is a clear-eyed, transformative guide that everyone can benefit from. With love and rigor, Karin van Maanen and Mark Walsh have synthesized the power of meditation when practised in an embodied way. The lessons in these pages clearly come from the author's experience, and so many people will benefit."

-David Treleaven, PhD, author of Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness: Practices for Safe and Transformative Healing.

"If attention isn't embodied, it isn't mindful attention. This innovative book makes this abundantly clear, as Walsh and van Maanen bring their wealth of skill and experience in embodied arts, to teaching meditation practices grounded in and potentized by the sensory immediacy and somatic intelligence of bodily life."

-Martin Aylward, author of Awake Where You Are: The art of embodied awareness.

"Embodied Meditation is a clear and accessible guide written with care and the wish to benefit others. Dive in!"

-Emma Slade, Author of Set Free, Buddhist nun, Founder and Managing Director of Opening Your Heart To Bhutan.

"Meditation needs embodiment as much as embodiment needs meditation. No other resource has this many practical exercises for bridging these two worlds. If you are an embodiment practitioner who wants to deepen your meditation, or an established meditator who wants to integrate embodiment into your practice, then Mark & Karin's new book on 'Embodied Meditation' is for you!"

-Miles Kessler - Meditation Teacher, Aikido Sensei, & host of the Meditate On This podcast.

"A book on meditation that makes you laugh out loud? Yes, please! Embodied Meditation' is authoritative without being pompous, has a deliciously friendly tone and is full of great ideas for beginners and experienced practitioners alike. A refreshingly real and relatable meditation handbook which is encouraging, charming and full of wit."

-Bridget Hurst, Writer and Meditation Practitioner.