Daily Connect: Real Happiness - The Power of Meditation by Sharon Salzberg

(follow Ethan on Facebook or Twitter)

Sharon Salzberg rocks. Steadily and thoroughly.

Once I had a baffling conversation with a Buddhist book editor where they claimed that there were already "so many" books about basic meditation practice for beginners. My experience as a teacher has been the opposite - there are precious few Buddhist books that are about really establishing the nuts and bolts of a daily meditation practice in a way that's accessible, experiential, and scientific in tone. I usually end up recommending my main teacher's book to everyone, Sakyong Mipham's Turning the Mind into an Ally, since it's an awesome and down to earth introduction. But the list of good practice books that are mainly about mindfulness and lovingkindness are very short, to my mind.

Most dharma books are either philosophical or psychological in tone, and written in abstraction language, sometimes with a few practice exercises that feel like additives. Part of this dearth of actual meditation manuals is a great thing, because I truly believe the vast majority of students (I'm too shy to say "all students" but that's how I really feel) need a teacher and sangha to guide their practice in order to receive full benefits.

However, my friend, teacher and Interdependence Project lineage mentor Sharon Salzberg has just written a book/cd combination - Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation that provides extensive scientific research on meditation and helps new students create a 28 day meditation experiment (starting tomorrow, actually). Given what I said in the above paragraph, this is high praise: I'll be recommending Sharon's new book to new meditators as often as I can, as long as they promise to try to study with a live teacher too (um...Sharon?). If you want to give it to someone, it's an excellent start to practice. And I'm not just saying that because Sharon rocks.

Here's a quote from the book on Metta (lovingkindness) and a youtube clip of Sharon speaking with Sylvia Boorstein.

"Lovingkindness is compassionate awareness that opens our attention and makes it more inclusive. It transforms the way we treat ourselves, our family, and friends. Spending time paying careful attention to our thoughts, feelings, and actions (positive and negative) and understanding them opens our hearts to loving ourselves genuinely for who we are, with all our imperfections. And that's the gateway to loving others. We're better able to see people clearly and appreciate them in all their complexity if we've learned to care for and appreciate ourselves."

-Sharon Salzberg