Awake in the World: Teachings from Yoga and Buddhism for Living an Engaged Life [Paperback]

Michael Stone (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 7, 2011

How can we live a balanced life in unbalanced times? How can the practices of meditation and yoga support our relationships, our work lives, and the greater good? Author, teacher, and psychotherapist Michael Stone presents the essential insights of mindfulness and yoga, emphasizing the teachings of simplicity and the interdependence of all life.

Stone explains that the practices of yoga and meditation are not about escaping reality but about living fully in the here and now, opening to our experience, and gaining access to stillness within the flow of life. The essence of yoga and Buddhist practice is opening the heart—our own and the heart of the world. With that awareness, Stone encourages us to get involved in our communities, to speak out when we see wrongdoing, and to find ways of helping others.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Just as yoga postures open the body, these essays awaken the mind, revealing, in elegant and lyrical prose, our unbreakable connection to every part of this ailing world.”—Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine

“Michael Stone’s practice combines a host of disciplines and trainings, from yoga to Buddhism to psychotherapy to postmodern cultural studies. He has written a deft and lively book that has an impressive range and intelligence.”—Norman Fischer, author of Taking Our Places and Sailing Home

“Whether at the farmers’ market in New York City’s Union Square, on a snowy retreat in Northern Ontario, inside a Zen poem or yogic text, or talking about money as a spiritual practice, traveling with Stone refreshes and inspires, and like any good journey, brings us right back home—in the body, in the world.”—Inquiring Mind

About the Author

Michael Stone is a yoga teacher and psychotherapist who leads yoga and meditation workshops and teaches internationally on the effectiveness of yoga and Buddhist meditation in clinical psychotherapy practice. His approach to yoga focuses on the integration of theory and practice in a way that is rooted in tradition yet responsive to contemporary culture. He is the founder of Centre of Gravity Sangha, a community of yoga and Buddhist practitioners based in Toronto, where he lives. For more information, visit www.centreofgravity.org.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala; 1 edition (June 7, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159030814X
• ISBN-13: 978-1590308141
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #88,076 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Stone leads Centre of Gravity. He is a psychotherapist, yoga teacher, Buddhist teacher, author and activist, committed to the integration of traditional teachings with contemporary psychological and philosophical understanding. The components of his practice include Yoga postures, breathing techniques, meditation and textual study. Over the years, his goal has been to cultivate long-term relationships with people who want to deepen their understanding of Yoga and Buddhist teachings and practice while bringing these practices into conversation with medicine, economics, ecology and mainstream media. He maintains a dedicated workshop and retreat schedule in communities internationally, and is a Guiding Teacher for True North Insight, a Vipassana Centre.

His research and teaching explore the intersection of committed spiritual practice and social action.

Michael teaches courses and workshops to clinicians (doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, palliative care workers, psychotherapists) that integrate Buddhist teachings and meditation practices with contemporary approaches to clinical work. He ran the well-respected Leading Edge Mindfulness for Clinicians Course in Toronto, as well as training retreats. Michael's academic background includes studies in psychology, psychoanalysis, philosophy and comparative religion. His primary teachers are Richard Freeman, Norman Feldman and Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara. He lives in Toronto with his son.

His yoga teaching method is to slow down the traditional Ashtanga Vinyasa Krama sequences in order to bring deeper awareness to the subtle aspects of postures, balancing attention to alignment with meditative awareness. His meditation teachings integrate traditional Vipassana and Zen forms with insights from Yoga and Mahayana Buddhism, without losing the integrity of each tradition.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars sweet read September 13, 2011

By saraswati

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

What a thoughtful, insightful and easy read - just the book to direct thought, heart and mind to a more serene spiritual journey.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Asleep at the Wheel February 20, 2012

By BraMaster

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

The interconnection between humans, the environment, and the universe is a fascinating subject to me. I had read a preview of this book before the release and was excited to dive in. Interesting subjects are here, but for some reason this book never clicked with me.

The author throws in many Buddhist words written in their original language to get his points across, but unless you're a scholar you're not going to remember what they were. He does give their meaning in English, though it seems he did this to make himself seem perhaps more intelligent? I felt this made the book his message more inaccessible to the average reader, which is a shame since his book is about how to relate and feel a part of this world.

Random Thoughts:

The most interesting part of the book to me was surprisingly his chapter on suicide which came off as very thoughtful and helpful to someone who may be struggling with depression.

To nitpick, I don't know why this also annoyed me, but he ends every chapter with when and where he wrote it. He wrote from Europe, Canada, America etc., but it has no relevance really except to tell us he was there, almost as if to show how worldly he is.

With a lack of humor, or without any deep insight into his life and I just didn't feel I could relate to the author and his work like I could other Zen/mindfulness/Buddhist writers (Alan Watts, Charlotte Joko Beck, Pema Chodron etc.). I'm not sure who I'd recommend this to as I believe it would be a bad entry book point, but hey maybe you'll get more out of it than I did!