Leap Before You Look: 72 Shortcuts for Getting Out of Your Mind and into the Moment [Paperback]

Arjuna Ardagh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2008

Perhaps you've caught a glimpse of who you are beyond thought-your spiritual nature-but weren't sure how to live it as a gift and blessing for all. What's the solution? Practice. Leap Before You Look is a collection of simple exercises to help you on your way. Each takes just a few minutes to shift you "out of your mind" and into the infinite possibilities of the present moment. What's more, the 72 "shortcuts" contained herein will allow you to deepen and embody this realization in your daily life, from one minute to the next, wherever you may be.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Arjuna Ardagh is an international teacher and the author of five books, including The Translucent Revolution (New World Library, 2005) and Awakening into Oneness (Sounds True, 2007). He founded the Living Essence Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the awakening of consciousness within the context of ordinary life. He lives in California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 188 pages
• Publisher: Sounds True, Incorporated (March 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591796369
• ISBN-13: 978-1591796367
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #297,036 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Peace Be with You, March 20, 2008

By 

Dave Carpenter "Peak Performance Scholar" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Leap Before You Look: 72 Shortcuts for Getting Out of Your Mind and into the Moment (Paperback)

Mugged at the bookstore again. And, so so glad I was.

Wandering through my local bookstore, as I often do, this book jumped into my arms and cried, "take me." Although unfamiliar with the author, the subtitle "72 shortcuts for getting out of your mind and into the moment" resonated with me.

What a gem of a book! The author has compiled 72 delightful ways to get into the moment. Every one of his offerings may not be right for you, but I suspect that few readers will not quickly find a half dozen techniques that will work well.

Let me give a concrete example of the power of this wonderful book. My wife and I are the caregivers for a multipli-disabled man who has been blind since birth. I often think what it must be like to be blind from birth. For me, and likely most of those of us who can see, our idea of blindness is as if lights were suddenly turned off. But, we are still left with vivid impressions of what this world looks like as a result of our years of sight. Blind since birth means one never got those impressions.

So wtih that backdrop, along comes the author with a meditation practice (one of his 72 practices) that he calls "Enter the Darkness." Wow...did this excite me. Later today, I will be joining my dear friend for some shared time in the darkness. How powerful for my own peace of mind, and hopefully how wonderful for my dear friend. I fully expect this will be a practice I embrace for years to come.

Other equally impactful connections were made with the described practices.

I am stout believer in the importance of personal PEACE. My construct for personal peak performance has PEACE as one of three foundational elements. As such, I am always looking for processes that can help me to create more PEACE in my life. Well, this gem is chock full of ideas to do exactly that.

So PEACE be with YOU. Let this book show you how you don't have to adopt some norm of meditation, but instead can adopt any of one of a number of rituals that will help to keep one centered in a world that too often seems lacking in PEACE.

Arjuna Ardagh (the author)...I am deeply grateful.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars delightful and inspiring spiritual shortcuts, June 14, 2009

By 

Julie Clayton "Julie Clayton ~New Consciousne... (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Leap Before You Look: 72 Shortcuts for Getting Out of Your Mind and into the Moment (Paperback)

Is it really possible to achieve a full experience of self-acceptance and clear-sighted realization in a single moment? Without being trite or superficial this slender volume, Leap Before You Look, presents spiritual practice "shortcuts" that do indeed take us into an immediate experience of being in the present--and into all of the richness and possibility each moment affords us. Author Arjuna Ardagh refers to these exercises as "the art of a translucent spiritual practice." It is a practice without a goal, and translucent because "translucent people...are lit up by their deepest nature, yet they remain fully engaged in their daily personal lives. Translucent people appear to glow, as if from within themselves."

Leap Before You Look is an original compendium of useful and simple exercises that precipitate a shift out of our mind and into an awakening that embodies ordinary, day-to-day life. The book is divided into twelve sections, each focusing on a particular aspect of practice: meditation, insight, daily routine, body, feeling, intimate relationship, sex, family, nature, devotional, compassion, and community practices. Most of the exercises (more like tools, really) take only a few minutes and can be done anywhere. A brief explanation or anecdote follows each exercise, filling in the gaps of understanding that our mind inevitably yearns for, although such a practice is inherently one that we live, rather than understand. Although the shortcuts are primarily designed to assist us in transforming habits of the personality, the greatest value from any spiritual practice is how it enhances our collective mind and compassion for others, and ends up in service to the whole.

Readers can decide for themselves how they use the book: randomly, by practice subject, in sequential order, with friends or alone, daily, or as called to. The practices are rated according to their level of difficulty, but I'm sure each reader will uniquely determine this for herself; the greater challenge may be to freely give ourselves the gifts offered within the present. This is a delightful, practical, spiritual book and one that I intend to return to time and again.

Arjuna Ardagh is an international teacher, author of five books, and founder of the Living Essence Foundation dedicated to the awakening of consciousness in the context of ordinary life.

Review by Julie Clayton

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great audiobook!, January 30, 2009

By 

Jennifer Kline (Arizona) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Leap Before You Look: Shortcuts for Getting Out of Your Mind and into the Moment (Audio CD)

This is a fantastic audiobook for anyone interested in meditation, buddhism, yoga, mindfulness practice. I listen in the car, and always have a neat, fun meditative exercise to practice. It really makes the driving time worthwhile, and keeps me in a better state of mind! I love this audio and highly recomend to all listeners!