Amazon.com Review
"This is come-as-you-are meditation," writes Lorin Roche in
Meditation Made Easy. Roche, a meditation trainer for 30 years, knows how to make the uninitiated feel at ease. He debunks the stereotype that you have to follow monastic rules: you don't have to sit still, or empty your mind, or overcome your ego. "Meditation is about being intimate with your deepest self," so imposing techniques and formalities that don't fit you will just interfere. Meditation should be "a direct response to sensing some need in your body or heart ... a pleasurable indulgence ... a mini-vacation." Roche discusses the basics in a warm, friendly, question-and-answer chapter, and then teaches the stages of "getting in" to a meditation. Varied techniques and exercises let you explore what works for you. "Going Deeper" shows you how to turn details of everyday experience--such as drinking coffee--into a mini-meditation. For fun, check out "How to Make Yourself Miserable in Meditation"--for example, "Use a mantra that grates on your nerves"; "Worry about whether your chakras are balanced"; "Choose a tradition that reminds you of the worst aspects of your childhood." This book not only teaches you how to meditate; it makes the process easy and enjoyable.
--Joan Price
Review
"A glorious book! It has given me more and better instruction than anything else in print or on audio. I prefer it to any other guide, including the one I wrote." --
James Fadiman, Ph.D., editor of ESSENTIAL SUFISM and author of PERSONALITY AND PERSONAL GROWTH"A really good book for starting meditation. He knows his stuff." --
Jack Kornfield, author of A Path With Heart"What a wonderful book. I was electrified from the first word. Read MEDITATION MADE EASY and learn the secrets that all successful meditators have learned the hard way. *This* is how you make it work, how you make meditation fit into your life and benefit your heart, your soul, your health, your relationships. I give it my *highest* recommendation." --
Barbara De Angelis, Ph.D., author of REAL MOMENTS"A really good book for starting meditation. He knows his stuff." -- Jack Kornfield, author of A Path With Heart
"An inviting, wise, funny, affirming, and marvelously informed book on meditation that dispels all our dumb reasons for not giving it a try." -- Belleruth Naparstek, author of Your Sixth Sense and creator of the Health Journeys audiotape series
The art of meditation was long the domain of spiritual traditions and became a practice that was separate from everyday experience. But meditative experience occurs naturally, affirms Roche, and "technique" has to do with intention and attention. Meditation is "the practice of developing your capacity for rich experience." This straightforward book offers simple exercises to awaken the mind to sensory experiences and to help achieve the benefits of relaxation: better mood, enhanced ability to concentrate, lower blood pressure, a sense of well-being. There really are no rules'and no, you don't need a guru. Meditation can and does take place almost anytime (some exercises take just a few seconds) and anywhere (sitting, standing, or walking). About the only thing "wrong" is too try to hard. A "sense of luxury" is one of the ways of knowing it's being done right. Results are available almost immediately; and regardless of whether the reader decides to practice meditation, this inspirational book is well worth the read. -- Booklist
You may think the last thing the world needs needs is another book on meditation,but take a look at the nifty MEDITATION MADE EASY by Lorin Roche before you have another meditative thought.Many books characterize meditation as difficult and elusive at first, requiring practice and the development of everybody's favorite contradiction, attentive nonattention. But Roche, a meditation trainer for 30 years, turns that old stuff on its head."Meditation is quietly sexy, in the way that getting a massage or listening to great music is," he writes. "It should have a sense of luxury and deliciousness. It should be a place for you to entertain all your desires and longings and prepare to fulfill them . . . It may feel like loafing, and that's good."Roche knows all the tricks ("meditate less than you want to") and the tips (think of meditation as "taking time to watch the sunrise"). And he's great on the breathing/chanting rituals and "do-nothing techniques" that lead people to the "sense of wonder" about life and love and spirit that can make meditation so joyous. -- Pat Holt
