Mindfulness Yoga: The Awakened Union of Breath, Body, and Mind [Paperback]

Frank Jude Boccio (Author), Georg Feuerstein (Foreword), Georg Feuerstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2004

This groundbreaking book introduces an entirely new form of yoga, Mindfulness Yoga, which seamlessly integrates the Buddha's teachings on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness with traditional asana yoga practice. Mindfulness Yoga emphasizes the spiritual side of yoga practice, an aspect often overlooked in a culture that tends to fixate solely on the physical benefits of yoga. Unlike any other Buddhism-meets-yoga book, Mindfulness Yoga presents the two disciplines as a single practice that brings health to the body and liberates the mind and spirit, awakening compassion and fostering equanimity and joy. Author Frank Jude Boccio offers a superb and lively introduction to the Buddha's teachings and locates them within the larger context of the Indian spiritual traditions, then offers three complete Mindfulness Yoga sequences, including over 100 pictures, with detailed guidance for body, breath, and mind. Special lay-flat binding makes this book even more useful as a practice aid.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This book by yoga teacher and mindfulness meditator Boccio offers a welcome and ambitious synthesis that is unevenly executed. Relating the Indian sage Patanjali's teachings on yoga to Buddhist teachings, the author invites practitioners of yoga and meditation to experience yoga's asanas, or poses, as occasions for mindfulness meditation. This relationship is both novel and logical. Buddhism grew from Hindu-yoga roots, and yoga, certainly as understood in America, could use a greater appreciation of its spiritual significance. Following a discussion of Buddhist teachings grounded on some central discourses (sutras) and heavily indebted to Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh, who supplies a foreword, Boccio provides four sequences of poses. The sequences generally repeat poses but are intended to lead the student to new understandings of those poses, thus encouraging growth in the discipline of yoga. As can be the case with yoga texts, this one has problems with its pictures. When poses are given in sequence, the accompanying sequence of pictures can be hard to follow, because not all steps are illustrated. Also, the instructions are not always obvious ("lift your sitting bones up as you drape your torso over your legs"). Because this book tries to do so much, it's not for beginning yoga students or meditators, but those with established practices may benefit from seeing the postures in a surprising and more spiritual light.
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Review

"Anyone seeking to live a richer and more awakened life will be served by this wise and gentle book." -- Melissa Blacker, MA, co-director of Professional Training, Stress Reduction Program, Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society, University of Mass. Medical School

"Clear, intelligent, much-needed. I'm delighted Frank Jude Boccio wrote this book. I now have something to recommend to my students." -- Larry Rosenberg, author of Breath by Breath and Founder of the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center

"EDITOR'S CHOICE! Boccio shows that Buddhist practice is itself a form of yoga, presenting a meditational approach to asana practice." -- Yoga Journal, April 2004

"I highly recommend this book...elegant, lucid, astonishingly comprehensive, thoroughly accessible, designed -- refreshingly -- for real human beings! Bravo!" -- Stephen Cope, author of Yoga and the Quest for the True Self

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0861713354
• ISBN-13: 978-0861713356
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #63,099 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in Queens, NYC way back in 1956, on the day Elvis Presley recorded "Hound Dog." I developed a 'curious interest' in Buddhism while in High School, after my sister died when I was 16. But it wasn't until my first marriage began to unravel that I finally began to practice yoga and got my butt to a zendo. I had been scrounging along the bottom shelf of an old bookstore and Suzuki Roshi's "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" fell off a top shelf and hit me on the head.

Still, after three years, I dropped practice and lived in the Lower East Side, writing about the punk music and film movement. Had a band called Bozo Jesus, and wrote a film "Her Name Is Lisa" that got me to the Berlin Film Festival in 1987 where I experienced my 15 minutes of fame.

In 1989, after another relationship hit the dust, I got back into practice and discovered Thich Nhat Hanh. In 1995 I took precepts with him, and in 1997 I was ordained into the Order of Interbeing. In 2000, I also started Dharma Student practice with the Korean Zen Master, Samu Sunim. He found me fit enough to ordain me as a Dharma Teacher (Poep Sa) on July 4th, 2007.

I currently live in Tucson, Arizona with my wife and two cats. I teach at Tucson Yoga and throughout the world. I'd love to hear from you!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mindfulness Yoga:, April 11, 2004

By 

Jennifer S. Mobley (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mindfulness Yoga: The Awakened Union of Breath, Body, and Mind (Paperback)

I still consider myself a newcomer to yoga, having practiced semi-regularly for 3 years. Frank Jude Boccio's book, Mindfulness Yoga helped me make the distinctions between yoga practice and its origins and Buddhist traditions which heretofore I had lumped together in my Western mind as "same." He then goes on to demonstrate how the two cultural traditions intersect and work together in harmony for both meditation and asana practice. Boccio manages to give us the "Cliff Notes" explanation that is concise and clear and provides the reader with a basic overview of the historical and philosophical tenets of Buddhist teachings and how they relate to yoga practice. He also offers an easy and thorough introduction to meditation practice. The last section includes a series of asana sequences to practice which are thoroughly and imaginatively explicated. Mindfulness Yoga is chock full of information tempered with personal antecdotes and practical examples that make the material accessible and help us understand how to bring the Practice into all facets of daily living. His engaging writing style is informative and at times funny and lighthearted (Car Alarm Dharma, for example). I would recommend this book to anyone who's starting yoga or is a current practictioner and wants to understand more deeply the philosophical/spiritual aspect of the practice as well as the Sanskrit and Buddhist terminology.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Frank's Book, March 24, 2004

By 

alyssa (New Paltz, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mindfulness Yoga: The Awakened Union of Breath, Body, and Mind (Paperback)

I am a student of Frank Jude Boccio's at Jai Ma Yoga Center in New Paltz, NY so I guess I am slightly biased . . . However, if you aren't lucky enough to have Frank as a teacher, pick up this book and you will feel as though he is there with you. The teachings in this book expand beyond the Western notion of what "yoga" is (that is, a way to lose weight, etc) and really get to the heart of the teachings. The writing is clear and concise and personal--you can really identify with the things Frank writes about. And for anyone who wants an understanding of Buddhism, and how Buddhism and yoga can go hand in hand, this is the book for you. I highly recommend it. Om Shanti.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exactly what a yogi needs to know, October 19, 2007

By 

A. Dearry (Chapel Hill, NC, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mindfulness Yoga: The Awakened Union of Breath, Body, and Mind (Paperback)

I've been doing yoga for about 5 years and began to become more interested in why we do yoga, in its spirtual underpinnings if you will. This book perfectly addresses that topic. There's an excellent description of yoga's origins and relationship to Buddhism. Moreover, it's a great tool to turn yoga asanas and movement into "moving meditation." Even in vinyasa-power yoga, there's a lot we can learn about and practice to enhance mind-body-spirit connection. This book does an outstanding job of informing the new or experienced yogi about how to gain more insight into what we really want to achieve from yoga.