Meditation for Beginners [AUDIOBOOK] [UNABRIDGED] (Audio CD)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

" 'Jack Kornfield is a remarkable and thoughtful teacher' A Path with Heart - 'It's encouraging to find Westerners who've sufficiently assimilated the traditions of the East to be able to share them with others as Jack is doing'" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

Start Meditating Today with This Beginner's Guide. Have you ever thought about trying meditation, but didn't know how to get started? On Meditation for Beginners, trusted teacher Jack Kornfield uses clear language and step-by-step demonstrations to show you how simple it is to start - and stick with - a daily meditation practice. In this complete beginner's course, Jack introduces you to the "Insight" tradition of meditation. Zen monks draw from this same tradition, yet anyone can use its principles to cultivate a profound inner calm, while awakening to the truth of life. Four complete meditation exercises teach you how to work with breathing, posture, attention, forgiveness - even difficult emotions - to create tranquility and clarity in your everyday life. Now you can begin meditating today - in just the time it takes to listen to Meditation for Beginners.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Sounds True, Incorporated; Unabridged edition (August 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564558673
• ISBN-13: 978-1564558671
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #60,252 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

201 of 205 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Most Perfect Beginning To Meditation!, November 14, 2004

By	Yoga Dad - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

I have been a practicing Yogi for many years and have a library full of books, videos, tapes and CD's on Yoga, meditation, sprituality and the like.

This program by Jack Kornfield (available as a video as well as audio) is the best single place I can think of starting from if you want to begin a meditation practice..

Jack Kornfield is a perfect teacher of meditation, especially for Westerners because he approaches it in a non-sectarian way. He gets to the heart of the practice, uses clear explanations and stories to give the listener/viewer some sense of the depth of the practice. He leads the meditations in a way that gives enough guidance without becoming a distraction. He also has a very soothing voice which enhances the overall experience of the program.

The program starts with the most basic form of meditation on the breath, and leads through ever slightly more subtle forms of Vipassana Meditation.


Very Highly Recommended!


Some other related meditation programs I would highly recommend are: Plum Village Meditations w/ Thich Nhat Hanh and Sister Jina which are guided Meditations. I have been using this tape for about 7 years daily. I use it during the day prior to lunch to renew myself for the rest of the day.

Stephen Cope's "Yoga For Emotional Flow" which has 2 CD's, the 1st CD is about Yoga Philosophy and the 2nd has guided practices which I find very helpful in my life. Also check out his book "Yoga and The Quest for the True Self" which is contains the ideas of the 1st CD in an in depth manner, one of the best books I've ever read (and I'm re-reading it for the 3rd time).

Jack Kornfield has many other wonderful books and audio programs in the "Sounds True" catalogue which are wonderful, one is a more in depth series (6 tapes) on meditation called "The Inner Art Of Meditation".

Jon Kabot-Zinn is a wonderful teacher as well. See his "Meditation for Optimum Health w/ Andrew Weil, as well as Andrew Weils audio, "Breathing, the Master Key To Healing" which is very much related to meditation, these are guided breathing (pranayama) exercises plus an in depth explanation as to the benefits of breath work.

Namaste

78 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Non-intimidating introduction for people who never meditated, March 20, 2006

By	Patrick D. Goonan "www.meaningful-life.us" (Pleasanton, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I like this DVD because it's a good introduction for people who have never meditated and for people who might not be the typical audience for such topics.

Jack Kornfield was a monk in Thailand, but is also a Western clinical psychologist. He approaches introducing people to meditation very gently and from a practical standpoint. While it is clear he is committed to a Buddhist path, he presents meditation in an unbiased, impartial and often humorous manner.

While the guided meditations aren't particularly long or deep, they give the listener a good taste of what meditation is about without making it seem esoteric. There are also some very nice stories on the DVD, which is worth getting just for this reason.

Something that distracts from the DVD is the timing and volume of bells sounding. Here and there this is bordering on corny, but I didn't find it a problem in any MAJOR way. It doesn't change the credibility of the core message or value of the instruction.

The biggest strength of this DVD is Jack Kornfield's ability to tell stories and use powerful analogies. For example, he compares "training the attention" to house breaking a puppy! He says, you gently bring the attention back to the breath as you would bring a puppy back to a newspaper and you do this over and over again patiently. You don't kick or beat the puppy and you don't judge yourself for letting your mind wander! I found this to be a very clever and useful analogy.

In my opinion, this is not Jack Kornfield's best work. However, it's a good resource for a lot of people. My favorite Jack Kornfield book is "A Path with Heart" and my favorite recorded material is your "Buddha Nature." However, I still enjoy listening to this DVD and often recommend it to beginning meditators.

If you want deeper material on meditation, try Breath by Breath by Rosenberg. This is my favorite introductory book on meditation for Westerners. If you want a recording that has more depth, then Insight Meditation by Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein is pretty good and has quite a bit of detail.

70 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kwan Yin Society highly recommends these tapes..., June 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Meditation for Beginners (Audio Cassette)

Jack Kornfield is perhaps the most gifted meditation teacher in the West. His humor, compassion, clarity and insight make this tape series a life-long treasure. Perfect for anyone who is new to meditation or who wantsmore peace and compassion to stream from the heart.