Practice of Happiness: Excercises and Techniques for Developing Mindfullness Wisdom and Joy (Paperback)

by Mirko Fryba (Author)
Key Phrases: right mindfulness, reliable subjective basis, mindful mastery, Strategies of Power, Strategies of Reality Anchoring, Visuddhi Magga (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Here is an extraordinarily lucid and intelligent self-help book, inspired by the Abhidhamma, an ancient Buddhist teaching in training the mind and living a liberating, happiness-promoting way of life. Mirko Frýba has designed a complete workbook based on this training, with detailed exercise designed to help us feel at home in our bodies, protect well-being through mindfulness, and perceive reality with clarity and wisdom. These exercises show how to deal skillfully with painful events and negative emotions and also offer direct ways of promoting positive emotions such as cheerfulness, self-confidence, joy, and compassion. By relating these experiences to specific situations encountered in his work with friends, students, psychotherapy clients, and workshop participants, the author makes these traditional techniques applicable to familiar contemporary settings, whether in everyday life meditation practice, or psychotherapy.

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

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Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala; 1st edition (March 5, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570621233
• ISBN-13: 978-1570621239
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #824,414 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WHY ARE YOU NOT READING THIS BOOK?, September 8, 2000

By	Bill Butler (Tarzana, Ca. USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Excuse me (this book is on order!!!). Okay. I'm alright now. This is a wonderful guide into the intricacies of Buddhist Psychology AND practice. I've read it three times. It simplifies a complex subject extremely well. With flow charts that are easy to comprehend, this is a Dr. Seuss guide to all of Buddhist Psychology. You will never have to bow down to a teacher or therapist again! This book enabled me to argue with teachers and therapists. It's even great for impressing your boyfriend or girlfriend. Simply said, you will know more about the mind after reading this book than all the "pop psychology" dharma books put together. And it is easy to understand. Fryba is an outstanding therapist who became a Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka. The book will teach you basic meditative techniques. Great! So do all the others. But this dharma book will show you WHY you are mediating. When you are mindful or comprehend the very processes that you are now doing, they will not contain

greed, anger, or delusion. You get angry, you are aware of it without YOU reacting, and it eventually goes down the bathtub. There will now be no more of this in your body/mind. The burning of greed (desire), the burning of aversion (anger and fear), or delusion (closing your eyes to what is happening). This book makes the WHY of your meditation practice come alive! I think you are a jerk, frankly. Now take my remark about you and do something. That will create more dislike for me. Or close your eyes to my remark. Or think that it is honest which will create more grasping or like. But if you read my sentence, and the anger is felt or comprehended, and it passes - you will go to sleep with a little less tension because you have lost some "psychological" weight. You now have less attachment whether it be desire or aversion. Feel and let go. Feel and let go. Please buy this book so you can help others. Thank you.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars extremely difficult to get through/not practical, May 9, 2006

By	Ken Fagan "Ken Fagan Traducteur Juridique Ang... - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've read the 20 or so best known books on Buddhism and Meditation.

I like clear, practical books. I hate unnecessary complication.

The reader will have to be extraordinarily motivated to get through this book, which is written in a very academic style and has very little practical content.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So, you want to be happy?, November 29, 2006

By	David Cohen (Pennington, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Dr. Fryba, a former psychotherapist and professor who is currently a Theravada Buddhist monk, wrote this book as a complement of his previous work: The Art of Happiness.
At the title says, it presents exercises and techniques for developing mindfulness, wisdom, and joy. As such, it fulfills its objectives.
But don't misunderstand it. This is not a superficial self-motivating book which objective is only to get your money and lift your spirit for a few minutes. This is the real stuff. You have to read it carefully, slowly, and apply methodicaly and constantly to your daily life.
I would recommend this book for all serious searches of happiness.