Awake in the World: Teachings from Yoga and Buddhism for Living an Engaged Life

by Michael Stone

Overview

How can we live a balanced life in unbalanced times? How can the practices of meditation and yoga support our relationships, our work lives, and the greater good? Author, teacher, and psychotherapist Michael Stone presents the essential insights of mindfulness and yoga, emphasizing the teachings of simplicity and the interdependence of all life.

Stone explains that the practices of yoga and meditation are not about escaping reality but about living fully in the here and now, opening to our experience, and gaining access to stillness within the flow of life. The essence of yoga and Buddhist practice is opening the heart—our own and the heart of the world. With that awareness, Stone encourages us to get involved in our communities, to speak out when we see wrongdoing, and to find ways of helping others.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780834827493
Publisher:	Shambhala
Publication date:	06/07/2011
Series:	Shambhala Publications
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Michael Stone (1974 - 2017) was a prominent and innovative Buddhist teacher, yogi, psychotherapist, and author. He was the founder and director of the Centre of Gravity Sangha, a community of yoga and Buddhist practitioners based in Toronto, and he taught widely and had a large international  following. He was the author of The Inner Tradition of Yoga, Yoga for a World Out of Balance, Freeing the Body Freeing the Mind, and Awake in the World. For more information visit michaelstoneteaching.com.

Table of Contents

Sanskrit Pronunciation ix

Preface xi

Part 1 Practicing Inward and Outward

1 This Is It 3

2 Reading the Sky for Weather Signs 10

3 The Realization of Intimacy 18

4 The Breath Cycle 26

5 The Object of Meditation 31

Part 2 Body, Mind, and the Natural World

6 The Quality of Flow 39

7 Organizing in the Natural World 42

8 Not Closing Our Eyes 47

9 Ontario Snow Lineage 54

10 Liberation 60

11 The Life of a Tulip 65

12 Diversity 73

13 Waves and Water: Form and Freedom 80

Part 3 Formal Practice

14 Encouragement on Retreat 97

15 End of Retreat 104

16 The Nonduality of Inner and Outer Practice 110

17 Money and the Turnings of Mind 115

Part 4 Grounded in the World

18 Activism with Both Feet on the Ground 125

19 The Lungs of the Earth 137

Part 5 Encouragement and Conclusions

20 Suicide 151

Afterword 167

Acknowledgments 169

Notes 171

Credits 179

Index 181

Editorial Reviews

Just as yoga postures open the body, these essays awaken the mind, revealing, in elegant and lyrical prose, our unbreakable connection to every part of this ailing world.”—Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine

“Michael Stone’s practice combines a host of disciplines and trainings, from yoga to Buddhism to psychotherapy to postmodern cultural studies. He has written a deft and lively book that has an impressive range and intelligence.”—Norman Fischer, author of Taking Our Places and Sailing Home

“Whether at the farmers’ market in New York City’s Union Square, on a snowy retreat in Northern Ontario, inside a Zen poem or yogic text, or talking about money as a spiritual practice, traveling with Stone refreshes and inspires, and like any good journey, brings us right back home—in the body, in the world.”—Inquiring Mind

From the Publisher

In this collection of his talks, Stone (Ctr. of Gravity Sangha, Toronto; Yoga for a World Out of Balance) continues with the notions that informed his earlier book, uniting the insights of Buddhism with the merits of the practice of yoga. Stone's particular brief is that we be aware of the importance of participation in communities in ways that further justice and minimize harm to all human beings. Especially worthwhile are his surprising reflections on suicide, as well as his talks on the beginning and end of a retreat. VERDICT Elegantly stated "sermons" from a born leader in Buddhism and yoga; perfect for explorers of Eastern traditions.

Library Journal