“A quiet, calm mind sets the stage for a happy, fulfilled life, and meditation provides the bridge between the two,” explains Blake.
Marina Del Rey, CA (PRWEB) December 05, 2013
While the thought of meditating intimidates many people with its implications of sitting in a Zen-like state for hours, quick, life–enhancing meditations are accessible to everyone. Twenty such meditations are laid out in the new personal growth book, “A Creative Toolkit of Meditations” (Balboa Press; November ’13).
The meditations are designed to reduce stress and increase calm, so that “even those with a busy ‘monkey-mind’ will benefit from the self-reflection and meditations,” said author William W. Blake.
“A quiet, calm mind sets the stage for a happy, fulfilled life, and meditation provides the bridge between the two,” explains Blake, a meditation teacher and descendent of poet William Blake’s brother, John.
“Meditation practice shows us that we can choose which thoughts to entertain and which to observe and release.”
Reader friendly, with interesting anecdotes illustrating its concepts, A Creative Toolkit of Meditations offers thought provoking insights on issues such as unhealthy patterns developed in childhood and obsessive negative thoughts and behaviors. Each chapter includes straightforward meditations to help readers recognize unhelpful patterns and behaviors, and gain access to their innate wisdom. Readers can mix and match to build their own practices, choosing to focus on the chapters (and their meditations) to which they are drawn.
As Mr. Blake points out, life consists of two journeys: growing up and waking up (enlightenment). They are distinct, but interrelated. Chapters One through Three define and illustrate “growing up.” Growing up provides background and meditations to become more functional, happy, giving and community-involved.
Chapter Four details “waking up.” Here, the book states that spiritual seekers (everyone to some extent) must struggle through their dark night before arriving at awakening or enlightenment.
A Creative Toolkit of Meditations, p. 2
“After we blow through our uncomfortable dark night, intuitive knowing transforms us into more secure, friendly people. More encouraging, when we wake up we now experience an immense freedom and clarity. ‘Wow’ becomes our descriptor for life,” Blake writes. This section includes three easy meditations to facilitate waking up.
Chapters Five, Six, Seven and Eight integrate growing up and waking up to positively influence every area of one’s life.
Blake concludes that while a sound meditation practice requires courage and perseverance, according to considerable research the payoff is a longer and happier life.
“Like” the book on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CreativeToolkitofMeditations.
About the author
William W. Blake earned a B.A. in Sociology at the University of California at Berkeley and a Masters in Literature at San Francisco State University. For thirty-three years, he taught at a community college in an experiential and learner-centered fashion. In his last twenty years of instruction, over one hundred students published their research papers in recognized journals and magazines. Finding meditation a powerful source for transformative change, Blake has been involved in seven self-growth practices, including IAM Institute for Applied Meditation, Rinzai Zen koans, Vipassana meditation, Dogzen, and Eugene Gendlin’s Focusing.
A Creative Toolkit of Meditations
By William W. Blake
Hardcover [5.5 x 8.5] ISBN 9781452574417
Softcover [5.5 x 8.5] ISBN 9781452574394
E-Book ISBN 9781452574400
Available at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble