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

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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.

208 pages, Paperback

First published June 7, 2011

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Michael Stone

7 books29 followers
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
Profile Image for Frank Jude.
Author 3 books53 followers
October 23, 2013
I’ve taken my time working through Michael Stone’s Awake In The World, not because it’s a slog, but because it’s the kind of book that invites (at least for me) dipping in and sitting with. And that’s a good thing…

Back in the early 90s I wrote a cd’s worth of songs with titles like “I Don’t Care,” “That’s Not What I Meant; You Just Don’t Understand,” “Take Me Home (and Make Me Feel Better)” and “Lie To Me.” My friend Stuffy, a really great song-writer, was going to produce it. He said of my lyrics, “You’re from the Lou Reed, “I walked into the room, crossed the floor and sat in the chair” school of song-writing; no metaphors or similes.” He meant it as a compliment (I think), but deep inside I felt like my writing must suck, lacking as it did any “poetry.”

When I read Michael Stone’s work – or damn it, just listen to any of his recorded talks – I sometimes feel a bit of that same thing. Truth is, I am often impressed by his imagery and his layered, sometimes dense verbiage, and at other times I think it a bit too dense. I lose the thread of his meaning because I get entwined in his rhetoric. (I know, I just used a metaphor; as I’ve aged, maybe I’m touching my inner poet). I’m amazed there are people who think this way!

Now, before I offer any thoughts about what is contained in this text, I’ll come right out and say that I know Michael. Not well; we’ve actually only been in each other’s presence twice as far as I can recall. But we run in many of the same circles. He runs a bit faster and harder, (he’s younger, obviously a bit pitta) but our circles definitely overlap. And, as you might imagine, there’s also a lot of overlap in our teaching: particularly, we are both looking into ways of taking traditional teachings from buddhism and classical yoga and making them relevant in our contemporary world.

I’ve read all his books now, and contributed to his anthology, Freeing The Body, Freeing The Mind and my precept study course reads his book on yoga ethics, Yoga For A World Out Of Balance, so it should be obvious I really value his work. And I must add, I’ve philosophical differences that I do not wish to whitewash. I’ve shared them with Michael a various times through Facebook and email.

My biggest criticism of Michael’s approach is that I think he reads too much of Michael into his buddha and Patanjali. We all do this, to some degree or another, but when I became aware of this within myself, I began to take measures against such a tendency. I think Michael, like one of his mentors, Stephen Batchelor, find it easier to tweak the distasteful bits of the tradition to fit their own views than just maintain a respectful critical perspective. This is an over-arching criticism that runs through much of his work, so I won’t offer many examples, but point out that the following comes from page 4 of the current text under review:

“Pre-Buddhist and pre-Patanjali Yoga are both concerned with looking beyond the here and now for salvation, whether in the form of the atman (soul), jiva (eternal self), or Brahman (origin of the manifest).”

Now, the rest of the paragraph from which this comes speaks to something we both agree upon: the need to stop “looking outside of ourselves for salvation or liberation.” Yes, the buddha and Patanjali taught to work with the body, with what is arising here and now, but still, for both, as world-renouncing yogis, ultimate salvation came in nibbana for the buddha, and kaivalya for Patanjali. These dudes did not value this world, this body, this nature, in and for itself. Both seem to have espoused what Georg Feurstein called a verticalist model of practice: in his words, “In, Up, and Out!” I don’t think we need to whitewash this reality to find great inspiration in the practices they offered, however.

A second criticism I have is that I believe Michael at times falls into a monistic view (most likely influenced by his practice of zen, which has often fallen into this trap), speaking of us all “being one with all reality” as well as, for one hell of an intelligent thinker, his tendency to denigrate thought, conceptualization and even language (a real irony considering his own volume of published words). This streak of anti-thinking/anti-conceptualization is most certainly from zen and is one of the more destructive aspects of that tradition. Again, it’s an irony often pointed out that for a tradition that seems not to value language, conceptual thinking and writing, zen has what may be the most extensive literary tradition! Thinking should never be seen as an enemy of yoga (practice OR the ‘state’) as it so often is as in the rhetoric of immediacy zen promulgates repeatedly. There is no such thing – and cannot be such a thing – as unmediated, direct experience of reality. As neural beings, such an experience is impossible, though many spiritual traditions harp on and on about it!

Many zen teachers talk of intimacy in a very polymorphous way as a kind of merger or dissolution of subject and object into a state of undifferentiated oneness. This is infantile and impossible. True intimacy requires differentiation. Relationship involves at least two, but what can happen is that we grow into inter-subjectivity: two “beings” relating to one another as subjects rather than as subject and object (and even here there are many of us who will vouch for the erotic strategy of playing with objectifying oneself or one’s partner). This is the foundation for mature relationship. I am not you; you are not me. And we are not separate.

Now, the irony is I, think – I cannot be sure – that Michael mostly means this as well. However, sometimes his language gets the better of his thinking and it becomes less than clear about this. Any talk of “pure awareness” as that which he enters into in “The Realization of Intimacy” is fraught with danger because I would argue there is no such thing. Purusha (which means “person” after all), despite what Michael says on page 21, most definitely does refer to an individual entity – whether one wants to call it a ‘soul’ or not is a bit beside the point.

A good example of where his monist streak shows is on page 47:

“Though your thoughts happen in unique configurations because of your past, your conditioning, and your DNA, it’s also interesting to see that these thoughts are all a process of the great mind, the transpersonal, interpersonal world in mind.”

Zen is filled with talk about “Mind,” “Original Mind,” “Big Mind” and other substantialist claptrap that really only serves as a stand-in for Brahman. Michael may be speaking metaphorically here, but I think it’s a dangerous metaphor. And one I don’t believe that can be founded on early buddhist tradition (nor Patanjali) though it is replete in the corruptions brought to buddhism by Chinese indigenous thought.

For a concise example of his transcendentalist leanings, I suggest reading “Ontario Snow Lineage.” It is this essay that I’ve penned the most marginalia in my copy of the book as a running argument with what he has to say.

And then, in both his “Preface” and his “Conclusion,” he speaks of wishing to instigate and participate in “a community-based inquiry,” and that “these teachings come from a nonhierarchical approach to teaching that replaces the teacher/expert at the front of the room and the student/seeker as audience with a democratic ‘open-source’ style of learning where lectures give way to open debate and group practice.”

Sadly, I cannot say that that kind of conversation comes across in this text. Perhaps the original settings these talks took place in did indeed involve such exchange; if so, this text unfortunately does not reflect it. Rather, Michael does often come across as “teacher/expert” with often sweeping generalizations and pronouncements as when he speaks of “The highest goal of modern Yoga” pointing out “how there is a natural intimacy embedded within everything no matter how large or small….” Aside from the fact that to speak of an intimacy embedded within everything seems like an awkward linguistic/conceptual phrase, there just may be some who disagree as to what the “highest goal of modern Yoga” might actually be! I’d suggest a bit more “I think…” or “I would argue…” before pontificating on how things are or should be.

I hope this all doesn’t come across as nit-picking or overly harsh. As I’ve said, if I didn’t respect Michael and his work, I’d not assign his books to my students nor would I take the time to write such an extended review. There are many places in the book where I’ve nothing but check-marks, and “well said” alongside his words. Perhaps someday the two of us can sit within a circle of practitioners and argue (not as in fight, but as the word “argue” is used in philosophy) our way to true intimacy. I’d like that.
Profile Image for Guy.
360 reviews59 followers
March 8, 2023
A few months ago my and my partner's interest in Buddhism was rekindled by the serendipitous/synchronistic finding of Natalie Goldberg's journey into Buddhism in her lovely book, Long Quiet Highway: Waking Up in America,. And so my partner went to the library to get some books on Buddhism and asked a librarian where the Buddhist section is. It just happened that the library had focused on Buddhism that month and had a good display of a diverse range of Buddhism books on display.

And so we were introduced to Michael Stone. And what an introduction! His writing is strong, deep, beautiful, thoughtful, thought provoking, inspiring, poetical, encouraging, embracing and heartfelt. This book was filled with synchronicities in our yoga practice and on-line meetings. I quoted from it to my on-line yoga community. And like with Goldberg's Long Quiet Highway it helped my partner through what was a challenging Kundalini experience. Before the book was due back at the library a second time, my partner bought the book.

The twenty chapters are a compilation of lectures and teaching sessions spanning 2004 to 2010. They have been beautifully and powerfully organized in five themes: Practicing Inward and Outward; Body, Mind, and the Natural World; Formal Practice; Grounded in the World; Encouragement and Conclusions.

Stone shares with huge intelligence and heart how to live a life of becoming a better human. Or, as I heard it phrased this morning, slightly paraphrased, 'recovery [from trauma] is the sacred path back to our hearts'.

I reread much of the book while reading it, although Chapter Thirteen 'Waves and Water: Form and Freedom' and Chapter Fourteen 'Encouragement on Retreat' I likely re-read more than three times each. The re-reading wasn't because Stone's writing is difficult to understand, but because somehow the understanding just kept expanding like ripples from a rock thrown into a quiet pond. My mind/body/spirit wanted to breathe the words in more deeply with each read.
NAMES AND FORM
The mind is constantly caught up in the identity of name (nama) and form (rupa). This is good. The initial differentiation that comes through naming things is very helpful. Name has to do with our conditioning of each and every moment. Name doesn't just constitute something in language but has to do with our feelings about things, the meaning we give things, the way we focus on a particular task. So the way we name things has more to do with idiom or character. The rupa in nama-rupa refers to organic matter (the matter that enters into the composition of the living being). So rupa is a material form that refers to the four primary elements of matter: earth or solidity, fire or heat, water or cohesion, air or movement.

So when we sit [in meditation], we can experience the moment-to-moment impermanent nature of all the elements. We have the heat, the air, the water, the thoughts, and the feelings. So what elements can you truly consider to be your own body if you truly look at it just as elements arising and passing away on a moment-to-moment level? Try to grasp hold of any one of those elements, try to hang on to one, just one sensation in the body, and say "That is me". It is impermanent. When we contemplate the body, we can experience that microscopic level of that constant change and flux, bubbles atoms. And we can experience this directly. There is no permanent, separate entity called "self" there in all those elements. And that constant changing, that state of flux, is what we mean by waves and water being mutually dependent.

Underneath the names we give forms, the natural world moves forward in its own patterning. The rivers are in compliance with the spring — we heard the rushing last night. The snow has melted and now the birds are spreading their little voices everywhere....

Where is the nose? Where is the body? Where is the self? Of course we can tag the location of these "things," but when we look into the body with our eyes closed, we slice the awareness thinner and thinner until we can see that sensations do not arise in the body at all. They arise in awareness. There is no thing that is body. Body is a shifting flow in time and space. This frees us. We can get so locked into thinking that there is something called Michael in this body, Sharon in her body, Simone in her body. But what are all these bodies? Grasping and rejecting both give rise to suffering. We can understand that. There is way out of this contraction, but this is not something to believe. Rather than believing Patanjali, we employ his technique, we embody the teachings, so that we can see.

So much of our self-generated human suffering is believing the language that we use (p90-1).
The last chapter, "Suicide and Encouragement" has so much heart in it that I feel certain that Stone has wrestled with the suicide demon. That was something I would have denied, until recently, as having had an extended presence in my life. And my desire to write Stone, which happened often throughout Awake, and especially with "Suicide" will go unwritten. Stone died of an accidental drug overdose in 2017.
After many years of Yoga study, practice, and teaching, many of the assumptions I've held in my work as a psychotherapist have been brought to the surface — often in unsettling ways — through my struggle to integrate Yoga and Western psychology. While Yoga philosophy and Western psychology have much to learn from each other, what interests me is where they don't quite fit together smoothly. It's the gaps between systems that we find fertile ground for exploration.

Yogic teachings on the fear of death (ahinivesia) have been very instructive in understanding the way we hold on to narratives about ourselves that reinforce and entrench feelings of alienation and suffering. While this is often readily apparent in others, it is also apparent in my view of others. Psychological diagnoses and pathology, while serving to help me to recognize who and what I am working with, also serve to create separation in a space where intimacy is of paramount importance. Trying to be a good therapist or a helpful teacher can actually get in the way of healing (p151-2).
Five stars and a book to be read and re-read.
Profile Image for Erin.
699 reviews19 followers
July 18, 2011
Before starting this, I knew nothing about Michael Stone, but this turns out to be a series of essays he's written around the world (nice life!) about his musings on yoga, Buddhism, and faith. Stone says some profound things that I really enjoyed (one that stuck with me is how yoga encourages you to let go of your secrets to live a more honest life, and I've personally seen how much relief occurs when this happens, even with non-yogis), but most of his writing (which he admits) is quite academic and not particularly relatable. I need more practical words about inherently difficult topics to understand them better, so this just wasn't my thing. And also, it was a little all over the place. I think he knows of what he speaks, he just didn't quite speak to me. But I'm giving him a B for effort!
Profile Image for Sian Lile-Pastore.
1,455 reviews178 followers
June 18, 2016
Love the way Michael Stone writes - these essays are about yoga and Buddhism, but also so much more. The main theme I got from this is how yoga needs to be rooted in the everyday - you can't just become completely obsessed about yoga and asana and meditation without balance, groundedness and being of the world too. Stone is fascinating, I reckon even if you had just a casual interest in yoga, you'd get something from these essays.
Profile Image for Alex.
1 review1 follower
October 20, 2013
Wonderul, inspiring book to use yoga and buddhist teachings throughout your whole life, to be a force for good in the world.. loved it! A book i can see myself dipping into time and again.
Profile Image for Lulu.
45 reviews7 followers
April 27, 2021
Poetic activism and rebellious with a cause.

It was moving to finally get a chance to read Michael Stone’s work. His words seem to flow off the page and become practicality applicable to everyday life. Worth the read for every aspiring yogi or Buddhist practitioner.
Profile Image for Lisa Marie.
101 reviews2 followers
June 21, 2022
A deep and thoughtful series of essays that I will be revisiting.
Profile Image for Paula.
367 reviews13 followers
June 30, 2011
Like a yogic Annie Dillard, Michael Stone combines intellectual rigor with spiritual understanding. On top of that he's got a deep knowledge and respect for asana practice that never bleeds over to body worship.
2,685 reviews
November 29, 2012
This is a series of lectures on yoga. He talks a lot about yoga and ethics, which is most useful to me.
27 reviews1 follower
May 31, 2013
Excellent blend of Zen and Yoga. You can see similarities and the dharma talks make sense in a current world. Engaged Buddhism and a fresh perspective. I enjoyed it and will re-read it.
Profile Image for Deb Benfield.
17 reviews31 followers
January 5, 2016
Beautiful,powerful book which I will pick up again and again.
Profile Image for Kelsey.
92 reviews11 followers
July 5, 2014
This book was kind of hard to get through for me but it had a few moments that made it worthwhile. It was also an interesting book to read in conjunction with learning yoga.
200 reviews2 followers
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February 24, 2018
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.
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