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A 12-Week Mindfulness Program for Yoga Practitioners Moving into Meditation
Moving into Meditation is a practical and inspiring guide to integrating mindful yoga and embodied meditation, in a 12-week format.
One week at a time, Moving into Meditation lays out a plan for exploring body-based practices to get you more in tune with not only your limbs and core but your mind and heart. Cushman's curriculum integrates asana with mindfulness meditation to help practitioners turn "embodiment" from a concept into a tangible reality. Her insightful mixture of practices, yoga history, and Buddhist philosophy are made relevant to your present-day life. Personal stories from the "trenches" of decades of practice and teaching add color; Cushman's characteristic poetic and funny voice makes all readers feel that much more human. Cushman believes--and experience proves--that by becoming better attuned to and acquainted with the body, the physical forms become a vehicle for becoming more intimate with yourself and your world. From there, we can explore and embody the teachings of the Buddha for a more awakened life.
In recent years, "mindfulness" has blasted into mainstream culture much as yoga did two decades ago, making "mindful yoga" an appealing trend. But how does mindful yoga evolve from a buzz-worthy concept to a lived experience? How do yoga asanas and pranayama support and express the practice of meditation? How do you explore the teachings of the Buddha through the vehicle of your own living, breathing, human body?
As we quickly learn, the practices are inherently entwined. Experienced yoga and meditation teacher Anne Cushman answers all these questions and more in Moving into Meditation , teaching us to deepen our asana practices with mindfulness meditation and enhance our meditation practice with asana. With compassion, humor, and deep intelligence, Moving into Meditation guides us through integrating mind, body, and spirit practices for a wide-awake life.
One week at a time, Moving into Meditation lays out a plan for exploring body-based practices to get you more in tune with not only your limbs and core but your mind and heart. Cushman's curriculum integrates asana with mindfulness meditation to help practitioners turn "embodiment" from a concept into a tangible reality. Her insightful mixture of practices, yoga history, and Buddhist philosophy are made relevant to your present-day life. Personal stories from the "trenches" of decades of practice and teaching add color; Cushman's characteristic poetic and funny voice makes all readers feel that much more human. Cushman believes--and experience proves--that by becoming better attuned to and acquainted with the body, the physical forms become a vehicle for becoming more intimate with yourself and your world. From there, we can explore and embody the teachings of the Buddha for a more awakened life.
In recent years, "mindfulness" has blasted into mainstream culture much as yoga did two decades ago, making "mindful yoga" an appealing trend. But how does mindful yoga evolve from a buzz-worthy concept to a lived experience? How do yoga asanas and pranayama support and express the practice of meditation? How do you explore the teachings of the Buddha through the vehicle of your own living, breathing, human body?
As we quickly learn, the practices are inherently entwined. Experienced yoga and meditation teacher Anne Cushman answers all these questions and more in Moving into Meditation , teaching us to deepen our asana practices with mindfulness meditation and enhance our meditation practice with asana. With compassion, humor, and deep intelligence, Moving into Meditation guides us through integrating mind, body, and spirit practices for a wide-awake life.
Unknown Binding
First published July 8, 2014
45 people are currently reading
159 people want to read
About the author
Anne Cushman
14 books28 followers As a writer and teacher of yoga and Buddhist meditation, Anne Cushman explores the poignant intersection between the inspirational ideals of spiritual practice and the gritty, comical, chaotic, and heartbreaking details of ordinary life.
Anne has been investigating the relationship between Eastern spiritual traditions and contemporary Western life for more than 25 years. She graduated from Princeton University with a BA in comparative religion in 1984, and her work includes the NEH-funded documentary Zen Center: Portrait of an American Zen Community (1986); the nonfiction “spiritual India” guidebook From Here to Nirvana (1998); and the novel Enlightenment for Idiots (2008), which was named by Booklist as one of the “Top Ten First Novels” of the year. Her book Moving Into Meditation: A 12-Week Mindfulness Program for Yoga Practitioners will be published by Shambhala in 2014.
Anne is a longtime contributor and former editor at both Yoga Journal and Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. Her personal essays have also appeared in the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, O: The Oprah Magazine, Salon.com, New Woman, and the Shambhala Sun. Her work has been anthologized in Best Buddhist Writing 2004 and 2006; Best Women’s Spiritual Travel Writing; Traveling Souls: Contemporary Pilgrimage Tales; and other books.
Anne’s yoga and meditation background includes extensive training across multiple schools of yoga since 1985, including Iyengar, Ashtanga, Kripalu, Insight Yoga, and many other styles. She has practiced Buddhist meditation since 1983 in both the Zen and vipassana traditions, and is the co-director of the Mindfulness Yoga and Meditation Training Program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California, where she is also a graduate of the Community Dharma Leader program.
Anne teaches yoga as a support for and an expression of embodied meditative presence. Through sensitive, flowing practice, she invites her students to relax and enliven their bodies, open their hearts, and unwind the physical and energetic obstacles that prevent them from touching their true nature—in the midst of their ordinary and miraculous human lives.
She lives in Fairfax, California, with her twelve-year-old son, Skye Hawthorne.
Anne has been investigating the relationship between Eastern spiritual traditions and contemporary Western life for more than 25 years. She graduated from Princeton University with a BA in comparative religion in 1984, and her work includes the NEH-funded documentary Zen Center: Portrait of an American Zen Community (1986); the nonfiction “spiritual India” guidebook From Here to Nirvana (1998); and the novel Enlightenment for Idiots (2008), which was named by Booklist as one of the “Top Ten First Novels” of the year. Her book Moving Into Meditation: A 12-Week Mindfulness Program for Yoga Practitioners will be published by Shambhala in 2014.
Anne is a longtime contributor and former editor at both Yoga Journal and Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. Her personal essays have also appeared in the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, O: The Oprah Magazine, Salon.com, New Woman, and the Shambhala Sun. Her work has been anthologized in Best Buddhist Writing 2004 and 2006; Best Women’s Spiritual Travel Writing; Traveling Souls: Contemporary Pilgrimage Tales; and other books.
Anne’s yoga and meditation background includes extensive training across multiple schools of yoga since 1985, including Iyengar, Ashtanga, Kripalu, Insight Yoga, and many other styles. She has practiced Buddhist meditation since 1983 in both the Zen and vipassana traditions, and is the co-director of the Mindfulness Yoga and Meditation Training Program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California, where she is also a graduate of the Community Dharma Leader program.
Anne teaches yoga as a support for and an expression of embodied meditative presence. Through sensitive, flowing practice, she invites her students to relax and enliven their bodies, open their hearts, and unwind the physical and energetic obstacles that prevent them from touching their true nature—in the midst of their ordinary and miraculous human lives.
She lives in Fairfax, California, with her twelve-year-old son, Skye Hawthorne.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 26, 2017
This is a well-written and thoughtful path to unite meditation with your physical yoga (asana) practice. Each week focuses on a theme and offers wisdom and instructions for implementing related yoga and meditation techniques into the exploration of the topic. The experience of this book would have been significantly better with an easily-accessible and complete audio playlist for every practice. In the absence of that, what is written is really good.
March 28, 2018
Having read this book all the way through I find that I both enjoyed it and will have to go back and revisit several of her excorsises at a later date.
I'm don't practice yoga regularly but I do enjoy it on occasion. Even if you simply dabble in yoga or meditation or both you might want to give this a read through. She also give further reading recommendations and online links to guided practices which can be helpful.
I'm don't practice yoga regularly but I do enjoy it on occasion. Even if you simply dabble in yoga or meditation or both you might want to give this a read through. She also give further reading recommendations and online links to guided practices which can be helpful.
May 22, 2017
Amazing! I will come back to this again many times!
Want to read
February 20, 2020Spirit Rock YTT required reading
March 8, 2020
Phenomenal library book that I’m already buying and planning to read again.
June 23, 2021
20210601 ◊ Truly lovely writing, but the actual program is unrealistically ambitious unless you're willing and able to make it the main focus of your life. After letting go of the suggested schedule, I learned quite a lot! I challenged myself to slow down, felt both intimidated and inspired, and came away with much food for thought. This book deserves multiple visits, and I look forward to them.
June 30, 2014
Moving Into Meditation by Anne Cushman
An e-advance copy of this book was made available by Shambhala Publications and NetGalley.com.
Anne Cushman merges the latest wave of interest in yoga fitness with the peaceful sense of self found in a deep meditation practice. She has written a cogent 12 week program that offers step-by-step methods to develop a deepening awareness of self in heart, body and mind. Her humorous style and clear step-by-step descriptions guide a yoga practitioner through a union of mind and body.
The core strength of the book is in the development of a "mindful" experience. Mindfulness is shown as enrichment to every activity from pleasure to pain control.
Her text is sprinkled with references to online videos and guidance forming a well blended method of self-directed growth. The book begins by providing an interesting history of yoga and its deeply spiritual nature. The author shares her knowledge and experiences that will help devotees enhance every aspect of their lives.
Although the book is written for everyone, those with some familiarity to yoga asanas and pranayama will benefit the most.
I rated this book with only 3 stars because I feel it can't truly stand alone without the online help. There are portions of the book that would be better served with illustrations. My advance copy did not include these. If the book is released with instructional graphics I would upgrade my approval to four stars in a heartbeat!
An e-advance copy of this book was made available by Shambhala Publications and NetGalley.com.
Anne Cushman merges the latest wave of interest in yoga fitness with the peaceful sense of self found in a deep meditation practice. She has written a cogent 12 week program that offers step-by-step methods to develop a deepening awareness of self in heart, body and mind. Her humorous style and clear step-by-step descriptions guide a yoga practitioner through a union of mind and body.
The core strength of the book is in the development of a "mindful" experience. Mindfulness is shown as enrichment to every activity from pleasure to pain control.
Her text is sprinkled with references to online videos and guidance forming a well blended method of self-directed growth. The book begins by providing an interesting history of yoga and its deeply spiritual nature. The author shares her knowledge and experiences that will help devotees enhance every aspect of their lives.
Although the book is written for everyone, those with some familiarity to yoga asanas and pranayama will benefit the most.
I rated this book with only 3 stars because I feel it can't truly stand alone without the online help. There are portions of the book that would be better served with illustrations. My advance copy did not include these. If the book is released with instructional graphics I would upgrade my approval to four stars in a heartbeat!
July 11, 2015
Cushman presents a 12 week Mindfulness program for Yoga practitoners. Each week she offers a yoga program that brings the body into motion, breathing practices, and meditation practices that brings the body into awareness (be it sitting, standing or walking variety) She also includes weekly suggestions for embracing the practices in your daily life as well as weekly resources including authors, videos, and websites.
skimmed
May 20, 2015Flipped through and partially read a public library copy - I really appreciated the author's voice and honesty in describing her own practice. After we finish the Jon Kabat-Zinn 8-week Mindfulness program (from his book Full Catastrophe Living), I can see this book as a really good next step.
October 3, 2016
A great program for the beginner meditator on how to create a meditation program, but this one is specifically shaped towards yogis.
October 29, 2016
This is a twelve week program. I learned some good meditation techniques. Some are easier said than done.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews