What do you think?
Rate this book
Soul-Centered: Transform Your Life in 8 Weeks with Meditation
Soul-Centered: Transform Your Life in 8 Weeks with Meditation presents a secular, mainstream view of meditation and applies it practically as a tool for personal transformation. Each week’s lesson in the 8-week program contains a key for navigating the journey of self-awareness, and each week’s meditation practice builds on those of the previous weeks, making the process accessible and enjoyable for novices and experts alike. Inspiring stories from Sarah’s own experience and from the students she’s taught in her 20-year career as a meditation teacher further enrich the text. Her approach is grounded in leading-edge brain research that shows meditating for 27 minutes a day over 8 weeks can make a huge difference by altering the gray matter in areas of the brain that govern learning, memory, empathy, and stress.
Each of the lessons in the 8-week program is designed to provide a structure for creating a successful and sustainable meditation practice. As the readers build their meditation practice, they learn to undo stressful habits that don’t serve them, cultivate compassion for themselves and others, and listen to and trust their inner wisdom.
The Soul-Centered journey is one of finding out who you really are; navigating your life based on that peaceful, loving, wise part of yourself; then fully and fearlessly expressing yourself in the world.
Each of the lessons in the 8-week program is designed to provide a structure for creating a successful and sustainable meditation practice. As the readers build their meditation practice, they learn to undo stressful habits that don’t serve them, cultivate compassion for themselves and others, and listen to and trust their inner wisdom.
The Soul-Centered journey is one of finding out who you really are; navigating your life based on that peaceful, loving, wise part of yourself; then fully and fearlessly expressing yourself in the world.
191 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2012
52 people are currently reading
235 people want to read
About the author
Sarah McLean
20 books40 followersSarah McLean is a contemporary meditation expert and author of Soul-Centered: Transform Your Life in 8 Weeks with Meditation (Hay House, 2012). Sarah teaches meditation classes and facilitates self-discovery retreats worldwide. She's worked with some of today's great mind-body experts, including Deepak Chopra, Byron Katie, Debbie Ford, and Gary Zukav. She's lived and studied in a Zen Buddhist monastery, meditated in ashrams and temples throughout India and the Far East, spent time in Afghan refugee camps, bicycled the Silk Route from Pakistan to China, trekked the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia, and taught English to Tibetan Buddhist Nuns in Dharamsala. Her clients include: Proctor & Gamble, Perry Ellis International, Banner Health Care Hi-Health Vitamin Stores, Solis Womens Health Care, The Young Presidents Organization, Miraval Resort, Red Mountain Spa, Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants, and Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Sarah is the founding director of the Sedona Meditation Training Company, and The McLean Meditation Institute, educational companies offering meditation training, self-discovery retreats and teacher training certification programs that have transformed thousands of lives. For more information, visit www.mcleanmeditation.com.
Sarah is the founding director of the Sedona Meditation Training Company, and The McLean Meditation Institute, educational companies offering meditation training, self-discovery retreats and teacher training certification programs that have transformed thousands of lives. For more information, visit www.mcleanmeditation.com.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 9, 2021
Years ago I was practicing Zen meditation (Soto) and then I stopped.
I have tried since then to start meditating again without any consistency.
This book in its simplicity gave me the tools to start again,
now I am in week 6 of meditating daily for 30 minutes and this has become my first priority, daily.
I cannot tell you how beneficial it is.
This book gives you practical tools to work on your awareness, self-acceptance, compassion, creativity, intuition and love and peace and kindness.
I have read many books on the topics and this is really unique.
I am really thankful to the author for the beautiful knowledge she decided to share in such a empathetic and gentle voice.
I have tried since then to start meditating again without any consistency.
This book in its simplicity gave me the tools to start again,
now I am in week 6 of meditating daily for 30 minutes and this has become my first priority, daily.
I cannot tell you how beneficial it is.
This book gives you practical tools to work on your awareness, self-acceptance, compassion, creativity, intuition and love and peace and kindness.
I have read many books on the topics and this is really unique.
I am really thankful to the author for the beautiful knowledge she decided to share in such a empathetic and gentle voice.
August 7, 2012
Won on Goodreads in May 2012.
I'm glad I did win this because I need to find some relaxation/ meditation techniques for my anxiety, cause by my PhD work, as suggested by my doctor. I will preface this with that I have not done the meditations yet, I will be soon, but I did as the suggested in the book and read through the whole thing once and then will go back to it when actually applying it. My second preface is that I have all of the spirituality of a dead stump, raised without that and without religion. So whatever spirituality mentioned in the book either flies over my head or makes me shake my head. The author is spiritual and assumes everyone is. I'll see what happens when I actually do the exercises so I'm withholding judgement there.
Writing itself is fluid and easy to read. A couple of typos that I saw.
What I liked is that it makes meditation very accessible for most. The exercises are not too time intensive and options are given for those with more limited time. So that gives some leeway for those that don't have the more standard schedules or abilities. The author emphasizes that it's ok to make mistakes and there is no truly correct way. The importance is in not forcing things to happen and not have guilt when things don't go a certain way. Again this book doesn't force feed spirituality as much as many other meditation practices do.
Now while this is a wonderful meditation primer that is somewhat general it does have it's biases. It is very affluent/middle class centric when it comes to examples in the way it assumes that jobs can be left easily and people are working one job at a time, even if it is overworking at it. People who have multiple jobs or cannot easily change their situations due to family or other obligations may get a bit put off by the examples, though not most the exercises themselves.
There is one very small mention of people who would have physical difficulties completing certain things. It would have been nice to mention more possible options in adjustment they could make to make the exercises more accessible. For example the food exercise where you take whatever food is offered is just not possible if you have allergies, unless you are specifically going to a place where only safe food is served (not always easy).
Walking meditation and silence are not as feasible in a city where parks are not easy to get to and not paying attention when crossing the street would get you killed. This may produce those guilt feelings from those not able to do the exercises, that the author so wants to avoid. It's lovely to be able to move where ever but not always possible. Not everyone has the support network to help them through if they want to move or even take time off. The examples mentioned were all at points where they could safely leave whatever they were doing or change it without repercussions. People with less experience at the start of their career have less options. Some encouraging words there would have been nice. From personal experience, those who are in their PhD study have little option of leaving/ changing much (without quitting, which is not an option if it is your dream) and would really benefit from meditation practice.
The rise early mention would affect the people who have sleep delay. In addition it also shows that the author has not lived anywhere near the arctic where this does not work in the least with white nights and arctic winter. I can tell you from personal experience that the early morning shades open thing does not work so well when the sun rises at 12 pm and keeping the shades open when there is midnight sun is not going to help you sleep any.
Again, I do like the book. The things I pointed out would have been wonderful to see addressed, maybe in a later book. The author writes from her own view and that will always be limited to what one experienced in their life. I did ask my husband to read it as well and wouldn't mind recommending it to people, just not everyone.
I am giving the book 5 stars, though if there were an option I'd give 4.5 due to the above issues. It's good, but not yet great.
I'm glad I did win this because I need to find some relaxation/ meditation techniques for my anxiety, cause by my PhD work, as suggested by my doctor. I will preface this with that I have not done the meditations yet, I will be soon, but I did as the suggested in the book and read through the whole thing once and then will go back to it when actually applying it. My second preface is that I have all of the spirituality of a dead stump, raised without that and without religion. So whatever spirituality mentioned in the book either flies over my head or makes me shake my head. The author is spiritual and assumes everyone is. I'll see what happens when I actually do the exercises so I'm withholding judgement there.
Writing itself is fluid and easy to read. A couple of typos that I saw.
What I liked is that it makes meditation very accessible for most. The exercises are not too time intensive and options are given for those with more limited time. So that gives some leeway for those that don't have the more standard schedules or abilities. The author emphasizes that it's ok to make mistakes and there is no truly correct way. The importance is in not forcing things to happen and not have guilt when things don't go a certain way. Again this book doesn't force feed spirituality as much as many other meditation practices do.
Now while this is a wonderful meditation primer that is somewhat general it does have it's biases. It is very affluent/middle class centric when it comes to examples in the way it assumes that jobs can be left easily and people are working one job at a time, even if it is overworking at it. People who have multiple jobs or cannot easily change their situations due to family or other obligations may get a bit put off by the examples, though not most the exercises themselves.
There is one very small mention of people who would have physical difficulties completing certain things. It would have been nice to mention more possible options in adjustment they could make to make the exercises more accessible. For example the food exercise where you take whatever food is offered is just not possible if you have allergies, unless you are specifically going to a place where only safe food is served (not always easy).
Walking meditation and silence are not as feasible in a city where parks are not easy to get to and not paying attention when crossing the street would get you killed. This may produce those guilt feelings from those not able to do the exercises, that the author so wants to avoid. It's lovely to be able to move where ever but not always possible. Not everyone has the support network to help them through if they want to move or even take time off. The examples mentioned were all at points where they could safely leave whatever they were doing or change it without repercussions. People with less experience at the start of their career have less options. Some encouraging words there would have been nice. From personal experience, those who are in their PhD study have little option of leaving/ changing much (without quitting, which is not an option if it is your dream) and would really benefit from meditation practice.
The rise early mention would affect the people who have sleep delay. In addition it also shows that the author has not lived anywhere near the arctic where this does not work in the least with white nights and arctic winter. I can tell you from personal experience that the early morning shades open thing does not work so well when the sun rises at 12 pm and keeping the shades open when there is midnight sun is not going to help you sleep any.
Again, I do like the book. The things I pointed out would have been wonderful to see addressed, maybe in a later book. The author writes from her own view and that will always be limited to what one experienced in their life. I did ask my husband to read it as well and wouldn't mind recommending it to people, just not everyone.
I am giving the book 5 stars, though if there were an option I'd give 4.5 due to the above issues. It's good, but not yet great.
August 20, 2013
This book was life changing for me!
It took me awhile to get through it, because I practiced the guided meditation exercises that Sarah McLean taught in the book.
I was able to connect with my soul for the first time ever, and my mind was able to receive information from my soul's perspective. That was an amazing experience!
Thank you Sarah Mclean for sharing your wisdom and knowledge about our soul.
It took me awhile to get through it, because I practiced the guided meditation exercises that Sarah McLean taught in the book.
I was able to connect with my soul for the first time ever, and my mind was able to receive information from my soul's perspective. That was an amazing experience!
Thank you Sarah Mclean for sharing your wisdom and knowledge about our soul.
Want to read
May 2, 2012Book won on Goodreads.com on 5-1-12.
May 2, 2019
I’m a huge fan of both the author and the book!
April 17, 2020
Excellent step by step guidance over an eight week period for daily meditations.
Author recommends reading through book once and then going back to start the suggested weekly meditations.
Author recommends reading through book once and then going back to start the suggested weekly meditations.
October 5, 2018
I had read some interesting benefits to meditation and been recommended this book, and I am SO glad I read it. I reference it all the time. My top recommendation for anyone looking to start meditating. She takes you day by day through an 8 week program of meditations with full instructions on how to do them and the benefits that come along with them.
Some examples of the meditations within are:
Breath Awareness
Body Awareness
Mantra Meditation
Visualizations
Self-Inquiry
Loving Your Body
Delectable Eating
Read this.
Some examples of the meditations within are:
Breath Awareness
Body Awareness
Mantra Meditation
Visualizations
Self-Inquiry
Loving Your Body
Delectable Eating
Read this.
August 19, 2012
McLean takes a topic that seems overwhelming and makes it understandable and compelling. I had thought of meditation before; even bought a couple books - but never did it. This book is different. This book makes meditation possible for anyone. Thanks to Sarah for sharing her life experience and giving us the oppportunity to benefit from meditation.
December 3, 2015
This is a GREAT read - Sarah is such a wonderful teacher. After reading this book, I attended Sarah's Meditation Teachers Academy and became a certified meditation and mindfulness teacher. I now teach meditation full time in the Metrowest Boston area and mentor international students who are in Sarah's 200-hour meditation certification course so they too can become meditation teachers!
December 29, 2012
Loved this book. Well written instructions for making meditation a part of your life. There are some great interviews of Sarah on youtube discussing meditation which reinforces the information in her book.
January 26, 2013
Currently reading. It is an 8 week program to adding meditation to your daily routine. I do meditate frequently already, just not consistently. However, this is more than meditation. Right now we are focusing on living in the present moment. Awesome!
August 22, 2014
Excellent for beginners to meditation
Well written
Easy to follow and learn the way to peace
Well written
Easy to follow and learn the way to peace
July 18, 2015
Zen in a paperback
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews