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Calm
When you need to keep your cool...learn to laugh down your fears at Halloween. Send your worries to Guatemalan worry dolls to look after for you. Step outside yourself at a Venetian masquerade ball. Focus on a single target like a Bhutanese archer. Access theta brain waves with Malian drumming. Become one with your natural environment like an Inuit kayaker. All around the world people find ways to contend with the stresses of daily life. Here are fifty of these calming cultural secrets as well as methods for applying them at home.
- GenresTravelNonfiction
128 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
4 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Lonely Planet
3,677 books886 followersOUR STORY
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 3, 2017
A nice book to read which is easy to understand, but I learnt a little about some traditions and leisure pursuits, such as Mormon journal writing, Russian poustinias, Chinese water calligraphy, the burning of Zozobra, Turkish wishing trees, and slacklining. There are a few foreign words in there which are interesting, too.
October 12, 2021
Not bad laaa, mostly saya pernah dengar cara untuk tenangkan diri. Ada juga yang tak pernah dengar contohnya West African djembe drumming. Masquerade Ball, ten days leading to Shrove Tuesday originated in Venice Italy, ini pun dikira sebagai cara cari ketenangan? Shopping the great Singapore Sale originated in Singapore pun?
April 15, 2020
3.5 stars.
October 29, 2023
You'll learn a few things about other cultures but the ideas itself are nothing new.
May 7, 2025
Pleasant informative light reading while waiting to board a flight.
June 13, 2021
It was a very brief but insightful reading, it felt like I was given 5 minutes essays about a peculiar tradition of a country. I enjoyed it but some of them felt a bit of a stretch to make them fit into a "calm" narrative. Nevertheless, a good book.
January 30, 2016
This tiny book (pocket-sized) offers some real wisdom about creating calm in your life. Taken from cultures around the globe, it celebrates the ways in which we can slow down, take stock, celebrate, enjoy others' company or just being alone. Each single-page suggestion focuses on the practice of a cultural group, with a link to modern day life.
In a world that is driven by multi-tasking, constant bombardment of advertising messages, instant connection via cell phone and Internet, it's nice to remember that simpler can be better. Finding calm, slowing down to think, connecting to loved ones and community are all things that still have value in this world, however little time it seems we have.
This is a great book to have on the road or at home. There's little new in the wisdom offered up, but many things we have likely forgotten about the joys of life. It's good to remind ourselves and try and put some more of the suggestions on offer in "Calm" back into our lives. We could all do with a little more serenity these days
In a world that is driven by multi-tasking, constant bombardment of advertising messages, instant connection via cell phone and Internet, it's nice to remember that simpler can be better. Finding calm, slowing down to think, connecting to loved ones and community are all things that still have value in this world, however little time it seems we have.
This is a great book to have on the road or at home. There's little new in the wisdom offered up, but many things we have likely forgotten about the joys of life. It's good to remind ourselves and try and put some more of the suggestions on offer in "Calm" back into our lives. We could all do with a little more serenity these days
January 15, 2015
I'm a fan of the'Lonely Planet' travel guides so I was merrily anticipating enjoying this read. Whilst it does relate a number of calming techniques from different areas, the focus of the prose is on the techniques themselves rather than the cultures from which they come - not what I was expecting.
If you are looking for some inner-zen type ideas (complete with modern equivalents of practices that may not be entirely practical in the modern Western World) then this will probably be quite an easy an enlightening read.
If, like me, you judged the book on the blurb (I know, I know rookie error) and thought this would contain more historical and cultural information, then this might not be for you.
Beautifully presented though with accompanying illustrations that are about the aesthetic- not practical diagrams.
If you are looking for some inner-zen type ideas (complete with modern equivalents of practices that may not be entirely practical in the modern Western World) then this will probably be quite an easy an enlightening read.
If, like me, you judged the book on the blurb (I know, I know rookie error) and thought this would contain more historical and cultural information, then this might not be for you.
Beautifully presented though with accompanying illustrations that are about the aesthetic- not practical diagrams.
October 9, 2015
'm pleased I got this Lonely Planet Pocket Book, a collection of 50 methods from different cultures that aids growth of reflection and spirituality. Understandably the list is inconsistent, it is more like a set of activities, practices, sometimes just information on certain unique cultural practices ( say siesta)
The book is divided into themes: Nature, Rhythm, Sharing, Focus, under which different cultural practices are classified. I found it quite informative and light read, more of a general knowledge book than any spiritual treasure. impressed with the diversity of the content and the presentation. At £4.99 makes a perfect present too.
The book is divided into themes: Nature, Rhythm, Sharing, Focus, under which different cultural practices are classified. I found it quite informative and light read, more of a general knowledge book than any spiritual treasure. impressed with the diversity of the content and the presentation. At £4.99 makes a perfect present too.
April 11, 2015
This review can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com or Amazon.com as part of the Vine program.
March 4, 2017
It is not really a book that can make you calm. It is a book of knowledge of calm method all over the world.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews