Thoughts Are Not the Enemy: An Innovative Approach to Meditation Practice

by Jason Siff

A revolutionary new approach to a mindfulness of thinking that accepts and investigates the thoughts that arise as you meditate--from the author of Unlearning Meditation .

     In most forms of meditation, the meditator is instructed to let go of thoughts as they arise. As a result, thinking is often taken, unnecessarily, to be something misguided or evil. This approach is misguided, says Jason Siff. In fact, if we allow thoughts to arise and become mindful of the thoughts themselves, we gain tranquillity and insight just as in other methods without having to reject our natural mental processes. And by observing the thoughts themselves with mindfulness and curiosity, we can learn a good deal about ourselves in the process.

Genres: Meditation, Buddhism, Nonfiction, Spirituality

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 2014

Reviews

[Frank]

Zero stars. The author believes we should allow a space for our disruptive thoughts during meditation. He thinks we should get to know our thoughts, yet he criticizes the Buddha's 5 methods for getting to know our thoughts--the nerve! I feel he never gave any substantive method for knowing our thoughts, i.e. the thoughts that arise during meditation.

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

A simply excellent book that has one questioning what one has learned about how to work with one's thoughts in meditation.

[A.J. Seiffertt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Packed with practical and clear information. Thought provoking as expected, took me ages to get through because I'm ridiculous and wanted to really focus and integrate each section before moving forward. Also took a loooong break early on in the book due to life. And I had to take notes, as usual. Need to re-read chapters 9-11 again soon.

As a disclaimer, this book is extremely useful to me as a meditation teacher and practitioner in this style, and I will likely read it many times as I have his previous book- but without having already considered most of the topics here, I'm not sure it would be super useful to, say, a beginning meditator or philosopher who hadn't started considering what awareness or consciousness meant, or who hadn't already had quite a few experiences in either meditation or contemplation in some way. Although starting here could give one quite a boost! ;) I suggest for beginning meditators or those who've done very focused or concentrated practices so far (trying for 'clear mind' or mantra only, returning to breath, visualization, etc), to first read "unlearning meditation," Jason's previous book on this style of meditation.

[daniel stuart johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was exactly what I was hoping for when I bought it. I would definitely recommend reading his previous book Unlearning Meditation first as it really addresses most of the remaining questions one might have after having read that and tried the approach yourself. No one can ever possibly fit every possible question and troubleshoot every aspect of your likely experience in one book and so this follow up does a fantastic job of addressing and guiding the reader through some of the inevitable pitfalls one might encounter. I really can't speak highly enough about Jason Siff's work. I credit it as being the primary reason I am still meditating today and have maintained a regular kind, gentle and effective practice for almost 7 years.

[Sandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

sure this book is not for beginners, though i am definitely one, not sitting much so far but definitely interested in mindfulness, buddhism, science-based meditation etcetera. i feel the author knows A LOT of what he's talking about, and both his books (the other being "unlearning meditation") gave me useful answers and fascinating insight. won't say about the style because English isn't my first language. i'm encouraged to try and sit more, and follow Mr Siff advice with curiosity and gratitude.

[Alixe]

I appreciated the (audio)book, but I don't want to rate it as I know so little about the theory of meditation , I wouldn't want to influence the overall rating.

My practice has been mostly meditating on the breath, letting go of thoughts... So the approach described in the book is very different, but seem to have its merits. It was interesting to think about it.

[Susie]

On page 26. Not sure if will finish.