Taming the Drunken Monkey: The Path to Mindfulness, Meditation, and Increased Concentration

by William L. Mikulas

In today's busy world, the mind can often behave like a drunken monkey—stressed, scattered, and out of control. Instead of falling victim to frustration and anxiety, learn to be calm, focused, and free of unwanted thoughts with this easy-to-use guide to mindfulness.

Drawing from Western and Eastern psychology, health systems, and wisdom traditions, Taming the Drunken Monkey provides comprehensive instruction for developing and improving three basic behaviors of the concentration, awareness, and flexibility. Discover the power of breathwork exercises based on yogic pranayama, Chinese medicine, and Western respiratory science. Apply meditation and other mindfulness practices to your life for newfound focus, creativity, body awareness, and spiritual awakening. As you progress from novice to master, you'll effectively enhance the health of your mind, body, and spirit.

"A wonderful addition to our understanding of the mind and the unfolding journey of discovery."—Joseph Goldstein, author of A Practical Guide to Awakening

"In fluid and engaging prose, William Mikulas has written a book that provides a wise and delightful guide to living a mindful life...a helpful, systematic and very practical guide that presents numerous insights and exercises for personal transformation."—Nirbhay N. Singh, editor of Mindfulness journal

"This book is brimming with wise and compassionate council for everyone from beginner to advanced practitioner...Whether you are interested in quieting your mind, increasing awareness, reducing attachments or opening the heart, you will find just what you need as you continue on your path towards awakening."—Michael Brant DeMaria, PhD, clinical psychologist and author of Ever Flowing On

"This is, undoubtedly, one of the best mind training manuals that has ever been written...It is a must read book."—Sompoch Iamsupasit, PhD, professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok

"For everybody who wants to be aware and mindful, attentive and concentrated...Bill Mikulas' book is wholeheartedly recommended."—G.T. Maurits Kwee, PhD, founder of the Institute for Relational Buddhism & Karma Transformation

Genres: Psychology, Meditation, Nonfiction, Self Help, Buddhism, Spirituality

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2014

Reviews

[Puddlyduck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received this amazing book from netgalley. I am still working through it so I haven't finished it yet.

I have been working my way through Taming the Drunken Monkey and I'm very impressed about the way Mikulas advises readers to use the book. There are no 'you musts' or set paths to follow. The author is very accepting of the fact that every person's anxiety is different and some exercises are not as beneficial as others. In a world where all too often health care professionals generalise and quantify patients' experiences of stress, Mikulas' trust in the readers to know themselves is extremely welcome.

[Yodamom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tame the monkeys, ease your mind. They jump, fuss and scamper, throwing your thoughts into chaos and disorder, causing stress. The monkeys are all the negative emotions well all live through everyday, fear, anxiety, worry...Clam these monkeys with mediation, focus more and feel relief in this modern chaotic time.

I really got lucky with this book. I read a lot of mediation books and I've had fabulous results practicing mediation for health and mental well being. I am a high stress personality, I have a lot of drunken wild monkeys. I have had serious health issues relating to these monkey's and use calming mediation to avoid medication. I had my first experience with mediation when I was 14 years old. I was undergoing biofeedback to help reduce my stress levels, yes I was already a stressed ball of nerves. I experienced a level of relaxation so phenomenal I have been searching for it ever since. Many books, programs and gurus have fallen flat for me with religious tones, finger pointing, and silly practices. This book is very simple, very well written and there is no judgment, no religious tone and no degrading.

I recommend this book to all. It's easy to adapt to any persons situations or lifestyle. When you feel how much stress you are holding in your body and your mind, when you release some of that you are elevated to a stronger plateau of being. You health improves, you outlook and your relationships.

[Alexis Bauer Kolak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes it's so hard to finish a book, even if you find it to be interesting. Probably obviously, I would not be mentioning that here if that had not been the case with this book. No one needs to learn concentration and awareness more than I do, but everything I read about these techniques, I relaxed and focused, which instantly put me to sleep. To be fair, the author does warn you that this could happen, and maybe over time I won't be so stressed and tired that this will be the case (let's all hold our breath for THAT day), and slowing down won't mean stopping.

I liked the progression of the different efforts, and that the book was an amalgamation of lessons from multiple schools of thoughts and religious texts. Holding off on "mindfulness" until later chapters did help to clear up some of the places where I know I usually get stuck in these kinds of efforts. Also, the language was not overly "new age-y"; I could, however, have lived without the references to "monkey business." We get it, you want to be clever and tie into the title. It just isn't working.

If you do nothing else that's suggested in this book, try just the first exercise. Breathe in and out, and focus on your breath at the tip of your nose (and nothing else.) I was surprised at how hard this was, and how many different parts of the body are affected and moved through breathing. I am not a master; I will probably be a student for a very long time. But I am getting better at concentrating on. My breath because I can give it a specific location and process. It's a start.

[Kirk Hanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing revolutionary, but a solid guide to mindfulness and meditation. William Mikulas presents the concepts of Concentration, Awareness, Flexibility, and Breathwork, and then examines how a user might become more proficient in each, by moving through five stages from Novice to Master. Along the way, he give you specific techniques, exercises, and points to contemplate in your journey. More organized and structured than some other guides, it is a good starting point for those who want to tame their own drunken monkey.

[Kesavan Hariharasubramanian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent ideas for developing mindfulness!

[Kirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little hippie dippie but helpful and inspiring.

[Susan Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Borrowed physical book

[Dawn Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Review Taming the Drunken Monkey by William L Mikulas PhD
The Path to Mindfulness, Meditation, and Increased Concentration

Book Review by Dawn Thomas

Llewellyn Publication
288 Pages


Self Help


I love to read meditation books at the end of the year in preparation for the New Year. I have always had a monkey mind, so the title of the book really grabbed my attention. The author describes this book as a user manual for the mind. The book begins with a brief introduction of the skills needed to start meditating. These are the topics covered in this section: Concentration, Awareness, Flexibility, and Breath work. I appreciate the alternative methods of breathing he provides for people with breathing and back problems.

The Level I Novice section discusses the different types of form. I am glad for the reminder of the tongue to the roof of my mouth since I usually forget that. He also reminds of the importance of breathing. The exercises are very easy to follow, and advice is given for when to advance to the next level. The section and test based on lateral thinking by Edward de Bono was very thought provoking. It certainly made me think out of the box and I will begin to use his PMI (plus, minus, and interesting) tools.

The Level II Student goes into more detail of the wild or drunken monkey mind. Before I started meditating last year, my monkey mind was wild. The author explains how best to keep the monkey mind in check using and building on the tools explained in the previous sections. He also recommends stretching and tracking breathing rate. The mental play puzzle continues through this section. I must say the questions really make a person think.

Level III Warrior builds on the previous steps and helps put them into practice. The reader is advised to incorporate new techniques as their experience grows. The author also discusses ways to address pain through awareness. A small sentence in the attitude section spoke volumes to me, “Act with intention.” This is a reminder we call should be doing. Recently, I attended a local meditation session and learned different breathing techniques. I was pleased to see them included in this book.

At the Level IV Adept, there are still things to learn. Exercises are provided to help the reader become more aware and increase concentration. There are also questions and exercises that will help to become more self-aware. The group practice incorporates lovingkindness meditation but can be adjusted for individual practice. This section ends with the process of awakening to one’s moral and practical guidelines followed by practical guidelines and mental play questions.


In the Level V Master, the monkey mind has been tamed. However, the author warns of not falling into traps. There are descriptions of Jhanas which are levels of absorption along with the sequence to complete them. The author discusses the transpersonal level and how best to help others reach their goals. This section also ends with mental play exercises.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a remarkable book. There are many volumes of great breadth and depth on the subjects of mindfulness and meditation and the philosophies they are based upon. Although those represent ages of wisdom and thoughtfulness, so few do so much as Dr. Mikulas’s book has done to "bring it home” to such a wide range of readers and conscientious souls.

I say this not only because the essentials of the great schools of thought are distilled, simplified, and clarified in his approach, but also because some important tools and exercises helpful to instill this in one's way of life are included as well. For those of us who have worked through many a tome, practice manual, or vagaries of different orientations of teachings, this entirely manageable and beautifully simple way of incorporating the essentials is enlightening in itself. The art of teaching within interpersonal psychology is alive and well!

And there's another dimension offered: The ability to effectively comprehend different mental domains can vary from beginner to "expert." How does the author of such a book address the levels of their readership and still deliver tangible, understandable guidance? Dr. Mikulas presents this material at multiple reader “levels,” helpfully identified in book sections. Despite the organizational value of that, what good is it if the author doesn't speak clearly at each of those levels? Here again the author is able to deliver fundamental information from multiple, appropriate perspectives, and within the contexts available to an experienced practitioner.

As promised in the Overview, this is a manual of practices for mental development. “There is nothing to believe or take on faith... you do the practices and you see for yourself."

[Adrienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a super book, actually it was more of a manual or a workbook. It has 5 levels of mastery of skills like concentration, awareness, attitude, breath-work, and other subjects including awakening and mindfulness. The 5 levels are Novice, Student, Warrior, Adept, and Master. You progressively work through each level's sections of exercises for each subject in the level. One of the things I loved about this book is that it states that the book is meant to be a manual to be used over the course of months (at the minimum), but most beneficially over the course of years. It doesn't promise instantaneous results; it pretty much says that what you put into it is what you will get out of it, and that it takes time to achieve even subtle results. While this may seem off-putting or discouraging, I like the honesty of the author in saying these things because it is difficult to measure success in meditation. There are good days and distracted days. I recommend this book because if you are serious about taming the drunken monkey that is your mind, this manual is a great resource for learning how to do that with exercises and meditations. If you keep at it and maintain a regular practice, this book will surely give results (I can't say this 100% for certain since I've only read it and haven't started practicing yet, but it looks like it's a good manual to teach meditation, concentration, mindfulness, and awareness).

[Marshall · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. If you want a preachy, simplistic, and overly ambitious guidebook to meditation and concentration, look no further. Why, by the time you get to the end, you'll be a fully enlightened master, in complete control over your mind. You just have to follow the steps in this book, a list of vague and unoriginal exercises designed to sharpen your creativity and lateral thinking while making you more concentrated and aware, conveniently glossing over the time and effort required to achieve such enlightenment.

It's not that the practices in this book aren't helpful, and it certainly got me thinking about what a life must be like when it is devoted so wholeheartedly to concentration and awareness. But don't expect it to transform your life, as it promises, unless you're prepared to have your life uprooted. Which is fine, but by the time it's all said and done, it will have had very little to do with the exercises in this book.

[Lionkhan-sama · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cool book walking you through the different aspects of "self-improvement/self-enlightenment", not in an esoteric sense, but in a practical sense. The author focuses on skills that can be cultivated through consistent practice such as concentration, awareness, breathing, attitude, mindfulness, etc.
He draws his information from many different sources, spanning from Eastern philosophy (i.e.. Buddhism) to Western psychology.

The book isn't crazy advanced or anything, it is quite easy to follow, and can be used as a superb introduction into meditation or spiritual empowerment.
The author splits the exercises within this book into different stages so that you may level up according to your own pace. It's worth mentioning that some of the exercises seem rather arbitrary, however most of them are quite clear and very useful should you stick with them.

[Katarina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book I loved.

This book can be beneficial to anyone, since it guides you through novice to expert level.

The content in non-judgemental and non-denominational, and thus will appeal to anyone regardless of their personal beliefs. Too often books about meditation, that draw on spirituality, are geared to one particular belief system. This one isn't.

Too often books about mindfulness and being present in the moment attach labels to people, like depression, anxiety etc. This one doesn't.

It's a relief to be able to just read this book and follow the exercises presented, and not feel like there's something "wrong" with you for reading a self-help book.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful

[Vi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The step-by-step process of this book seemed a little forced for me. I couldn't hack it.

[shartyrant · Rating 4 out of 5]

**** review coming as still contemplating/digesting what I read****