Mindfulness: Six Guided Practices for Awakening

by Joseph Goldstein

A Classical Training Program in Mindfulness Meditation

Course
Discuss the four foundations of mindfulness as a way to maintain moment-by-moment mindfulness, including mindfulness of the body, mindfulness of feelings, mindfulness of mind and mindfulness of thought.
Discuss the four instructions for mindfulness of the breath
Practice each of the four foundations of mindfulness through guided meditation
Practice each of the four instructions for mindfulness of the breath through guided meditation

The profound techniques of Vipassana (or insight meditation) are all rooted in the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha's practice-oriented teaching on the four foundations of mindfulness. With Mindfulness, Joseph Goldstein brings you a series of core teachings and guided practices for "looking directly at the nature of the mind and body, at how suffering is created, and how we can awaken and be free." Designed to complement his book of the same title, as a stand-alone tool for daily practice, or for anyone wanting to go deeper in their experience of mindfulness, these profound meditations
Mindfulness of the Elements—a practice for relating to your body not through concepts but as a constantly changing energy field
Mindfulness of Feelings—discover how the experience of our sense perceptions conditions our reactions in the mind and our actions in the world
Mindfulness of Mind—how we recognize skillful and unskillful states of mind and thought
Big Sky Mind—an expansive practice for resting in a mind that is spacious enough to hold all of our experience in the light of pure awareness

"The term 'mindfulness' may seem to indicate something quite ordinary and prosaic," explains Goldstein, "but the quality of mind it refers to has tremendous transformative power in our lives." With Mindfulness, now you have a set of time-tested tools for opening to the ultimate goal of liberation.

Audible Audio

Published October 9, 2013

About the author

Joseph Goldstein (born 1944) is one of the first American vipassana teachers (Fronsdal, 1998), co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) with Jack Kornfield and Sharon Salzberg, contemporary author of numerous popular books on Buddhism (see publications below), resident guiding teacher at IMS, and leader of retreats worldwide on insight (vipassana) and lovingkindness (metta) meditation.

While the majority of Goldstein's publications introduce Westerners to primarily Theravada concepts, practices and values, his 2002 work, "One Dharma", explored the creation of an integrated framework for the Theravada, Tibetan and Zen traditions.