How To Meditate: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Art and Science of Meditation [ILLUSTRATED]

by John Jyotish Novak

This bestselling book presents a thorough, concise, step-by-step guide to the art andscience of meditation. Complete with photos and illustrations, How to Meditate is an aid tocalmness, increased vitality, clarity of mind, and ultimately, inner communion with God. Youlllearn about techniques for relaxing body and mind how to develop devotion and intuitionsecrets of the spinal centers chakras energy exercises and yoga philosophy from PatanjalisEightfold Path.John Jyotish Novak has been teaching meditation to students worldwide for 30 years, and iscurrently Spiritual Director of Ananda Sangha, the largest network of spiritual communities inthe world. Author of the popular 30 Day Essentials series, see pages 5 and 9.

Genres: Nonfiction, Spirituality, Love, Health, Self Help, Philosophy, Meditation

118 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Jyotish (John) Novak has studied, practiced and taught meditation around the world for over 40 years. He came onto the spiritual path when he met Swami Kriyananda in 1966. Jyotish was a founding member of Ananda Village in Nevada City, California in 1968.

For its first ten years Jyotish served as General Manager of Ananda Village. He and his wife Devi started the first city ashram for Ananda in San Francisco in 1979. In 1984 Jyotish expanded Ananda's outreach and helped start the work in Europe. Jyotish currently serves as the Spiritual Director of Ananda worldwide.

Jyotish, who holds a BA in psychology, is the author of the best-selling book How to Meditate, along with 30 Day Essentials for Career and 30 Day Essentials for Marriage He also is the creator of Meditation Therapy(TM) and has three videos: Meditation Therapy for Stress & Change, Meditation Therapy for Relationships, and Meditation Therapy for Health & Healing.

Reviews

[Swankivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won't go into a lot of detail but this book really changed my life when I was in ninth grade. Learning to meditate was really easy from this small, inexpensive book, and I still use exercises from it many years later!

[Hamza · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good advice buried deep into cosmic bullshit.

[Precious Clifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone seeking a straight forward and easy way to learn how to meditate,this book is for you. In it,I also discovered a potent way to pray. Thank you John Novak.

[Mohammad · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me only one day to complete it.
It is only 111 pages long.
I'd started reading 📚 It before, but I wasn't focused enough.
This time ⏲ I had to start it again from the beginning, and highlight all the important parts.
It's a great beginning to start the study of meditation 🧘‍♂️ and yoga 🧘‍♀️

Very short, but very valuable and informative.
Each page is full of goldmines of insight and tips for self inquiry and knowledge of consciousness and God.

The wisdom in this book 📖 is the same conclusion of all the great Masters and Prophets of all time: that "God is Love".

~ Mo
2023 - 01 - 18

[MarkD60 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I particularly enjoyed the first half of this book. It covers all the bases about meditating in plain language and very thoroughly. The second half is a little bit more advanced and I thought there were too many references to Christianity, which I think is a poor source of spirituality.

[Kandachamy Vijayakumaran · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very simple guide to practice meditation.

[Julie Decker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book on meditation teaches the novice how to control breath, how to focus energy, and how to quiet the mind. It focuses on religious/spiritual communion and provides many visualization options, and also goes a little into the science/biology of what happens when a person meditates.

I read this book as a teenager when I was interested in getting some outside perspectives on spirituality. I did not ultimately connect very well to the spiritual aspects of the book, but I still found its techniques very well explained and properly approached. Some of the experimental journeys you can go on based on ideas in this book are really inspiring, and "watching the breath" is explained in wonderful detail. It also contains some healing, concentration, and focus ideas that have come in handy throughout my life.

[Indranil Sinha (Neel) · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the simplest read for me till now. Simplicity of this book didn't ruin the elaboration or fall short in the material the book promised. I will rather say this is a beginners' read in Meditation section. Novak describes the three stages of meditation, Relaxation, Interiorization and Expansion. He did his job in describing each stages pretty well. I loved the way he made me understand the importance, the effect and the role each stage plays in meditation. This book also offers multiple ways and ideas to attain each stage successfully. Overall a good read.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the meditation guide that resonated much better with my Vata mind. It gave clear practical advice and was very easy for me to understand. It also provided information on chakras, in which I am interested . The occasional information/words of wisdom from Paramhansa Yogananda didn't bother me, even though I am not a follower, but I concede it could irritate someone with no interest in spiritual training.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good primer covering all the basics; both practical and spiritual.