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Grounded Spirituality
In this courageous, groundbreaking book, author Jeff Brown takes us on the spiritual ride of a lifetime. The book opens with the author's compelling journey through a variety of spiritual approaches. Through decades of dedicated exploration and discernment, Brown exposes the transcendent notions of spirituality that limit our human experience. In his fiercely authentic, no-holds-barred style, Brown reveals that what we view as 'spiritual' is often devoid of the gift that makes us most alive--our precious and unique selfhood. He demonstrates that true spirituality is a whole-being awakening, one that heartfully embraces our entire human our feelings, our stories, our bodies, our relationships with others, and the earth that houses us.
Brown then engages in a riveting dialogue with a fictitious spiritual seeker named Michael. Their conversations unfurl in warmth and humor, threaded with cutting truth and inspiring realization. Hands-on exercises throughout provide a direct experience of a vital new model. In Grounded Spirituality, the author lays down the tracks for an embodied way of being--one that leaves us 'enrealed,' integrated, and purposeful. Not awakened--but awakening. Not transcending our humanness--but finding meaning and spirituality within it, right in the heart of our imperfect daily lives. At long last, we can lay down our weary heads, burdened by the impossibility of transcending our human experience. Back to our roots, back into our bodies, back into all that makes us magnificently human. Home at last...
Brown then engages in a riveting dialogue with a fictitious spiritual seeker named Michael. Their conversations unfurl in warmth and humor, threaded with cutting truth and inspiring realization. Hands-on exercises throughout provide a direct experience of a vital new model. In Grounded Spirituality, the author lays down the tracks for an embodied way of being--one that leaves us 'enrealed,' integrated, and purposeful. Not awakened--but awakening. Not transcending our humanness--but finding meaning and spirituality within it, right in the heart of our imperfect daily lives. At long last, we can lay down our weary heads, burdened by the impossibility of transcending our human experience. Back to our roots, back into our bodies, back into all that makes us magnificently human. Home at last...
381 pages, Paperback
Published March 15, 2019
132 people are currently reading
641 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Brown
7 books240 followersA former criminal lawyer and psychotherapist, Jeff Brown is the author of 5 popular books: Soulshaping: A Journey of Self-Creation, Ascending with Both Feet on the Ground, Love It Forward, An Uncommon Bond, and Spiritual Graffiti. He is also the producer and primary journeyer in the award winning spiritual documentary, Karmageddon, which also stars Ram Dass, Seane Corn, David Life, Deva Premal and Miten.
After writing a series of inspirations for ABC’S ‘Good Morning America’ in 2010, and appearing on Fox News.com and dozens of radio shows, Brown wrote the viral blog ‘Apologies to the Divine Feminine (from a warrior in transition)’ that autumn, catapulting him to a greater degree of notoriety, particularly in social media. Jeff’s new terms and short writings became a phenomenon some years ago, and continue to be shared by seekers and growers worldwide. His quotes have been shared in social media by songstresses Alanis Morrissette and Fergie, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau (the wife of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau) and many other well-known figures. Most beautifully, they have touched and benefited millions of souls. This gratifies him deeply. He now understands that most of the challenges he faced, and the millions of steps of overcoming, were intended for this purpose: To support humanity in their efforts to embody all that they are. Not to bypass their humanness, but to celebrate it. Not to find enlightenment independent of the self, but to find their awakening deep within it.
Jeff is also the founder of Soulshaping Institute and Enrealment Press. He lives in Canada with his wife, 'Open Passages' poet Susan Frybort.
After writing a series of inspirations for ABC’S ‘Good Morning America’ in 2010, and appearing on Fox News.com and dozens of radio shows, Brown wrote the viral blog ‘Apologies to the Divine Feminine (from a warrior in transition)’ that autumn, catapulting him to a greater degree of notoriety, particularly in social media. Jeff’s new terms and short writings became a phenomenon some years ago, and continue to be shared by seekers and growers worldwide. His quotes have been shared in social media by songstresses Alanis Morrissette and Fergie, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau (the wife of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau) and many other well-known figures. Most beautifully, they have touched and benefited millions of souls. This gratifies him deeply. He now understands that most of the challenges he faced, and the millions of steps of overcoming, were intended for this purpose: To support humanity in their efforts to embody all that they are. Not to bypass their humanness, but to celebrate it. Not to find enlightenment independent of the self, but to find their awakening deep within it.
Jeff is also the founder of Soulshaping Institute and Enrealment Press. He lives in Canada with his wife, 'Open Passages' poet Susan Frybort.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
July 26, 2020
It's so off putting reading a book that claims it's about 'spirituality' and bashes on other teachers. Regardless if you agree or not with their ways, naming them, calling them head-trippers and claiming you know better how someone else's awakening process occurred or did not occurs is downright arrogant. If anything, from a person on their inward journey that is supposedly understanding everything is One being, I expected more compassion and humility, particularly when it comes to the paths of others. The lack of both, and the firm grasp on 'I need an Ego' (which it, oh so surely shows), is what makes this book a waste of time.
I am glad it 'worked' for the author, and his approach brought him relief from his past, but to claim that that's the ONLY way is laughable. Awakening/Enlightenment/Self-realization, call it whatever, can contain multitudes, for various people, on various level of depth. After all, it's a very personal journey, which we traverse alone, because it's an inside game. The claims of the author about how Eckhart Tolle's awakening is not real because it wasn't like his, reads like such a bashful and spiritualy immature stance. As if anyone has the right to claim what or how an awakening or burning of patterns really happens in another. If you are expanding in consciousness but you can't get over the pettiness to banter the ways of other selves and respect their Truth, no matter how different from yours... then, there is work to be done.
I only wished it stopped there, it took a swing at more teachers and more ways, all different from the author's, therefore proclaimed wrong. It's a very self-entitled book, that ultimately, is really, nor cutting-edge, nor paradigm shifting, just another person thinking they know better.
I am glad it 'worked' for the author, and his approach brought him relief from his past, but to claim that that's the ONLY way is laughable. Awakening/Enlightenment/Self-realization, call it whatever, can contain multitudes, for various people, on various level of depth. After all, it's a very personal journey, which we traverse alone, because it's an inside game. The claims of the author about how Eckhart Tolle's awakening is not real because it wasn't like his, reads like such a bashful and spiritualy immature stance. As if anyone has the right to claim what or how an awakening or burning of patterns really happens in another. If you are expanding in consciousness but you can't get over the pettiness to banter the ways of other selves and respect their Truth, no matter how different from yours... then, there is work to be done.
I only wished it stopped there, it took a swing at more teachers and more ways, all different from the author's, therefore proclaimed wrong. It's a very self-entitled book, that ultimately, is really, nor cutting-edge, nor paradigm shifting, just another person thinking they know better.
December 6, 2020
I was looking forward to this book as grounding my spirituality is a core element of my current path. Although I enjoyed some of the reminders and ideas from Jeff Brown -like the reminder to treat my body as a temple of perception rather than a mere machine to maintain- I felt let down. This book did not lessen my thirst for grounded spirituality.
Jeff Brown takes Eckhart Tolle as the leading example in his idea that teachers like Tolle use spirituality to bypass their human wounds and the nitty-gritty of human experience. From a skeptical perspective, Brown then proceeds to "investigate" the truth by reading and re-reading Tolle's books.
Here's my first issue with Brown's approach. When one approaches transcending/ascending spirituality from a skeptic perspective, the discerning mind takes center stage in a practice where the aim is to become centerless. In a way, this is like investigating the bottom of the ocean while wearing a life vest: it doesn't work. So it seems to me that Brown is not in a position to judge Tolle's experience based on the reasoning and show of experience he presents here. The irony is that, in part, I agree with Brown; yes, Eckhart emphasizes ascension over embodiment, but it is way more nuanced than how Brown presents this. I feel like a full analysis of this is out of scope for my review here.
Overall, it is not clear whether Brown has engaged in a substantial non-dual meditation practice at all, and I get a strong sense that he hasn't. I do not believe Brown has had the first-hand experience of the depths and facets of primordial, non-dual awareness.
In my experience, ascension/transcendence is an essential part of being human, as is the embodiment, whereas Brown seems quite attached to the latter.
From the embodiment perspective, it is easy to look for and bash on spiritual teachers and traditions based on classical enlightenment or classical non-duality that emphasize the formless over form. Escapists are indeed abundantly present to cherry-pick because escapists are abundantly present in life in general.
If Brown indeed hasn't done the fieldwork in non-dual practices, he is ironically doing what he accuses escapists of; Brown negates a part of being human (ascension/transcendence) and holds on to embodiment as the correct path.
From my experience and perspective, spirituality becomes integrated when it negates no dimension of being human. Grounded spirituality should hold each mode of being in context and those it both transcends and includes in an integral approach.
I get a strong sense that Jeff Brown has had a little taste of non-dual awareness and the fear of his ego for this formless way of being defended him of embarking on this further. Also, and this is very much speculation, he describes his relationship with his father as one where Brown was doing his best to get his fathers' attention. May his father's absence have contributed to a core wound that drives Jeff Brown to have such an aversion towards transcendent elements of spirituality?
All in all, I feel like Jeff Brown does not have a full picture of spirituality to be in the position he is at now: to teach about integral spirituality.
In my own experience, transcending my ego was a necessary step on my path. One who is fully absorbed with the ego does need to both detach and ascend toward non-dual awareness. Is this the final goal? No, it's not. Are there many traditions and teachers who present this as the final goal (Eckhart included)? Yes, they are abundantly available. Are there teachers and traditions that bash the human experience, see the ego as evil, and portray life on earth as an unimportant step to the afterlife? Yes.
But that does not have to mean that ascension negates being human. Who is it that ascends? Is it not life experiencing itself through a human? Residing as the perceiver of experience (awareness) was a necessary step in my path to the following stage: coming back down and integrating the formless (non-dual awareness) with the form (ego and daily experience). A whole-body experience with a wide-open mind connected to the infinite sky, heart warmly centered, and body rooted in the earth. It's an endlessly ongoing process in which the experience more and more becomes one where form is emptiness and emptiness is form.
It seems that many people have a similar trajectory (from absorption to ascension back to embodiment), and some teachers and traditions have this at its core—teachers like Adyashanti, for instance.
I do not think Jeff Brown is wrong for not seeing ascension as a necessary stage. Still, I think he is talking about a bubble within spirituality that he misperceives as integral spirituality.
Jeff Brown takes Eckhart Tolle as the leading example in his idea that teachers like Tolle use spirituality to bypass their human wounds and the nitty-gritty of human experience. From a skeptical perspective, Brown then proceeds to "investigate" the truth by reading and re-reading Tolle's books.
Here's my first issue with Brown's approach. When one approaches transcending/ascending spirituality from a skeptic perspective, the discerning mind takes center stage in a practice where the aim is to become centerless. In a way, this is like investigating the bottom of the ocean while wearing a life vest: it doesn't work. So it seems to me that Brown is not in a position to judge Tolle's experience based on the reasoning and show of experience he presents here. The irony is that, in part, I agree with Brown; yes, Eckhart emphasizes ascension over embodiment, but it is way more nuanced than how Brown presents this. I feel like a full analysis of this is out of scope for my review here.
Overall, it is not clear whether Brown has engaged in a substantial non-dual meditation practice at all, and I get a strong sense that he hasn't. I do not believe Brown has had the first-hand experience of the depths and facets of primordial, non-dual awareness.
In my experience, ascension/transcendence is an essential part of being human, as is the embodiment, whereas Brown seems quite attached to the latter.
From the embodiment perspective, it is easy to look for and bash on spiritual teachers and traditions based on classical enlightenment or classical non-duality that emphasize the formless over form. Escapists are indeed abundantly present to cherry-pick because escapists are abundantly present in life in general.
If Brown indeed hasn't done the fieldwork in non-dual practices, he is ironically doing what he accuses escapists of; Brown negates a part of being human (ascension/transcendence) and holds on to embodiment as the correct path.
From my experience and perspective, spirituality becomes integrated when it negates no dimension of being human. Grounded spirituality should hold each mode of being in context and those it both transcends and includes in an integral approach.
I get a strong sense that Jeff Brown has had a little taste of non-dual awareness and the fear of his ego for this formless way of being defended him of embarking on this further. Also, and this is very much speculation, he describes his relationship with his father as one where Brown was doing his best to get his fathers' attention. May his father's absence have contributed to a core wound that drives Jeff Brown to have such an aversion towards transcendent elements of spirituality?
All in all, I feel like Jeff Brown does not have a full picture of spirituality to be in the position he is at now: to teach about integral spirituality.
In my own experience, transcending my ego was a necessary step on my path. One who is fully absorbed with the ego does need to both detach and ascend toward non-dual awareness. Is this the final goal? No, it's not. Are there many traditions and teachers who present this as the final goal (Eckhart included)? Yes, they are abundantly available. Are there teachers and traditions that bash the human experience, see the ego as evil, and portray life on earth as an unimportant step to the afterlife? Yes.
But that does not have to mean that ascension negates being human. Who is it that ascends? Is it not life experiencing itself through a human? Residing as the perceiver of experience (awareness) was a necessary step in my path to the following stage: coming back down and integrating the formless (non-dual awareness) with the form (ego and daily experience). A whole-body experience with a wide-open mind connected to the infinite sky, heart warmly centered, and body rooted in the earth. It's an endlessly ongoing process in which the experience more and more becomes one where form is emptiness and emptiness is form.
It seems that many people have a similar trajectory (from absorption to ascension back to embodiment), and some teachers and traditions have this at its core—teachers like Adyashanti, for instance.
I do not think Jeff Brown is wrong for not seeing ascension as a necessary stage. Still, I think he is talking about a bubble within spirituality that he misperceives as integral spirituality.
January 23, 2021
Awful book. Superficial, boring, self-important, kitschy, effect-oriented
Lets take one example: Complete misperception of e.g. non dual traditions.
What does one expect if his profound study consists in "I browsed some of the core texts in the field of non-duality" . (which, please - he never sais).
Well that's like "I browsed some of the core texts in nuclear physics and now believe that nuclear physics is just incomprehensible gobbledigook".
"I engaged in a number of traditional non-dual enquiry methods". Really? How many? Which? What did this "engagement" consist of in practice? 1 or 2 online satsang each?
Did he ever dive deep into anything?
Another example of where his "language skills" make for awful reading - as in a kitsch novel.
"The guru in chief was talking about the illusion of the Self , and I began to feel tremors of anxiety to surge through my body, as if my very humanness was being led to slaughter".
Exxageration may be fine, but come on... don't make me believe that an online satsang "guru in chief" will lead anyone to slaughter. The book is full of this flowery and inauthentic, effect-oriented language
That said, it's a very long treaties on "spiritual bypassing is bad" which is of course true. Some people may benefit, at the risk of completely misunderstanding thousands of year old traditions which today get a lot of attention in neuroscience and medicine.
And then, the awfully artificial didactic pseudo-dialogues, rendered in a way in which no normal person would speak...
(Sorry Jeff if you read this - you have so many 5 stars that you hopefully can digest this 1 star review)
Lets take one example: Complete misperception of e.g. non dual traditions.
What does one expect if his profound study consists in "I browsed some of the core texts in the field of non-duality" . (which, please - he never sais).
Well that's like "I browsed some of the core texts in nuclear physics and now believe that nuclear physics is just incomprehensible gobbledigook".
"I engaged in a number of traditional non-dual enquiry methods". Really? How many? Which? What did this "engagement" consist of in practice? 1 or 2 online satsang each?
Did he ever dive deep into anything?
Another example of where his "language skills" make for awful reading - as in a kitsch novel.
"The guru in chief was talking about the illusion of the Self , and I began to feel tremors of anxiety to surge through my body, as if my very humanness was being led to slaughter".
Exxageration may be fine, but come on... don't make me believe that an online satsang "guru in chief" will lead anyone to slaughter. The book is full of this flowery and inauthentic, effect-oriented language
That said, it's a very long treaties on "spiritual bypassing is bad" which is of course true. Some people may benefit, at the risk of completely misunderstanding thousands of year old traditions which today get a lot of attention in neuroscience and medicine.
And then, the awfully artificial didactic pseudo-dialogues, rendered in a way in which no normal person would speak...
(Sorry Jeff if you read this - you have so many 5 stars that you hopefully can digest this 1 star review)
October 10, 2019
Life changing stuff, especially for those who have been hurt by the way nondualism and the way it sees life and all its treasures as meaningless trivialities that must be sacrificed on the altar of enlightenment. It helped to validate the reasons I walked away from it and toward earth spirituality. It helped me to more deeply understand my complicated past relationship with nondualism, and if course I found the content to be smart and wise. I think that for many people this book will be a profound read, and its time has truly come.
July 27, 2020
Jeff Brown has a great knack for coining memorable names and aphorisms that punctuate his exhortation for grounded spirituality -- "New (c)age", "beginner's heart" vs. mind, "excavation meditation" vs. insight, heartfulness or soulfulness vs. mindfulness, breakthrough vs. breakdown, and the litany of language around addiction and dissociation juxtaposed with enlightenment, like being a "transcendence junkie".
His proposition is a humble one, not necessarily that new, and potentially obvious: the fullness, richness, and mundanity of our lives take place in our bodies. Patterns and behaviors common to the human experience -- entering relationships, seeking meaning and purpose and clarity, enjoying beauty, being present -- are all happening here and now, rather than in some other plane, spiritual or otherwise. In fact, those "other" spiritual locations and dimensions *are* part of our real, lived, immediate, earthly experience.
What is new, are the striking conclusions Brown draws from this view. He calls out blatant hypocrisy in the practices of a broad swath of spiritual teachers, particularly when they do not embody the qualities of their teachings. He argues convincingly for many ways which ungrounded forms of spirituality can cause people to change their aesthetics, demeanor, and worldview, without fundamentally addressing their underlying problems, or providing meaningful inner peace. Finally, he offers specific techniques and frameworks to illustrate the features inherent in grounding oneself, which consistently point toward deeply feeling one's emotions, and identifying behaviors coming from patterned response (like what we "should" do/feel/think, or how we've become strategically numb in various ways).
I've also enjoyed pairing this spiritual take, with reverence toward the inherent complexity and beauty of life (and particularly, tying this in with e.g., Drescher's take on consciousness as an inherent, "mundane" property of inhabiting the bodies we do).
His proposition is a humble one, not necessarily that new, and potentially obvious: the fullness, richness, and mundanity of our lives take place in our bodies. Patterns and behaviors common to the human experience -- entering relationships, seeking meaning and purpose and clarity, enjoying beauty, being present -- are all happening here and now, rather than in some other plane, spiritual or otherwise. In fact, those "other" spiritual locations and dimensions *are* part of our real, lived, immediate, earthly experience.
What is new, are the striking conclusions Brown draws from this view. He calls out blatant hypocrisy in the practices of a broad swath of spiritual teachers, particularly when they do not embody the qualities of their teachings. He argues convincingly for many ways which ungrounded forms of spirituality can cause people to change their aesthetics, demeanor, and worldview, without fundamentally addressing their underlying problems, or providing meaningful inner peace. Finally, he offers specific techniques and frameworks to illustrate the features inherent in grounding oneself, which consistently point toward deeply feeling one's emotions, and identifying behaviors coming from patterned response (like what we "should" do/feel/think, or how we've become strategically numb in various ways).
I've also enjoyed pairing this spiritual take, with reverence toward the inherent complexity and beauty of life (and particularly, tying this in with e.g., Drescher's take on consciousness as an inherent, "mundane" property of inhabiting the bodies we do).
April 2, 2019
A fresh voice guiding to a fuller and better human experience here on earth
I found this book very useful and inspiring to live a fuller life. The author guides us through asking the questions about our purpose in life and guides in stepping into that fully ourselves and togeather in relationships. I reccomend the book to anyone who wants to live a fuller, bigger more beautiful life :)
I found this book very useful and inspiring to live a fuller life. The author guides us through asking the questions about our purpose in life and guides in stepping into that fully ourselves and togeather in relationships. I reccomend the book to anyone who wants to live a fuller, bigger more beautiful life :)
May 26, 2020
Phenomenal. I think everyone on the planet should read this book. This book is a keeper for sure. I will definitely want to re-read it again. Thanks for your vulnerability and hard work in writing such an awesome book
July 23, 2023
I am not quite sure how this book came to be in my tbr pile. I have listening to it over the last few weeks but finally stopped as it was so frustrating. The title is good, grounded spirituality is a good aim, and thinking critically about the various spiritual endeavours which can all lead to a repressing/avoidance behaviour if one isn’t careful, is necessary. Unfortunately this author comes from a judgemental and arrogant viewpoint whereas it sounds like has hasn’t given any of the traditional methods the time and discipline they require to go deeply and truly learn how the frustrations are there to mirror ourselves into the discipline- he is quick to berate them and push back to “his own self invented methods”. His sweeping statements (for example about yoga or even meditation) are very naïeve and ungrounded.
The books is extraordinarily wordy with pages and pages of overused self invented colourful language and clearly no editing. I discover (he admits it in the book!) that the publisher on his first book had suggested cutting it down by half (a good idea!) which led him to decide to self publish all his books (hence the unfortunate lack of editing). At the end of the day, this poor guy writes pages and pages about his own life (more like a personal journal) as if we have never experienced life ourselves (self important arrogance!) and this takes away from the true grounded spirituality which acknowledges that we all walk through this life with love and loss, we all meander and search in life- these thoughts and feelings are what connect us to each other. His basic idea is a good one (that we ultimately need to steer our own path) but the delivery of this fails. Not recommended. I will be more careful to make sure I pick up classic texts in future instead of this bullshit.
This book should not be published in this form!
The books is extraordinarily wordy with pages and pages of overused self invented colourful language and clearly no editing. I discover (he admits it in the book!) that the publisher on his first book had suggested cutting it down by half (a good idea!) which led him to decide to self publish all his books (hence the unfortunate lack of editing). At the end of the day, this poor guy writes pages and pages about his own life (more like a personal journal) as if we have never experienced life ourselves (self important arrogance!) and this takes away from the true grounded spirituality which acknowledges that we all walk through this life with love and loss, we all meander and search in life- these thoughts and feelings are what connect us to each other. His basic idea is a good one (that we ultimately need to steer our own path) but the delivery of this fails. Not recommended. I will be more careful to make sure I pick up classic texts in future instead of this bullshit.
This book should not be published in this form!
April 2, 2021
stunning observation and analysis of the spirituality.. the perfect book to balance yourself spiritually, mentally and emotionally.
March 5, 2021
Overall, I really liked the content of this book. There were times I tired of the format or the teacher-student banter that felt like I was observing Niles and Frasier Crane chatting in their favorite cafe. And sometimes I appreciated that approach. I feel like we could benefit a lot from simplifying and accepting that being in the meat suit is part of our spiritual experience.
January 19, 2022
This book didn't just speak to me, it shouted, and sang, and whisper to me, body and soul. It helped me gain perspective and develop my own spiritual beliefs. And it supported me in being able to articulate to others why so many new age spiritualities do not work for me, and why some pieces of them do. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who understands the essential need for each person to do their psychological work, to own their stuff and heal their wounds. This book is for those people who prefer to define their own spiritual path.
August 30, 2019
The absolute BEST book on spirituality out there at the moment. Jeff Brown is groundbreaking in his confrontation on the superficiality of the 'new cage' movement, as he calls it, and speaks about a more 'feminine' and grounded spirituality, that doesn't require constant 'positivity' and that allows for the human being to be just that; human and flawed. Please read this book - at least once. You cannot help but come out with something learned.
January 1, 2021
Not going to put any more time in on this one. The first part of the book has some meaningful things to say about spiritual bypassing and the potential tyranny of "mastery", but the second part -- which consists of a long series of imagined dialogues -- just didn't work for me. It carried an aura of urgency, earnestness, and certainty that undercut or at least muddied some of the earlier messages.
April 18, 2021
Finally! A book that brings spirituality to practical life.
A book that makes sense. I highly recommend it.
A book that makes sense. I highly recommend it.
September 26, 2020
Dit boek was me aangeraden, maar ik vind het een hoop poeha, deze meneer is wel erg geïnteresseerd in zijn eigen ontwikkeling. Ik een stuk minder.
December 13, 2020
I think Jeff needs to talk more about restricting freedom of speech and controlling humour in his books, than this fake crap.
September 8, 2021
I gave up on this book after reading about 30% of it. Still, I am giving it 3 stars (usually I give books I dont finish just 1 or 2 stars) because it isnt really a bad book, its just not for me.
I agree with many of the things the writer says about so-called spirituality and I was especially pleased to see that he had done psychological work with Alexander Lowen who is one of my favorite psychotherapy authors.
A couple of phrases from the book that summarize what I see as positive about it are: "detachment is a tool, its not life" and "pain avoidant teachings are big business".
I think this book can be helpful to people who want help and guidance but who, for whatever reason, do not want to or can not go to therapy and want to choose a spiritual path instead of therapy. I personally dont want to do that, I love therapy and I can see the spirituality IN therapy, so the path that this book proposes is just not for me.
I agree with many of the things the writer says about so-called spirituality and I was especially pleased to see that he had done psychological work with Alexander Lowen who is one of my favorite psychotherapy authors.
A couple of phrases from the book that summarize what I see as positive about it are: "detachment is a tool, its not life" and "pain avoidant teachings are big business".
I think this book can be helpful to people who want help and guidance but who, for whatever reason, do not want to or can not go to therapy and want to choose a spiritual path instead of therapy. I personally dont want to do that, I love therapy and I can see the spirituality IN therapy, so the path that this book proposes is just not for me.
March 13, 2022
First I will say I absolutely LOVE this book. I read it once a few years ago and It shows me where I was on my journey. I just didn't really get alot out of it. I actually didn't finish it. Me and my girlfriend just read it together and it was amazing. This go around after doing the excercises I had a unbelievable experience. One that has opened me up to a while new idea of healing. I have become really intrigued by bioenergetics. Jeff Brown has catapulted to one of my favorite authors now. I highly recommend anyone reading this to fully embrace it. I know he kind of came for other practices but in the end it was beautiful how he acknowledged that and included them back into his practice.
October 10, 2023
What a great book about grounded spirituality and spiritual bypassing happening a lot in the spiritual circles these days. A very much needed book with lots of important substance. The only negative things were its length (could have been edited to be a bit more firm) and the slightly egoistic/guruish attitude of the author which was a bit funny as he criticised white male spiritual authors yet seemed to fall into the same category himself. Anyway, this is a book worth reading because it embraces our humanity as the center of our spirituality instead of something we should get rid of on our way to enlightenment.
September 16, 2020
It took me a very long time to get through this book. While I appreciate his views and the way he navigates his path, it certainly doesn’t resonate with me in a good way. I have trouble believing the dialogue he uses between him and this disillusioned man. Is it real or did he make it up? Some ideas and points he makes are very relatable while others are just his own personal views that are fueled by something I don’t care for. I do enjoy his other books, this one is not what I want when I think of my path.
May 26, 2019
Refreshing theories on how to live a fulfilling life balanced in mind body and soul.
July 28, 2021
1 star. The format annoyed me. The negativity annoyed me. This book is a nope.
September 21, 2022
I didn't have an issue with the book's message, but I feel like this book could have been at least half the length, if not shorter. I got the point at least by the end of the first chapter and it just kept repeating itself after that.
February 16, 2023
Definitely on my top 10 books I love. I would give anything to have a mentor like this in my life.
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December 10, 2023Enlightening. A different perspective than others books on this topic.
July 5, 2025
Some of this book really connected with me. I underlined a line or paragraph at about every 3 pages or less.
June 16, 2025
I did not finish it. It’s too confusing to read. The author gets lost in a lot of concepts.
September 15, 2020
Spiritual litterateur is always difficult to summarise. If you read it at the wrong time in your life, even Ram Das can sound sententious. I can’t say I read Grounded Spirituality at the right time, but I read it a point when I needed some confirmation for my growing suspension of nonduality as a means of escaping.
Jeff Brown certainly makes a good case why that is so and instead offers a model still rooted in eastern practices, through the lens of western individualism. The book is divided in two parts. The first part Is Brown's biography and it is where the reader will get a basic understanding about the author’s beliefs. It so sort of pitch, but longer.
The second part is a dialogue between Brown and an imaginary character, based on the younger Brown and spiritual seekers he met along the way. If the first part is the textbook, this is the workbook.
I can certainly understand why a lot of people will get triggered by Brown's writing. Though I don’t find it cynical, some of the language used to describe these ancient eastern beliefs and practitioners is generalised. I don’t know a lot about Brown or which people he encountered, but sometimes his criticism is based on points he just assumes. Like the chapter about Eckhart Tolle.
But on a positive note I think the global community of seekers needs people like Jeff Brown. Like the psychedelic community, so many beliefs, rules, worldviews are taken for granted. Brown deconstructs these concepts. Grounded Spirituality may not be the book that will change modern western spiritualism, but it is certainly a worthy addition to an ever growing collection.
Jeff Brown certainly makes a good case why that is so and instead offers a model still rooted in eastern practices, through the lens of western individualism. The book is divided in two parts. The first part Is Brown's biography and it is where the reader will get a basic understanding about the author’s beliefs. It so sort of pitch, but longer.
The second part is a dialogue between Brown and an imaginary character, based on the younger Brown and spiritual seekers he met along the way. If the first part is the textbook, this is the workbook.
I can certainly understand why a lot of people will get triggered by Brown's writing. Though I don’t find it cynical, some of the language used to describe these ancient eastern beliefs and practitioners is generalised. I don’t know a lot about Brown or which people he encountered, but sometimes his criticism is based on points he just assumes. Like the chapter about Eckhart Tolle.
But on a positive note I think the global community of seekers needs people like Jeff Brown. Like the psychedelic community, so many beliefs, rules, worldviews are taken for granted. Brown deconstructs these concepts. Grounded Spirituality may not be the book that will change modern western spiritualism, but it is certainly a worthy addition to an ever growing collection.
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