Mindfulness, Meditation, and Mind Fitness

by Joel Levey, Michelle Levey

Get more out of meditation with this comprehensive guide to various “A skillful blend of time-proven antidotes to the stress of modern life” (Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence). With this inspirational book, Joel and Michelle Levey offer a complete guide to inner exploration, whether you’re new to meditation or an experienced practitioner. By breaking down mindfulness techniques into distinct categories, the Leveys offer readers an easy-to-use resource for getting more out of meditation.   Seasoned experts on the topic of meditation, the Leveys were among the first to bring mind-fitness teachings into mainstream organizations. From NASA to Google, the Leveys have taught their techniques to people in leading corporations and government organizations, as well as at universities, medical centers, and more. This spiritual book is a treasury of the wisdom that they have amassed over the years. Through it, they share the mind-fitness disciplines necessary for personal mastery, wisdom, creativity, compassion, and resilience.

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

274 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 1999

Reviews

[Tami · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read a lot of books on meditation. In fact, I have a shelf full of titles looking at or teaching meditation for relaxation, awareness, contemplation, and spiritual enlightenment from various religious, spiritual, scientific, health, and interfaith perspectives. Really, I should have saved all my money and just bought Luminous Mind: Meditation and Mind Fitness.

If you are interested in meditation, no matter what your purpose (enlightenment, spiritual contemplation, relaxation, pain therapy, increasing awareness, becoming more creative, etc) Luminous Mind: Meditation and Mind Fitness is THE book to read. It is packed full of all sorts of meditation exercises, from various contemporary, religious, and spiritual sources. Detailed instructions and helpful hints are included for each.

The reader has several options on how to use this text. Those new to meditation can go through the chapters systematically trying a new exercise for a few weeks and then going onto the next one until they find what works best for their needs. For those individuals looking for meditations for a specific purpose or those having troubles getting past particular problems (such as getting fixated, not being able to concentrate, or getting bored), they can skim through the associated chapters to quickly find what they want. Personally, I enjoyed going through the various exercises to come up with new suggestions, creative techniques, and ways to enhance my mediation experience.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

For someone not particularly spiritually minded, it can be a bit of an eye-roller from time to time. Early on the authors suggest that the practice of meditation can lead to developing psychic powers, but they get pretty defensive about the idea that anyone would be skeptical. There's a lot in here I just don't believe.

Having said that, I think as a collection of meditation practices, it seems like a solid book. I have no expertise in meditation so I'm probably not the best to comment, but even if I don't buy into some of the more metaphysical aspects, I found the book interesting and the motivations behind the techniques and different categories of meditation edifying.

[Tomek · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars: Skip the last 100 pages. The beginning of the book is an excellent primer on meditation. It very clearly defines how to practice meditation and what you might gain from doing so. However, the authors get away from the basics and try to list dozens of new-agey meditation techniques that are all variants on the theme of mindfulness. It would have been better to include a serious discussion of dharma (eg 4 Noble Truths, Eightfold Path, etc).

[Steffi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written! I didn't know there are so many different meditations! An absolute jewel!

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me a while to get through, but had some good gems of knowledge. Hoping to begin practicing the elemental breath daily, & I’m excited to have access to the index of meditations in the back.

One part that stuck with me / read me to filth was talking about how if you don’t think you have the capability to do a creative mediation, but you’re able to assume other people are perceiving you in certain ways- then you definitely have the creative mental capacity to put it towards something good (Oop)

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an excellent resource for anyone interested in mindfulness and meditation. I appreciated the practical advice and the wide variety of meditation techniques—the book offers something for everyone. While the chapter on creative meditation felt a bit overwhelming and wasn’t a highlight for me, I still found it okay, though I preferred the other chapters much more. Overall, this is a very good book that I’d recommend to anyone looking to deepen their mindfulness practice.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provides many solid methods of meditating and clearing the mind.

[Frany74 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great overview of different types of meditations. Good reference for meditations to use in the future. 3 stars

[Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book on different types of meditation--it's not really a sit-down and read type of book (although someone could do that). For me, it seems more like a reference for different kinds of meditation. The authors speak a bit about the purpose of meditation, what it does, and how to do it. I have to admit, I found the book occasionally inaccessible but I would imagine it's because my brain needs very logical and concrete examples.

Still, people who are interested will likely find the chapters on the types of meditation really interesting, as well as the index for the different exercises. I'll be keeping this book around, but it would not be my first choice in terms of a reference.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this in a Goodreads giveaway.
A good introduction to a variety of meditation practices. The intent was not to be a book on Buddhism but on mindfulness and that was accomplished. It would have helped to stress that an individual should find what works best for them and stick with that and not try every one described in the text, but I get that the authors were trying to illustrate that there was more than one way to reach the goal of a good practice.

[Michael Shulman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free copy of the book from Goodreads First Reads. Although this book is small, it is filled with great exercises for the mind. It's not really meant to be read from cover to cover as it primarily serves as a reference. The exercises are explained in a straighforward and concise manner so everybody can understand and follow the exercises. If you're looking to become a better person, I highly recommend this book.

[EL · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book through first reads. I really didn't care for it, but I think perhaps the book is not really aimed at me. I would have liked more on mindfulness exercises or on actual mindfulness as an aspect of Buddhism or Taoism. I think that too much of the book focuses on what mindfulness is.

With that said, the book is well written. It just isn't my cup of tea.

[Valerie Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened as an audiobook; I enjoyed hearing about the vast array of meditation practices. Hopefully it will spur me to be more consistent about my own.

[Lisa Kosak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction to meditation

As a newbie to meditation I want to learn more about meditation including the highs and lows. This book was perfect!