What it is: This book is a transcription of talks on Zen Buddhist practice that Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki delivered to a small sitting group in Los Altos California in 1970. He came down from San Francisco once a week to join the group’s meditation periods, and afterwards answered their questions, encouraged them in their practice of Zen, and helped them to have perspective on their lives. His approach was informal, and he drew his examples from ordinary events and common sense.

Shunryu Suzuki Roshi was a Soto Zen priest and the founder of the San Francisco Zen Center. He was born 1904 in rural Japan, arrived in the United States to teach in 1959, and died of cancer in San Francisco in 1971.

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What it is: Wikipedia says, “Jonathan Haidt is associate professor of psychology at the University of Virginia. His research focuses on the psychological bases of morality across different cultures. His book The Happiness Hypothesis examines ten “great ideas” dating from antiquity and their continued relevance to the happy life.”

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What it is: “I Am That” is a collection of transcripted talks of the teachings of an Indian spiritual teacher who went by the name Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. As Amazon.com says, “‘I Am That’ preserves Maharaj’s dialogues with the followers who came from around the world seeking his guidance in destroying false identities. The sage’s sole concern was with human suffering and the ending of suffering. It was his mission to guide the individual to an understanding of his true nature and the timelessness of being. He taught that mind must recognize and penetrate its own state of being, ‘being this or that, here or that, then or now,’ but just timeless being.”

Nisargadatta Maharaj was born in 1897 with the name “Maruti”, and lived a simple uneducated life, as a husband and shopkeeper in the slums of Bombay, until he died in 1981. He is considered by some however to have attained the supreme state of “moksha” (Sanskrit for “enlightenment” or “liberation”), and to be one of the deepest modern masters of the Hindu school of Advaita Vedanta (emphasizing direct nondualistic realization of truth).

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What it is: La Wik states, “Codependent No More was the debut book of self-help author Melody Beattie. It was originally published in 1987 by the publishing division of the Hazelden Foundation. The book became a phenomenon of the self-help movement, going on to sell over eight million copies, six million copies of them in the United States.

Codependent No More introduced the word ‘codependent’ to the wider world. The term ‘codependent’ originated as a term to describe people who use relationships with others as their sole source of value and identity. These people often end up in relationships with either drug addicted or alcohol addicted spouses or lovers. In the book, Beattie explains that a codependent is a person who believes their happiness is derived from other people or one person in particular, and eventually the codependent becomes obsessed with controlling the behavior of the people/person that they believe is making them happy.

Rather like Bill Wilson’s Alcoholics Anonymous five decades earlier,

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What it is: Insert DVD, step onto your mat, take a deep breath, and let the transformation begin. This DVD provides yoga instruction that touches all levels of practicioners. And the best part: no reason to miss a class, all you have to do is push play. It’s Yoga-to-go, for when you’re on the go and need to ‘find your balance’.

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What it is: Our friends at Wikipedia have this to say, “Bhante Henepola Gunaratana is a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk … [He was] born December 7, 1927 in Sri Lanka. He was ordained as a monk at the age of 12, and … came to the United States at the invitation of the Sasana Sevaka Society in 1968 … He is the author of the considerably influential work Mindfulness in Plain English.” The book is a staple of the American “Vipassana”, or mindfulness meditation, scene. As an act of generosity by its author, It is available for free at a number of places on the web (flex your Google-fu to check it out).

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What it is: Wikipedia says, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, first published in 1989, is a self-help book written by Stephen R. Covey. … the book lists seven principles that, if established as habits, are supposed to help a person achieve true interdependent ‘effectiveness’. Covey argues this is achieved by aligning oneself to what he calls ‘true north’—principles of a character ethic that, unlike values, he believes to be universal and timeless.”

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What it is: This book is about one man’s journey from a path destined for success in traditional terms, to a path that defines success in more universal terms. In plain English, Dan is an athlete, smart, destined for a wife, a “good” job, and a pretty standard day-to-day. Throughout the book, he discovers deeper truths about what is important, and how to live a happier life. It’s a good light read.

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What it is: “A Guide To Rational Living” is the first book the great psychologist Doctor Albert Ellis wrote on Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy ( REBT - later known as “cognitive therapy”)

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What it is: A book about how to recover lost parts of yourself and become more whole by paying attention to somatics(tendencies of the body). There are fun and engaging tools to play along as well, like the “which animal are you when you get defensive” cheat sheet (which I describe a little further down this review).

Continue reading ‘Review: Getting Our Bodies Back by Christine Caldwell’