Beyond the Breath: Extraordinary Mindfulness through Whole Body Vipassana Yoga Meditation

Honestly, I skimmed much of the book until I got to the chapters on the technique itself and the rationale behind it. I have read numerous teachings on Buddhism and Zen for years and I have simply heard it all and I am not in a Buddhist path. I have found a home in the Gurdjieff work but I have found much benefit with Vipassana meditation. The only meditation that has yielded results (yeah, I know all the paradoxes about expecting results in Zen). Over the years while practicing Zen and going to retreats I rarely have found much absorption, even after day long retreats. But when I have seemed to be able to begin with the breath and focus on the body, I seem to find a place of mindfulness where an involuntary grin occurs, such like the statues of the Buddha. For years I thought of mindfulness as a slowing down and doing small tasks with awareness, and being aware of one's outward senses. This seemed to help orient me and help action without extra thought, but there has not been much energy, or "oomph" to yield much in the way of results. What I have found in the Gurdjieff work and in some articulations of Vipassana mindfulness is that an inner awareness of the body and emotive life with a non judging or grasping mind is the way to achieve greater mindfulness. And this must be carried into everyday life. Mindfulness is more than walking meditation, or folding laundry slowly, it is a deeper inner inquiry. This author makes the point that much of meditation is abstract and to truly practice, one must focus on the ontological self. The embodied existence. There is no need for overly complicated alchemical approaches, such as Tibetan, esoteric Taoism, yoga-kundalini approaches. With this deep body awareness one simple needs to become deeply mindful and investigative of inner sensation. To talk in 4th Way terms, awareness becomes like a stomach that digests the blocks to the flow of energy and awareness. Thus purifying the self from the personality structure little by little. Here's a reason from modern psychology why this approach is effective: Margaret Mahler as quoted in The Void by A.H. Almaas postulated that the ego structure is first and foremost a body ego. It begins before narrative memory forms from the earliest sensations of the body. The internal self-image begins with the deeper internal sensations, the external self-image begins with the earliest outward sensations of boundaries of the self. So you can see that one cannot get to the deeper ego-structures without deep contemplation of the body. I would also add that the impetus for endless thought has its origins in the body. And that is why many people struggle with thought, it's like grasping at mist. But contemplation of the body cuts to the thought-emotional tensions or complexes that perpetuate the process. The last great point with this book is the lay person's emphasis. This is first and foremost a lay practice. The author talks about the excellent 8 fold path, of which many Buddhist practitioners seem to miss, as the Buddha knew very well that practice must extend to every part of a person's life, and not just on the cushion. Overall, great book to begin with Buddhism and a superb form of Vipassana.

"Beyond the Breath" is written by a fellow baby-boomer in a style and vernacular completely understandable to me. As such, Marshall Glickman fills a modern Buddhism explanation niche. For example, the First Noble Truth of Buddhism, "LIFE IS SUFFERING" probably sounds completely dismal and off-putting to the average Westerner--a real hindrance to investigating Buddhism further. Most people would probably respond with, "Well, isn't life basically good? Isn't life what you make it?" The author, however, puts a subtle spin on the First Noble Truth which, in my opinion, makes Buddhism a lot more appealing. The author suggests that, "Something is always a bit off," or "Things are never just right." He explains it this way. Pleasure and pain are nature's binary operating system which works in a nonverbal sensation-based way. Unfortunately, we confuse pleasure with happiness. Pleasure is addictive and we can easily get entranced by it making it our goal. The biochemistry of pleasure is the same as addiction. When pleasure dissipates it leaves us agitated and hungry for more. Unfortunately, trying to hold onto pleasure and keep pain at bay causes unhappiness because even the best of pleasures can't give us total satisfaction. Marshall supports traditional Buddhist notions on materialism by citing a study that found that the pleasure we get from owning things hinges on one-upmanship, hardly a source of lastly fulfillment or happiness. There is also an interesting section on the psychological experiences of organ transplant recipients that dramatically demonstrates the body-mind connection. Another powerful distinction in the book is that true detachment comes from accepting what is, not dissociating from or steeling yourself against what is. So paradoxically, acceptance leads to detachment. Like the author, I too have completed several S.N. Goenka sponsored 10-Day Vipassana courses so I can truly say that "Beyond the Breath" points the reader towards a powerful and personal experience of transformation, which is the essence of Buddha's message. You can read a book on swimming while sitting comfortably in a deckchair and then make up an elaborate story about it, or you can read a book on swimming and jump into the pool. The stated goal of this book is to inspire you to jump into the pool, i.e. do a 10-day Vipassana course. IMO he succeeds. "Beyond the Breath" is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to improve their life by using the time-tested method of Vipassana meditation. This is a great book.

If you have attended recently a 10 course day retreat, well there's nothing superior to that, however the reminder of the book about the instructions on how to practice properly it's totally worth, there's a little Faq section that personally I didn't find useful as the topic is well described and covered in the technique section. I was expecting to read much more problems and solutions to common situation that mediators face and maybe in one of them yours. The technique is repeated in a gentle way that is not annoying to read and helps to keep the concepts because we tend to derail easily once we are practicing. It's also worth to mention that basics about the philosophy scaffolding is beautifully written and it's inspiring with efforts to make it unbiased and in a realistic way. All in all great reference to refresh concepts and increase the knowledge/understanding about the nature of what you're doing while meditating

Excellent livre pour ceux qui lisent l'anglais ( j'espère qu'il sera traduit un jour) pour comprendre les fondements de la méditation Vipassana avec la description de la méthode, les raisons de celle ci comparée à d'autres méditations et quelques piliers du Bouddhisme pour l'expliquer... A lire avant de prendre une retraite de 10 jours dans un centre Vipassana ;>)

....even after doing two Vipassana courses...I still found that I needed a bit more explanation/instruction on this technique in plain English. This is VERY well written...minimal jargon...nice tie-in of Buddhist basics and how they apply but also includes the nonsectarian approach. Really a fantastic book. I have not finished and will update at that point.Definitely recommended!!!!

It's a okie type of read. Given not much literature available on Vipassana , this provide glimpse of possibilities Vipassana offers . The book tries to explain the method in a scientific way. The first half gets little boring , however second half is good.

Anyone who has ever tried quickly realizes that any form of meditation isn't easy. More often than not the mind is an unquiet place and we tend to be assailed second to second by an insistent voice urging us to do this or that; to fulfil our role as a human doing rather than a human being! The good news is that with this form of meditation, which does not require focussing on a particular point, design or flame etc. whilst chanting the same word repeatedly, the meditator takes careful note of the various sensations he or she notices. Indeed, as the name suggests, this is the very object of Vipassana, or sensation-based meditation. Of course, some sensations are more pleasant than others but the object of the exercise is to notice in a detached way whatever the sensation may be and not to reject or accept any however pleasant or unpleasant. Before outlining meditation techniques, Glickman provides a brief history of his belief system, Buddhism and its development, through a potted history of the Buddha's own search for enlightenment but, though highlighting that there is good evidence to suppose that Vipassana is the meditation method that Buddha himself developed, points out that his readers do not have to be Buddhists themselves to benefit from the form of meditation he espouses. For anyone seeking a comprehensive introduction to mindfulness and sensation-based meditation written in an entertaining and engaging style, this book provides the perfect starting point. However, as the author himself is careful to stress, that is exactly what it is - merely a starting point - and no substitute for practice over a sustained supervised period from a trained teacher, something commonly to be found on 10 day retreats. One final point, the author is Marshall, and not Mark, Glickman, who is a Rabbi!

I have done a 10 day retreat however still found lots of inspiration from reading the book. I would recommend both reading this book and doing a 10 day Goenka retreat.