Sit - by Bodhipaksa (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A popular Buddhist teacher guides you through strategies to build and maintain a rock-solid daily meditation practice--from setting reminders to dealing with setbacks to introducing the philosophical concepts underpinning Buddhist meditation--and everything in between.

It's widely known that there are many benefits to meditation, particularly if undertaken regularly, but making it a daily habit can be a challenge for many people. Why? Because it takes more than willpower.

Here, longtime meditation teacher and Buddhist blogger Bodhipaksa presents a collection of strategies and tools to help build a rock-solid daily meditation practice into your life. The book is divided into twenty-eight chapters, one for each day.

Each chapter starts with a Practice Reminder, just a few words reminding readers of the importance of practicing meditation rather than merely reading about it. There's also a link to a web page of guided meditations.

Following that is a Today section, a brief summary of the day's reading.

Then there's a Strategies section, which offers suggestions to help readers build the habit of meditating daily. Strategies can be as simple as setting reminders or using a meditation timer, or more involved tools such as changing any belief that you lack what it takes to meditate daily.

That's followed by a Going Deeper section, with a deeper exploration of some of the Buddhist teachings underpinning our practice, often referring to the suttas, or scriptures, of early Buddhism.

Next is a Reflection section, which encourages readers to keep a journal to make the content of the Going Deeper section more experiential.

Each chapter ends with a Last Words section, quickly summarizing the Going Deeper section.

Review Quotes

"Sit delivers a time-tested truth in clear, relatable language: consistency beats intensity every time. Bodhipaksa shows us that the real magic of meditation isn't found in rare peak experiences, but in the steady rhythm of showing up daily. A little effort, repeated again and again, becomes a lifetime of practice."--Miguel Chen, author of I Wanna Be Well: How a Punk Found Peace and You Can Too, and musician, Teenage Bottlerocket

"Sit offers more than tips for establishing a daily meditation practice. This book gently guides readers to understand and transform the subtle mental habits that may be limiting our potential and influencing the myriad choices we make every day of our lives. By taking these simple practice tips to heart, readers will develop effective life skills and break out of restrictive habit patterns wherever and however they may appear."
--Shaila Catherine, author of Beyond Distraction: Five Practical Ways to Focus the Mind

"Are you having trouble keeping up a meditation routine? Bodhipaksa has your back, providing dozens of tips and tricks to keep you on the cushion. Read it and sit!"--Doug Smith, creator of Doug's Dharma on YouTube

"Bodhipaksa provides us with wonderfully practical steps for developing the habit of meditation! He shares research-based methods for creating and sustaining healthy behaviors, and combines these with insights from the Buddha and later Buddhist teachers on meditation. There is now a very large body of research on the benefits of mindfulness and other meditation techniques. If you want to cultivate a regular meditation practice (or habituate to any other healthy behaviors), then I highly recommend this book!"--Lorne Ladner, PhD, psychologist, author of The Lost Art of Compassion

"Bodhipaksa's calling as a brilliant meditation coach is a gift to us all. I am glad to see him going both wide and deep with Sit--a clear, comprehensive, compassionate program combining wise strategies and practical tactics, timeless insight and personal reflection. Please enjoy these nourishing marvels of the dailiness of meditation. Up your game in this vital, evolutionary sport. Commit to Sit, and be happily transformed."--Gary Gach, author of Pause . . . Breathe . . . Smile

About the Author

Bodhipaksa is a Buddhist teacher and author who is originally from Scotland but now lives in New Hampshire. He has practiced in the Triratna Buddhist Community since 1982, and became a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order in 1993. The author of several books, Bodhipaksa also runs Wildmind (http: //www.wildmind.org), an online meditation center with a mission to spread compassion and mindfulness through the practice of Buddhist meditation. Most of his teaching is done through Wildmind. Bodhipaksa is the father of two adopted children, and counts his children among his spiritual teachers.