Make Every Move a Meditation: Mindful Movement for Mental Health, Well-Being, and Insight

Description

Discover the Benefits of Exercise as Meditation “Let me say it simply. Someone should have written this book a long time ago.” —Shinzen Young, meditation teacher, neuroscience research consultant, founder of Unified Mindfulness, author of Meditation in the Zone and The Science of Enlightenment Award-winning Finalist in the “Health: Diet & Exercise” category of the 2022 International Book Awards #1 New Release in Sports Health & Safety, Other Eastern Religions & Sacred Texts, Cycling, Sports Psychology, Walking, Theravada Buddhism, and Meditation Transform movement and meditation into the powerful practice of mindful movement Exercise can be meditation. What do you think of when you hear the word meditation? A quiet room filled with monks? An Instagram influencer? What about moving meditation? Yoga? Tai Chi? For too long, meditation in books has focused on specific periods of meditation, rather than mediation through fitness or daily activities. What if lifting weights, dancing with your love, or walking across a room counted? What if you could use exercise as meditation? What if you could make every move a meditation? Let's combine the two. In Make Every Move a Meditation, award-winning author, meditation leader, and mental health advocate Nita Sweeney shows us fitness can be mindfulness. She teaches us how to bring meditation and mindfulness into any activity by incorporating centuries-old techniques. Studies show that both exercise and meditation reduce anxiety, stabilize blood pressure, improve mood and cognition, and lead to a deeper self-relationship and wisdom. Movement is medicine, and meditation is medicine. Inside you’ll learn to Turn exercise into a meditation tool Make any activity a mindful practice Enjoy the benefits of meditation while getting fit If you like meditation books and best sellers such as Think Like a Monk, Practicing Mindfulness, or Breath, you’ll love Make Every Move a Meditation. Contents Introduction Chapter 1 Why Bother? Chapter 2 How to Meditate While You Move Chapter 3 Why I Bother Chapter 4 Splendid Body: Sense Gates Chapter 5 Tricky Mind: Working with Thoughts Chapter 6 Advanced Awareness Techniques Chapter 7 Tangles of Emotion Chapter 8 How to Grow Through Pain (and Joy) Chapter 9 Cultivating Mind States Chapter 10 Struggling? Check the Hindrances Chapter 11 Variations on a Theme Chapter 12 Whose Idea Was This? Chapter 13 More About Forms of Movement Chapter 14 Make It Yours Chapter 15 Taking It on the Road Chapter 16 Who’s Meditating? Chapter 17 Why Therapists Have Therapists and Teachers Have Teachers Chapter 18 You Might Already Be Doing It Chapter 19 Find Your Fellowship Chapter 20 Illness, Injury, and “Bad” Workouts Chapter 21 Performance Chapter 22 See You on the “Path” An Invitation and a Request Resources Acknowledgments About the Author References