Sharon Salzberg’s Real Happiness
Garrison Institute board member, teacher and our friend Sharon Salzberg has written a new book, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation, which has been very well received by her fellow teachers and meditation leaders. Jon Kabat-Zinn says, “This book is an inviting gateway into the interior territory of profound well-being and wisdom…. [M]indfulness and lovingkindness come to life and bring the lucky reader who enters wholeheartedly into the practices offered here back to what has always been deepest and best and most satisfying in him or herself, for the benefit of all.”
We’ve been reading the book here, and we too recommend it highly for its instructive clarity and the compelling case it makes. What’s it about? Presenting contemporary findings and deep tradition, she provides a 28-day plan for catching up with yourself. “Meditation helps us defuse stress, experience greater tranquility, find a sense of wholeness, strengthen our relationships, and face our fears. Meditation helps protect the brain against aging and improves our capacity for learning new things. Sharon Salzberg, distilling thirty years of experience teaching, shows how to start and maintain an effective meditation practice. It’s not religious. It’s not navel-gazing — if anything, meditation promises a greater engagement with the world.”