From Publishers Weekly
Why Meditate? The Essential Book About How Meditation Can Enrich Your Life asks what this ancient spiritual practice has to do with daily living. The essay collection is compiled by Clint Willis, editor of Avalon's Adrenaline outdoor adventure series. Seventeen writers, including Annie Dillard, Peter Matthiessen, Alan Watts, Sogyal Rinpoche and Shunryu Suzuki offer answers to the question posed in the title. Some meditate to better manage their lives; basketball coach and player Phil Jackson has used the concept of "mindful basketball" to coach stars like Shaquille O'Neal, and other writers describe using the practice to better cope with grief or anxieties. Clinical psychologist John Welwood describes the ways it can complement the process of psychotherapy. But ultimately, as Willis observes in his introduction, the practice of meditation is its own reward. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
Editor Clint Willis has gathered twenty-five pieces, each of which answers the question “Why meditate?” from a different perspective. These include work (with a selection by Lewis Richmond), children (Jon Kabat Zinn), service (Ram Dass), death (Sogyal Rinpoche), fear (Pema Chodron), compassion (Thich Nat Hanh), and kindness (Sharon Salzberg). Other authors explore themes of happiness, success, failure, romance, marriage, illness, worry, fun, and therapy. Also included are writers such as Annie Dillard, Thomas Merton, and Rainer Maria Rilke whose work, although not explicitly about meditation, teach lessons about mindfulness and other related themes. This book is written for those who have only heard of meditation and want to know more, as well as beginning and experienced meditators who wish to deepen and broaden their practice.

FROM THE PUBLISHER