Journeys to the Deep: A Gentle Guide to Mindfulness Meditation
Published by Mud Pie Books, March 2022.
Every Focusing session is a kind of journey – one that follow freely as I meditate. I feel so grateful for this fusion of focusing and meditation. Gone are the rules about what my inner word ‘should be like’ or how it ‘should behave’. Applying the wisdom of focusing, my wish is to allow my mind – my attention – to be just as it is, for as long as it likes. I honour its ways and wishes. When the mood takes me, I linger in pools of awareness; if I prefer, I wander away on streams of thought or imagination, pausing now and then to ask… “and what does this want me to feel?” or, “what is the felt-sense of ‘all of this’…?” It is this focusing-infused approach to mediation that I describe in my book: Journeys to the Deep: A Gentle Guide to Mindfulness Meditation. I hope you will enjoy this voyage within!
If you wish to know more about Elizabeth’s book, The back cover reads: ‘This book is a treasure-house for anyone who enjoys quiet times, for those who ‘meditate’ in the widest sense. Each page holds precious insights that speak as clearly to those just setting out, as to experienced meditators looking for fresh inspiration. Full of kindness, humour and quirky aphorisms, the author dovetails lyric prose with original poems that conjure up the world of meditation. She describes how to meditate ‘as you can’, and so to escape the pitfalls of meditating in ways that feel difficult or limiting. Accessible and relevant, this book will illuminate and delight, guiding you ‘onwards and inwards’ in a journey to fulfilment and joy.’ And in a delightful Foreword, Rt Rev Rowan Williams ends, ‘This is a book of real wisdom and grace; a travelling companion for the work that is done in silence, far below the surface of the mind.’
Dr Elizabeth English draws on over four decades of daily meditation practice. Her understanding is enriched by her doctoral research in Sanskrit meditation texts, her ordination within a western Buddhist tradition and her post teaching secular mindfulness meditation at Cambridge University. She weaves other approaches into her work apart from Focusing, including ‘Recollective Awareness’, ‘Nonviolent Communication’, and ‘Somatic Experiencing’, in a skilful array of mindful methods, ancient and
Elizabeth also offers online mindfulness and meditation courses. Watch out in particular for a course based on her book: A Gentle Guide to Mindfulness Meditation.