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Suggested Readings:

RELAXATION

  • Joel Levey, The Fine Art of Relaxation (self-guided compact disc with music from platinum recording artist David Lanz) Seattle: EarthView Inc., 1988 (Available from EarthView.com)
  • Herbert Benson, The Relaxation Response (New York: Avon, 1976).
  • Herbert Benson, Beyond the Relaxation Response (New York: Berkley, 1984).
  • Lester Fehmi and George Fritz, Open Focus Handbook (Princeton: Biofeedback Computers, 1982).
  • Daniel Goleman, et al., The Relaxed Body (New York: Doubleday, 1986).
  • Tarthang Tulku, Kum Nye, Relaxation vols. 1 and 2, (Berkeley: Dharma, 1978).

CONCENTRATION

  • Joel & Michelle Levey, The Focused Mindstate: Maximizing Your Potential Through the Power of Concentration Chicago: Nightingale Conant, 1990.
  • Henepola Gunaratana, The Path of Serenity and Insight (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1985).
  • Thich Nhat Hanh, The Long Road Turns to Joy: A Guide to Walking Meditation Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1996.
  • Charles Johnston, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (London: Watkins, 1974).
  • Lati Rinbochay, Denma Lochö Rinbochay, Leah Zahler and Jeffrey Hopkins, Meditative States in Tibetan Buddhism (London: Wisdom, 1983).
  • K. Taimni, The Science of Yoga (Wheaton: Theosophical Publishing House, A Quest Book, 1961).
  • Swami Vivekananda, Raja Yoga (New York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 1973).

MEDITATION READINGS:

Basic

  • Thomas Byrom, trans., The Dhammapada: the Sayings of the Buddha, (New York: Vintage, 1976).
  • Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, trans. and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Kindness, Clarity and Insight, (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1985).
  • Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, trans. and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, A Policy of Kindness, (Ithaca: Snow lion, 1990).
  • Ram Dass, Journey of Awakening, (New York: Bantam, 1978).
  • Ram Dass, Grist for the Mill, (Santa Cruz: Unity, 1977).
  • R.M. French, trans., The Way of the Pilgrim, (New York: Seabury, 1977).
  • Joseph Goldstein, The Experience of Insight, (Boston: Shambhala, 1983).
  • Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: the Path of Insight Meditation, (Boston: Shambhala, 1987).
  • Kelsang Gyatso, commentary by the Dalai Lama, Glenn H. Mullin, trans., Essence of Refined Gold, (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1985).
  • Thich Nhat Hanh, Miracle of Mindfulness, (Boston: Beason, 1984).
  • Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace, (Berkeley: Parallax, 1987).
  • Thich Nhat Hanh, The Sun My Heart, (Berkeley: Parallax, 1988).
  • Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of Understanding, (Berkeley: Parallax, 1988).
  • Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ (Berkeley: Paralax, 1994)
  • Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living, (New York: Delacorte, 1990).
  • A Gradual Awakening, Stephen Levine, (New York: Anchor-Doubleday, 1978).
  • Stephen Levine, Who Dies? an Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying, (New York: Anchor-Doubleday, 1982).
  • Kathleen McDonald, How to Meditate, (Boston: Wisdom, 1989).
  • Anthony de Mello, Sadhana: a Way to God, Christian Exercises in Eastern Form, (New York: Doubleday, 1984).
  • Stephen Mitchell, ed., The Enlightened Heart: an Anthology of Sacred Poetry, (New York: Harper & Row, 1989).
  • Deborah Rozman, Meditating with Children, (Boulder Creek: University of the Trees, 1977).
  • Brother David Steindle-Rast, Gratefulness: the Heart of Prayer, (New York: Paulist Press, 1984).
  • Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, The First Step, a Guide for the New Jewish Spirit, (New York: Bantam, 1983).
  • Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, (New York: Weatherhill, 1986).
  • Sujata, Beginning to See, (San Francisco: Apple Pie, 1985).
  • Tarthang Tulku, Gesture of Balance, (Berkeley: Dharma, 1977).
  • Tarthang Tulku, Skillful Means, (Berkeley: Dharma, 1978).
  • Geshe Wangchen, Awakening the Mind of Enlightenment, (London: Wisdom, 1987).
  • Thubten Yeshe, Silent Mind, Holy Mind, (London: Wisdom, 1978).
  • Thubten Yeshe, (Introduction to Tantra, Boston: Wisdom, 1989).
  • Thubten Yeshe, and Zopa Rinpoche, Wisdom Energy, (London: Wisdom, 1978).

Intermediate

  • John Blofeld, The Zen Teachings of Huang Po, (New York: Grove, 1959).
  • Fred Eppsteiner, The Path of Compassion: Contemporary Writings on Engaged Buddhism, Dennis Maloney, eds., (Berkeley: Parallax, 1988).
  • Matthew Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988).
  • Mirko Fryba, The Art of Happiness: Teachings of Buddhist Psychology, (Boston: Shambhala, 1989).
  • Daniel Goleman, The Meditative Mind: Varieties of Meditative Experience, (Los Angeles: Tarcher, 1988).
  • Lama Anagarika Govinda, The Psychological Attitude of Early Buddhist Philosophy, (New York: Samuel Weiser, 1974).
  • Lama Anagarika Govinda, Creative Meditation and Multidimensional Consciousness, (Wheaton: Theosophical Publishing House, 1976).
  • Kalu Rinpoche, The Dharma that Illuminates All Beings Impartially Like the Light of the Sun and the Moon, (Albany: SUNY, 1986).
  • Jewish Meditation: a Practical Guide, Aryeh Kaplan, (New York: Schocken, 1985).
  • Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Toward the One, (London: Harper & Row, 1974).
  • Lao Tzu, Gia-fu Feng and Jane English, trans., Tao Te Ching, (New York: Vintage, 1974)
  • Brother Lawrence, Practice of the Presence of God, (Mount Vernon: Peter Pauper, 1967).
  • Franklin Merrell-Wolff, Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object, (New York: Julian, 1973).
  • Thomas Merton, Contemplation in a World of Action, (New York: Doubleday, 1973).
  • Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, (New York: New Directions, 1976).
  • Chogyam Trungpa, Shambhala: the Sacred Path of the Warrior, (Boston: Shambhala, 1984).
  • Tarthang Tulku, Space Time and Knowledge, (Berkeley: Dharma, 1977).
  • Tarthang Tulku, Knowledge of Freedom, (Berkeley: Dharma, 1984).
  • Dhyani Ywahoo, Voices of Our Ancestors: Cherokee Teachings from the Wisdom Fire, (Boston: Shambhala, 1987).

Advanced

  • Lama Anagarika Govinda, Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism, (New York: Samuel Weiser, 1969).
  • Jeffrey Hopkins, Meditation on Emptiness, (London: Wisdom, 1983).
  • Jeffrey Hopkins and Lati Rinbochay, Death, Intermediate State and Rebirth in Tibetan Buddhism, (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1979).
  • Namkhai Norbu, The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen, (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986).
  • Tarthang Tulku, Love of Knowledge, (Berkeley: Dharma, 1987).
  • Takpo Tashi Mangyal, Mahamudra: the Quintessence of Mind and Meditation, (Boston: Shambhala, 1986).

BIOGRAPHIES

  • Tsultrim Allione, Women of Wisdom, (London: Arkana, 1986).
  • Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, Freedom in Exile: the Autobiography of the Dalai Lama, (New York: HarperCollins, 1990).
  • Keith Dowman, Masters of Mahamudra, (Albany: SUNY, 1985)
  • Lama Anagarika Govinda, The Way of the White Clouds, (Boston: Shambhala, 1970).
  • Kalu Rinpoche, Kenneth McLeod, trans., The Chariot for Travelling the Path to Freedom: the Life Story of Kalu Rinpoche, (San Francisco: Kagyu Dharma, 1985).
  • Jack Kornfield, Living Buddhist Masters, (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1989).
  • Jonathan Landaw and Janet Brooke, Prince Siddhartha, (London: Wisdom, 1984).
  • Lobsang Lhalungpa, The Life of Milarepa, (Boston: Shambhala, 1984)
  • Vicki Mackenzie, The Boy Lama, (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988).
  • Franklin Merell-Wolff, Pathways Through Space, (New York: Julian, 1973).
  • Bernadette Roberts, The Experience of No-Self, (Boston: Shambhala, 1984).
  • Bernadette Roberts, The Path to No-Self: Life at the Center, (Boston: Shambhala, 1985).
  • Tarthang Tulku, Mother of Knowledge, (Berkeley: Dharma, 1983).
  • Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, (Los Angeles: SRF, 1985)

PEAK PERFORMANCE

  • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: the Psychology of Optimal Experience, (New York: Harper & Row, 1990).
  • Ram Dass and Paul Gorman, How Can I Help? Stories and Reflections on Service, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990).
  • Charles Garfield, Peak Performance Strategies and Insights of America’s Most Productive People, (New York: Morrow, 1986).
  • Charles Garfield and Hal Bennett, Peak Performance: Mental Training Techniques of the World’s Greatest Athletes, (Los Angeles: Tarcher, 1984).
  • Catherine Ingram, In the Footsteps of Gandhi: Conversations with Spiritual Social Activists, (Berkeley: Parallax, 1989).
  • Willis Harman & Howard Rheingold, Higher Creativity: Liberating the Unconscious for Breakthrough Insights, (Los Angeles: Tarcher, 1984).
  • Richard Strozzi-Heckler, Akido and the New Warrior, (Berkeley: North Atlantic, 1985).
  • Dan Millman, The Warrior Athlete: Body Mind and Spirit, (Walpole: Stillpoint, 1985).
  • Michael Murphy, Golf in the Kingdom, (New York: Dell, 1972).
  • Michael Murphy, and Rhea White, The Psychic Side of Sports, (London: Addison-Wesley, 1978).
  • Michael Murphy, and Rhea White, In the Zone, 1997
  • Peter Payne, Martial Arts: the Spiritual Dimension, (New York: Crossroads, 1981).
  • Kay Porter and Judy Foster, The Mental Athlete: Inner Training for Peak Performance, (Los Angeles: Wm. C. Brown, 1985).
  • Renee Weber, Dialogues with Scientists and Sages: the Search for Unity, (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987).

CONSCIOUSNESS RESEARCH AND CREATIVITY

  • Barbara Brown, New Mind, New Body: Biofeedback, New Directions for Mind, (New York: Harper & Row, 1974).
  • Larry Dossey, M.D., Recovering the Soul: a Scientific and Spiritual Search, (New York: Bantam, 1989). Elmer and Alyce Green, Beyond Biofeedback, (Fort Wayne: Knoll, 1989).
  • Jeremy W. Hayward, Shifting Worlds, Changing Minds: Where the Sciences and Buddhism Meet, (Boston: Shambhala, 1987).
  • Robert G. Jahn and Brenda J. Dunne, Margins of Reality: the Role of Consciousness in the Physical World, (San Diego: HBJ, 1987.
  • Harish Johari, Breath, Mind, and Consciousness, (Rochester, VT: Destiny, 1989).
  • Michael Murphy and Steven Donovan, Contemporary Meditation Research: a Summary of the Field with a Bibliography of 962 Entrees, (San Francisco: Esalen Foundation, 1985).
  • Robert Ornstein, The Psychology of Consciousness, (New York: Penguin, 1986).
  • Robert Ornstein and Claudio Naranjo, On the Psychology of Meditation, (New York: Viking, 1971).
    Erik Peper, et al. Mind/Body Integration: Essential Readings in Biofeedback, (New York: Plenum, 1979)
  • Deanne H. Shapiro, Jr., Meditation: Self-Regulation Strategy and Altered States of Consciousness, (Chicago: Aldine, 1980).
  • Deanne H. Shapiro, Jr. and Roger Walsh, eds., Meditation: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives. (Chicago: Aldine, 1984).
  • Robert Shellenberger and Judith Green, From Ghost in the Box to Successful Biofeedback Training, (Greely: Health Psychology, 1986).
  • B. Alan Wallace, Choosing Reality: a Contemplative View of Physics and the Mind, (Boston: Shambhala, 1989).
  • Michael Washburn, The Ego and The Dynamic Ground: a Transpersonal Theory of Human Development, (New York: SUNY, 1988).
  • John Welwood, Awakening the Heart: East-West Approaches to Psychotherapy and Healing Relationships, (Boston: Shambhala, 1983).
  • Ken Wilber, Dan Brown and Jack Engler, Transformations of Consciousness: Conventional and Contemplative Developmental Approaches, (Boston: Shambhala, 1986).

Click here for more resources from the Leveys’ book Living in Balance (Conari Press, 1998)