Why We Meditate: The Science and Practice of Clarity and Compassion

In this illuminating program, psychologist Goleman (Altered Traits) and Tibetan Buddhist teacher Tsoknyi Rinpoche (The Wakeful Body) share advice on how readers can overcome distraction with meditation. Tsoknyi imparts guidance on bringing one’s mind, body, and feelings into alignment, while Goleman contributes dispatches on the science behind Tsoknyi’s principles and exercises. Tsoknyi details his “handshake” method for bringing together “our awareness and our feelings” by focusing one’s attention on one’s body and emotions. This practice, Tsoknyi contends, allows practitioners to confront harmful emotional patterns and alter them to be less destructive. He elaborates that the ideal outcome is to rediscover one’s “essence love,” which happens when “we are just okay for no particular reason.” Goleman notes that this advice resembles cognitive therapy’s focus on disrupting “troubling emotional patterns” and offers research support for Tsoknyi’s insights, as when he details a study that found people who acknowledged their anxiety in an “accepting, nonreactive way” felt less anxious after doing so. Goleman includes many vignettes about his time working with Tsoknyi that feel a bit superfluous compared to the meatiness of Tsoknyi’s offerings, but the science enlightens and Tsoknyi’s charisma and compassion will please meditators of all stripes. Those looking for an accessible, jargon-free primer on meditation should check this out. (Dec.)