Suggested Reading

Welcome to our Suggested Reading section! Here you will find books and music that will help to further your meditation knowledge and enrich your meditation sessions. The Meditation Society of America recommends these books as valuable tools to further your meditation knowledge and enrich your meditation sessions. All of them are available through Barnes and Noble. Click on any item to see a detailed description and information on how to order.

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Books:

• Enlightenment for Beginners: Discovering the Dance of the Divine
  The simple story about how (and why) you've been cleverly imagining yourself to be only a separate and limited Being.
  Author: Chuck Hillig
  Paperback, 236 pp.

• Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings
  The best-selling collection of the most popular enlightenment stories, anecdotes, and koans of Zen literature, introducing a generation of Americans to Zen.
  Author: Paul Reps, Nyogen Senzaki
  Paperback, 285 pp.

• Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life
  Draws on the Buddhist concept of "mindfulness"--of living fully in the moment.
  Author: Jon Kabat-Zinn
  Paperback, 304 pp.

• Tales of the Dervishes: Teaching-Stories of the Sufi Masters over the Past Thousand Years
  Author: Idries Shah
  Paperback, 221 pp.

• The Sufis
  A unique and little-known religion, Sufism follows a mystical teaching and a way of life that has had an enormous though largely unrecognized impact on both the East and West for four thousand years.
  Author: Idries Shah
  Paperback, 451 pp.

• The Way of the Sufi
  This book contains selections from the sayings, writings, and biographies of hundreds of Sufi sages.
  Author: Idries Shah
  Paperback, 314 pp.

• The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mullah Nasrudin
  Stories by the Sufi masters Rumi, Jami, and Attar, plus others collected by Idries Shah from the Persian, Afghan, Turkish, and Arabic cultures.
  Author: Idries Shah, Mullah Nasrudin
  Paperback, 218 pp.

• World Tales Collected by Idries Shah
  An illustrated collection of 65 folktales, each with an introduction outlining the appearance of the tale in various cultures.
  Author: Idries Shah
  Paperback, 410 pp.

• The Sivananda Companion to Yoga
  A comprehensive guide to postures, breathing exercises, diet, relaxation, and meditation techniques.
  Author: Lucy Lidell, Lucy L. Narayani
  Paperback, 192 pp.

• 101 Essential Tips: Yoga
  This book provides essential tips to practice Yoga.
  Author: Sivananda Yoga Center, Deni Bown
  Paperback, 72 pp.

• Yoga Journal's Yoga Basics: The Essential Beginner's Guide to Yoga for a Lifetime of Health and Fitness
  Offers the first truly comprehensive introduction to the practice of this popular ancient healing art.
  Author: Mara Carrico
  Paperback, 191 pp.

• Yoga Mind and Body
  Develop your mental and physical potential, nourish yourself with simple, natural food, and begin to control the stress and tension of everyday living by following five main principles
  Author: Sivananda Yoga Center, Swami Sivananda, Swami Vishnu De Vananda
  Hardcover, 168 pp.

• How to Know God: The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali
  Author: Swami Prabhavananda, Christopher Isherwood
  Paperback, 224 pp.

• Teachings of Swami Vivekananda
  Author: Swami Vivekanada
  Paperback, 398 pp.

• The Yoga Cookbook: Vegetarian Food for Body and Mind
  Contains more than 170 recipes prepared under the guidance of the world-renowned Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers.
  Author: The Sivananda Yoga Center
  Paperback, 159 pp.

• The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
  This valuable book provides a complete manual for the study and practice of Raja Yoga, the path of concentration and meditation.
  Author: Sri Swami Satchidananda
  Paperback, 263 pp.

• The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga
  Since 1960, more than 1 million people have used this classic guide to tap the incredible power of yoga.
  Author: Swami Vishnudervananda, Vishnudevananda, Swami Vishnu-Devananda
  Paperback

• Lilias Yoga Complete
  An easy-to-follow introduction to Hatha Yoga and a carefully-structured guide to classic yoga techniques.
  Author: Lilias Folan
  Audio

• Adam and the Kabbalistic Tree
  A study of human beings as seen by contemporary Kabbalists.
  Author: Z'Ev Ben Halevi
  Paperback, 325 pp.

• Autobiography of a Yogi
  A riveting account of an extraordinary life and a remarkably accessible introduction to a little-known spiritual science.
  Author: Paramahansa Yogananda
  Paperback, 500 pp.

• The Only Dance There Is: Talks Given at the Menninger Foundation, Topeka, Kansas, 1970, and at Spring Grove Hospital, Spring Grove, Maryland, 1972
  Based on talks by Ram Dass.
  Author: Ram Dass
  Paperback, 180 pp.

• Jnana-Yoga
  Describes the essence of Vedanta philosophy - the wisdom of the Vedas, Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita in a modern scientific manner.
  Author: Swami Vivekananda
  Paperback, 336 pp.

• The Golden Present: Daily Inspirational Readings
  Author: Sri Swami Satchidananda
  Paperback

• The Concise Yoga Vasistha
  Author: Swami Venkatesananda
  Paperback, 430 pp.

• In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching
  The record of the author's intimate asociation with the mystic Gurdjieff, and his search for a system of universal knowledge.
  Author: P. D. Ouspensky
  Paperback, 399 pp.

• Beelzebub'S Tales to His Grandson
  Beelzebub, a man of worldly (and other-worldly) wisdom, shares with his grandson the anecdotes, personal philosophies, and lessons learned from his own life.
  Author: G.I. Gurdjieff
  Paperback, 1152 pp.

• Meetings with Remarkable Men
  The writings of an Armenian mystic and founder of a quasi-religious movement.
  Author: G. I. Gurdjieff
  Paperback, 303 pp.

• Life Is Real Only Then, When I Am
  Gurdjieff offers guidance to his "community of seekers," through a selection of talks given in 1930, autobiographical material crucial to understanding his ideas, and the incomplete essay "The Outer and Inner World of Man."
  Author: G. I. Gurdjieff
  Paperback, 177 pp.

• OM: Creative Meditations from Alan Watts
  Author: Alan Watts
  Paperback, 160 pp.

• Alan Watts Teaches Meditation
  Learn the art of meditation from one of the West's most respected spiritual teachers.
  Author: Alan Watts
  Audio

• The Seeds of Genius: The Early Writings of Alan Watts
  A guru of the 1960s San Francisco counter-culture, Alan Watts introduced Eastern wisdom to Westerners.
  Author: Alan Watts
  Paperback, 320 pp.

• Out of the Trap: Selected Lectures of Alan W. Watts
  Seven legendary lectures including Nature, Buddhism, a tribute to Carl Jung.
  Author: Alan Watts
  Paperback, 160 pp.

• In the Company of the Wise : Remembering My Teachers, Reflecting in the Light
  The first section details personal encounters with 17 gurus in India, including a piece on her own guru, Sivananda, and a brief second section gives tips for the spiritual aspirant.
  Author: Sivananda Sivananda Radha
  Hardcover, 242 pp.

• To Know Your Self: The Essential Teachings of Swami Satchidananda
  Author: Swami Satchidananda
  Paperback, 264 pp.

• Integral Yoga Hatha
  Over 160 large photographs show Hatha expert Sri Swami Satchidananda performing more than 80 postures, breathing practices, relaxation, cleansing and concentration techniques.
  Author: Swami Satchidananda
  Paperback, 188 pp.

• Sri Swami Satchidananda: Apostle of Peace
  A highly entertaining chronicle, this extraordinary biography unfolds the story of a life of dedication, service, and surrender to God.
  Author: Sita Wiener Bordow, Thomas Keating
  Paperback, 454 pp.

• The Healthy Vegetarian
  Discusses, in clear simple terms, the contribution that a vegetarian diet can make to one's physical, mental and spiritual well-being.
  Author: Sri Swami Satchidananda
  Paperback, 128 pp.

• Enlightening Tales
  Filled with adventure, surprises and insight, these timeless tales remind us of what is important as we enter the 21st century.
  Author: Sri Swami Satchidananda
  Paperback, 128 pp.

• Kailash Journal: Pilgrimage into the Himalayas
  Author: Sri Swami Satchidananda
  Paperback, 161 pp.

• Sri Swami Satchidananda: Portrait of a Modern Sage
  Author: Sri Swami Sharadananda
  Hardcover, 264 pp.

• Total Freedom: The Essential Krishnamurti
  Collected in this comprehensive volume are the most illuminating and essential of his writings and talks.
  Author: Jiddu Krishnamurti
  Paperback, 370 pp.

• The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation
  Author: Thich Nhat Hanh
  Paperback, 140 pp.

• The Screwtape Letters: Also Includes Screwtape Proposes a Toast
  A classic satiric work consisting of a series of letters from Screwtape, an elderly devil, advising his nephew Wormwood, an apprentice devil, how to corrupt his earthly "patient".
  Author: C. S. Lewis
  Paperback, 128 pp.

• The Path to Tranquility; Daily Meditations
  A fresh and accessible introduction to his inspirational wisdom, offers words of guidance, compassion, and peace that are as down to earth as they are rich in spirit.
  Author: Dalai Lama Bstan-dzin-rgya-mtsho
  Hardcover, 413 pp.

• How to Know God: The Soul's Journey Into the Mystery of Mysteries
  The bestselling writer explains how the human brain is "hardwired'' to know God and how, in our struggle to find meaning in a chaotic universe, we instinctively gravitate toward the divine.
  Author: Deepak Chopra
  Hardcover, 320 pp.

• The Living Gita; The Complete Bhagavad Gita
  Author: Sri Swami Satchidananda
  Paperback, 326 pp.