Book Review: How to Meditate by Paul Roland

King Sidharth — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:42:17 +0000

Combat Stress and Harness the Power of Positive Thought

I’ve been waiting to review a book on Meditation Rocks. I usually read several books each month on topics ranging from geekish technology to spiritual insights. I thought why not share some reviews with you. Please note that this post contains affiliate links to Amazon. That means if you buy the book clicking through this post, I will get some bucks. Certainly not enough to buy a ticket to USA but enough to buy a new book to review, so it’s a win-win situation.

Today I want to review book titled ‘How to Meditate – Combat Stress and Harness The Power of Positive Thought’. The book explores many aspects of meditation and many techniques. The author Paul Roland has written several books on the subject including Meditation Solutions.

The Book

The book is very well designed, easy to read, basic language. It’s full of insightful quotations and numerous techniques which you can explore this holiday season. The book is visually reach and talks sense and straight forward without diving much into why and stuff it, encourages you to explore it yourself.

Unlike so many other books on meditation that I’ve read, it touches many aspects of meditation from a beginner’s point of view. You will not be disappointed if you know nothing about meditation. And if you know something, this is the next step. Here are some topics that the book covers:

Benefits of Meditation
Why Meditate?
Postures
Mindfulness
Healing through meditation
Visualization
Mantras and Chanting
Music for Meditation
The Chakras
Positive Thinking
Much, much, much more

So overall it’s an amazing book. In each chapter you will find basic to advance ‘step-by-step’ technique with useful suggestions and tips. Not to mention the awesome quotes author as complied.

What I disliked

The very subtitle of the book seems to contradict the topic of the book. Combat? Thoughts? That’s not meditation! Often the author mentions putting ‘mind into meditation’. Dude, there is no mind in meditation.

The reason is quiet clear, the book was targeted for people with western mindset to many of them these idea of being without mind and not fighting against what you don’t want may seem absurd.

The topic of the Chakras is not at all satisfactory.

In chapter about relaxing Paul mentioned preserving mental energy, well I personally believe in abundance so it’s not wasting that is of concern here but diversion of attention.

What I Liked About The Book:

I liked the simple and effective approach of the book. He never tries to invade your mind or imposes something on you. He is out there silently passing the knowledge and it’s more about what you perceive.

It explores so many techniques that you can go on a meditation adventure. And none of them are hard, or useless. And above all he has really covered vast range of topics like colour therapy, mindfulness, healing, chanting etc.

It’s full of eye candies. The serene sceneries and descriptive image guide are very helpful to create the feel or sense of mediation.

The topics: Mindfulness, Healing, Chanting, Past Life Regression, Postures and Meditation Corner are very descriptive and makes the book ‘Highly Recommended’.

Who Should Read It?

Everyone! Right from beginners to meditation teachers, I will recommend this book to everyone. You will learn a lot if you don’t know anything or know a thing or two. And if you are already practicing it, you will find loads and loads of interesting and useful techniques. If you want to start living a rocking life. The time is now.

Excerpt from the Book:

“Millman observed, ‘You don’t have to control your thoughts, you just have to stop letting them control you.’ He likens the mind to a barking dog and says that instead of trying to subdue it we should get on with whatever we are doing and let the dog bark, because that is what dogs do.”

So go ahead, give yourself a little treat this week.

If you have read this book, please share your review with us. And yes do let me know what other thing you’d like to heat on Mediation Rocks!