Dean Sluyter offers a skilled meditation guide in Natural Meditation
Dean Sluyter is in the grand tradition of authors who interpret traditional enlightenment teachings and apply them to modern Western life. In his latest book, Natural Meditation, he certainly accomplishes that task with a rare combination of insight, clarity, wit, and pragmatic common sense.
Can you learn to meditate effectively from a book? That’s an open question. But if any book can do the job of a skilled meditation guide, it’s this one. Sluyter knows as much about clear, concise, captivating prose as he does about the nuances of meditation. That rare combination makes Natural Meditation as enjoyable as it is useful.
We’ve come a long way from the days when meditating marked you as weird. Now, physicians recommend it, and no one blinks if you’re late for dinner because you were meditating. But misconceptions remain. One is that all meditation practices are the same. Another is that it’s difficult; as in, “I tried to meditate, but it’s so hard” and, “I’m not good at it.” Sluyter is here to tell you it was hard because you tried, and there’s no such thing as being good at it. The key words in his title are “natural” and “effortless.”
Meditation, he asserts, can be as natural and effortless as a leaf floating to the ground. The mind wants to settle down. Sluyter shows you how to allow it.
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Philip Goldberg has been studying the world’s spiritual traditions for more than 50 years, as a practitioner, teacher, and author. An Interfaith Minister, public speaker, and workshop leader, his numerous books include Roadsigns on the Spiritual Path; American Veda: From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation, How Indian Spirituality Changed the West; The Life of Yogananda: The Story of the Yogi Who Became the First Modern Guru, and his latest, Spiritual Practice for Crazy Times: Powerful Tools to Cultivate Clarity, Calm and Courage. He blogs on Elephant Journal and Spirituality & Health, cohosts the popular Spirit Matters podcast, and leads American Veda Tours to India. His website is www.PhilipGoldberg.com.