The Lotus Effect

by Somov, Pavel

• ISBN13: 9781572249196
• ISBN10: 1572249196
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-10-01
• Publisher: New Harbinger Pubns Inc

Summary

What if we could go through a day of spilled coffee, traffic snarls, and fights with our loved one, and emerge feeling balanced and unscathed? The Lotus Effect offers ancient meditative techniques designed to help readers do just that. Written by clinical psychologist and practising Buddhist Pavel Somov, this book breaks down the "lotus effect"-the ability of the lotus plant to repel any non-nourishing foreign substances that cling to it in order to allow it to access as much sunlight and water as possible. This natural resilience helps it to thrive and bloom in even the worst conditions. Using the lotus flower as its central metaphor, The Lotus Effect offers meditation techniques and intriguing thought and perception exercises for shedding difficult thoughts and experiences, anger, worry, stress, and feelings of low self-worth. Readers discover what triggers their minds to focus on these feelings, and they practice disidentifying with these thoughts and instead identifying with their essential selves-the selves which, like lotus flowers, remain unstained by the slings and arrows of daily life. Somov introduces practical meditation practices including neti-neti (mindful detachment from distressing information, "I am not this"), vipassana meditation (interconnection between mind and body), Dzogchen meditation (acceptance and awareness of reality), and Western relaxation training.