Book Review - How To Stand Still: A beginners guide to meditation by Mark Henry Scanlon
How hard can it be to stand still? Those of you who aren’t zhan zhuang adepts try it now….Not so easy is it, a lot of stuff arises quite quickly whether physical, psychological or energetic.
If you are needing a lamp to light the way then Mark Scanlon has your back, plus the rest of your torso and your extremities. This is a very concise book that takes a meta-approach to standing meditation rather that bombard you with a load of detail. This has proven to be a great approach to training for me and my students because it gives you an instant on-ramp to start enjoying practice and allows you to try things for yourself and metabolise the benefits as well as navigate any problem solving. You can also apply your own character to the training with all of the interests, strengths and weaknesses you bring. If anything becomes a blocker to moving forward then you could consult some random on reddit or a legit pro like the author or your friends here at TCE. This is why we make ourselves available on a consultancy basis to support this approach, not deride autodidacts who are on the path.
Anyway, back to the text. There are three areas of focus which are stillness, visualisation and mantra. After a brief background the book moves through a description of each of the methodologies and most importantly covers some of the issues that may arise. The heart of the book is a series of pathworkings or guided meditations that take you from the outer world through your inner world and back again. It’s well worth doing a voice recording of these rather than trying to remember them or stopping to look at the text.
The book is currently available in paperback which smells better than digital. It is of short length and self-describes as a booklet so you know what you are getting. It is very modestly priced at the time of writing. For all you kool kindle kids, an eBook version is in the works.
Review by Tim Tynan – Head Instructor W.X.T.B.A. (Review is of the original manuscript)
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