Awakening the Balanced Mind

Meditation is more than a practice-it is a way of living with balance, clarity, and compassion. In Awakening the Balanced Mind, one of the first great Tibetan teachers to settle in the West offers a fresh vision of meditation as presence, healing, and transformation. Originally published as Gesture of Balance in 1977, this newly revised edition features expanded guided practices and a new foreword by Ron Purser (McMindfulness). Awakening the Balanced Mind shows how meditation can be a path to a life lived more fully, rather than a practice to withdraw from life itself. The first section encourages us to look at our lives with honesty and directness. Only then in the second section are specific practices introduced, but they begin from a place of relaxation and expansion, feeling more deeply the unity between body, breath and mind. Opening to deep possibilities of self-healing, the third section builds on this foundation to create a practice of observation and engagement. It is from that state of calmness, openness and harmony that we can discover Mind itself, our shining birthright that reveals the true potential of Human Being. The final sections then open into a deep discussion of the teacher- student relationship, and how finally we find our own inner teacher, expanding effortlessly into an ever deeper relationship with ourselves and others.