Start Here Now: An Open-Hearted Guide to the Path and Practice of Meditation

This succinct addition to the "how to meditate" genre provides step-by-step instructions for the beginner. With clarity, humor, and reassurance, Piver covers basic topics (what meditation is, its benefits, setting up a practice) and teaches shamatha ("peacefully abiding") meditation with focus on the breath. Piver (The Wisdom of a Broken Heart), the founder of an online mindfulness community, perceptively addresses the needs and concerns of new students. Especially valuable is her sharp analysis of different styles of meditation with suggestions on how to choose, emphasizing they aren't just a "variety of roads to arrive at a single destination." She deftly dissects the now-common term "mindfulness." Piver distills meditation to its essentials without being reductionist, grounding it in the profundity of Buddhist spiritual traditions; she urges students to follow traditional, time-proven wisdom teachings. "Meditation is more than a practice," she writes, "it is a way of being in the world. It is a path." Included are a seven-day meditation "challenge" and guidelines for a weekend retreat. While Piver's mix of self-promotion, self-deprecation, and personal disclosure may not appeal to some readers, she succeeds in making a meditation practice sound both life-changing and achievable. (Sept.)