Breath by Breath [Paperback]

In any meditation class, one of the first things one learns is the importance of breathing. For Larry Rosenberg, a seasoned instructor of insight meditation, the breath is everything. And he's not in bad company since the Buddha himself delivered a sutra on the subject. Rosenberg's Breath by Breath is an elaboration on this short classic but couched in familiar language, liberally spiced with anecdotes from Rosenberg's decades of practice and teaching. It's Rosenberg's earthy humor and patient instruction that make him such a popular teacher and that make Breath by Breath a rewarding read. He takes the beginning student from the wandering "doggy mind" to becoming a chicken, along the way getting a teacher's bite and sitting like a frog. For the hurried and harried, he includes a nutshell, two-step version of the sutra's 16-step practice (appended in the full text of the sutra). More of a coach than a disciplinarian, Rosenberg takes a see-what-happens attitude. "You don't make liberation happen," he says. "To contemplate breathing is to contemplate life itself." --Brian Bruya

Rosenberg, a teacher at the Insight Meditattion Center in Cambridge, MA, provides a clear description of meditative practice. The technique is based on the Anapanasati Sutra, the Buddha's own instructions to meditators.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

"Breath by Breath is a unique contribution to our understanding of the liberating path of meditation. Larry Rosenberg beautifully elucidates one of the most important and profound Buddhist teachings in a way that is wonderfully accessible and relevant. His great wisdom, clarity, and humor shine throughout."—Joseph Goldstein, author of Insight Meditation

Freedom from suffering is not only possible, but the means for achieving it are completely within our grasp—literally as near to us as our own breath. This is the 2,500-year-old good news contained in the Anapanasati Sutra, the Buddha's own teaching on cultivating both tranquility and deep insight through the full awareness of breathing. In this book, Larry Rosenberg brings this timeless meditation method to life for people today, using the insights gained from his many years of practice and teaching. With wisdom, compassion, and humor he shows how the practice of breath awareness is quietly, profoundly transformative—and also supremely practical: if you're breathing, you've already got everything you need to start.

Larry Rosenberg is founder and resident teacher of the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a guiding teacher at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts.