Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears [Paperback]

I have long admired the writings of Pema Chodron, and I think she has done it again with this book. She excels at making teachings from the Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhist tradition of her root teacher Chogyam Trungpa accessible to anyone and relevant to daily life. In this book she presents teachings on 'shenpa', which is often translated as 'attachment' but which she suggests might better be understood as "what it feels like to get hooked." As she puts it:

"Somebody says a harsh word and something in you tightens: instantly you're hooked. That tightness quickly spirals into blaming the person or denigrating yourself. The chain reaction of speaking or acting or obsessing happens fast. Maybe if you have strong addictions, you go right for your addiction to cover over the uncomfortable feelings."

The focus of Taking the Leap is how we can learn to recognize when we are hooked, and how we can work with and transform the energy generated when this occurs. Instead of judging or battling within ourselves, we can learn to see each occurrence of shenpa as an opportunity - an opportunity for awakening. This process is about more than just our personal happiness, for shenpa is the source of bigotry and violence in our world. Ani Pema says:

"Each of us can be an active participant in creating a nonviolent future simply by how we work with shenpa when it arises. How individuals like you and I relate to being hooked, these days, has global implications."

The key to working with shenpa in a different way is to remain open and even curious about the energy that arises when we are 'hooked', instead of acting out or seeking to distract ourselves. Pema Chodron references a Tibetan metaphor of a peacock, whose feathers become more brilliant and glowing when it eats certain plants that are poisonous to other animals. If we can learn to simply accept the energies that arise in us, without judgment, we can explore them, and ultimately transmute them. This is the true essence of the Tantric Buddhist approach.

Pema Chodron always keep her writings straightforward and personal, referencing stories from her own life and those of people she has known. One particularly powerful story for me was about a Jewish couple who befriend an elderly Ku Klux Clan member who has been harassing them, and transform the situation, the man, and themselves in the process. She describes several specific techniques for working with shenpa, including some sitting meditations, but an individual certainly does not need to be Buddhist or even be familiar with Buddhist writings to understand this book. In fact, if I have any criticism (and it's not really a criticism) it's that I find her writings are always deceptively simple - they are so digestible it's easy to underestimate the transformative power of the teachings within them.

So I highly recommend Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears, and suggest working with it for some time. It is a small book, and appropriate for both non-Buddhists and Buddhists of any lineage.

Pema Chodron is always superb, but this book is merely a compilation of some of her previous writings; in particular, it takes from her wonderful audio CD "Getting Unstuck." So why buy the condensed version when you can buy the real thing? Try "The Places That Scare You" or "When Things Fall Apart." These are rich, textured writings that you can read over and over. If you want a CD, I think "Getting Unstuck" is far and away her best.

On the other hand, if you like to keep things simple, this book might be just the thing.

This is another important book by Pema. I have heard the story of the two wolves before and always find it moving: A Native American grandfather and his grandson talk of two wolves fighting in our hearts, one is vengeful, hateful and angry, the other is kind, understanding and compassionate. The grandson asks "who will win the fight"? .... and grandfather answers "the one that we feed" . Clearly Pema's message is that we have a choice in how we live, we have a choice in which wolf we feed. We can honesty face what's happening in our lives "by looking compassionately and honestly at our own minds". Time to stop blaming others and look into our own habitual thoughts. Pema talks of "shempa" or "being hooked" similar to Tolle and the "pain body" and states "how we relate moment to moment is all there really is" . "Can we learn to drop those limiting story lines and narrow perspectives and see what is happening with new clarity, wisdom and compassion"? This book, and others by Pema, teach that this is day to day, hour by hour training. It doesn't end once we step off the meditation cushion -
I am a big fan of Pema and her teachings. I have had a couple of similar experiences she discusses in this book and undoubtedly that's made her someone I closely relate to. One being the death of her mother, for me it was the death of an Aunt. All these possessions we treasure .... will be just boxes of "stuff" to someone else one day. Similarly as Pema states, "all the labels, judgments, values, likes and dislikes we hold so tightly are - all much to do about nothing... and we suffer from it".
I highly recommend this book -

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