REVIEWS
“Translations, commentaries and practice instructions that are concise, elegant, clear, and illuminating. The 112 Meditations from the Book of Divine Wisdom will take its place as a classic meditation guidebook.”
Jim Carson, PhD, Associate Professor, Oregon Health & Science University, and author of Relax into Yoga for Chronic Pain
“It is really a jewel that I hold in my hands. A book full of compassion, warmth and humanity, expounding with great scholarly competence and loving care the intricate subtleties of the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra.”
Antonella Riem, Professor of English literature, University of Udine, Italy and author of The One Life
LEE LYON
Lee has taught meditation to more than ten thousand people worldwide. Thirty years ago, he has developed an approach called Integrative Meditation, which is designed to bring together through different meditative practices, the many extraordinary aspects of our consciousness with a clear, deep sense of our own innermost being. Lee has developed many meditation courses and has trained more than three hundred meditation teachers. Currently, he works with people individually as well as in year-long training courses and workshops around the world. Lee recently published a Western-friendly translation of The 112 Meditations from the Book of Wisdom, complete with commentary . In 1999, Lee established the Foundation for Integrative Meditation in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he is based.
PODCAST - Episode # 25: ‘Lee Lyon – World Renowned Meditation Teacher and Author’ from Wisdom Talks on Apple Podcasts. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-talks/id1488057705#episodeGuid=Buzzsprout-4485650
NANCY FISCHER
Nancy has studied meditation for over 40 years in many different traditions, including Gurdjieff, Zen Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Kashmir Shaivism, mindfulness, and integrative meditation. She received her formal teacher training from the Foundation for Integrative Meditation where she is currently a senior teacher. Her studies have also included psychology classes at UC Davis- with a focus on Attachment Theory, studies with Bessel Van der Kolk, Peter Levine, Stephen Porges, Internal Family Systems with Richard Schwartz, Dan Siegel - all of whom are experts in healing trauma. She also spent many years using her extensive background assisting at every step in the translation and publication of The 112 Meditations from the Book of Divine Wisdom.
Nancy Fischer specializes in teaching meditation to adults and children. She holds classes as well as does private sessions out of her home in Woodland Ca. and gives individual instruction on the internet, with students from Australia, UK, Mexico and all around the US. Nancy has taught attorneys, actors, pregnant and new mothers, elementary school age up to college age young people, computer experts, acupuncturists, physicians, Realtors, yoga teachers, school teachers. She is currently conducting free meditation classes via Zoom for people in war torn Ukraine.
Nancy’s work is very body centered. She integrates the understandings from traditional meditation, psychology, and neuroscience to help students gently navigate their inner worlds. One of Nancy's main goals is to help the student learn kindness toward him or herself. From this experience of gentleness, there is an opening to joy, love, delight and grounded stability.
‘For many years I have had the good fortune to witness Nancy Fischer at work at her role as a teacher of meditation. I find her immensely knowledgeable, clear, kind, and filled with deep understanding of the whole inner landscape. She is completely at home within many traditions and can comfortably vary her approach depending on the needs of a particular student. I have seen the exciting results of her work over and over again and I can wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone, whether a beginner, or someone who simply needs to intensify their efforts.’ Alan Arkin - Academy award winning actor
BOOKS
Lee is the author of The 112 Meditations from the Book of Divine Wisdom, a translation of the meditations from the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, a revered 8th century text from the Shaivite Tantric tradition of Kashmir.
Although written over a thousand years ago, the ideas and practices in this much loved text are timeless in nature, and reflect strikingly modern sensibilities. The meditations are well known for their wholehearted engagement of all aspects of life, even the traditionally 'non-spiritual', including yogic practices, emotions, the delight of the senses, sexuality, natural states of wonder, beauty, bliss and the experience of Oneness.
The text, however, is more than just a collection of extraordinary and powerful meditation instructions. It embodies an ecstatic and life affirming world view that evolved into the philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism in the centuries that followed its writing. Rather than conceptualizing spirituality, in these meditations it is approached more like music or art. We can feel the tradition's direct contact with life--intimate, kind, amused, amazed, delighted--always trying to get us to relate to our experience, to life, to actually engage it rather than just observe or be mindful of it.
Although traditionally considered a text for advanced meditators, many people with no formal experience in meditation have extraordinary shifts in consciousness using these practices. Even people who think themselves incapable of meditating find themselves easily entering new and altered states.
Each original Sanskrit verse has been translated as literally as possible to help convey the actual meditation instruction embedded in the rich, multidimensional original. A short commentary and an example of how each meditation might be practiced, have been added after each verse to help explain the instruction.
There are many different types of meditation in the text, recognizing always the incredible richness and uniqueness of our individual consciousness. As the text progresses, contemplative practices are woven in, culminating in some of the world's most sublime meditations on Oneness. By repeatedly encouraging us to see the spontaneous unity behind the surface appearance of life, and to step into our true Self, the text holds its place as one of the crown jewels of human thought.