As anyone who has tried it knows, meditation looks simple, but at times can be difficult. The most potent ally you can have on your contemplative path is a trusted teacher like Jack Kornfield, who stands out as one of the most helpful and encouraging instructors in the West for newcomers to the art of meditation. With Guided Meditation, this renowned Buddhist teacher brings you six practices that will open the door to the serenity and joy of meditation -- and serve as your foundation for years to come. Offering you precise guidance through every step of these transformational practices, Kornfield introduces you to:

-Basic sitting practice: the essential starting point for nurturing nonjudgmental spaciousness

-The heart-opening techniques of lovingkindness and forgiveness meditation to help you discover liberation from suffering

-A visualization exercise for overcoming difficulties -- by making direct contact with the voice of your highest wisdom

-The gratitude and joy meditation, which nourishes an innocent rejoicing in life itself

-Mind Like Sky: a practice to enter "original mind", the pure space of awareness that is consciousness itself.

Since the time of the Buddha, meditation taught under the guidance of an expert has proven to be the easiest and most effective way to begin. Whether you are just starting out with meditation or have decided to reconnect with the ground of your practice, Jack Kornfield's Guided Meditation provides concise and gentle training "of the hearth and mind" to enjoy the fruits of this centuries-old art.

Jack Kornfield is a meditation teacher and bestselling author, trained in clinical psychology. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1967, he joined the Peace Corps and began to study in the monasteries of Thailand. He then trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma, and India. Kornfield cofounded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massechusetts, and later, the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California.