Mental Fitness: Complete Workouts for Body, Mind, and Soul by Michiko J. Rolek
(95 pp.)
We are used to training our bodies by jogging, exercising, etc., but can we also train our minds? Yes, says Michiko Rolek, the great-granddaughter of the first Zen master to make his home in America. By doing so, we can discover a greater ability to deal with life's challenges, along with greater enjoyment and peace of mind. This delightful, attractively designed book presents a series of exercises to promote "mental fitness." The process beings with breathing, "the rainbow bridge that connects our thinking minds to our feeling bodies" which is also the key to such disciplines as martial arts and Zen. Proper breathing strengthens "ch'i," the life energy crucial for health and well-being.
Rolek explains how to balance our posture to eliminate imbalance, stress, and strain; and discusses the art of concentration—the "one-pointed," laser-like focus as well as more fluid states of awareness, which eliminate the emotional and mental drain caused by our restless "monkey mind."
With concentration, we can enter the peak moment, or "zone" experienced by musicians, dancers and athletes and see how "our place of power is always in the present." Finally, she introduces us to relaxation, "the lost art of doing nothing--just simply being," and meditation, the inner stillness that leads us home to our true selves.
This book is a gift, showing a step by step way to master the art of living. It also makes a wonderful gift, since it opens the doors to "inner work" in an understandable way. Quotations from thinkers, both ancient and modern provide extra inspiration. --JC
“She has made some important matters wonderfully clear, and every page is informed by a sweet concern for the well-being of the reader.”
--Leonard Cohen
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