Skating on Thin Ice

A Zen Path of Self-Realization

By: Ezra Bayda

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

As we skate on the thin ice of life - feeling the vulnerability and uncertainty that we all share as human beings – how do we overcome the anxiety and confusion of this state of uncertainty? Award winning author Ezra Bayda encourages us, in clear practical language, to learn how to transform our difficult experiences into life-affirming ones – living increasingly from gratitude, kindness and love.

What you can learn from this book:
Inner Stillness: how to move from an anxious state to feeling calm and at home in our body.
Clear seeing: techniques to clarify our hidden beliefs and conditioned strategies – freeing us from our harmful emotional reactivity.
Willingness: how to acknowledge and embrace whatever life presents – including anger, fear, shame and confusion.
Presence: through meditation, learn how to be present as often as possible; and stay present for as long as possible.
Loving kindness: cultivating loving kindness and compassion, helping to undercut our self-judgmental mind – the mind that tells us we are unworthy.
Gratitude: through increasing awareness that we don’t have endless time, learning to be grateful for what we have.
Perseverance: learn how to stay with and learn from all the inevitable ups and downs of our lives.


In Skating on Thin Ice, Zen teacher Ezra Bayda offers readers the tools and practices to discover what life is about and sets them on a Self-Realization journey. Try occupying space without an agenda, avoid indulging in pain and grief, and practice gratitude, generosity, kindness, and conscious living.

Skating on Thin Ice: A Zen Path of Self-Realization will show you the guidelines to true contentment and the root causes of happiness.. Using personal anecdotes, stories, and examples, Bayda explores the human condition from many angles, providing helpful ways to solve some of the most fundamental challenges we face. Skating on Thin Ice will help you negate work-related anxiety and stress, foster deeper relationships, and lead you to a path of a happy and fulfilling life. To put it simply, an enlightening book that I highly recommend.” Readers’ Favorite 5-star review


“Our difficulties are not obstacles on the path of self-realization — they are the path itself,” writes meditation teacher Bayda in this well-informed guide. Rather than avoid life’s difficulties, Bayda urges readers to stop trying to control our circumstances and instead cultivate a passion for staying present and aware, even in the most painful of situations. To that end, he offers practical tips and hands-on exercises, as well as a profound exploration of just what self-realization looks like.He explores several common emotions that can stymie our efforts at self-actualization, covering such heavy hitters as grief, depression, and fear...
Whether readers are just beginning their journey or are experienced in the pursuit of self-realization, Bayda’s winning combination of thoughtful analysis and down-to-earth practice will hit home.


Praise for Ezra Bayda’s Being Zen:
“Bayda writes with exceptional clarity and simplicity about the awakened life. His style is as plainspoken as Pema Chodron’s”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“A skillful wedding of mindfulness and zen - straightforward, simple and wise.”
Jack Kornfield.

Praise for Ezra Bayda’s Beyond Happiness:

“With compassion and humor, Ezra Bayda has graced us with ways to accept what is and reside in it fearlessly, giving us a roadmap to enduring happiness and equanimity.’
David Richo

"Bayda wisely translates the Eastern spiritual belief into an extremely useful handbook for practice that reminds me most of Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
Parabola