The Mind Illuminated

By: Culadasa John Yates PhD, Matthew Immergut PhD, Jeremy Graves

Narrated by: Sean Runnette

Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's Summary

The book that best-selling meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg raves "brings the path of meditation to life", The Mind Illuminated is the first how-to meditation guide from a neuroscientist who is also an acclaimed meditation master. This innovative book offers a 10-stage program that is deeply grounded in ancient spiritual teachings about mindfulness and holistic health and also draws from the latest brain science to provide a road map for anyone interested in achieving the benefits of mindfulness. Dr. John Yates offers a new and fascinating model of how the mind works, including steps to overcome mind wandering and dullness, extending your attention span while meditating, and subduing subtle distractions. This groundbreaking manual helps you work through each stage of the process, offering tools that work across all types of meditation practices.

The Mind Illuminated is essential listening, whether you are a beginner wanting to establish your practice or a seasoned veteran ready to master the deepest state of peace and mindfulness.

©2015 John Charles Yates (P)2017 Tantor

Critic Reviews

"A systematic, hands-on manual, The Mind Illuminated will be a great help to anyone who wants to completely fathom the process of meditative development in all its stages." (Sharon Salzberg, author of Real Happiness)

the most useful guide to the mind

This is the best mediation manual I've read, and I've been through a lot. It gives a nod to tradition but also dives deep into the psychological transformation that happens during meditation and explains the phenomenon that you will experience. it also gives very detailed and explicit instructions for each stage and warns about some traps that exist.

I found in stage 5 a trap that my father had been in for decades, and is now moving past! It's a great read and even better listen since the narrator makes you feel like he's instructing you directly.

The glossary and index make it a great reference manual, so I purchased both printed and audio book. I can't wait to meet and speak to Culadasa, interestingly enough he trained with the same teacher I did when I was a kid, Kama Ananda.

A Great Guide

Very practical and smart. Simple step by step system presents a very logical process, yet the author only says what is necessary to lead one to deep and profound levels of understanding. not much fluff and vibey language. I'll listen to it several times.

Brilliant mediation guide!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I've been looking for comprehensive guide to meditation for years and know that found one now. By far the best book on meditation you can find. I've bought several hard copies of the book to be able to give as a gift.

Extremely helpful!

I read this book before and listened to the book after my ten-day vipassana meditation retreat. I got more out of the retreat because I read this book. I continue to listen to this book in my car for ongoing solidification of my practice and for inspiration when I drift from the habit of daily meditation. Thank you for making a difference in my life!

If you could only choose one book this would be it

Any additional comments?

Since initially listening to this book, I've also listened to several others regarding meditation and Buddhism. I find myself repeatedly going back to listen to sections of this book for clarification of ideas and concepts.
The multiple 'interludes' in the book seem to be the most useful. The book also gives a meditator a good feel for what to expect at different stages of meditative development and how to overcome challenges. Without the information in this book a person would need a very highly qualified meditation teacher to be able to properly understand and navigate the various stages.

This is a very useful book!

Excellent guidebook to meditation and awakening

this is the most usefull guidebook to mediation and awakening I've experienced. i highly recommend it.

READ this book - LISTENING does not illuminate

my Amazon Echo ordered this book (presumably based on my Kindle order, "Mindfulness.....", by Jon Kabat-Zin

Pain seems to be the central theme - how to meditate if you are a person in constant excruciating pain. I'm never in pain and have no clue why "Alexa" chose this - listening to it is causing me a lot of pain!! The subject "suttle dullness or progressive subtle dullness" and the multiple "antidotes" to rid the mind of multiple forms of "dullness"

I've now listened for 30 minutes - this book is for people who are currently receiving intence phychiatric treatment - inpatient, I should think - listening to the voice reading this book may cause institutionalization.

Brilliant -- you will be hooked immediately

I've been reading or listening to a lot of books lately (i.e. The Art of Stopping Time, Why Buddhism is True) that have left me thoroughly disappointed. This book was a complete reversal of those experiences. Even the preface alone was more inspiring to me than many other entire books and but the end of the first chapter I was completely and irrevocably hooked.

The narrator did an exception job for this composition, and perhaps the best overall description for the book is "life-changing, thoughtful, compassionately provocative, and incredibly nuanced." You can't go wrong by listening to this audio-book.

it's the Bible for meditation...

it's the Bible for meditation, and that's not necessarily a good thing. it is full of unbelievably useful information. having said that the information can be hard to access due to the verbage that's used. I assume that many science students or engineering students would love this book. but for the average consumer it's probably a little too dry. don't start here if you're just learning about meditation. if you're just curious go read Pema chodron. then come back to this when you're ready

Good content, narration is distracting

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Get a different narrator.

What didn’t you like about Sean Runnette’s performance?

He is an award winning narrator and I don't understand why. He consistently pronounces the "s" sound as "zsh" or similar, like he's clenching his teeth or something. It wasn't that "dizschtracting" in the audio sample but listening to it over time took me out of the book. I'm sure I'm in the minority here; maybe I'm just over sensitive. Drove me crazy.