1 Everything is calling itself mindfulness. What makes Pause Breathe Smile different ?
2 What is mindfulness ?
3 Is there a difference between mindfulness and awakening mindfulness ?
4 How is this more consequential than shake-and-bake grab bags of quick fixes ?
5 Why would anyone want to know about this ? What are some of the benefits of mindfulness ? How do the benefits lead to something further ?
6 Is there scientific evidence to back up the healthiness of mindfulness ?
7 What if someone is also looking for spirituality ?
8 What three primary aspects of well being does Pausing Breathing Smiling correspond to ?
9 Are these three separate practices ? Can they be studied and practiced in any order ?
10 Who is the audience for Pause Breathe Smile ?
11 What if I don’t have time ?
12 Since mindfulness is the fastest-growing self-help trend since yoga, can you compare and contrast it with yoga ?
13 If mindfulness originates in the East, such as in Buddhism – is there an Eastern and a Western mindfulness ?
14 What can happen when moral values get put into play in awakening mindfulness ?
15 Who’s more important: myself, or others ? ( I’d like to get this straight from the get-go. )
16 How is Gary Gach uniquely qualified to write Pause Breathe Smile ? How long did it take him to write ? What was the groundplan, and how did it change ?
17 Gary is reported to have been practicing spirituality for +50 years ? What’s the story ?
18 How is Gary a trailblazer ? How does Pause Breathe Smile fit in with that trend in his career ?
19 How did Gary find out about Vietnamese Zenmaster Thích Nhất Hạnh* ? How has Gary been studying with him ? How is Pause Breathe Smile a reflection of this influence ?
20 How can mindfulness and Zen sit side-by-side ?
21 Where has Pause Breathe Smile been tested out in advance of publication ?
22 How much freedom of interpretation is there ?
23 Is mindfulness really only a form navel-gazing for privileged white people ?
24 How can awakening mindfulness play a transformational role in society ?
25 What’s a good app for mindfulness ?
26 How long does awakening mindfulness take ?
27 How is mindfulness playing an important role in … health care ?
28 … education ?
29 … the work place ?
30 How is mindfulness being introduced to the military – and people dealing with trauma in general ?
31 What, if any, relationships are there between mindfulness and entheogens ( ayahuasca, mescaline, DMT, LSD, peyote, etc) and cannabis ?
32 What’s the trick to stopping being a mirror of fantasies and fears and, instead, calmly reflect What Is ?
33 How can a person make internal space for a reactive emotion to be transformed into a skillful response ? How is this a wise way of dealing with feeling “triggered” by what others say and do ?
34 How can the art of letting go awaken us from the illusion of permanence ? And how can this liberate us from a sorrowful sense of isolation ?
35 Does the Art of Happiness also necessarily include the Art of Suffering ?
36 PBS distills the teachings of beloved Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, the second most famous living Buddhist teacher, after His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Why haven’t I heard of him before? How does he differ from the Dalai Lama ?
37 What if I’m agnostic or atheist ?
38 How does the nondual view of PBS pertain to Western science, which provides such a strong bridge to mindfulness for so many ? How would you explain nondualism to someone who’s never heard the term before ?
39 Why do you say, “Long live impermanence!” ?
40 What is “interbeing”?
41 What is meant by “honoring the resistance” ?
42 How can awakened mindful wisdom strengthen our resilience ?
43 How is breath so important ?
44 How does the mindful view of breath differ from other paths ?
45 What does the subtitle mean ? When is meditation “not enough” ?
* The English pronunciation is “Tik N’yat Hawn.” However, since Vietnamese is a tonal language, this is only a close approximation for how one would pronounce it in Vietnamese. By his students worldwide he is affectionately known as Thấy (pronounced “Tay” or “Tie”), meaning “teacher.”
PAUSE BREATHE SMILE ~ ~ ~ Awakening Mindfulness When Meditation Is Not Enough
216 pages · ISBN1683641752 | 978-1683641759 · September 2018 · $16.95
Author: Gary Gach, San Francisco Calif
Please contact Lindsey Kennedy at LindseyK [at] SoundsTrue [dot] com for a review copy or to arrange an interview with the author.
