Buddhist Centre Features

#EthicalChristmas: Wildmind - The Accidental Publisher

On Sat, 6 December, 2014 - 15:49
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bodhipaksa
Wildmind stumbled into publishing back in 2002, and has now brought out eight guided meditation CDs, with plans to publish a number of books.

Wildmind’s foray into publishing started because many meditation students requested that the guided meditations Bodhipaksa recorded for his online courses be offered in CD format as well. Bodhipaksa used the services of a local recording studio in order to record the mindfulness of breathing, development of lovingkindness, and walking meditation practices. This CD was self-published under the title, Guided Meditations for Calmness, Awareness, and Love. Amazon ordered a copy. Then two. Then a dozen. Then a hundred! For several years, Bodhipaksa’s first CD was Amazon’s best-selling meditation title, and it has now sold a very respectable 200,000 copies.

Wildmind has since published a number of other titles, which are of course also available in MP3 format:


More CDs are planned, and so are several books. Materials that Bodhipaksa wrote for Wildmind’s 2014 Year of Going Deeper is also destined to be published in book form — initially as ebooks, then as paperbacks.

The first book to appear will be The Path to Jhana, which grew out of an online event called “60 Days to Jhana.” This title breaks down, in a step-by-step way, how to eliminate the five hindrances to meditation. It also explains how to cultivate calmness, “piti” (the pleasurable energy that is experienced when we’re attentive to the body as it relaxes), and joy. Together these three factors support the arising of sustained absorption (jhana).

The second book will be 100 Days of Lovingkindness, which was developed from an online event of the same name. This is a guide to cultivating the four heart-based qualities of kindness (metta), compassion (karuna), joyful appreciation (mudita), and loving wisdom (upekkha). The emphasis is not only on developing these qualities in meditation, but in daily life.

Thirdly, Bodhipaksa is a keen exponent of the Six Element Practice, and an as-yet untitled book on that topic will be published in 2016. This will be a more practical accompaniment to his more reflective book, Living as a River, which was published by Sounds True in 2010.

Wildmind’s CDs are available in the UK from Windhorse Publications, in Australia from Windhorse Books, and in the rest of the world from Wildmind’s own meditation supplies store, which ships worldwide.

#ethicalchristmas articles from Wildmind
Wildmind - An Online Meditation Center, And More!
Wildmind: The Evolution of Dana-Based Online Teaching
Supporting Ethical Businesses
What Kind of Society Are You Creating?

Read more about our Ethical Christmas campaign
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