Dear friend on the path,

Welcome to the first-ever enrollment for The Eckhart Tolle School of Awakening.

I know many of you are experiencing inner transformation. Perhaps you have begun to realize the possibility within yourself of living from a different state of consciousnessa state we call "the awakened state."

But transformation often presents challenges. A difficulty many people come up against is how to integrate and stabilize their arising new consciousness in daily life.

The dance between the world of form and the formless, or the un-manifested, can lead to suffering and confusion.

Many of you may be asking, "How do I live in this world and stay rooted in deeper states of Being and Presence?"

The School of Awakening was designed to help you transcend the egoic state of mind that makes life seem like a series of frustrating or unsatisfying experiences. Awakening is a release of the dysfunctional state of mind that creates suffering so you can discover and live from your true essencewhat I refer to as the "Deep I."

The world will continually challenge and try to pull you out of living from this awakened state of consciousness.

Your commitment is what keeps you rooted in the present moment.

This can lead to the realization that your primary purpose in life is awakeningliving consciously and being a bringer of consciousness in the world.

The School of Awakening will further the awakening of consciousness that is already happening in you and allow you to integrate it more continuously in everyday life.

Read more from the original source:
Eckhart Tolle's School of Awakening

In response to a growing number of requests from students on retreat with Eckhart, she eventually developed PTM into its current form. People wanted a form or structure for the movement, but at its deepest level, PTM is not about form. Its not about the physical per se; the physical is simply a vehicle, a portal to stillness and to essence. You can do the exercises, but if youre not tapped in to stillness, youre just doing exercises.

Kim encourages practitioners of PTM to evolve the practice for themselves after learning the forms through workshops or retreats. Through stillness, your own way of moving will emerge naturally, as an unfolding practice that you create every day.

Perhaps most importantly, PTM has provided a complement to Eckhart Tolles teachings that takes people from conceptual knowing to direct experiencean experience that has proven elusive especially for those readers and followers of his work who are very much identified with their thoughts and therefore have not really had a direct experience of stillness before. Many of those people find the inner stillness through the PTM approach, Kim explains. And for those who have already had an experience of stillness, it can help them go more deeply into it.

Kim considers this practice one of many spiritual pathways to awakening and wholeness. She emphasizes, For those with whom it resonates, it is a practice that can resolve lack of alignment with Spirit and Source, especially if traditional sitting methods have not worked for you.

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Eckhart Tolle Awakening Tour | Dubai | I Am Genie

The Hyatt is pleased to offer a special guest room rate of $269 per night for single or double occupancy.

Lodging costs are paid separately to the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach and are not included in your conference registration. Our special group lodging rate will only be available until October 15, 2018. After that date, rooms can be booked at the current hotel rates based on availability. Please be sure to review the room cancellation penalties at the time of booking.

The Hyatt Regency is currently sold out, however rooms may become available as cancellations occur. Please check below for Nearby Hotels.

Need a roommate? Visit our MeetUp forum to connect with other participants.

Hyatt Huntington Beach 21500 Pacific Coast Highway Huntington Beach California, USA, 92648 714.698.1234

Travel

Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa 21500 Pacific Coast Highway Huntington Beach, California, USA, 92648

Map and Detailed Directions

The Hyatt Regency is conveniently located on Pacific Coast Highway a short distance from 3 major airports:

Parking

Parking is available in the hotel parking lot across from the hotel Conference Center:

Meals

The Hyatt Regency features several full-service restaurants, lounges, and bars, and an on-site grocery store that will be available for meals and snacks during the conference. Huntington Beach also features over a dozen brand new restaurants within a short five-minute walk from the hotel.

On-site dining options Nearby dining options in the new Pacific City complex

Nearby Hotels

We also recommend the following hotels that are located within walking distance (less than one mile) of the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach: The Waterfront Beach Resort (next door to conference center) 21100 Pacific Coast Highway Huntington Beach, CA 92648 waterfrontresort.com 714.845.8000

Pasa Hotel & Spa (less than one block from conference center) 21080 Pacific Coast Highway Huntington Beach, CA 92648 Please call 844.814.2483 for reservations.

Kimpton Shorebreak Hotel (0.9 miles from conference center) 500 Pacific Coast Highway Huntington Beach, CA 92648 shorebreakhotel.com 714.861.4470

Originally posted here:
Eckhart Tolle Living a Life of Presence - Sounds True

October 8, 2009

KRISTA TIPPETT, HOST: I'm Krista Tippett. Today, "The Power of Eckhart Tolle's Now."

Millions of people of every age and walk of life are being affected by his teachings and philosophy. We'll probe the core ideas that have generated so much excitement and get a close-up sense of the man behind the books. His philosophy fundamentally challenges the notion that Descartes captured in a sentence: "I think, therefore I am."

ECKHART TOLLE: What we are talking about here is a state of alert attention to what is where compulsive thinking no longer operates. This means you rise above thinking to a large extent in your life. Where you can face life without the interference of the mind, still being able to use the mind when it's needed but not being used by it.

MS. TIPPETT: This is Speaking of Faith. Stay with us.

[Announcements]

MS. TIPPETT: I'm Krista Tippett. This hour, my 2008 interview with Eckhart Tolle, one of the most influential spiritual teachers in the world today. Long a reclusive figure with a quietly expanding following, Tolle has recently become a household name and a global best-selling author. He believes that a planetary shift in consciousness is underway. And his vision fundamentally challenges the notion that Descartes captured in a sentence: "I think, therefore I am."

From American Public Media, this is Speaking of Faith public radio's conversation about religion, meaning, ethics, and ideas. Today, "The Power of Eckhart Tolle's Now."

Eckhart Tolle began to gain attention as a spiritual teacher with his 1997 book, The Power of Now. Then in 2008, Oprah Winfrey chose his follow-up work, A New Earth, for her book club. She conducted a 10-week online seminar with Tolle that has been downloaded 27 million times. The philosophy that Eckhart Tolle brings to readers and live audiences draws on and synthesizes core teachings of many religious and spiritual traditions, including Christianity, Taoism, Hinduism, and especially Buddhism. Tolle echoes the Buddhist analysis of the mind as a primary source of human suffering. That is, the notion that we confuse reality with the racing thoughts in our heads, the stories we've internalized from our families and culture, and the emotions that animate us as a result. Becoming aware of this, Tolle says, is the only way we can truly ever direct our experience of the world and our presence within it. And he prescribes a direct route to this new way of being the shift in awareness to what he calls "the power of now." Tolle emphasizes that in our firsthand experience of life, now is all there ever is. Human beings have a tendency to obsess over the past and the future. But we only know the past through the lens of the present moment, and when the future is actually upon us, it will also be another now.

MR. TOLLE: When people value the next moment more than they value what is, they are dissatisfied with what is but they are hoping some other future moment is going to free them from this dissatisfaction. But the other moment never actually comes because when the so-called future comes, it appears again as the unsatisfying present. [Laugh] And so when you realize, OK, where is my life? Essentially, it's here and now, and it will never not be here and now. And suddenly you pay more attention to this.

MS. TIPPETT: Now in his 60s, Eckhart Tolle himself was a deeply private person for most of his life. He spent decades as a semi-nomadic teacher, leading something of a hermit's existence. Today he lives in Canada with Kim Eng, his partner in business and life for over a decade. I wanted to probe his ideas to understand the powerful reach he has acquired. I also wanted to understand how his own life gave rise to his insights and how they continue to develop through his experiences now. Eckhart Tolle was raised in a Catholic family in Germany and moved to Spain at the age of 13, to live with his father, after his parents separated. He dropped out of school and did not pursue a formal education again until he went to England to study at the universities of London and Cambridge. There, at the age of 29, Eckhart Tolle experienced a catharsis that led to the teachings for which he is now known.

MS. TIPPETT: You really you kind of schooled yourself, didn't you? And then you pursued your studies as an adult in graduate studies. It seems that your life was very cerebral. I mean, you were kind of an embodiment of this Western notion that "I think, therefore I am."

MR. TOLLE: Yes. I only read what I enjoyed reading, so it wasn't an academic kind of upbringing. And at that time, I was not particularly interested in intellectual things. That started in my early 20s, when after I had moved to England

MS. TIPPETT: OK.

MR. TOLLE: where I got a job. And then I became suddenly very interested in intellectual things. I also started to suffer from depression.

MS. TIPPETT: Right.

MR. TOLLE: And the intellectual quest was an attempt to find some kind of meaning also for my life because I believed that the meaning was to be found there somewhere through the intellect. And it took me quite a few years to realize it wasn't there. You couldn't find it that way. [Laugh]

MS. TIPPETT: You know, you told a story in A New Earth about an experience you had, which was actually a few years before you really had kind of a breakthrough and came out of that, where you experienced a woman talking to herself on the train, right? On the tube train.

MR. TOLLE: Yes.

MS. TIPPETT: Tell that story. Kind of caught in her thoughts, and then you came to understand that you had some of the same problems.

MR. TOLLE: Yes. So she would I would sometimes see her on the train. I call it the tube, the subway, in the morning. And she would continuously talk to herself or, rather, to an imaginary person in a very angry voice. Continuously complaining, "And then he did this to me. Then he said, and I said then how dare he tell me this," and I watched in amazement how can anybody be so insane and still apparently have a job? Because she would catch the subway every morning.

MS. TIPPETT: [Laugh] She was going somewhere, right?

MR. TOLLE: And one day I was sitting opposite her on the subway, and she got off at the same station that I needed to get off to go the university library. I followed her, and we got closer and closer and finally I realized, oh, my God, she's going to the university.

[Laugh]

MR. TOLLE: Because at that time, I still thought the university was the great temple of knowledge, and all the answers the professors and so on, they had all the answers and I would eventually find them too. I was washing my hands in the bathroom and I thought, "My God. Her voice. She never stops talking." And I suddenly realized, well, I do that too, except that I don't do it out loud. And then I thought, "I hope I don't end up like her," and somebody next to me looked at me and I suddenly realized in shock that I had actually said these words aloud just like her. I said, "I hope I don't end up like her." [Laugh] So I realized my mind was as incessantly active as hers. Our only difference was that my thought was mostly based on feeling sorry for myself. It was kind of depressed kind of thinking. Her patterns were fueled by anger. But that was only a very brief

MS. TIPPETT: Right.

MR. TOLLE: flash of realization. But I always remember it because that was it took years before I finally was able to really step out of the stream of thinking and realize there is a place inside me that is far more powerful than the continuous mental noise with which for many, many years I had been completely identified, just like that woman.

MS. TIPPETT: So what happened to you when you were 29 to finally really jolt you out of that?

MR. TOLLE: Well, I was in the depth of depression, and I lived in anxiety about my life and my problems and my future. And one night I woke up in the middle of the night again feeling this sense of dread, and a phrase came into my head, which said, "I can't live with myself any longer. I can't live with myself any longer." And that phrase went around and around in my head a few times and suddenly, I was able to stand back and look at that phrase: "I can't live with myself any longer." And I thought, "Oh, that is strange. I cannot live with myself. Who am I and who is the self that I cannot live with? Because there must be two of me here, if that phrase is correct."

MS. TIPPETT: Yes.

[Laughter]

MS. TIPPETT: Interesting.

MR. TOLLE: There are two of me.

MS. TIPPETT: Right.

MR. TOLLE: The "I" was there, and the "me" that I couldn't live with actually was the continuous mental noise, the stream of thinking that considered life and that considered myself as a problem.

MS. TIPPETT: Right. Right.

MR. TOLLE: So that was the answer to that question, "Who am I and who is the self that I cannot live with?" The answer came experientially. Not that I stopped it through an act of will. It subsided by itself.

MS. TIPPETT: What do you mean when you say the answer came experientially? How? How did that unfold experientially?

MR. TOLLE: Well, after that night, I woke up in the morning and the first thing I noticed as I opened my eyes and listened that everything seemed much more alive than I was used to, that the room that I was in, the light coming through the window, objects on the table. And I looked. It was everything was precious and alive, almost as if I was looking at it and listening to it for the first time. So I was in a state of kind of amazement. "Wow, this is all very beautiful." And I picked up a pen, held it. Looked out of the window at the beautiful tree that had always been there but I'd never really seen it. Then I was in London at the time when I had to take a bus and go into town. And even there, sitting on top of the double-decker bus, everything seemed so peaceful, even the traffic. Later, I saw that phrase in the Bible somewhere, "The peace that passes all understanding."

MS. TIPPETT: Right.

MR. TOLLE: That's what happened because I didn't understand why I was at peace because externally nothing had changed. Internally, everything had changed.

MS. TIPPETT: So, you know, here's something that's striking to me about your story, because I think many people have had these breakthroughs. I mean, like the moment you described a few years earlier where you had this kind of cathartic experience and you saw something momentarily and you were momentarily changed. But you had this transformation. I mean, it sounds like, from the story you tell, you were never the same after that day. What was it that happened to you that was so complete?

MR. TOLLE: I don't have an answer to that. I know that for most people it does not happen in that way. For most people, it's a gradual process. Perhaps because the suffering was so dreadful, the psychological suffering, that it was a dark night of the soul, as I realized later, that many people before this shift in consciousness happens they go into the depths of depression or despair. And there is a permanent change that happens when you let it go that low.

MS. TIPPETT: That far. Mm-hmm.

MR. TOLLE: Yes. Most people don't actually have to go into the depths of despair. They have their ordinary daily suffering, and that's also enough to eventually bring about a transformation of consciousness.

MS. TIPPETT: Mm-hmm.

MR. TOLLE: But I have no ultimate answer, really, why in my case it was a very dramatic permanent shift, and for most people it's a gradual transition. I realized that later.

MS. TIPPETT: Spiritual teacher and author Eckhart Tolle.

[Sound bite of music]

MR. TOLLE: Historically, we're reaching a very critical point on this planet, and so many people are realizing that something fundamental needs to change. And the fundamental dimension is not outside; it's within each human being. And so if there is a great readiness now on the part of many, many people for this inner shift in consciousness, and that's why so many people read these books. I was amazed when The Power of Nowcame out 10 years ago

MS. TIPPETT: Mm-hmm.

MR. TOLLE: When I wrote the book I thought, "OK. This will appeal to a few people who have already gone deeply into meditation or whatever." That's what I thought. And then I thought I suddenly realized many people who have never read a spiritual book in their lives, they looked it and said, "I understand now. I understand the structure of my unhappiness."

MS. TIPPETT: Right.

MR. TOLLE: And I understand that it is not necessary. [Laugh]

MS. TIPPETT: Right. And you've now had what, 26 million people watch the 10-week

MR. TOLLE: Yes.

MS. TIPPETT: Webinar with Oprah Winfrey and millions of copies of A New Earth. And not just your book. I mean, there's an explosion.

MR. TOLLE: Yes.

MS. TIPPETT: And you speak about, and I think we can all see many, many indications of that, this spiritual energy. You know, and you are actually saying you are writing about a profound shift in planetary consciousness that is destined to take place in the human species. Now, I mean, I hear many people say these days, these last years, you know, something is changing. There's a shift in consciousness. We're understanding more. We're learning more. And yet I worry that this is a Western a luxurious phenomenon that's only available to those of us who don't have to think about survival. Because there are many places in the world right now, and this is also part of what's happening on our planet now, I mean, some of the basic elements of survival food are scarce. And

MR. TOLLE: Yes.

MS. TIPPETT: Yeah. So how do you think about that? That disjunction?

MR. TOLLE: Well, as long as survival occupies your mind then there's very little room for anything else and even for unhappiness. The strange thing is as long as you're struggling to survive, you don't even have the energy the mind doesn't have enough energy

MS. TIPPETT: To have what we call unhappiness.

MR. TOLLE: for an unhappy me.

MS. TIPPETT: Right.

MR. TOLLE: An unhappy self. You wouldn't even know what somebody's talking about when they talk about unhappiness because you're struggling to survive. But once there is sufficient, then a different thing comes in. The mind suddenly begins to work in a different way and becomes very problematic. So the fact that now there are still many humans who don't have enough food and so on.

MS. TIPPETT: And water. Yeah.

MR. TOLLE: There's a great im and water. There's a great imbalance on the planet, again, largely created by the greed of the human mind. So, yes, that is there, but the transformation of consciousness has to start somewhere on the planet. And then it will affect the rest of the planet. The collective and the individual are really very much the same.

MS. TIPPETT: Mm-hmm.

MR. TOLLE: So it doesn't work if you say, OK, I need to have a good income and a really peaceful place where I can meditate every day, and then I can really tune in and be at peace and go very deep. It's not going to work.

MS. TIPPETT: Right.

MR. TOLLE: The spirituality has come into the so-called unsatisfying reality. It has to this is the moment to enter it, rather than waiting for your life to improve. It will never really improve unless the spiritual dimension comes in.

MS. TIPPETT: Let me ask you this. I think a criticism some people have, or a wariness, of what's been called New Age spirituality, and I actually think we're in a different era now even, that what might have been called New Age is evolving into something different.

MS. TIPPETT: Your work is sometimes associated with that sphere. And I think that there is a concern that, you know, it is engaged in a spiritual quest and yet it's very individualistic, that it is inward looking. And in that way would diverge from some of the impulses, you know, in the great traditions Christianity, Judaism this impulse that comes also from that consciousness or from faith to repair the world. You know, a kind of active compassion, the agape love of the New Testament.

MR. TOLLE: Yes. Yes.

MS. TIPPETT: Is there a disconnect?

MR. TOLLE: No. I believe that really it's for every individual to realize within themselves that there is the old consciousness working in them, the structures of their own mind, and there is the possibility of stepping out of that. The shifting consciousness, it's for you to experience. You realize that in essence you are not whatever is in your mind but the awareness behind your mind. Then a much greater depth is suddenly active in you. And when you touch that, when you have access to that, when you are that, then the way in which you interact with other human beings and with the world at large changes. You become a force for good in this world. It's only there where really true compassion and true love, which ultimately is not what the ego thinks love is, which is "Don't you ever leave me. Don't you dare leave me. I need you," or whatever, some kind of it's not that, but true compassion, true love, and real the joy of being alive. They all arise on that level. And it's only then anybody who embodies this shift in consciousness and many people are going through it now on the planet not the majority yet, it's still a minority, but they are they cannot not have an influence on the world around them. They influence not by wanting to influence; it just happens. And then many people will be called upon to do things in this world, to be active. But it comes from a much more peaceful place within, not from an angry conflict-ridden state of consciousness. And very great power comes through you then. But the primary thing is not changing the outer world; the primary is going through the change within. And then you cannot not change the outer once that has happened.

MS. TIPPETT: Wasn't it Gandhi who said, "I can't change the world but I can change myself"?

MR. TOLLE: Yes. And ultimately, you see, that's where true change happens. So it sometimes looks from an external viewpoint as if you were preoccupied with yourself. But, no, the normal state of consciousness, you are continuously preoccupied with yourself. [Laugh]

MS. TIPPETT: Right. I mean, I think what you're saying also, and certainly those experiences could be confused. I mean, someone might imagine that they were very spiritual and yet still very preoccupied with themselves, right? I mean, I think what I hear you saying is that for you a sign and a symptom of a true shift in consciousness would be that one was having a good effect on, a different effect on the world around them.

MR. TOLLE: Yes. A very good yardstick or criterion is, for example, your relationship with other human beings. Do they become more peaceful? Do they become free of conflict? Are you still contributing to the conflict or does conflict dissolve in your presence?

MS. TIPPETT: Spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle.

[Sound bite of music]

MS. TIPPETT: You have a really interesting analysis of, or just an observation about humility and real humility that can arise when people have a true passion for their calling. I mean, humility is one of these words really hard to talk about. It's hard to talk about in American culture. But to me it's very hopeful because you also name the fact that true humility is out there. And I think when you say that, we all know we've known people like that.

MR. TOLLE: Yes. And basically one could say true humility is no longer living through a concept, a mental concept, of who you are.

MS. TIPPETT: Just being that, right?

MR. TOLLE: Just being that.

MS. TIPPETT: Fully being that.

MR. TOLLE: Yes. Yes. And so it's not something one can actually cultivate because anything that you cultivate really is a mental concept.

MS. TIPPETT: And it's also not a sacrifice in that sense, right?

MR. TOLLE: No.

MS. TIPPETT: Because I think that in Western culture, humility is like debasing yourself.

MR. TOLLE: Yes.

MS. TIPPETT: And that's not what you're talking about. It's really about being fully alive.

MR. TOLLE: Being fully alive and fully engaging with life in the present moment, which is where life happens. Fully responding to the needs of this moment, not rejecting this moment, not arguing with this moment, but being open to it.

MS. TIPPETT: And I wonder if it's also some aspect of that is that when you are fully alive and fully present, even if in a very powerful way, right, I mean even if your presence is powerful, there's something about knowing your place in the scheme of things. I mean, being aware of how complex and large everything around you is.

MR. TOLLE: Yes. The vastness of it all and the compulsion to continuously interpret whatever you are experiencing at any given moment, that is no longer there. And there's great freedom in not compulsively interpreting other people, situations, and so on. Not imposing all these judgments. That's another word for it. Imposing thinking, thinking continuously on the world, which is so alive and so fresh and new at every moment. It's all when we impose the continuously compulsive thinking on it then we deaden it, and we become dead to the aliveness of the world. We become dead to the aliveness in others. And so we can no longer have empathy for others when we are behind a screen of conceptualization through which we judge others. And so, yes, the mind is beautiful. The ability to think is a great thing. And it does not mean that you fall below thinking when you are open to the present moment in the state of

MS. TIPPETT: Or that you turn your mind off, right? It doesn't

MR. TOLLE: Yes. It doesn't mean you become semiconscious or it doesn't mean it's a thing that happens to you when you have a few drinks.

MS. TIPPETT: Right. Right.

More:
Eckhart Tolle The Power of Now | The On Being Project

"},{"label":"EditorialReviews","value":"This is not just another candy-ass elementary level celestine prophetic conversation supposedly with God clone. It is fresh, revealing, current, new inspiration. Power of Now is written from a depth of a person who has considered suicide, gone through his dark night of the soul and has come out the other side into his very personal and ecstatic enlightenment. If you are considering getting back in touch with your soul this book is a great companion.Now and then, time cultivates these perfect jewels. You find one and think nothing better is possible. Such is The Power of Now. A regular customer at our store, and student of Chi Gong said, "It not only synthesizes everything i've delved into, but it does it so clearly and simply." Many customers report back literally "thrilled" to have come across the book."},{"label":"TOC","value":"

Author's Preface to the Paperback Edition, Introduction, The Origin of This Book, The Truth That Is Within You, CHAPTER ONE: You Are Not Your Mind, CHAPTER TWO: Consciousness: The Way Out of Pain, CHAPTER THREE: Moving Deeply into the Now, CHAPTER FOUR: Mind Strategies for Avoiding the Now, CHAPTER FIVE: The State of Presence, CHAPTER SIX: The Inner Body, CHAPTER SEVEN: Portals into the Unmanifested, CHAPTER EIGHT: Enlightened Relationships, CHAPTER NINE: Beyond Happiness and Unhappiness There Is Peace, CHAPTER TEN: The Meaning of Surrender, Notes, Acknowledgments, About the Author,

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Much more than simple principles and platitudes, The Power of Now takes readers on an inspiring spiritual journey to find their true and deepest self and reach the ultimate in personal growth and spirituality: the discovery of truth and light. In the first chapter, Tolle introduces readers to enlightenment and its natural enemy, the mind. He awakens readers to their role as a creator of pain and shows them how to have a pain-free identity by living fully in the present. The journey is thrilling, and along the way, the author shows how to connect to the indestructible essence of our Being, "the eternal, ever-present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death." Only after regaining awareness of Being, liberated from Mind and intensely in the Now, is there Enlightenment."}],"additionalimages":[{"image":"https://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/9781577314806_p1_v3_s192x300.jpg"},{"image":"https://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/9781577314806_p0_v5_s192x300.jpg"}],"specifications":[{"label":"depth","value":"0.70"},{"label":"width","value":"5.50"},{"label":"publicationDate","value":"2004-09-21 00:00:00.0"},{"label":"edition","value":"First Trade Paper Edition"},{"label":"salesRank","value":"353"},{"label":"isbn13","value":"9781577314806"},{"label":"isbn10","value":"1577314808"},{"label":"height","value":"8.40"},{"label":"publisher","value":"New World Library"}],"isgiftcard":"false","additionalinfo":[{"label":"warningMessage","value":"Not Applicable"},{"label":"excludePromotionMessage","value":"Not Applicable"},{"label":"marketplaceBtnTxt","value":"134 New & Used from 1.99"},{"label":"siteName","value":"Barnes & Noble"},{"label":"preOrderableMsg","value":"Not Applicable"},{"label":"formatId","value":"121"},{"label":"usedListPrice","value":"0"},{"label":"usedSalePrice","value":"0"},{"label":"analyticsCode","value":"B1-026SA"},{"label":"neverForSaleMsg","value":"Not Applicable"},{"label":"skuType","value":"book"},{"label":"departmentCode","value":"1"},{"label":"usedPercentageSave","value":"0"},{"label":"secondaryFormat","value":"Paperback"},{"label":"storeAvailable","value":"false"},{"label":"Paperback","value":"First Trade Paper Edition"}],"itemid":"1100220492","features":[{"label":"shipRestrictionMsg","value":null},{"label":"soldBy","value":null},{"label":"sound","value":"[]"},{"label":"edition","value":"First Trade Paper Edition"},{"label":"language","value":"English"},{"label":"versionName","value":null},{"label":"seriesTitle","value":null},{"label":"presentation","value":"[]"},{"label":"catalogNumber","value":null},{"label":"regionCode","value":"Not applicable"},{"label":"enableContributorSeriesFeature","value":"true"},{"label":"numberOfPages","value":"235"},{"label":"shipRestrictionCode","value":"0"},{"label":"originalRelease","value":"0000"},{"label":"lexileDescription","value":null},{"label":"ageTo","value":null},{"label":"publicationDate","value":"2004-09-21 00:00:00.0"},{"label":"class","value":"com.bn.feed.dto.BNProductDetailsTab"},{"label":"height","value":"8.40"},{"label":"releaseDate","value":"09/21/2004"},{"label":"displayFormat","value":null},{"label":"parentFormat","value":"Paperback"},{"label":"publisherUrl","value":"/s/%22New World Library%22?Ntk=Publisher&Ns=P_Sales_Rank&Ntx=mode+matchall"},{"label":"seriesNumber","value":"0"},{"label":"lexile","value":null},{"label":"depth","value":"0.70"},{"label":"seriesUrl","value":null},{"label":"fileSize","value":null},{"label":"isbn13","value":"9781577314806"},{"label":"currentIssue","value":null},{"label":"width","value":"5.50"},{"label":"publisher","value":"New World Library"},{"label":"ageFrom","value":null},{"label":"isbn10","value":"1577314808"},{"label":"contentRating","value":null},{"label":"time","value":null}],"itemtype":"Paperback","publisher":"New World Library","sku":"9781577314806","shippingmessages":[{"name":"deliveryPromise","description":"Want it by Wednesday, September 26?"},{"name":"deliveryPromiseNote","description":"Order by 12:00 PM Eastern and choose Expedited Shipping at checkout."},{"name":"detailedText","description":"Want it by Wednesday, September 26?n, Order by 12:00 PM Eastern and choose Expedited Shipping at checkout."},{"name":"sameDayMessageLinkTest","description":"See Details"},{"name":"sameDayMessage","description":"Same Day shipping in Manhattan."},{"name":"externalLink","description":"//dispatch.barnesandnoble.com/content/ccr/h/modal/html/2015/7/get_it_same_day.use.html"},{"name":"freeShipEligibleMessage","description":"Eligible for FREE SHIPPING"},{"name":"freeShipEligibleMessageURL","description":"//dispatch.barnesandnoble.com/content/ccr/h/modal/html/2017/1/free-shipping.use.html"}]},"state":{"additionalproperties":[{"label":"sortedFormatPriorityOrder","value":"Hardcover"},{"label":"sortedFormatPriorityOrder","value":"Paperback"},{"label":"sortedFormatPriorityOrder","value":"NOOK Book"},{"label":"sortedFormatPriorityOrder","value":"Audiobook"}],"additionalinfo":[{"name":"Eckhart Tolle","link":"/s/"Eckhart Tolle"?Ntk=P_key_Contributor_List&Ns=P_Sales_Rank&Ntx=mode matchall","label":"Author"}]},"seodetails":{"description":"Much more than simple principles and platitudes, The Power of Now takes readers on an inspiring spiritual journey to find their true and deepest self and reach...","canonical":"https://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/9781577314806_p1_v3_s1200x630.jpg","title":"Power-of-Now/Eckhart-Tolle"},"userinfo":[{"qualification":"University of London; 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Now, author-sage Eckhart Tolle uses words to guide readers beyond words. Pointing to the portals of the eternal present, this practical mystic's modern gospel offers transcendent truths that set us free. (Dan Millman, author of Everyday Enlightenment and The Laws of Spirit) A great contribution to our understanding of what it means to be a spiritual being. (Ian Percy, author of Going Deep)"},{"label":"MeetTheAuthor","value":"

World-renowned spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle conveys simple wisdom that transcends any particular religion, doctrine, or guru. His #1 NYT bestselling book is a modern classic in the field of personal growth and spirituality; Oprah Winfrey credits The Power of Now with helping her to "get through September 11, 2001" and she featured it on her December 2002 "Oprahs Favorite Things" show. A native of Germany, Eckhart Tolle attended the University of London, and upon graduation went on to become a research scholar and supervisor at Cambridge University. At 29, a profound spiritual awakening virtually dissolved his personal identity and sparked a radical change in the course of his life. It marked the beginning of an intense inward journey and he devoted the next decade to understanding, deepening, and integrating that transformation. For the past ten years, he has acted as a counselor and spiritual guide, facilitating sold-out groups in Europe and North America. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia."},{"label":"ReadAnExcerpt","value":"

YOU ARE NOT YOUR MIND

THE GREATEST OBSTACLE TO ENLIGHTENMENT

Enlightenment what is that?

A beggar had been sitting by the side of a road for over thirty years. One day a stranger walked by. "Spare some change?" mumbled the beggar, mechanically holding out his old baseball cap. "I have nothing to give you," said the stranger. Then he asked: "What's that you are sitting on?" "Nothing," replied the beggar. "Just an old box. I have been sitting on it for as long as I can remember." "Ever looked inside?" asked the stranger. "No," said the beggar. "What's the point? There's nothing in there." "Have a look inside," insisted the stranger. The beggar managed to pry open the lid. With astonishment, disbelief, and elation, he saw that the box was filled with gold.

I am that stranger who has nothing to give you and who is telling you to look inside. Not inside any box, as in the parable, but somewhere even closer: inside yourself.

"But I am not a beggar," I can hear you say.

Those who have not found their true wealth, which is the radiant joy of Being and the deep, unshakable peace that comes with it, are beggars, even if they have great material wealth. They are looking outside for scraps of pleasure or fulfillment, for validation, security, or love, while they have a treasure within that not only includes all those things but is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer.

The word enlightenment conjures up the idea of some superhuman accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way, but it is simply your natural state of felt oneness with Being. It is a state of connectedness with something immeasurable and indestructible, something that, almost paradoxically, is essentially you and yet is much greater than you. It is finding your true nature beyond name and form. The inability to feel this connectedness gives rise to the illusion of separation, from yourself and from the world around you. You then perceive yourself, consciously or unconsciously, as an isolated fragment. Fear arises, and conflict within and without becomes the norm.

I love the Buddha's simple definition of enlightenment as "the end of suffering." There is nothing superhuman in that, is there? Of course, as a definition, it is incomplete. It only tells you what enlightenment is not: no suffering. But what's left when there is no more suffering? The Buddha is silent on that, and his silence implies that you'll have to find out for yourself. He uses a negative definition so that the mind cannot make it into something to believe in or into a superhuman accomplishment, a goal that is impossible for you to attain. Despite this precaution, the majority of Buddhists still believe that enlightenment is for the Buddha, not for them, at least not in this lifetime.

You used the word Being. Can you explain what you mean by that?

Being is the eternal, ever-present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death. However, Being is not only beyond but also deep within every form as its innermost invisible and indestructible essence. This means that it is accessible to you now as your own deepest self, your true nature. But don't seek to grasp it with your mind. Don't try to understand it. You can know it only when the mind is still. When you are present, when your attention is fully and intensely in the Now, Being can be felt, but it can never be understood mentally. To regain awareness of Being and to abide in that state of "feeling-realization" is enlightenment.

* * *

When you say Being, are you talking about God? If you are, then why don't you say it?

The word God has become empty of meaning through thousands of years of misuse. I use it sometimes, but I do so sparingly. By misuse, I mean that people who have never even glimpsed the realm of the sacred, the infinite vastness behind that word, use it with great conviction, as if they knew what they are talking about. Or they argue against it, as if they knew what it is that they are denying. This misuse gives rise to absurd beliefs, assertions, and egoic delusions, such as "My or our God is the only true God, and your God is false," or Nietzsche's famous statement "God is dead."

The word God has become a closed concept. The moment the word is uttered, a mental image is created, no longer, perhaps, of an old man with a white beard, but still a mental representation of someone or something outside you, and, yes, almost inevitably a male someone or something.

Neither God nor Being nor any other word can define or explain the ineffable reality behind the word, so the only important question is whether the word is a help or a hindrance in enabling you to experience That toward which it points. Does it point beyond itself to that transcendental reality, or does it lend itself too easily to becoming no more than an idea in your head that you believe in, a mental idol?

The word Being explains nothing, but nor does God. Being, however, has the advantage that it is an open concept. It does not reduce the infinite invisible to a finite entity. It is impossible to form a mental image of it. Nobody can claim exclusive possession of Being. It is your very essence, and it is immediately accessible to you as the feeling of your own presence, the realization I am that is prior to I am this or I am that. So it is only a small step from the word Being to the experience of Being.

* * *

What is the greatest obstacle to experiencing this reality?

Identification with your mind, which causes thought to become compulsive. Not to be able to stop thinking is a dreadful affliction, but we don't realize this because almost everybody is suffering from it, so it is considered normal.

This incessant mental noise prevents you from finding that realm of inner stillness that is inseparable from Being. It also creates a false mind-made self that casts a shadow of fear and suffering. We will look at all that in more detail later.

The philosopher Descartes believed that he had found the most fundamental truth when he made his famous statement: "I think, therefore I am." He had, in fact, given expression to the most basic error: to equate thinking with Being and identity with thinking. The compulsive thinker, which means almost everyone, lives in a state of apparent separateness, in an insanely complex world of continuous problems and conflict, a world that reflects the ever-increasing fragmentation of the mind. Enlightenment is a state of wholeness, of being "at one" and therefore at peace. At one with life in its manifested aspect, the world, as well as with your deepest self and life unmanifested at one with Being. Enlightenment is not only the end of suffering and of continuous conflict within and without, but also the end of the dreadful enslavement to incessant thinking. What an incredible liberation this is!

Identification with your mind creates an opaque screen of concepts, labels, images, words, judgments, and definitions that blocks all true relationship. It comes between you and yourself, between you and your fellow man and woman, between you and nature, between you and God. It is this screen of thought that creates the illusion of separateness, the illusion that there is you and a totally separate "other." You then forget the essential fact that, underneath the level of physical appearances and separate forms, you are one with all that is. By "forget," I mean that you can no longer feel this oneness as self-evident reality. You may believe it to be true, but you no longer know it to be true. A belief may be comforting. Only through your own experience, however, does it become liberating.

Thinking has become a disease. Disease happens when things get out of balance. For example, there is nothing wrong with cells dividing and multiplying in the body, but when this process continues in disregard of the total organism, cells proliferate and we have disease.

The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. To put it more accurately, it is not so much that you use your mind wrongly you usually don't use it at all. It uses you. This is the disease. You believe that you are your mind. This is the delusion. The instrument has taken you over.

I don't quite agree. It is true that I do a lot of aimless thinking, like most people, but I can still choose to use my mind to get and accomplish things, and I do that all the time.

Just because you can solve a crossword puzzle or build an atom bomb doesn't mean that you use your mind. Just as dogs love to chew bones, the mind loves to get its teeth into problems. That's why it does crossword puzzles and builds atom bombs. You have no interest in either. Let me ask you this: can you be free of your mind whenever you want to? Have you found the "off" button?

You mean stop thinking altogether? No, I can't, except maybe for a moment or two.

Then the mind is using you. You are unconsciously identified with it, so you don't even know that you are its slave. It's almost as if you were possessed without knowing it, and so you take the possessing entity to be yourself. The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not the possessing entity the thinker. Knowing this enables you to observe the entity. The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated. You then begin to realize that there is a vast realm of intelligence beyond thought, that thought is only a tiny aspect of that intelligence. You also realize that all the things that truly matter beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace arise from beyond the mind. You begin to awaken.

* * *

FREEING YOURSELF FROM YOUR MIND

What exactly do you mean by "watching the thinker"?

When someone goes to the doctor and says, "I hear a voice in my head," he or she will most likely be sent to a psychiatrist. The fact is that, in a very similar way, virtually everyone hears a voice, or several voices, in their head all the time: the involuntary thought processes that you don't realize you have the power to stop. Continuous monologues or dialogues.

You have probably come across "mad" people in the street incessantly talking or muttering to themselves. Well, that's not much different from what you and all other "normal" people do, except that you don't do it out loud. The voice comments, speculates, judges, compares, complains, likes, dislikes, and so on. The voice isn't necessarily relevant to the situation you find yourself in at the time; it may be reviving the recent or distant past or rehearsing or imagining possible future situations. Here it often imagines things going wrong and negative outcomes; this is called worry. Sometimes this soundtrack is accompanied by visual images or "mental movies." Even if the voice is relevant to the situation at hand, it will interpret it in terms of the past. This is because the voice belongs to your conditioned mind, which is the result of all your past history as well as of the collective cultural mind-set you inherited. So you see and judge the present through the eyes of the past and get a totally distorted view of it. It is not uncommon for the voice to be a person's own worst enemy. Many people live with a tormentor in their head that continuously attacks and punishes them and drains them of vital energy. It is the cause of untold misery and unhappiness, as well as of disease.

The good news is that you can free yourself from your mind. This is the only true liberation. You can take the first step right now. Start listening to the voice in your head as often as you can. Pay particular attention to any repetitive thought patterns, those old gramophone records that have been playing in your head perhaps for many years. This is what I mean by "watching the thinker," which is another way of saying: listen to the voice in your head, be there as the witnessing presence.

When you listen to that voice, listen to it impartially. That is to say, do not judge. Do not judge or condemn what you hear, for doing so would mean that the same voice has come in again through the back door. You'll soon realize: there is the voice, and here I am listening to it, watching it. This I am realization, this sense of your own presence, is not a thought. It arises from beyond the mind.

* * *

So when you listen to a thought, you are aware not only of the thought but also of yourself as the witness of the thought. A new dimension of consciousness has come in. As you listen to the thought, you feel a conscious presence your deeper self behind or underneath the thought, as it were. The thought then loses its power over you and quickly subsides, because you are no longer energizing the mind through identification with it. This is the beginning of the end of involuntary and compulsive thinking.

When a thought subsides, you experience a discontinuity in the mental stream a gap of "no-mind." At first, the gaps will be short, a few seconds perhaps, but gradually they will become longer. When these gaps occur, you feel a certain stillness and peace inside you. This is the beginning of your natural state of felt oneness with Being, which is usually obscured by the mind. With practice, the sense of stillness and peace will deepen. In fact, there is no end to its depth. You will also feel a subtle emanation of joy arising from deep within: the joy of Being.

It is not a trancelike state. Not at all. There is no loss of consciousness here. The opposite is the case. If the price of peace were a lowering of your consciousness, and the price of stillness a lack of vitality and alertness, then they would not be worth having. In this state of inner connectedness, you are much more alert, more awake than in the mind-identified state. You are fully present. It also raises the vibrational frequency of the energy field that gives life to the physical body.

As you go more deeply into this realm of no-mind, as it is sometimes called in the East, you realize the state of pure consciousness. In that state, you feel your own presence with such intensity and such joy that all thinking, all emotions, your physical body, as well as the whole external world become relatively insignificant in comparison to it. And yet this is not a selfish but a selfless state. It takes you beyond what you previously thought of as "your self." That presence is essentially you and at the same time inconceivably greater than you. What I am trying to convey here may sound paradoxical or even contradictory, but there is no other way that I can express it.

* * *

Instead of "watching the thinker," you can also create a gap in the mind stream simply by directing the focus of your attention into the Now. Just become intensely conscious of the present moment. This is a deeply satisfying thing to do. In this way, you draw consciousness away from mind activity and create a gap of no-mind in which you are highly alert and aware but not thinking. This is the essence of meditation.

In your everyday life, you can practice this by taking any routine activity that normally is only a means to an end and giving it your fullest attention, so that it becomes an end in itself. For example, every time you walk up and down the stairs in your house or place of work, pay close attention to every step, every movement, even your breathing. Be totally present. Or when you wash your hands, pay attention to all the sense perceptions associated with the activity: the sound and feel of the water, the movement of your hands, the scent of the soap, and so on. Or when you get into your car, after you close the door, pause for a few seconds and observe the flow of your breath. Become aware of a silent but powerful sense of presence. There is one certain criterion by which you can measure your success in this practice: the degree of peace that you feel within.

* * *

So the single most vital step on your journey toward enlightenment is this: learn to disidentify from your mind. Every time you create a gap in the stream of mind, the light of your consciousness grows stronger.

One day you may catch yourself smiling at the voice in your head, as you would smile at the antics of a child. This means that you no longer take the content of your mind all that seriously, as your sense of self does not depend on it.

ENLIGHTENMENT: RISING ABOVE THOUGHT

Isn't thinking essential in order to survive in this world?

Your mind is an instrument, a tool. It is there to be used for a specific task, and when the task is completed, you lay it down. As it is, I would say about 80 to 90 percent of most people's thinking is not only repetitive and useless, but because of its dysfunctional and often negative nature, much of it is also harmful. Observe your mind and you will find this to be true. It causes a serious leakage of vital energy.

"},{"label":"EditorialReviews","value":"This is not just another candy-ass elementary level celestine prophetic conversation supposedly with God clone. It is fresh, revealing, current, new inspiration. Power of Now is written from a depth of a person who has considered suicide, gone through his dark night of the soul and has come out the other side into his very personal and ecstatic enlightenment. If you are considering getting back in touch with your soul this book is a great companion.Now and then, time cultivates these perfect jewels. You find one and think nothing better is possible. Such is The Power of Now. A regular customer at our store, and student of Chi Gong said, "It not only synthesizes everything i've delved into, but it does it so clearly and simply." Many customers report back literally "thrilled" to have come across the book."},{"label":"TOC","value":"

Author's Preface to the Paperback Edition, Introduction, The Origin of This Book, The Truth That Is Within You, CHAPTER ONE: You Are Not Your Mind, CHAPTER TWO: Consciousness: The Way Out of Pain, CHAPTER THREE: Moving Deeply into the Now, CHAPTER FOUR: Mind Strategies for Avoiding the Now, CHAPTER FIVE: The State of Presence, CHAPTER SIX: The Inner Body, CHAPTER SEVEN: Portals into the Unmanifested, CHAPTER EIGHT: Enlightened Relationships, CHAPTER NINE: Beyond Happiness and Unhappiness There Is Peace, CHAPTER TEN: The Meaning of Surrender, Notes, Acknowledgments, About the Author,

"},{"label":"Overview","value":"

Much more than simple principles and platitudes, The Power of Now takes readers on an inspiring spiritual journey to find their true and deepest self and reach the ultimate in personal growth and spirituality: the discovery of truth and light. In the first chapter, Tolle introduces readers to enlightenment and its natural enemy, the mind. He awakens readers to their role as a creator of pain and shows them how to have a pain-free identity by living fully in the present. The journey is thrilling, and along the way, the author shows how to connect to the indestructible essence of our Being, "the eternal, ever-present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death." Only after regaining awareness of Being, liberated from Mind and intensely in the Now, is there Enlightenment."}],"additionalimages":[{"image":"https://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/9781577314806_p1_v3_s192x300.jpg"},{"image":"https://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/9781577314806_p0_v5_s192x300.jpg"}],"specifications":[{"label":"depth","value":"0.70"},{"label":"width","value":"5.50"},{"label":"publicationDate","value":"2004-09-21 00:00:00.0"},{"label":"edition","value":"First Trade Paper Edition"},{"label":"salesRank","value":"353"},{"label":"isbn13","value":"9781577314806"},{"label":"isbn10","value":"1577314808"},{"label":"height","value":"8.40"},{"label":"publisher","value":"New World Library"}],"isgiftcard":"false","additionalinfo":[{"label":"warningMessage","value":"Not Applicable"},{"label":"excludePromotionMessage","value":"Not Applicable"},{"label":"marketplaceBtnTxt","value":"134 New & Used from 1.99"},{"label":"siteName","value":"Barnes & Noble"},{"label":"preOrderableMsg","value":"Not Applicable"},{"label":"formatId","value":"121"},{"label":"usedListPrice","value":"0"},{"label":"usedSalePrice","value":"0"},{"label":"analyticsCode","value":"B1-026SA"},{"label":"neverForSaleMsg","value":"Not Applicable"},{"label":"skuType","value":"book"},{"label":"departmentCode","value":"1"},{"label":"usedPercentageSave","value":"0"},{"label":"secondaryFormat","value":"Paperback"},{"label":"storeAvailable","value":"false"},{"label":"Paperback","value":"First Trade Paper Edition"}],"itemid":"1100220492","features":[{"label":"shipRestrictionMsg","value":null},{"label":"soldBy","value":null},{"label":"sound","value":"[]"},{"label":"edition","value":"First Trade Paper Edition"},{"label":"language","value":"English"},{"label":"versionName","value":null},{"label":"seriesTitle","value":null},{"label":"presentation","value":"[]"},{"label":"catalogNumber","value":null},{"label":"regionCode","value":"Not applicable"},{"label":"enableContributorSeriesFeature","value":"true"},{"label":"numberOfPages","value":"235"},{"label":"shipRestrictionCode","value":"0"},{"label":"originalRelease","value":"0000"},{"label":"lexileDescription","value":null},{"label":"ageTo","value":null},{"label":"publicationDate","value":"2004-09-21 00:00:00.0"},{"label":"class","value":"com.bn.feed.dto.BNProductDetailsTab"},{"label":"height","value":"8.40"},{"label":"releaseDate","value":"09/21/2004"},{"label":"displayFormat","value":null},{"label":"parentFormat","value":"Paperback"},{"label":"publisherUrl","value":"/s/%22New World Library%22?Ntk=Publisher&Ns=P_Sales_Rank&Ntx=mode+matchall"},{"label":"seriesNumber","value":"0"},{"label":"lexile","value":null},{"label":"depth","value":"0.70"},{"label":"seriesUrl","value":null},{"label":"fileSize","value":null},{"label":"isbn13","value":"9781577314806"},{"label":"currentIssue","value":null},{"label":"width","value":"5.50"},{"label":"publisher","value":"New World Library"},{"label":"ageFrom","value":null},{"label":"isbn10","value":"1577314808"},{"label":"contentRating","value":null},{"label":"time","value":null}],"itemtype":"Paperback","publisher":"New World Library","sku":"9781577314806","shippingmessages":[{"name":"deliveryPromise","description":"Want it by Wednesday, September 26?"},{"name":"deliveryPromiseNote","description":"Order by 12:00 PM Eastern and choose Expedited Shipping at checkout."},{"name":"detailedText","description":"Want it by Wednesday, September 26?n, Order by 12:00 PM Eastern and choose Expedited Shipping at checkout."},{"name":"sameDayMessageLinkTest","description":"See Details"},{"name":"sameDayMessage","description":"Same Day shipping in Manhattan."},{"name":"externalLink","description":"//dispatch.barnesandnoble.com/content/ccr/h/modal/html/2015/7/get_it_same_day.use.html"},{"name":"freeShipEligibleMessage","description":"Eligible for FREE SHIPPING"},{"name":"freeShipEligibleMessageURL","description":"//dispatch.barnesandnoble.com/content/ccr/h/modal/html/2017/1/free-shipping.use.html"}]},"state":{"additionalproperties":[{"label":"sortedFormatPriorityOrder","value":"Hardcover"},{"label":"sortedFormatPriorityOrder","value":"Paperback"},{"label":"sortedFormatPriorityOrder","value":"NOOK Book"},{"label":"sortedFormatPriorityOrder","value":"Audiobook"}],"additionalinfo":[{"name":"Eckhart Tolle","link":"/s/"Eckhart Tolle"?Ntk=P_key_Contributor_List&Ns=P_Sales_Rank&Ntx=mode matchall","label":"Author"}]},"seodetails":{"description":"Much more than simple principles and platitudes, The Power of Now takes readers on an inspiring spiritual journey to find their true and deepest self and reach...","canonical":"https://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/9781577314806_p1_v3_s1200x630.jpg","title":"Power-of-Now/Eckhart-Tolle"},"userinfo":[{"qualification":"University of London; 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The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

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The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by ...

Kim Engis the creator ofPresence Through Movement(PTM), a unique, powerful, and practical approach to accessing the present moment through the body and through movement. This meditative movement practice was inspired by and draws from the ancient mystical teachings of qigong, tai chi, and yoga, as well as the spiritual insights of Eckhart Tolleyet it is not affiliated with any particular religion, culture, or form of yoga.

As a facilitator ofPresence Through Movement, Kim travels and works extensively with her teaching partner Eckhart Tolle, the author of the bestselling booksThe Power of NowandA New Earth. Kim has developed a teaching approach that incorporates and complements Eckharts teachings. Her work translates these teachings into a structured, embodied practice to support the arising of presence and the awakening of consciousness.

Kim has offered retreats and workshops in North America, Europe, and Australia. She is the author of two instructional DVDs on Presence Through MovementQi Flow YogaandYin Yogaand of two audio-learning programs,Meditations for A New EarthandResist Nothing, featuring practical ways to overcome our inner obstacles to presence.

Kim was born in Vancouver, Canada. Her spiritual search began in the early 1980s. She met Eckhart in 1998, and soon after underwent a transformational spiritual experience while attending one of his retreats. This was followed by seven years of intense spiritual training, after which she began counseling and teaching.

Kim sees our true natureour essenceas living in and through our human bodies. Through movement and through our bodies, we can return to and awaken to pure Presence and onenessto who we are beyond the thinking mind and egoic sense of selfaccessing infinite power and creativity.

When we are connected to Source, and body-mind-spirit are alignedwhen we realize who we are at the core of our beingwe blossom into our life purpose, she says. We cannot help but do so. And that is how we create what Eckhart Tolle calls a new earth.

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About - Eckhart Tolle | Official Site - Spiritual Teachings ...

Spiritual teacher and author Eckhart Tolle was born in Germany and educated at the Universities of London and Cambridge. At the age of twenty-nine a profound inner transformation radically changed the course of his life. The next few years were devoted to understanding, integrating, and deepening that transformation, which marked the beginning of an intense inward journey. Later, he began to work in London with individuals and small groups as a counselor and spiritual teacher. Since 1995 he has lived in Vancouver, Canada.

Eckhart Tolle is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Power of Now (translated into 33 languages) and A New Earth, which are widely regarded as two of the most influential spiritual books of our time. In 2008, A New Earth became the first spiritual book to be selected for Oprah's Book Club as well as the subject of a ten-week online workshop co-taught by Eckhart and Oprah.

Eckhart's profound yet simple teachings have helped countless people throughout the world find inner peace and greater fulfillment in their lives. At the core of the teachings lies the transformation of consciousness, a spiritual awakening that he sees as the next step in human evolution. An essential aspect of this awakening consists in transcending our ego-based state of consciousness. This is a prerequisite not only for personal happiness but also for the ending of violent conflict endemic on our planet.

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Eckhart Tolle - amazon.com

By Eckhart Tolle

QUESTION: Im 34 years old and have a good job and a good home; Im married to a wonderful man. I have bad anxiety, and I have no idea what I want from my life. I have low self-esteem and I get defensive easily. Im rarely content or grateful. My thinking is so negative. I need approval from others.

ECKHART: This doesnt seem to be a question but theres a question hiding in there. First, Id like to congratulate the questioner on her self-knowledge because she is aware that shes anxious. Not everybody whos anxious knows that they are anxious. They are just taken over by anxiety, and it is virtually their normal state. If you ask them, Are you anxious? they reply, No, Im not anxious.

The question, I have no idea what I want from my life, looks like the beginning of the place of not knowing, which is good. I have low self-esteem, indicates that you have the awareness that you have low self-esteem. I get defensive easily, again, this indicates that you know that you get defensive; the question is in the moment of getting defensive do you know that youre getting defensive, or do you just know it afterwards? Im rarely content or grateful, is a good self-observation, too. My thinking is so negative, is another good piece of self-knowledge. You can ask, in this moment, what other thoughts are going through my head?

If you apply this awareness to the present moment when these things arise defensiveness, low self-esteem and anxiety youll see that certain repetitive thoughts in the mind are the voice in the head that tells you this is low self-esteem. There might be certain emotions that go with the thoughts, but the basis for low self-esteem is the thoughts that you tell yourself about your low self-worth. The questioner knows that she has low self-esteem, and if she can recognize the thoughts in the moment of low self-esteem arising, she may realize the repetitive, conditioned thoughts are not necessarily true. Perhaps, the low self-esteem started in childhood it often happens to people whose parents are very critical or tell them they are never good enough. It might have started there; its a conditioned way of thinking.

The awareness thats already present in the questioner needs to be there in the moment when these thoughts arise to recognize them as thoughts and then, you are no longer completely trapped in what these thoughts are saying. In other words, your sense of being is not in the thought anymore; it is in the awareness of the thought. To use an analogy, the vastness of the sky is your awareness and the clouds are your thoughts.

Remain the sky (the awareness) and allow the clouds (the thoughts) to come and go. You are the awareness behind the thoughts. This applies to any kind of negative thinking it arises, you recognize it as automatic its a thought. You are the awareness that knows this (low-self esteem) is a negative thought pattern. This way you are no longer feeding the conditioned thinking, so you are taking your identity out of thinking and no longer renewing old patterns.

If your awareness can grow, which means deepen, because its already there to some extent then those conditioned patterns will diminish and get transmuted.

Another point mentioned in the question: I get defensive easily, defensiveness happens very quickly in human interactions; its an automatic pattern. You may only recognize it afterwards, and say, That was defensiveness again. These are all ways the ego tried to protect itself the ego being the mind-made self. Defensiveness will come up with any lie just to keep its ego identity intact.

A Course in Miracles has a lovely saying, Whenever you become defensive about anything, know that you have identified with an illusion. Thats interesting. For example, you say that the distance from here to the moon is 350,000 kilometers or so and the light takes just over one second to travel from the moon to the Earth. Then somebody else says, No, thats completely untrue; it actually takes one minute. This is just a difference of opinion, but you know that the other person is wrong. If you say, No, thats not right, is that defensiveness? It depends on how you say it. The question isare you identified with your mind, which has a position that happens to be true, but are you identified with that mental position? Do you derive your sense of self from thought? If youre identified with the thought, you will get angry and defensive with the other person who is completely wrong and you might say things like, You always doubt me. Thats the ego trying to protect itself.

The A Course in Miracles saying applies because you have identified yourself with an illusion. The illusion is not that it takes one second for light to travel from the moon to the Earth; the illusion is that you identified with the thought a mind pattern so you are strengthening an illusory identity by strengthening your mental position thats unconsciousness. This shows how a difference of opinion can degenerate into a huge conflict because the ego becomes defensive. Alertness is required on your part, so that you know when the ego arises.

The key is your awareness. When awareness deepens all those patterns you mentioned will weaken. Theres already a considerable amount of awareness in this questioner. The awareness isnt the person, but its deeper than the person. You apply the awareness to the present moment when things arise, but not in some abstract way, for example, Will I ever become a person who is not negative? I cant get rid of my patterns, that doesnt matter; this moment is what matters. So just apply your awareness to this moment; you cant change things into mental constructs How can I change, I dont want to be that kind of person anymore? Forget it! This moment is where you apply Presence. I sometimes say, The sword of Presence that cuts through time.

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Eckhart on Low Self-Esteem and Anxiety | by Eckhart Tolle

The Westin Resort Costa Navarino is a beautiful remote resort and is the only local accommodation option for retreat attendees. Retreat participants should stay onsite at The Westin Resort Costa Navarino as registration with the hotel is required to enter the secure, private grounds. Staying onsite also allows you to participate with the community and immerse yourself in the retreat experience.

A special lodging package including three delicious daily meals will be offered starting at the following discounted rates:

We strongly encourage you to book your rooms as soon as possible. The rooms at The Westin in our room block will sell out. Registering for the retreat does not guarantee that a room will be held for you. We have reserved a large block of rooms in order to accommodate retreat attendees, but the rooms will be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis. Once the rooms in our special retreat block sell out, your only option will be to book a standard room through The Westin Resort Costa Navarino website at the available room rate and will only include breakfast.

For those who would like to find a roommate, please visit the Meetup forum.

Lodging costs are paid separately to The Westin and are not included in yourretreat tuition. Our special group lodging rate will only be available until July 22, 2018 pending the availability of rooms and will require a two-nightdeposit. After that date, rooms can be booked at the current hotel rates based on availability. Please be sure to reviewthe room cancellation penalties at the time of booking.

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Eckhart Tolle Greece

We are delighted to invite you to a rare and transformational evening with Eckhart Tolle. Join us for this unique opportunity to sit with Eckhart as he points you to spiritual awakening and the transformation of consciousness. With his hallmark warmth, humour and compassion, this evening will connect you with the peace and serenity that arises from living in the moment.

Eckharts profound, yet simple teachings have helped countless people from around the globe awaken to a vibrantly alive inner peace in their daily lives. The New York Times has called Eckhart Tolle the most popular spiritual author in the United States, and the Watkins Review named him as the most spiritually inuential person in the world. Eckhart Tolles writings and life-changing public events have touched millions of lives, garnering fans to the likes of Oprah, the Dalai Lama and Deepak Chopra.

He is the best-selling author of The Power of Now and A New Earth that are widely regarded as the most transformational books of our time, selling over 8 million copies.

Frequently Asked Questions

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An Evening with Eckhart Tolle in Calgary - Eventbrite