Have you ever wondered how you can make decisions every day that make for the most meaningful life for you? That was the main reason Lama Tsomo "bothered" with meditation in the first place. Indeed she and millions of others have found it to help in that very way, and much more. In this book, the first in the series Ancient Wisdom for Our Times: Tibetan Buddhist Practice, she shares a bit of her story and her teacher's story, and a brief overview of the life of the Buddha. Previously published as part of the award-winning Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling (2016), Lama Tsomo offers background so that you can understand some Tibetan Buddhist basics, essential context for the rest of the series. In future books she takes you on the journey of the real practices just as they were taught to her by her Tibetan teacher- but presented Westerner to Westerner, in a witty and conversational style. This progression builds and deepens your understanding and your happiness. You could decide to meditate and just watch your breath every day, and not read this book and the series. But that would be like getting a cookbook and maybe even leafing through the pages but never making it into the kitchen, never learning how to make those recipes and nourish yourself. This book gives you the context, and the series gives you the understanding of how to use the practices so that you can gain the full benefit, as Buddhists say, for yourself and others.

Meditation has many proven benefits, from decreasing stress to making us happier. But how do you transform it from an extended, boring silence into a habit that brings more meaning and joy to your daily life? This journal will guide you through a rich and engaging exploration of your inner life. Taking a Breath provides instruction and inspiration for beginning and more advanced meditators. Removed from the noise and distraction of our digital lives, this beautiful and functional journal is both guide and tracker. The journal has three foundational meditations from Tibetan Buddhist practice, adapted for our busy lives by Lama Tsomo. Included are reflective exercises along with the brain- science around meditation and habit formation to ignite your time on the cushion. By journaling, you heighten your memory of what you've read, making practice more creative and fun. In addition, it includes a six-month meditation tracker to help you anchor your practice, inspirational quotes, exercises, illustrations, and journaling space to keep your experience fresh with each turn of the page. When we first start meditation, our ingrained habits can work against us, with this journal you can turn the momentum of habit in your favor. The journal will become your mentor, confidant, co-conspirator, and accountability partner.

Tibetan Buddhist practice isn’t just a matter of what—it’s also a matter of how. This book shows you how. Building on the foundation in Book 1 (Why Bother?) which together with this book are updated versions of the previously published Why Is The Dalai Lama Always Smiling?, Lama Tsomo gives you the chance to try out these methods and see how they work for you.  Wisdom & Compassion: Starting with Yourself provides a lively, approachable guide, sprinkled with humor, for people ready to begin applying the time-tested, lab-tested Tibetan practices to find happiness and peace in their own modern life.  Through step-by-step instructions, photographs, and helpful explanations, Lama Tsomo shares practices that have been used for thousands of years, and teaches how we can experience the rich benefits of meditation. She offers techniques for sharpening our focus, enhancing our relationships, and living each day more mindfully, joyfully, and meaningfully.  Included are a set of beautifully illustrated meditation cards, "Science Tidbits," a glossary of terms, and teachings and practices also presented in Namchak Foundation eCourses and retreats.  Grab your cushion and teacup, and let’s begin!

Award-winning author Lama Tsomo provides insights and practices to enrich our relationships, be mindfully and joyfully present in the world, and deepen our understanding of ourselves. The tide of modern life is sweeping us even further into isolation-away from each other, from the world, from ourselves. To turn this tide, Lama Tsomo has created the latest addition to her Ancient Wisdom for Our Times series: Deepening Wisdom, Deepening Connection. Building on the ideas and practices in the first two books-Why Bother: An Introduction and Wisdom Compassion (Starting with Yourself)-this new volume actively engages readers, expanding our understanding and guiding our practice in the several key areas. The Four Boundless Qualities. Loving Kindness, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy, and Equanimity are not lofty, abstract sentiments. They are practical capacities that we can all cultivate for the benefit, as Buddhists say, of ourselves and others. Lama Tsomo teaches us how. Forgiveness. This is essential to our inner well-being-if we want to move on in our lives, and to move closer to others, we must be able to forgive. Resentment is the most destructive form of stress. As someone once said, hanging on to resentment is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. Deepening Wisdom, Deepening Connection shows us that we don't need to forget to forgive. Near Enemies. Lama Tsomo's explanation of the Buddhist concept of "near enemies" is a true eye-opener: she explains how we can stop fooling ourselves into thinking some of our shortcomings are actually virtues. Sublime Insight. Her patient guidance into the principles and practice of Vipassana (Sublime Insight) offers us ways to experience reality in its complexity and simplicity. (Buddhism was thousands of years ahead of quantum physics on this one.) You'll never see the world, or yourself, the same way again. Written with the conversational clarity and generous dashes of humor she's brought to her retreats at the Namchak Retreat Ranch and award-winning titles such as Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling? and The Lotus and the Rose, Lama Tsomo's latest is the culmination of decades of deep practice and scholarly inquiry, filled with real-world examples, beautiful illustrations, practice cards, and links to online support. Deepening Wisdom, Deepening Connection is an authentic guide to compassionate awareness and a salve against a growingly disconnected world.

If you think meditation is only for monks, think again. Today's world seems to be growing more and more stressful by the minute--for all of us. So now, as a teacher of Tibetan Buddhist practice and a 21st-century woman, Lama Tsomo offers us time-tested tools for getting underneath our everyday worries and making our lives richer and more fulfilling with the release of Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling? Reviewers deem the book "a sympathetic, personalized text" (Foreword Reviews), and recommend it "to those who want to learn more about Buddhism, meditation, or just how to live a more peaceful lifestyle" (Readers' Favorite). Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling? is a lively, approachable guide for using the ancient traditions and practices of Tibetan Buddhism to find happiness and peace in this modern world. Well received and praised, the book was honored with several awards in 2016, including winner of the Spirituality category at the Paris Book Awards, runner-up at the San Francisco Book Festival, and Silver medal recipient in the Independent Publisher Book Awards. Through step-by-step instructions, photographs, and helpful explanations, Lama Tsomo recounts her personal and spiritual journey to greater happiness, and teaches how we can experience the many benefits of meditation. She offers proven techniques for sharpening our focus, enhancing relationships, and living each day more mindfully and joyfully. Laced with humor, compassion, and stories from Lama Tsomo's own life, Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling? meets us where we are and guides us onto the path to a deeper awareness of the world and ourselves. This is a journey well worth taking. As Lama Tsomo invites in the book's prologue, "Won't you come along?" Featuring an introductory letter from H.H. Dalai Lama, Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling? includes a set of beautifully illustrated meditation cards, "Science Tidbits," a glossary of Buddhist terms, and lessons used in Namchak Foundation eCourses and retreats. Learn more about the book and Lama Tsomo at Namchak.org.