The Divine Art Of Meditation: Meditation and visualization techniques for a healthy mind, body and soul

An excellently ,written well researched evidence based and easy to follow How to meditate on a daily and multiple times a day to meditate.

This is a great book, if you want to understand meditation. Not only is it practical but also very informative.

A comprehensive and in depth presentation.Connection with the Baha’i Faith is fascinating.

nice book with overviews of meditation techniques.

Very interesting view and spiritual. Thank you.

There are obviously lots of books on meditation out there, but to me, this one is unique in many ways:1. First, this author takes a God-centered approach to meditation, which is rare, but it has its own growing audience among the followers of great religious traditions who believe in God but also value the practice of meditation.2. Masumian clearly practices what she preaches. She even provides personal pictures of her mantra writings and her meditation room (see the attached photo from page 97 of her book).3. Her book has an extensive chapter on the scientific evidence for meditation and gives specific examples of how regular meditation can actually improve one’s physical and mental health.4. The book offers 13 different meditation and visualization techniques some of which you won’t find in other meditation books. For example:a. I love her "Land of the Beloved" visualization method. Imagine mentally traveling to a heavenly place where you find a "pond of serenity" beautiful rivers, gorgeous flowers, birds signing sweet songs, and you are surrounded by light and warmth, and experience nothing but love, joy, and serenity. You have to read the details of this technique to fully appreciate its beauty and the comfort it can bring you.b. I also really enjoyed her chapter on the concept of gratitude where she shows how being grateful can lead to living a happier life. Masumian provides the reader with several techniques for cultivating gratitude such as a weekly gratitude session, keeping a gratitude journal, and so forth.c. In her chapter on mindfulness, she introduces a new technique for keeping the reader mindful, which I think has a great deal of potential for those of us who have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) or just can’t concentrate for long on anything. She calls it Mindfulness Jar. Imagine you have an empty jar and a container for loose change. Every time you are mindful of what you are doing (in other words concentrating on what you should be focused on anyway), you drop a coin from your coin container into the empty mindfulness jar. So, when you do mindful communication, mindful eating, mindful driving, mindful house chores, and so forth, you drop a coin in your mindfulness jar. You decide how much you want to put in the jar each time. When the jar becomes full, you give the money to the charity of your choice! This way, you can not only practice mindfulness, which will bring you a more peaceful mind, soul and body, but you will also cultivate the virtue of generosity in yourself (by giving the coins to a charity).d. Contemplation on sacred scriptures as an approach to meditation. She provides the reader with a host of passages for contemplation from various religions.4. I also loved the author’s concept of nurturing “The Inner Child” in us as a method of developing compassion. For most of us, it’s usually easier to be loving, forgiving, and compassionate towards others than towards ourselves. So, instead of being objective about our strengths and weaknesses, we become cynical and stay focused only on our shortcomings. This is where Masumian’s concept of nurturing the Inner Child comes handy. There is a “trust of God latent in the reality of our souls.” So, we should love and respect that trust and be kind, loving, and compassionate to him or her. That’s why she has mug pictures of herself, her husband, and their son in her meditation room; so she always remembers the “inner child” in the three of them as a reminder to be kind, loving, and compassionate to all three. Imagine if all families in the world practiced the same idea at home what kind of world we all would be living in.So, in brief, if you want to get new perspectives on meditation and visualization techniques, I think this book is the one.

a must read

We live in an age when meditation is appealing to everyone's curiosity. Most of the self-styled gurus and experts who teach it tend to stick to the practices—breathing exercises, quieting the mind, and so on—but in their approach, there is no place for God, the soul, and other spiritual concepts. In her book, Masumian pulls them back onto center stage and affirms the indispensable role they play in meditation. Indeed, her spiritual approach to meditation is even reflected in the book's title—"The *Divine* Art of Meditation." It is this significant dimension that Masumian has added to her book that helps it stand out from the plethora of other meditation books in its company. She incorporates this dimension into a range of meditative exercises, and while they are not all inherently spiritual, she often connects them to spiritual ideas with insight that is both convincing and refreshing.If you believe in something greater than yourself and are interested in meditative practices that not only accommodate but actually draw on that belief, you need look no further than Masumian's book.

This book was easy to read and the contents had exactly what I was looking for. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to understand God-centred spiritual meditation.

I liked the fact that this is written by a person who knows what she is talking about. The big message is work your way up to not thinking rubbish most of the time. Read the Hidden Words by Baha'au'llah where he says things like O Son of Dust! Purify your heart. If you want a method to do this read Faraz's book.

Thank you, Prof Masumian, for such a wonderful book. It is well researched and very readable. I love the writings/scriptures that you have chosen and the variety of meditation approaches described. Inspired!

All is well!