(198 pp., Shambhala Publications, 2011)

In his new book of essays on yoga and Buddhism, Michael Stone opens with a tender proposal: “All that is necessary is for your mind and body to be present like the moving grasses, the petals of a tulip, the currents and subcurrents of endless rivers.” Awake in the World wanders delightfully through the natural world, human nature, the nature of suffering, and our true nature. Stone, founder and teacher of Toronto’s Centre of Gravity Sangha, takes us beyond yoga as mere physical posture (asana) and finds the place where yoga and Buddhist practice (meditation) meet: in this unfolding moment of awareness–a place of interconnection that engages us. “The intimacy we find in deep practice motivates us to take action,” Stone declares. “Practice is action.” Whether at the farmers’ market in New York City’s Union Square, on a snowy retreat in northern Ontario, inside a Zen poem or yogic text, or talking about money as spiritual practice, traveling with Stone refreshes and inspires, and like any good journey, brings us right back home—in the body, in the world.

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From the Fall 2011 issue of Inquiring Mind (Vol. 28, No. 1)

© 2011 Daniel Doane