Getting Unstuck: Breaking Your Habitual Patterns & Encountering Naked Reality by Pema Chodron Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Getting Unstuck: Breaking Your Habitual Patterns & Encountering Naked Reality
Book Review: So Wise and Practical
Summary: 5 Stars
This CD set is a boon for those of us who need a helping hand on the spiritual path. Pema has walked the walk so well and provides so many great insights. Her discussion of "shenpa" is a great tool for dealing with emotional baggage.Book Review: Getting Unstuck
Summary: 5 Stars
We originally borrowed this CD set and listened to it on a long car ride, but upon our return I immediately ordered two copies of our own -- one for ourselves because it's clearly one we'll want to listen to over and over . . . and another because we were clearly going to be talking about it and want to loan it to people. Terrific. Clear, relaxed, cogent, humorous instruction from a wonderful human being about getting free of "sticky" thoughts. Book Review: a great gift
Summary: 5 Stars
i gave this as a gift to a friend, and he hasn't stopped thanking me for it. he tells me every day what a great gift it was and how much it has helped him deal with everyday life.Book Review: deeply meaningful
Summary: 5 Stars
I have read several of Chodron's books, and hearing her voice--soft, powerful,authentic--is a great pleasure. I am finding the tapes helpful in my personal spiritual growth--some new ways of thinking about psychic pain and what to do about it.Book Review: Stuck on you
Summary: 4 Stars
This set has over 3 hours of material, 3 CDs (2 sessions each) divided into many tracks so you can listen to part of it & continue later--convenient to listen to, study, or revisit tracks later. Sound quality is great & Pema speaks at a nice pace--easy to understand without being bored--in her usual down-to-earth, humorous, modest style--which I find extremely engaging; she radiates sincerity & authenticity. Unlike most of her work, this set concentrates on one aspect/factor in Buddhist practice--shenpa--of great importance in Shamatha meditation & mindfulness practice. It is a much overlooked link between thoughts & attachment/distraction. According to Pema, CD1/track 2 people avoid "the immediacy of experience" [mindfulness] due to shenpa--distractions, habituation, & karma. Because of our CD1/tr.11 "background static of unease," we seek comfort - giving shenpa a hold on us. Shenpa is the stickiness or hooked quality of our thoughts & feelings which we get wrapped around even in our meditation; CD3/tr.16 "shenpa is the root of suffering." It's a quality of the content of our thoughts--even if we say "thinking" to each thought, the shenpa is still there. We cannot eliminate our thoughts, but we can eliminate shenpa--attachment to their content. Shamatha meditation can be used to temporarily escape from shenpa--avoiding thought contents & inherent storylines, but it takes more than that to CD1/tr.5 "poke your head out of the cocoon & see the sky." Per CD2/tr.9, "Shenpa is blinding you to the enjoyment of life;" it must be faced directly, not avoided or merely labeled "shenpa." It's self-deprecating, negative, absurd content must be faced. Pema suggests we CD3/tr.2 "change the movie" [~Neuro-Linguistic Programming]. This is done through shinjang--thoroughly processing shenpa to re-frame ourselves into openness & be more at ease [reminiscent of Longchenpa's trilogy, tr. by Guenther, "Kindly Bent to Ease Us"] into a higher level of abstraction [~Dzogchen/Mahamudra view] where "thoughts are like clouds in the sky." However, Pema uses stories of personal experience (CD2/tr.5 Jarvis) to keep her teaching real, personal, & balanced suggesting CD2/tr.6 "relative practice & absolute view." My favorite part of the set is the Q&A at the very end where one participant speaks of a "shenpa party" & Pema addresses boundaries & their relationship to compassion: CD3/tr.14 "let your compassion be the boundaries" & "don't try to force forgiveness," it comes spontaneously. In summary, this is an important work addressing shenpa in depth rather than a breadth of topics. It's lovely, easy to digest, & useful. Enjoy!