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Summary: Go To The Ocean Directly
Review: "For the raindrop, joy is in entering the river..." ~Mirza GhalibHave you ever wished you could escape to a place of peace? "The Gap" is a place between your thoughts. It is the place where you can be still and release yourself from the 60,000 thoughts hurtling through your mind during the course of a day. Meditation can encourage physical healing, reduce stress, eliminate fatigue, make you feel younger, brighten your eyes and complexion, keep you focused on your spiritual connection, alleviate depression, and improve your memory. Meditation also allows you to find some of the secrets of peace. When you are thinking about God, how can you think of problems? How can your heart be anxious when it is freed from pain and sorrow and is resting in an ocean of love. Once you have experienced this "place of peace/the gap," you can go there again. I first experienced this "space between my thoughts" during the end of a yoga workout. I had no idea you could escape the pain of life in this manner. I felt good for two days after doing the meditation section of the workout. In this book, there is a CD that allows you to quickly enter the silence without the yoga workout, although I still like putting a fluffy down comforter on the floor as I do when I do yoga workouts. I was encouraged to learn that there is no "correct posture" or place for meditating. I actually meditate better when lying flat on my back. You could be sitting in your chair at work with your eyes closed during a 10-minute break, you could be at home, on a plane, or you could be out in nature. The book has six chapters explaining Japa Meditation and shows how this form of meditation can affect your life in a positive way. The meditation CD is in a little envelope at the back of the book. There are two meditations on the 40-minute CD. The first 10 minutes explains the CD. You can listen to this each time or forward to one of the meditation sections. The second section on the CD is a 10-minute meditation. The third section is a 20-minute meditation. In the first guided meditation, you say the name of God twice each time between the words you are visualizing on the screen of your mind. Then, in the longer 20-minute meditation you say the name of God four times between the visualization. It is very calming. You visualize a word and then a second word. Then you "slip back to the space" between the words and I noticed that I was taking a deep breath each time. It was as if I was giving myself permission to relax. The further you go into the CD, the more relaxed you become. The first time I tried this CD, I was in total emotional conflict. I was crying when I started listening and in 20 minutes, my mind had totally become refocused and I felt like I could again enter the world. I was amazed at how quickly my focus changed from feeling very emotional to feeling very strong, loving and peaceful. It was as if I'd slept 8 hours and awoken without the past nights conflicts haunting me. I was amazed at how rested I felt. The feeling this CD evokes is similar to floating on an ocean of subtle vibrations that penetrate every part of your entire body making you become one with the ocean. It is like being unconditionally loved. If you have never said: "Ahhhhhh" along with a spiritual teacher, I highly recommend it. The beauty of this meditation is that you don't have to belong to any specific religion. Japa meditation is the Yoga of the Mind. It is actually practiced by all of the religions of the world but under different names. While this book has examples of how meditating even brought financial wealth, the greatest wealth is in the peace you will experience while meditating on the name of God. "Wisdom of the Ages" was my first introduction to Wayne Dyer. I love the quotes he finds, the passages he presents and how he weaves the past and present together to encourage a more peaceful future. His words have always captured my attention and had a profound effect on my life. I highly recommend this book and CD as an introduction to meditation. You can journey from stress to peace in as little as 10 minutes. "Getting in the Gap" is a true soul escape! ~TheRebeccaReview.com
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Summary: If you've never used a guided meditation before...
Review: and don't know where to start, this is a great book and CD to get your feet wet. The Japa meditation is simple, calming, and beneficial for mental clarity and peace. I mostly bought this book because it also contains a CD of a guided meditation called "Japa". I have never formally meditated before with guided imagery, so I thought I would give it a try, especially since I was familiar with Dyer's books and loved his personal style and wisdom. Japa meditation focuses on the sound "Ah", which Dyer notes is a sound common in all names of God, such as Yahweh, Allah, Ra, Jehovah, Krishna, Kali, Yeshua, and so on. His gentle and soothing voice guides you to visualize 1the first 10 words of the Lord's Prayer (Our Father Who Art In Heaven, Hallowed Be Thy Name), and then focus on the "gap" between words where there is space and silence. Then, you voice the "Ah" sound along with Dyer. I realize that sound is very healing and sacred, but I personally don't like to verbalize the "Ah" sound along with Dyer. However, by hearing Dyer chant "Ah" between the gaps of the Lord's Prayer, it helps me center in on that "gap" and feel the vibration and Presence of God. I tend to be more visual, so imagining the "space between" helps to cease the mind's incessant chatter. I highly recommend this book and accompanying CD for greater mental clarity and overall feelings of peace--especially if you have reservations about guided meditations or have never used one before. Getting in the Gap also contains a section of testimonials from those who have had remarkable experience using the Japa meditation.
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Summary: I laughed for all the wrong reasons
Review: As a teacher of meditation both in public and private institutions for over a decade, it was with some interest that I picked up this book. It gave me some of the best laughs I've had in a long time but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. If anyone reading this comes away thinking that the book is about genuine meditation then they've unfortunately been duped. It is full of new age psycho babble and techniques that have very little to do with the heart of real meditation, but little else. I'd advise anyone interested in meditation to look at the books here on Amazon by authors such as John Daishin Buksbazen, Sharon Salzburg and Jessica Macbeth, which are the real deal.
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Summary: Powerful Book that can help you progress with meditation
Review: Dr. Dyer is a powerful writer and speaker. This book and Cd help you meditate, or find the silence in the gap between thoughts. He teaches you how to do it and also puts it in the context of of experiencing god. His words and voice resonate with warmth and generousity and this book/cd is worth every penny. I also recommend his "10 Secrets" book highly (as well as most everything else he writes). Another book that is exceptional at helping you become well, to experience deep wellness, is "Effortless Wellbeing: The Missing Ingredients for Authentic Wellness" by Evan Finer. Highly recommend these titles!
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Summary: Very Helpful... And Very Calming
Review: Dr. Wayne Dyer cites that we have some 60,000 disjointed thoughts passing through our brains each day, so it's no wonder there's little time left to squeeze in another frantic thought... let alone a peaceful one. What this book does is to provide a step-by-step method to idle our racing thoughts, slow down our minds and experience a level of peace and well-being that few ever enjoy. What's really cool is that this book comes with a CD in the back jacket, so you can hear Dr. Dyer verbally "walk" you through the exercise as well as reading it. I put the CD in my computer and loaded it on my iPod so I could listen to it at night. I'm sure there are many valid and effective ways to meditate, and this is only one of them, but as a beginner this gave me a framework to work with. I have read, on numerous occastions, the value of meditating, but none was as specific as this little book. Just the realization that we are not our collective jumble of thoughts, helps me to see the world differently. If you get turned off by the mention of God or Source or references to various religious scriptures, you may not like this book. It assumes you are open to a spiritual viewpoint and does little to defend it, but instead explains and expounds on the benefits of making this connection.
I would recommend this book to those wanting to slow down, feel more peace/connectedness and make meditation a part of their daily lives.
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Summary: Essential Tools for Happiness
Review: Getting in the Gap made me feel centered, peaceful, grounded and overall simply happy. It is a tool that is necessary for a balanced life. Dyer is a very thorough teacher. He has mastered ideas so exquisitly and he has displayed them here for us so that we may become better people. His book is truly a gift to us people who lived a chaotic, scattered life before. Like any goal in life, however, being at peace with yourself needs to be worked on. Getting in the Gap is a great place to start. There are other books and CD's that should accompany your quest. Sacred Contracts by Ruiz, Lucky Monkeys In The Sky by Michele Geraldi, and the Five people you meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, are helpful tools as well. Even then, you will just be getting started on your quest, but it will ultimately be the most rewarding quest of your life.
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Summary: awesome book
Review: Great book! I always had trouble meditating before I got this book, but when I learned and applied some of the principles, meditation became and still is easy and rewarding!
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Summary: Not the best
Review: I found this guided meditation somewhat unpleasing. While engaged in the "Ah" sound, Dyer's voice is rather abrasive. I found his pitch distracting and annoying. I only listened to it 3 times before searching for an alternative.
Rating:
Summary: Not the best
Review: I found this guided meditation somewhat unpleasing. While engaged in the "Ah" sound, Dyer's voice is rather abrasive. I found his pitch distracting and annoying. I only listened to it 3 times before searching for an alternative.
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Summary: Not for people who have trouble with a male God.
Review: I looked forward to learning more about Japa meditation as I practice several different types and had heard Dyer mention it in another book. What I wasn't prepared for at all was the heavy God the Father, Christianized focus of the CD. I don't see myself as a child of some male parent in the sky. The word "father" is not one of comfort for me and does not speak of co-creation, it speaks of dominiation. Dyer would have been better off not giving an omnipotent being a sex or suggesting a traditional "human" role for him.
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