Three Steps to Awakening: A Practice for Bringing Mindfulness to Life

A unique, adaptable model for meditation practice that ties together elements of the various Buddhist traditions

The deceptively simple three-phase method presented in Three Steps to Awakening is a meditation practice that can be worked with for a lifetime. Larry Rosenberg looks to Zen, Insight Meditation, and the teachings of J. Krishnamurti to find three kinds of meditation that anyone can do and that complement each other in a wonderful way: (1) breath awareness, (2) breath as anchor, and (3) choiceless awareness.

Having the three methods in one’s repertoire gives one meditation resources for any life situation. In a time of stress, for example, one might use breath awareness exclusively. Or on an extended retreat, one might find choiceless awareness more appropriate. The three-step method has been taught to Larry’s students at the Cambridge Meditation Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for many years.

After teaching the three-step method, Larry goes on to show how to bring the awareness gained in meditation to the world off the cushion, into relationships and into all areas of daily life.

LARRY ROSENBERG is founder and resident teacher of the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a guiding teacher at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts.