I began to write Awakening through the Nine Bodies ten years ago. This project turned out to be a more formidable challenge than I had anticipated. The book constitutes my own insights regarding consciousness that have arisen from so many years of exploring these teachings. In it, I describe how it is possible to move beyond ordinary mind states into a new direct awareness of the nature of consciousness itself. I offer a detailed description of the nature of consciousness and how to explore the various qualities and energies of consciousness in meditation.

If life is going to dance with you, then what kind of dance partner do you wish to be? Finding a way to be at ease with the dance itself is a crucial skill in finding freedom and meaning in life.
Dancing with Life teaches you how to move from suffering to joy in your life. In addition to this in-depth investigation of the nature of consciousness, the book also includes a series of teachings in the form of twenty beautiful, mysterious illustrations that reveal the subtle aspects of consciousness along with instructions in how to use the illustrations in your meditation practice. Balyogi says he created these illustrations during a period of intense Samadhi when he had a series of revelations and visions about the structure of consciousness. I offer detailed interpretations of each illustration along with precise meditation instructions intended to guide one toward a particular state of consciousness. The teachings presented in this book are my best effort to discern and point to what is true and useful for you to explore regarding the Nine Bodies in your meditation practice. With exploration and practice, it is possible to gain new understandings, more flexibility in your meditation, and possibly a new energetic facility in your mind. Renounce behaviors and attitudes that engender clinging. Three practices: renounce always being right, do not measure your life by how many goals are met, and give up being the star of your own movie. Renounciation is a walk through a desert: it is not easy. Remind yourself why you chose this path.

1. Dance makes us feel good

Three types of happiness: progressive (conditions are right), happy during challenging times, and well-being that is full realization ("nirvana"). Phillip Moffitt’s life is right out of that classic story in which a financially successful man — one who seemingly has it all — realizes he needs something more. If you are curious to explore these teachings with me, I will be leading several Nine Bodies retreats in the coming months. Become interested in the nature of your awareness itself. The capacity for awareness has a mirrorlike quality—it reflects what you like or dislike and what you identify with—but it is a neutral observer. Notice that your awareness does not become excited or afraid or identify with what you are feeling or thinking; it simply knows and reflects what is happening in your body and mind. Becoming acquainted with this awareness can provide much-needed comfort and stability when you get caught in emotional chaos. You are not being moral based upon a belief system. You are becoming the true realization of yourself.

Phillip has written a profound book about the relationship between happiness and suffering. It is filled with wisdom about how to live a more effective and satisfying life. I recommend it for anyone who is struggling with change in their lives.” —Dean Ornish, M.D., author of The SpectrumPhillip Moffitt presents a clear path to living an authentic and intentional life. He has a profound understanding of how emotions distort our perceptions and how we can create new, healthy habits of mind.” A few years ago, Phillip wrote a beautiful treatise on the Four Noble Truths and now, such a short time later, he shares another great gift for transforming our lives into a sacred journey where everything is workable and nothing is trivial. With this book in particular one doesn’t need to be a Buddhist practitioner to fully understand and apply the life enhancing principles Philip has presented. His writing is direct and personal, extremely practical, and often peppered with convincing anecdotal evidence supporting the intrinsic human capacity for consequential transformation when given appropriate support and skills. This is a book I can give to just about anyone interested in living aligned with loving awareness!” Months ago, I was asked to open a new teaching hospital in Plymouth, so I’m going down on the train tomorrow and staying in my old family home, my bolt-hole in the West Country. Then on Thursday it’s The Oldie magazine party – they’ve named me Oldie of the Year – on Friday I’m hosting a fundraising lunch, on Saturday I’m going Christmas shopping, and then next week I’m filming more Rip Off Britain. I was on the phone to Kai this morning: he asked ‘How are you, partner?’, and I said ‘Our training regime was probably less energetic than this!’” The ancient practice of mindfulness is increasingly being shown in scientific studies to have remarkable consequences for healing and well-being across the lifespan. Dancing with Life systematically maps out a rigorous and profoundly loving choreography for cultivating mindfulness in the service of embodying our full potentiality as human beings, utilizing whatever circumstances we happen to find ourselves in. It is a practical and reassuring dharma guide for a great many people in the ongoing development of their practice and lives. It is very different from most dharma books in that it has such an elaborate and friendly structure to it, nested within and around the Four Noble Truths and Ajahn Sumedho’s lovely voicing of dharma. I love the precision of Phillip’s teaching of the embodiment of each insight, and the stories about his students and their challenges. And also, his willingness to share his own trials, travails, and openings along the path.” —Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of Full Catastrophe Living and Arriving at Your Own Door

Phillip Moffitt takes the profound insights of the wisdom traditions and translates them into simple and effective steps to stable inner strength, happiness, and peace. His unique gift is his own deep grounding in what it really takes to be fully engaged with life while remaining clear-headed and happy. An extraordinary book.” Attachment and reactive mind states create an undesirable environment for making decisions. In contrast, the clarity that comes from knowing what’s really happening and the commitment to doing the right thing create an ideal environment for wise decision-making.The combined skills of mindfulness and intention described in this book represent an approach to transforming life’s many challenges into opportunities for growth. This approach constitutes the foundation for a more authentic relationship with yourself and others. As you apply these life skills you will feel more grounded and oriented in your life. My purpose in writing this book is to assist you in this process of learning how to live more skillfully. What is this book doing, all hiding in the corner of Audible for the past three years with only one other posted review?! 'Dancing with Life' is a true orchid: a well-written, reasonable-length book from a credible author that stimulates reflection and means for self-improvement in the reader for years to come. Simply put, the book is a treatise of Buddhism's Four Noble Truths. You needn't be Buddhist to take to heart these teachings: The whole journey will consist of four workshops. You may also choose to have one to one sessions throughout the course. There is an invitation to complete a project of your own choosing. The project will enable you to feel specific benefits from this deeper dive into Movement Medicine. Right speech is true, timely and useful. Goals are good for direction, but presence in the moment is what will get you there. Mountain climbers who do not focus on one step at a time fall off the cliff.

Dance has two things going for it that exercise typically doesn’t: music and (often) a dance partner. But what if people danced alone or in silence? At its core, Emotional Chaos to Clarity is an honest and compassionate invitation (and offer of assistance) to discover a richer, deeper, more balanced life. This is an invitation well worth accepting. Bearing your own suffering with compassion and acceptance is like putting wheels under your own wagon.

Why do we suffer? Is there a purpose to our pain? Noting that human beings have wrestled with such questions for thousands of years, Phillip Moffitt has found answers for his own life in Buddhist philosophy and meditation. Reflecting on his own journey from Esquire magazine editor-in-chief to Buddhist meditation teacher, Moffitt provides a fresh perspective on the Buddha’s ancient wisdom, showing how to move from suffering to new awareness and unanticipated joy. Like everyone else you do what you can to try to prolong, enhance, and increase the number of pleasurable moments in your life, but nothing consistently works. There is always the next moment of the dance. No matter how much you attempt to distract yourself (and you may be one of those people who are great at creating distractions), your nervous system still perceives the changing dance, even when you are not aware of it, and it suffers, oftentimes even more so because you are trying to ignore it. You may recall that I asked if your book would provide practical applications or examples of the 4 Noble Truths and the corresponding 12 insights. You assured me it would. I found one particular passage to be amazingly concise as well as entirely useful in my day-to-day dealings. I am quite sure that I will refer to it often as it provides one of the best summaries of why I recently removed the words good, bad, want and wait from my vocabulary with the word hope not far behind. I am now working on keeping them at bay in my thinking before they can start me on the well-worn path from pain to suffering.” In a 2009 study, 22 tango dancers ages 30–56 tried dancing in four different ways: together or alone, with or without music. According to the findings, only regular dancing (with partner and music) boosted people’s positive emotions. The researchers collected saliva samples to see what was going on in the dancers’ bodies, and found different effects: Music helped reduce cortisol, a hormone involved in our response to stress, while dancing with a partner increased testosterone.