Lama Tsomo

If you think meditation is only for monks, think again. Today's world seems to be growing more and more stressful by the minute--for all of us. So now, as a teacher of Tibetan Buddhist practice and a 21st-century woman, Lama Tsomo offers us time-tested tools for getting underneath our everyday worries and making our lives richer and more fulfilling with the release of Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling? Reviewers deem the book "a sympathetic, personalized text" (Foreword Reviews), and recommend it "to those who want to learn more about Buddhism, meditation, or just how to live a more peaceful lifestyle" (Readers' Favorite). Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling? is a lively, approachable guide for using the ancient traditions and practices of Tibetan Buddhism to find happiness and peace in this modern world. Well received and praised, the book was honored with several awards in 2016, including winner of the Spirituality category at the Paris Book Awards, runner-up at the San Francisco Book Festival, and Silver medal recipient in the Independent Publisher Book Awards. Through step-by-step instructions, photographs, and helpful explanations, Lama Tsomo recounts her personal and spiritual journey to greater happiness, and teaches how we can experience the many benefits of meditation. She offers proven techniques for sharpening our focus, enhancing relationships, and living each day more mindfully and joyfully. Laced with humor, compassion, and stories from Lama Tsomo's own life, Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling? meets us where we are and guides us onto the path to a deeper awareness of the world and ourselves. This is a journey well worth taking. As Lama Tsomo invites in the book's prologue, "Won't you come along?" Featuring an introductory letter from H.H. Dalai Lama, Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling? includes a set of beautifully illustrated meditation cards, "Science Tidbits," a glossary of Buddhist terms, and lessons used in Namchak Foundation eCourses and retreats. Learn more about the book and Lama Tsomo at Namchak.org.

Have you ever wondered how you can make decisions every day that make for the most meaningful life for you? That was the main reason Lama Tsomo “bothered” with meditation in the first place. Indeed she and millions of others have found it to help in that very way, and much more. In this book, the first in the series Ancient Wisdom for Our Times: Tibetan Buddhist Practice, she shares a bit of her story and her teacher’s story, and a brief overview of the life of the Buddha. Previously published as part of the award-winning Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling (2016), Lama Tsomo offers background so that you can understand some Tibetan Buddhist basics, essential context for the rest of the series. In future books she takes you on the journey of the real practices just as they were taught to her by her Tibetan teacher— but presented Westerner to Westerner, in a witty and conversational style. This progression builds and deepens your understanding and your happiness. You could decide to meditate and just watch your breath every day, and not read this book and the series. But that would be like getting a cookbook and maybe even leafing through the pages but never making it into the kitchen, never learning how to make those recipes and nourish yourself. This book gives you the context, and the series gives you the understanding of how to use the practices so that you can gain the full benefit, as Buddhists say, for yourself and others.

Meditation has many proven benefits, from decreasing stress to making us happier. But how do you transform it from an extended, boring silence into a habit that brings more meaning and joy to your daily life? This journal will guide you through a rich and engaging exploration of your inner life. Taking a Breath provides instruction and inspiration for beginning and more advanced meditators. Removed from the noise and distraction of our digital lives, this beautiful and functional journal is both guide and tracker. The journal has three foundational meditations from Tibetan Buddhist practice, adapted for our busy lives by Lama Tsomo. Included are reflective exercises along with the brain- science around meditation and habit formation to ignite your time on the cushion. By journaling, you heighten your memory of what you’ve read, making practice more creative and fun. In addition, it includes a six-month meditation tracker to help you anchor your practice, inspirational quotes, exercises, illustrations, and journaling space to keep your experience fresh with each turn of the page. When we first start meditation, our ingrained habits can work against us, with this journal you can turn the momentum of habit in your favor. The journal will become your mentor, confidant, co-conspirator, and accountability partner.

What happens when a Tibetan Buddhist lama and a Christian clergyman sit down to talk? And not just any lama and clergyman, but a renegade Catholic priest silenced by the Church for his progressive and inclusive beliefs and an American-born secular Jew who once embraced Tibetan Buddhism as a student, and now is embraced as a teacher. These conversations between Lama Tsomo and Matthew Fox over the past years explore the essential principles shared by their traditions—and the differences that distinguish them. The Lotus & The Rose includes three public dialogues between Matthew and Lama Tsomo during weekend workshops at Stanford University, The Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, and The Jung Center in Houston. Also included is a more personal conversation with no audience except each other. And, finally, individual interviews with both of them, revealing more about their own lives and worldview. Also available to the reader are video excerpts from the presentations, conversations, and interviews. Buddhists, Christians, followers of other spiritual traditions—and perhaps no spiritual tradition at all—will be intrigued by the range of ideas, and impressed and enlightened by the knowledge and experience that Matthew and Lama Tsomo bring to their exchanges. In this perilously contentious world, all viewers will be heartened by the admiration, respect, humor, and warmth that flows between these two friends who celebrate their common ground and delight in their differences.