JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Tom Von Deck, author of Learn How to Meditate Properly: A Meditation Guide for Beginners
(Monkey Wisdom)
“Learn How to Meditate Properly” is designed to help the reader quickly find his/her most compatible meditation technique. You learn the anatomy of a meditation technique plus a large variety of meditation objects (things to focus on) to choose from. Then you learn how to experiment and narrow it down to the technique that works best for you.
After all this, you learn all the tricks for making meditation much easier and more busy-proof so that you create a powerful momentum of peace on even the busiest of time schedules.
The way that the book title ties in is this. The most proper way to meditate is to find which meditation technique you are most compatible with and find your most compatible ways of integrating meditation into daily life and of preparing the mind and body for a meditate experience. Meditation is the art of falling in love, and you want a meditation object that you can truly fall in love with.
You also learn the proper way of working with your thoughts and emotions as they arise into consciousness. There’s a common misconception that meditation is about clearing your mind. It’s not. You’ll go nuts trying to do that. It’s about being present with moment to moment experience, including thoughts, sensations and emotions.
Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the inspiration to write “Learn How to Meditate Properly: A Meditation Guide for Beginners”?
Tom Von Deck: I wrote another book called “Oceanic Mind – The Deeper Meditation Training Course”. This one covers more than 60 meditation techniques, warm ups and calming activities you can interweave into your schedule.
One thing that “Oceanic Mind” did not completely nail down is the step-by-step process for finding your most compatible technique. “Oceanic Mind” offers a lot of techniques to experiment with, but “Learn How to Meditate Properly” really makes this process explicit.
JP: What sets “Learn How to Meditate Properly: A Meditation Guide for Beginners” apart from other books in the same genre?
TVD: There aren’t many books that teach you how to make meditation much easier. Normally you learn one technique, often declared to be the best one for everyone, plus info about benefits. Other books will give you a few techniques to choose from.
“Learn How to Meditate Properly” makes sure you find what you’re compatible with, regardless of your religious or nonreligious background. It offers tips on making meditation easier. You also learn your most compatible warm up methods and your most compatible strategy for creating a rock solid accumulation of peace every day.
JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that led to “Learn How to Meditate Properly: A Meditation Guide for Beginners” getting out to the public?
TVD: My books sell themselves because people like them and tell others about them. That’s the biggest factor. I do some marketing and provide free info via radio and blogs, but it’s the readers who sell the book.
JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take you to start and finish “Learn How to Meditate Properly: A Meditation Guide for Beginners”?
TVD: “Learn How to Meditate Properly” was written lightning fast. “Oceanic Mind” is 200 pages. It took three weeks of constant writing. The other book is shorter than that and very concise and to the point. It was a very quick process because I knew what I wanted to say and how to say it.
JP: What’s next for Tom Von Deck?
TVD: I plan to expand a bit and increase speaking engagements, workplace wellness workshops and content for magazines and such.
http://www.deepermeditation.net
http://www.linkedin.com/in/tomvondeck
http://twitter.com/monkeywisdom
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