Author: Doty, James R. M.D.
Call Number: 617.48 D725I 2016
Book Description from amazon.com:
Growing up in the high desert of California, Jim Doty was poor, with an alcoholic father and a mother chronically depressed and paralyzed by a stroke. Today he is the director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University, of which the Dalai Lama is a founding benefactor. But back then his life was at a dead end until at twelve he wandered into a magic shop looking for a plastic thumb. Instead he met Ruth, a woman who taught him a series of exercises to ease his own suffering and manifest his greatest desires. Her final mandate was that he keep his heart open and teach these techniques to others. She gave him his first glimpse of the unique relationship between the brain and the heart.
Doty would go on to put Ruth’s practices to work with extraordinary results—power and wealth that he could only imagine as a twelve-year-old, riding his orange Sting-Ray bike. But he neglects Ruth’s most important lesson, to keep his heart open, with disastrous results—until he has the opportunity to make a spectacular charitable contribution that will virtually ruin him. Part memoir, part science, part inspiration, and part practical instruction, Into the Magic Shop shows us how we can fundamentally change our lives by first changing our brains and our hearts.
My Read:
Lady Ruth's Four Tricks:
1-Relax your body
Breathe in through the nose and breathe out through the mouth. Close your eyes then relax/scan your body from toes to scalp then to your heart and the heart's muscles. Sit for some minutes before relaxing. Think about how you are sitting and imagine that you are looking at yourself. With intention remember the sense of relaxation, calmness, and warmth. Slowly open your eyes. Sit for a few minutes with eyes open and just be with no other intention or thought.
2-Calm/tame your Mind(20 to 30 minutes)
Focus on your breath
Focus on an object
Pick any word as the mantra and chant
3-Open your heart
Think of people and send unconditional love
4-Clarify your intent(10 to 30 minutes)
Visualization
The alphabet of the heart the author has:
C-Compassion
D-Dignity
E-Equanimity
F-Forgiveness
G-Gratitude
H-Humility
I-Integrity
J-Justice
K-Kindness
L-Love
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