Dear Wildmind Subscriber,

We hope you enjoy our new style of newsletter, which brings you not only a richer presentation but also richer content. As well as offering news of forthcoming courses, we'd like to tell you about some new meditation resources that we've recently posted on the site, and to recommend an excellent book that we feel should be on everyone's reading list.

We're sure you're already familiar with the many excellent reasons for learning to meditate, from bringing more calmness into your life to finding a greater sense of purpose. But why learn online?

Here are five great reasons to learn meditation online:

1. You don't have to log on at any particular time, so you can fit our classes into your schedule at your convenience.
2. You can access our courses from home, at work, or even if you're on the road.
3. Your course will be led by Bodhipaksa, a highly experienced teacher who has been meditating for over twenty years, and who taught meditation at the University of Montana for two years.
4. You'll have access to quality online writings and audiovisual materials, and an online journal in which you can record your observations and note any problems and progress.
5. Bodhipaksa will respond to your comments, giving you personal feedback and encouragement in your journal.

Our online courses

We now offer four online courses as well as our popular Life Member Program. For more information, click on any of the photographs or links and you'll be taken to our online store, where more details are available. Our next online courses start on Tue, Nov 12. Sign up by Fri, Nov 8 and we'll send you our meditation CD completely free.

Lifelong access to all of our course materials, but without personal feedback and guidance. Suitable for self-directed students.

"The Path of Mindfulness and Love"

Our introduction to meditation, teaching the fundamental principles of mindfulness and lovingkindness.

"Change your mind"

A level two course, introducing advanced techniques for combating negative mental states and for cultivating calmness, energy, contentment, and concentration.

Introducing the practice of insight meditation, which helps us to appreciate the interdependent nature of the reality we live in.

An alternative level two course, introducing the cultivation of lovingkindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and emotional balance.

We hope you enjoy the following new resources that we've posted on the site.

• Entering your Wildmind
• No easy path
• Counting on your fingers
• Signs of progress in meditation
• Stepping back from the process
• Balancing alertness and relaxation
• Between the stages

Book of the month

Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Compassion, by Marshall Rosenberg

Wisely and kindly, Marshall Rosenberg introduces us to the principles of effective communication, showing how we can resolve conflicts by letting go of value judgments, skillfully expressing our feelings, communicating our needs, and practicing empathy.

This book really is a revelation, and has transformed lives. We think everyone could benefit from reading it.

To read more about this wonderful book, click on the title or cover image to be taken to Amazon.com.

Quote of the month

"And happiness... what is it? I say it is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing or that, but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing. It is this primal law of all nature and the universe."

John Butler Yeats

Fundamentally, we all have a need to grow -- to grow in understanding, in our ability to relate well to others, and to grow in contentment. As long as we have a sense that we're moving in this direction, we'll experience fulfillment.

It's an intriguing paradox that this sense of fulfillment can coexist with unhappiness. The fulfillment that comes from personal growth is not a bland settling down into a passive state of bland tranquillity, but an ever-expanding ability to deal skillfully with life's ups and downs. When we practice meditation, we still suffer, but we become able to live with life's inevitable sufferings without adding to them. At the same time, we experience a greater degree of positive happiness, pleasure, bliss, and contentment.