Wake Up Now

I found this book extremely useful. The language is clear and easily accessible which is remarkable because that clear language identified my deepest experiences and then pointed me towards deeper water. The book comes with a warning and I think that is apt as this text is dynamite for blowing away everything you might think of yourself as and leaving you with a clear experience of who (or what) you are. If you want to wake up now, I definitely recommend it.

As I read this wonderful book, I reflected that there just hasn't been such a book up to now. Books on awakening generally fall into one of two categories: they aren't really about awakening, but some kind of New Age fantasy like "awakening the chakras," or they are the words of someone who is supposedly awakened and is mildly frustrated that you, the reader, haven't yet realized what they have realized. How helpful is it, really, for someone to keep asking you "who is thinking that thought?" It may work in person, as you receive the teacher's transmission, but in a book... Can any other readers relate? Stephan Bodian, on the other hand, quite brilliantly demystifies the whole process of awakening. After reading the book you will feel that your own personal awakening is accessible, and you may even be inspired to move your attention in that direction. And if you're not, Stephan will at least clarify for you why you find yourself resisting your own dissolution, in ways that are non-shaming. He has obviously "walked the walk," and is describing a territory he knows well, AND he is an ordinary, humble human being dealing with the same messy challenges we all face. Read this book.

I have been a student of the dharma for many years and currently, Stephan is my teacher. His teachings are a beautiful amalgam of the scholarly and erudite, the poetic and eloquent, and most importantly, they are clear and simple. The deep silence that envelops "all that is" is powerfully apparent in Stephan and his teachings. This man is the "real deal", humble, authentic and fiercely dedicated to truth. I highly recommend this elegantly written book.

Stephan Bodian, author of the popular Meditation for Dummies and co-author of Buddhism for Dummies offers his most lucid, subtle and eloquent writing to date in Wake Up Now. This is the best guide to the "pathless path" of genuine nondual spiritual awakening that I know of - written by someone who clearly knows the terrain first-hand. It is a particularly valuable pointer for the growing numbers of serious seekers and finders in the west who have had significant spiritual glimpses or awakenings yet have been puzzled by the complexity of the process and the persistence of residual psychological conditioning. Bodian deftly lays out five stages of awakening: seeking, awakening, deepening and clarifying awakening, embodiment and living the awakened life. He devotes several chapters to the nuances and challenges of the post-awakening process, breaking new ground in the process. I don't know of any other book that does this with such clarity. In addition to being a spiritual teacher in his own right who has been mentored by several of the best - Jean Klein and Adyashanti - Bodian is a licensed psychotherapist. This unusual and highly useful blend of direct spiritual illumination and keen psychological insight and experience has led to something entirely new in the spiritual literature. So often awakening is portrayed as the highest spiritual realization. With Wake Up Now we understand that awakening is actually the beginning of another phase of maturation - one that embraces the full multidimensionality of the human experience. Bodian is a first-class writer as well. The prose shines and the inclusion of periodic "breath and reflect" exercises within the chapters and Q & A sections at the end of most of them further engages the reader. This subversive book can undermine your self/world view and guide you to an authentic embodied awakening. I highly recommend it! - John J. Prendergast, Ph.D. (senior editor of The Sacred Mirror and Listening from the Heart of Silence)

Wake Up Now is an excellent, no nonsense, clear exposition of the path to enlightenment with the path being enlightenment so there's not a long way to go, more a turning around. This book is devoid of a lot of stuff to believe in but full of what to do to become aware of who you are we are I am of what is this. Bodian made me feel like it's not hopeless, not hard, not something for others but waiting for me for you for us to just open the dharma eye and see the truth which has always been. I love Advaita Zen and this is it.