Waking Up: The Work of Charlotte Selver

Compiled from session transcripts and talks, this rich little book captures the wisdom and humor of the most important and influential teachers in the somatic field, Charlotte Selver. It's something like reading the living words of a Zen master. Instead of focusing on the realm of the mind her approach called Sensory Awareness has to do with deepening the everyday experiencing of reality through our senses. The book contains some portions of actual Sensory Awareness experiments which require a more experiential and visceral type of reading than most of us are used to, but the effort is more than worth it. These experiments guide the reader in developing the ability to be more deeply embodied and in touch with what is actually happening in the present, and at the same time gradually help the mind to settle down. This approach is particularly helpful for those into meditation or other mindfulness practices in that offers practical,concrete guidance as opposed to theory or dogma. The book gives you a sense of what it was like to be in her classes and why her work has been so influential. I recommend it.