Practice the Pause

Name: Practice the Pause
ISBN: 9781506483078

Jesus' Contemplative Practice, New Brain Science, and What It Means to Be Fully Human

by Caroline Oakes

Publisher

Broadleaf Books

Publication

Jan 24, 2023

Format

Paperback/Softback

Illustrated

Price

19.99

Dimensions

5.5 x 8.5 in

ISBN

9781506483078

Pages

310

Age

Adult 18+

Rights Sold

LanguageEnglish AudioCountryWorldwideAgent-BuyerTantor Media

Description

These days, many of us live in a state of overreactive fight-or-flight response and chronic stress. The demands of modern life pull us in all directions and can often put the meaningful connections in our lives at risk--connections to our deepest selves, to others, and even to God.

But there is good news. New developments in brain science have recently proven that an intentional practice of pausing for a few minutes of meditation, prayer, or other contemplative practice actually rewires our brain in ways that make us calmer, less reactive, and better able to see the bigger picture.

In Practice the Pause, spiritual director and writer Caroline Oakes offers easy-to-understand explanations of how this new brain science is confirming what every spiritual tradition has been telling us for millennia: by practicing the pause, we become more self-aware and better able to understand others. We become more "God aware."

With a refreshing focus on the Eastern Christian understanding of Jesus as a master of wisdom, Oakes shines a spotlight on Jesus's own centering pause practice as a transformative path for personal and social change. We learn that even a seven-second pause practice can move us beyond the fight-or-flight responses of our ego in our daily lives and actually equip us to cultivate the common good in the world.

Awards & Endorsements

Malika Cox, OnBeing Social Healing Fellow; Author or the Flourish OKC Restorative Justice Learning Curriculum; MA Practical Theology, MPhil Conflict Resolution & Reconciliation

"In the tradition of wisdom teachers, Oakes leads us on a rich spiritual pilgrimage out of our Western paradigm and into the East, where Jesus spent time in contemplation and prayer. Oakes explores the practices at the heart of Jesus' mission of 'metanoia' - true transformation - to be fully alive and explores these practices' extraordinary positive neurological impact. For anyone who seeks the intersection of science and faith and a new way of being, Practice the Pause is for you."

Author(s)

Caroline Oakes

Caroline Oakes is a writer and spiritual director whose essays have been published at On Being, The Huffington Post, and her bimonthly "Mind & Spirit" column in The Bucks County Herald, an award-winning regional newspaper. A student of everyday spirituality, wisdom teachings, and the human spirit, she has a master's degree in ascetical theology from the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church and participated in Thomas Keating's Contemplative Ministry Project. She is trained in teaching contemplative practice and mindfulness meditation by Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation and by Mindful Schools, Inc. She lives in Annapolis, Maryland.