Stay Woke

A Meditation Guide for the Rest of Us

by Justin Michael Williams

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Pub Date Feb 11 2020 | Archive Date Apr 10 2020

Religion & Spirituality

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Description

A no-nonsense guide to establishing a personal meditation practice, changing your life, and taking hold of your dreams.

CONFESSION: This is not really a meditation book.

Yes, you’re going to learn everything you need to know about meditation, but if you came looking for a typical guide to mindfulness, you’re in the wrong place. We are modern people in a high-tech world. We have first world problems and long to-do lists. And if you grew up in struggle—overcoming homophobia, sexism, trauma, shame, depression, poverty, toxic masculinity, racism, or social injustice—you need a different type of meditation … one that doesn’t pretend the struggle doesn’t exist.

Here you will discover:

- How to actually find stillness when your mind is going crazy
- Why most guided meditations get boring after a while
- What nobody tells you about “setting intentions” and the scientific process to manifesting
- Four hidden habits that sabotage your growth—and how to move past them
- Proven techniques to overcome anxiety, stress, and trouble sleeping
- Daily rituals that cement and enrich your practice
- How to use mindfulness to take action toward the causes you believe in and get sh!t done

Whether you’ve tried meditation but it never sticks, or you’ve heard about it but never gave it a shot, Justin Michael Williams guides you step by step in creating a custom meditation ritual that fits in with your busy (and sometimes messy!) modern life. With free downloadable audio meditations every step of the way, Stay Woke gives people of all genders, identities, colors, religions, ages, and economic backgrounds the tools to stop wasting time, overcome self-doubt, and wake up to the lives we were really born to live.

Advance Praise

“Williams has created something special that can truly help us expand our self-awareness. This inspiring book will uplift many by genuinely meeting people where they are at. Out of the many voices in the world, this is one we should listen to.” ―Yung Pueblo [Diego Perez], author of Inward―Yung Pueblo [Diego Perez], author of Inward

“Justin is an empathetic guide who expertly meets his readers wherever they are on the meditation mountain. Far more than a meditation book, Stay Woke is a masterful handbook for life.” ―Chip Conley, New York Times bestselling author of Emotional Equations

“The world needs all its flowers, and you are one. Whether for personal stress reduction, a greater sense of belonging and being beautiful and OK as you are, or for catalyzing racial, social, and economic justice in our time, this book could be a godsend, a portal into embodied clarity, wakefulness, meaning, and action. Enter. Enter. Enter. And trust in your capacity to flower in your own way for the sake of the world.” ―Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, author of Full Catastrophe Living and Mindfulness for All, founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

“Justin Michael Williams made meditation accessible for me. He demystified it and showed me it didn’t have to be such hard work, that I could make it work for me.” ― Dyllón Burnside, actor

“We movement creators, makers, and practitioners often lose ourselves in the need to strategize and react to the everyday ongoing traumas in our society, while neglecting our own mental and physical wellbeing―fact! Justin Michael Williams’s book, Stay Woke: A Meditation Guide for the Rest of Us, debunks the mystery of meditation and gives us the permission that is so needed to create our own personalized practice. He reminds us that by creating space for truth and self-care we are better, more conscious, and more creative allies and leaders.” ―Gina Belafonte, actress and activist

“Clear, empowering, practical, and joyful.” ―Jack Kornfield, author A Path with Heart