This compact handbook is good for new and old students of Vipassana (easy read over a weekend). It talks about the common issues we face in maintaining our daily practice. It is very insightful on how to overcome them. Highly recommended to the new students after completing their first 10-day course.

A Meditator's Handbook- How to Untie Knots is an outstanding resource- succinct, clear, accessible, and helpful. In a short text, Bill Crecelius covers many of the issues faced when we return home after a meditation retreat, and as an highly experienced meditator and teacher, his suggestions are based on his own experiences and on the challenges faced by others on the Dhamma path. This little book is a great source of encouragement and optimism. We all struggle from time to time with distraction, agitation, boredom, frustartion, hunger, drowsiness- you name it!. What is wonderful here is that these are embraced as opportunities to deepen and continue our practice. Even though I have attended quite a few retreats, on a recent 10-day course I worked with an Assistant Teacher who recommended this book as a great resource for everyone. Also terrific is the fact that this book has been translated into several languages other than English. Not only does this signify its accessibility to meditators of many backgrounds, it is also evidence of how universally helpful this can be. I highly recommend it no matter how long you have been meditating, whether you are just beginning your experience or whether you have been meditating for many years. There are many "pearls" here, and I will be continuing to dip into this book for many, many years for encouragement and reminders of helpful strategies.

This excellent book was recommended to me by a fellow meditator at a weekend one-hour joint sitting. It is concise, and powerfully motivates me to think and plan long term; and to keep up with daily sitting with discipline, dedication, and strong determination. I believe I would not have been as regular with daily sittings without this book. And I still struggle a lot. A lot. Initially I downloaded the free pdf version--and found it so wonderful that I went ahead a purchased the book. Highly recommended, specially for those amongst us struggling to keep up with daily sittings.

This is a great guide for anyone who has recently started meditating or who hasn't reached intermediate level. Lots of important tips and refreshing basic concepts explained in a different way. So grateful to have completed reading this book.

Bill Crecelius offers a clear and practical guide for Vipassna meditation practice. There is nothing to replace one's volition to mediate. That must come first. Reading about another's practice and his experience can be helpful in motivating one to continue the practice or start again.

I did several courses (10-days, 3-days, 1-day) and listen to the instructions for group sitting, the talks, etc. However, I really missed a short, practical yet detailed written instructions to fall back on the difficult moments. This book does just that. Thank you, Bill, for writing this book and making it available to those practising Vipassana meditation.

I think this is a simple handy guide to your sitting practice right after an introductory 10 day course. Of course, from that point on anytime you want a reminder no matter how far along you are, it helps to keep the book nearby sort of a 911 or a 411 for meditators. I highly recommend this guide and as a matter a fact it only took less than 60 minutes to read the whole text - a small, delightful, quick read!!!

I found this book very helpful, with practical advice that helped me understand and overcome difficulties in the practice. In particular it made me understand that I shouldn't have a "prejudice" about what meditation is.

I enjoyed Bill's book as it had practical information in it. I would have liked to have had his valuable insights and suggestions after my first course many years ago. I know I'll reread it. He led a course I sat in Massachusettes. He's a warm, supportive person. Very helpful with his advice. And this comes across in his book.

Overall, helpful advice for establishing meditation as a regular feature of one's daily life. However, I found one analogy quite disturbing -- knot-making, in fact. In the chapter "A Big Distraction" he compares the affect of dope or alcohol on one's mind to Vaseline smeared on a lens, acting as a filter, a fitting and useful analogy. He goes further, though, and describes how a filtered lens such is used to make a "woman well past her prime, still look very beautiful". Oh, Ugh. Must I read such deeply culturally embedded notions of beauty in a Dhamma book? The flipside of this line is that Young Woman Are Beautiful, Older "past their prime" ones need some filtering in order to make them appear so. This line made me imagine myself "past my prime" -- an imagining I get plenty of help with from the world around me already. I do not think the author intends to promote the idea that I, and millions of other woman "past their prime" (and what is "prime" anyway? 25? 30? 35? 40? Egads.) are not Beautiful when looked at thru a clear lens. However, this comparison led me to spent plenty of (unpleasant) time thinking how, using the author's logic, there's plenty of reason to seek out men with "beer glasses" on if I wish to be perceived as Beautiful. I trust his intentions in writing those words do not match the effect they had on me. But I won't recommend this book and I won't buy another by this author.

Great reminder... Many thanks for this handbook

Ok, I'll admit it. My meditation has been in a slump. I saw this little handbook at an orientation - Day Zero at Dhamma Siri. A long term student recommended this valuable help to me as I checked them in for the 30 day course. One can always learn alot by just volunteering for Day Zeros. Anyway, this little gem of a book has really helped to get me back on track. It also encouraged me to sign up for the next available course. The author - Bill Crecelius was very gentle but firm in reviewing our meditation practice and provided extra helps to keep us focused, avoiding pitfalls, and moving forward always on the path. Only about 91 pages, we will all benefit greatly from this thoughtful book. Mr. Crecelius is speaking from much experience. Much metta to you all.

It's always empowering to read about the fact that others also fighting with almost the same problems like me - so I don't feel alone. My regular must-have question to somebody who sat a 10 day course if he / she practices every day two hours? (The most common answer is no) For me this is the hardest point now, but this book gives very, very useful hints - although it repeats Goenkaji many times. Big help, good company.

I was thrilled to see that Bill Crecelius had written this book. I know Bill from way back when I lived in Japan and John and Gail Beary, now Teachers overseeing the California courses, were my neighbors who had group sittings every Sunday and I was curious as to what was going on there and John and Gail got me off to my first course in India. I met Bill Crecelius in Japan and also met Anne who he married while there. Arpita Nag who hosts group sittings in Raleigh every Sunday afternoon said that this was just the book she needed. I read it with pleasure and though I'm a very old student, it was a good reminder for me to work hard to keep up my daily practice.

I've been practicing for 10 years and I wish I read this book earlier. Its very very practical and already the things I read have been useful in my daily life. This book is all about incorporating Vipassana into the daily routine. I think there was a big need for a book like this with many examples about how to keep up the practice. Thanks, Bill.

Great tips for beginners and for people who have very regular and normal lifestyle. We would have appreciated tips for business travelers, new parents, night shift workers, executives or cabin crew and number of other professionals who can not apply what is in the book. For them too they can perfectly practice Vipassana everyday but it needs some adjustments and special tips. Regretfully, awareness in daily routine has not been covered but really help to improve samadhi. Can't wait for the volume 2.

This little book is a real gem. I went to a 10-day retreat just over a year ago and have been meditating pretty good since then. This book is short and well-written and gives me just what I need to further my practice.

Very useful for the daily meditation (Bhāvanā )practictioner. It's a great hand book. Thank you.

This is a wonderful guide for anybody trying to maintain their practice. It is full of valuable insights and practical tips. Thank you for making this book available.

Anyone who has taken a 10-day course will find something helpful in here. From distractions to Metta to the Ten Parami, this tiny book packs in a lot of insight into furthering one's practice.

A wonderful, simple and concise handbook for all meditators. I have been looking for an authoritative book to guide students in the tradition of SN Goenka for a long time now. This book fulfills a big void. Thanks Bill and Pariyatti