Tibetan Buddhist wisdom meets modern life in this powerful guide that teaches you to face inner obstacles with courage, embrace all of life's experiences, and live with clarity and boundless awareness--even amid constant ups and downs.

Amid life's relentless challenges, uncertainties, and endless striving, how do we find a sense of ease, clarity, and connection? Skymind offers a way to step back from life's constant push and pull and discover the spaciousness and wholeness that has always been within you. Inspired by the revolutionary teachings of Machig Labdron, an 11th-century Tibetan yogini who pioneered a radical approach to inner freedom, this book introduces Skymind meditation--a practice that helps you cultivate clarity, compassion, and resilience by resting in the sky-like nature of your mind.

Through simple exercises, contemplations, and Machig's powerful verses, you'll be guided to meet life's challenges with courage and radical acceptance. These teachings invite you to embrace every part of your experience--even the emotions and thoughts you'd rather avoid--and discover the freedom that comes from including everything in your awareness. Whether you are new to meditation or a seasoned practitioner, Skymind offers profound insights and practical tools to help you live with authenticity, ease, and a heart as vast as the sky.

Skymind: The Radical Path of Open Awareness, Charlotte Rotterdam and Pieter Oosthuizen, Shambhala, Paperback, 296 pages, $24.95

Charlotte Z. Rotterdam is a Buddhist teacher, contemplative educator, and writer. Raised in New York City, Charlotte's early fascination with life's big questions led her to study philosophy and religion, first at Swarthmore College, then at Harvard Divinity School where she received a Masters in Theological Studies. She is a senior teacher (Dorje Lopon) and lineage holder at Tara Mandala, authorized by Lama Tsultrim Allione. She has been fortunate to study with Lama Tharchin Rinpoche, Namkai Norbu Rinpoche, Lama Wangdu Rinpoche, and Orgyen Khakhyab Lingpa, among others. She teaches internationally on meditation, compassion, and a variety of Vajrayana Buddhist practices. Charlotte is faculty at Naropa University where she also directs the Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education and co-developed and teaches the Mindful Compassion Training. She has published essays in Mandala, Lion's Roar, and Buddhadharma. Inspired by the simple joy and beauty of everyday life, Charlotte delights in making profound Buddhist insights accessible and transformative in contemporary life. She and her husband Pieter Oosthuizen live and write together on the sunny slopes of the Rocky Mountains near Boulder, Colorado, and have two sons.

Pieter Oosthuizen's journey arcs from the wild edges of apartheid-era Johannesburg to the heart of contemplative practice. He teaches internationally on meditation, Vajrayana Buddhism, and the non-dual nature of reality. As a boy, he roamed the veld with a slingshot; by 19, he was conscripted to be an intelligence officer in the Angolan war. Afterward, he slung on a backpack and wandered east to life-shifting encounters in the Himalayan foothills and with the Dalai Lama in India. Back in South Africa he met Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche - the first of many esteemed Tibetan Buddhist teachers, including Lama Tharchin Rinpoche, Lama Wangdu Rinpoche, Tulku Sangngak Rinpoche, and Orgyen Khakhyab Lingpa. After earning his Law degree he again crossed oceans to Colorado in the U.S. where he served in leadership roles at Naropa University in Boulder and Tara Mandala Retreat Center, where he is a senior teacher (Lopon) appointed by Lama Tsultrim Allione. He is also the director of the Feeding Your Demons Institute. Across his roles, he continues to ask the question at the core of Skymind: How can we meet this moment with compassionate presence and embodied courage?