When you take your seat on the meditation cushion, you do so on behalf of goodness itself. While meditation helps in all sorts of useful, everyday ways (such as making you more patient, helping you get a better night’s sleep, relieving stress), it also helps in amazing, inexplicable ways that change your experience of being human. I wanted to try to say all of that in Start Here Now and also explain how to practice in a very straightforward way.

Start Here Now  is Susan Piver’s first book about meditation and it is drawn from her 20+ years of traditional study with with great meditation masters and from her experience as teacher and founder of the Open Heart Project, a community of 15000 meditation students all over the world.

While meditation helps in all sorts of useful, everyday ways (such as making you more patient, helping you get a better night’s sleep, relieving stress), it also helps in amazing, inexplicable ways that change your experience of being human. This new book discusses the many layers of meditation and also explains how to practice in a very straightforward way.

“I know you don’t have time to read this magical little book. That’s precisely why you need it, right now, and forever. (When in doubt, see page 99).”
—Seth Godin, Author, “Your Turn””

“Reading this book is like sitting down with your most brilliant, clever, fun friend and having them explain the vast world of meditation in a way you can clearly understand. This isn’t just a how-to book – this is a how to apply meditation to your life book. If you think you are the one person who could never meditate, read this book and it will prove you wrong.” – Lodro Rinzler, Author of The Buddha Walks into a Bar and How to Love Yourself (And Sometimes Other People)

“Start Here Now is a uniquely powerful and engaging introduction to the practice of meditation. Susan Piver’s guidance is deeply practical, down-to-earth and frequently hilarious – without once compromising the radicalism of her message. If, like me, you’d fallen off the meditation wagon – or if you’d always vaguely wondered about meditating, but didn’t know where to begin – this warm-spirited but also resolutely bullshit-free book is what you need.” – Oliver Burkeman, Guardian columnist and author of The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking

Susan Piver is the best meditation teacher I have ever heard. No kidding. All that meditation has made her mind crisp and clear, and her new book is far more than a transmission of great information, it is a transmission of clarity and love.  —Jennifer Louden, Author, Teacher, Founder, “Savor and Serve”

Living a Good Life happens not by hiding from uncertainty and risk, but by embracing it. Problem is, we’re terribly equipped to play in a place of uncertainty long enough to see the deeper possibility that always rides alongside it. Meditation helps do just that and Susan’s new book is a fantastic guide. Tapping decades of practice and teaching, this beautiful book meets you where you are. It then walks you, step by step, into starting your own practice. Nearly every question you could think to ask is answered, from how to set up your room to what meditation actually is and does, leaving you but one thing to do. Begin. I can’t recommend it strongly enough to both new meditators and experienced meditators who might benefit from revisiting the essentials. –Jonathan Fields, Author of Uncertainty and creator of The Good Life Project

Susan Piver is one of the modern meditation and Buddhist teachers I simply admire the most. Her excellent new meditation handbook, Start Here Now, includes everything I like about her as a teacher. Down-to-earth instructions, heartfelt advice, great writing, and humor to cut through all the BS that modern spiritual teachings sometimes bog themselves down with. A great book by a great teacher, for anyone looking to start a real meditation practice the right way. Bravo! —Ethan Nichtern, Author of The Road Home

I’ve been meditating for 30 minutes a day for over a year now, and Susan Piver is the reason why. She has this unmatched ability to be all at once the wise guru you so need, the writer you most wish you could be, and your street-smart-knows-you-better-than-anyone bestie gal pal. If you’ve ever wanted someone to just make meditation clear, real and simple – read this book. — Christine Kane, Chief Creative Officer, Uplevel You