A book That Inspired You – Josh Summers

Lisa: Hi Josh, is there a certain book that comes to mind that has inspired or motivated you to become a better teacher?

I’d have to say Buddhism Without Beliefs by Stephen Batchelor. Batchelor’s writing has inspired me to embrace inquiry, scepticism and exploration on the spiritual path. His approach resonates with the secular humanist in me, as well as the sensibility that spiritual practice is, in a very rich way, an artistic process.

Josh Summers

Josh is a Yin Yoga and Insight Meditation instructor, as well as a licensed acupuncturist. Josh co-wrote The Buddha’s Playbook: Strategies for Enlightened Living (2009), and was a contributing author for Mindfulness and Performance (Oxford University Press, 2016). He co-developed and now teaches a course at Boston University called Mindfulness and Performance.

Josh began studying Iyengar yoga in the early nineties with James Murphy. Since then he spent several years living abroad in India, Taiwan and Burma where he studied both yoga (Pune, India with the Iyengars) and meditation (Burma, with Sayadaw U Pandita). As his interest in vipassana or insight meditation developed, so too did his interest in more contemplative forms of yoga practice.

With a professional background in Oriental Medicine and a personal passion for the dharma, Josh fell in love with Yin Yoga as a beautiful synthesis of these two interests.
His own study of Yin Yoga was with Paul Grilley and Sarah Powers. And Josh’s primary meditation teachers have been Sayadaw U Pandita, Ajahn Amaro, and Rodney Smith. Currently, Josh studies Recollective Awareness Meditation with Jason Siff, founder of the Skillful Meditation Project

Josh offers workshops, teacher training, and retreats in Yin Yoga and Insight Meditation throughout the United States and Europe.

www.joshsummers.net