Stress Less, Accomplish More: Meditation for Extraordinary Performance

First of all a heartfelt thanks to Emily for sharing her knowledge with the world. She is simply amazing, she has penned everything down in simple language. If you already meditate and you want to up level, this book is for you. If you have tried meditation, but ot didn't work fairly for you, this book is again for you. And if you are someone for whom meditation is a myth and have never engaged yourself into it, this book is for you too. So I basically recommend this book to everyone!

Strong. Trying out the technique for 21 days as suggested. Shall report back First few days have been good so far.

An impactful book for beginners in meditation, however expected more.Lot of repetition of same lines , can be sumarized in 30 pages i think.

Thanks Emily for this wonderful piece. I have just started practising the principles in the book and I believe in this practises more than anything since I always believed in meditation bit just couldn't get a kickstart of how to meditate and how to start but now I know and I will make sure to accomplish the best!

This book is a life changer and I would recommend everyone reads it as the complete technique is detailed in the book. Post that I have also done the Ziva online course which helped detail things even further and I have been meditating regularly for 9 weeks now and feel WONDERFUL. Thank you Emily!

I am very grateful to Emily, the Ziva method, the sincerity of this book. This method has gotten me back into meditation (I do not consider myself a beginner but something was stuck) and am doing much better in regards to the workload and related stress. I was able to make it through, thanks to this method. Work is still in progress, more work remains and it is my duty to apply the twice 15 minute M&M&M. Thank u so much Emily, with love.

I'd been trying to meditate for many many years without success - but this book did the trick. I'm finally able to understand what meditation really is. Of course I'm a beginner but I'm on the right track. I strongly recommend this book.

This book is truly fantastic, for many reasons--and I'm about to get to the Top 10 things that I've learned reading it... But I actually want to address the top "negative" review I see here on Amazon that seems to have garnered a lot of attention. It says that Ms. Fletcher doesn't actually teach HOW to meditate in the book, and I'm a little incredulous and wondering how many people have been turned away from the book due to that review. I was almost screaming at my glowing screen (ALMOST screaming and not doing so because I meditate, yo!)--What is this in Chapter 8? Emily lays out the Z technique for mediation in it, and it's a COMPLETE book. Yes, she does have live classes and an online course (I've taken the online course and it's GREAT)--but you do NOT need those to be able to use Emily's method for meditating after reading this book. Whew! With that off my chest, here are some of the things I learned while reading this: 1. Mediation does NOT equal Mindfulness. This has to be first. I thought I was an "expert" meditator, as I have been doing it for several years, I've used the apps (Headspace was my gateway drug), and have taken other courses, even from a bonafide monk--which was also a great course--but what most everyone teaches is NOT mediation, it's MINDFULNESS, and there is a big difference between the two. Emily's method starts with Mindfulness (that's all of the sensory exploration and thinking about your breathing and such) and then it goes into real meditation. The difference is explained beautifully here. 2. How STRESS is the silent killer of our society...the "Black Plague" of our century, and is responsible for the majority of doctor visits...and MEDITATION (not mindfulness, see #1) is certainly A cure for that, and honestly, it is probably THE cure for it. I love how detailed and wonkish Ms. Fletcher gets on this. She is fully armed with research, and gets science behind her in this method. It's not just airy fairy, woo-woo...no, it's practical and it WORKS. 3. Why TWO sessions a day are so much better than one. I love this one. I used to be a one time a day meditator/mindful-tator (?), and I loved it. It had a lot of positive benefits, like being a lot slower to anger, and lengthening the time between stimulus and response in my behavior (I almost always choose a response rather than just REACT to things now)... The two sessions a day goes to work on stored stress, and actually clears it out of your system. I've experienced this now, and fully believe it. 4. How to reach the "BLISS" state. This is again related to #1. True meditation to me, feels a lot more like sleep--it's not, as I'm sitting upright and not snoring or anything--but it's one of those timeless types of things where I set a timer, meditate, and wonder "where did those last 15 minutes go?" because I'll (naturally) come out of the meditation just feeling...light and energetic and peaceful. It's pretty amazing. I had only reached that state TWICE during what I used to do while meditating, and I did it 3x my first week with this technique, and get there almost every time now. 5. Meditation = Sleep x 5. Doing the right meditation is literally 5 times as restful as the same amount of time sleeping. Emily backs this up, and explains how that works...and after doing my early afternoon (I have a 2:30 alarm set on my phone that plays 'Mediate' by INXS that reminds me each day to do my second meditation) I completely buy in to this. When I don't get much sleep on a particular night, I will throw in an extra meditation session, and feel so, so much better...AND I don't have the afternoon "energy crash" I used to experience before this method. 6. Thoughts aren't the enemy of meditation...EFFORT IS! Have you thought that maybe meditation just doesn't work for you because, "MY mind is too active...thank you"? I used to have a ton of thoughts going on being a somewhat ADD entrepreneur and all, but I got so much better at it. And the key? Don't force it. I call it "releasing the result," and when I do that, the session goes much better. Also, a session where you're still having thoughts visit you is still effective, and much, much better for you than NOT taking that time for yourself. Relax, amigo! 7. I'm not a BAD meditator when those thoughts come around. I used to judge myself on my meditation "skill," but now see how absurd that is. Meditation is a practice, and you get better as you do it. Not each session will be a slam dunk home run...and that's completely cool. I am waaaaaay ahead of the game just by getting to that chair twice a day. Emily says celebrate your success and forget about perfection. It made me feel better to know that she's been doing this so many years, has been to India to study it, teaches it to thousands...and she still says she hasn't done a PERFECT meditation. Thank you, Emily! Pressure relieved. 8. Right Brain, Left Brain differences and how we become much more in tune with our right brain. I loooooove that Emily geeks out on this stuff...and then delivers it to me, all neatly packaged with a scientific bow so my somewhat questioning nature trusts what she says. Then I try it, and it's validated. Emily shows that we get in much better touch with our right brain by doing meditation. It makes us more creative, and we are able to integrate most everything in life better because of it. I attest to this...I am more creative now than I have ever been, and humbly speaking, I was very creative beforehand. But I like to have a journal handy for after my sessions, as it seems like I can solve most anything in the "enlightened" state I feel immediately after a true meditation session. 9. How to PROPERLY Manifest. I'm not a big fan of The Secret...the whole, "oh, just visualize it and do nothing, and it will come to you," kind of woo-woo that claims to work without action. But when you manifest right, it really helps you get CLEAR on what you want to have happen in your life, and clarity creates power. For me, I'm so much more likely to DO what I need to do to get the results I want when I'm manifesting like Emily teaches. It's great, great stuff...and truly life-enhancing. 10. (And there were a lot more) You meditate not to get good at meditating, but to get good AT LIFE!!! As in love with meditation as Ms. Fletcher is, she doesn't lose sight of this important fact. Mediation is a TOOL to live better. It's not the end result in and of itself. And that is so, so very important. I can confidently say that I'm better at life due to my meditation practice. That's not woo-woo, it's a measurable fact. My workouts are better, my sleep is better, my time between the sheets (aawwww yeah) is better, and I'm just plain getting more done and leading a better life. And what Emily teaches is at the root of much of this. Meditation improves nearly every aspect of life. So--those are 10 things I've learned. I hope this is helpful for you, and that it encourages you to get, read, AND PUT WHAT'S IN THIS BOOK INTO PRACTICE in your life. I know you don't know me--but I promise that learning this will help you tremendously. Thank you!

Really happy with this book. Terrific author; easy read. Implemented the technique almost immediately. Highly recommended for someone trying to find more time and more balance with less stress.

All fluff, no substance