Aging as a Spiritual Practice: A Contemplative Guide to Growing Older and Wiser

I wanted a book about how to be old. This book helps to change your attitude into one of gratitude. Read this book! Very helpful!

The chapters and exercises help to look and experience aging from a different and uplifting perspective.Very practical. Would be great for a group to read and experience together so that they can be supportive and share the benefits with each other.

Lewis Richmond's Aging as a Spiritual Practice: A Contemplative Guide to Growing Older and Wiser provides a Buddhist guide to aging mindfully. Each chapter addresses a topic about aging, such as the advantages of growing older, the disadvantages of growing older, teaching or giving back, and the five fears. The chapters follow a formula of introducing the topic, the author's interview with someone dealing with the topic, and an exercise or meditation on the topic at the end of the chapter. The sameness of this approach grew a bit tiresome even though the content was quite good.The best part of the book is the three chapters at the end describing how to do a personal, one-day, retreat. Richmond's structure and suggestions for this "day away" are excellent. If you have ever wanted to have a personal retreat or just spend some time away from your day-to-day life to think things through, this guide will be very useful.

I bought this book for my mother who will turn 91 in April.Last July, she sustained a mini-stroke and has become a little more frail and more fearful.I wanted to give her something meaningful for this Chinese New Year of the Horse,because I felt, if she made it through the Year of the Snake, (her opposite), she would be fine and she has.My mother is not spiritual, nor religious by usual terms. But she found this book engaging and can relate towhat Lewis Richmond says and knows about aging. It's a plus that he only lives an hour away so if she wanted,she could attend his seminars which could then inspire her even more.Thank you, Lewis Richmond for bringing your wisdom to the light for so many people.I will get a copy of my own as I too, have begun reading a few pages via Amazon's open book previews.

Helpful and comforting when dealing with aging.

It's disappointingly. . . bland.It is written largely from the point of view of someone who has had to come to grips with their mortality, yes, but *in middle age*--which is different--and survived the experience. That is not the same as the experience of one at the end of life who, as the Buddha put it, "has been swept to old age" where "no shelters exist" and who is really seeing, in the experiential sense of the word, how "brief its span".It's a rosy view of ageing, with no acknowledgement of the burden of physical aging, as the author and his interviewees all sound to be in good health at present, with its attendant loss of function, forced dealings with a broken health system, and financial strains (if not outright poverty) of old age. It's a biased sample. He does claim empirical support for his assertions, but without reading the research--he cites the conclusions of other book authors rather than the actual studies.Finally, thus far his advice has been no more sophisticated, useful (or Buddhist, for that matter) than anything you could read in the Sunday supplement. Eat well. Exercise. Socialize. Lean into your role as a wise old elder. Again, these are not necessarily options for large swaths of the older generations in an ageist society, who may be struggling financially, live in food deserts, have health issues, or be isolated by circumstances beyond their control. Not to mention, the link with spiritual practices here is not clear.If you're looking for solid Buddhist wisdom, or something to develop your spiritual practice, my advice would be to keep going until you find it.

This is a wonderful little book to savor. I use the term "little" to mean visually only--this book is undersized, yet comforting and mighty. It is especially encouraging to seniors (and, I expect, to every age) who have few resources or who live in stressful situations. I read a page or three in the morning then think about the lessons all day. What turned out to be one of the most valuable things in the book was the instructions for having a retreat alone in your own home. This is particularly valuable to those of us who are caregivers and cannot get away (where would we go, anyway?). I am not Buddhist, nor of any organized religion, but rather, a seeker of sensible and uplifting spirituality. The book asks nothing of you, yet gives inspiration. A good fit for me. And maybe for you, too?

As a practicing Buddhist,came to this book with some doubts about the breadth of its scope and the ability of one small volume to encompass all. But it does. Read, and actually re-read because I was impressed with the weaving of spiritual practice (in this case Buddhist) with the universal dilemma of experiencing aging and see how this tome can be a guide to all-Buddhist, Atheist, Amish, Wicccan and all paths.My less enthusiastic response is to some of the very delineated exercises and practices-clearly I don't like being scheduled and micro directed. Otherwise this is a wise and sometimes funny and deeply helpful book.

good book.well packed.thanks

Great book. I found some of the suggestions for practice very helpful.

Lewis Richmond offers a gentle yet grounded look at aging as a spiritual practice. This book is contemplative in nature, and will likely appeal to contemplatives, offering suggestions for spiritual practices that will encourage a positive outlook on aging. It gave me a lot of food for thought and contemplation.

Deep, thoughtful, inspiring. Just the context I was looking for as I reimagine my 3rd chapter.

As an experienced meditation practitioner I found this book an interesting read but not for me, ultimately very helpful. However, I can see that it would be thought-provoking and of great help to people who are finding it difficult to come to terms with growing old.