IMS Book Club

Each month, the IMS Book Club brings together authors and readers for a facilitated discussion on the featured dharma-book-of-the-month. Our book club offers participants a deeper experience and engagement with early Buddhist teachings and practice through the lens of the selected book.

Essential Information:

  • The IMS Book Club is entirely free of charge.
  • All Book Club meetings will be held online  through the IMS Online Learning Center.
  • Each monthly Book Club event will feature a new book and one to three group meetings, including at least one session with the author.
  • If the author/teacher does not participate in all the sessions, an insight teacher from IMS will moderate those discussions in place of the author.
  • Beyond these basic guidelines, authors will be able to tailor their book club meetings as they see fit, so the structure of book club gatherings may vary from month to month.
  • Dana:  If you enjoy this free offering and would like to give to IMS, we will include donation links when we email the video recordings of each Book Club meeting to registered members after each session. Note: authors/teachers benefit from the promotion and sale of their books. If other teachers, or assistant teachers, help support a Book Club, IMS will compensate those teachers directly for their time.

Want to Join?

To join the IMS Book Club, simply register hereYou will receive monthly invitations to sign up for the book-of-the-month discussions that interest you. Although there is no charge to join the book club, participants will need to secure their own copies of the books prior to the start of the monthly discussion group.

How Are Books Chosen? 

All titles featured in the IMS Book Club are selected by IMS staff and Guiding Teachers. Selections must align with IMS’s mission and values. Rooted in the early Buddhist teachings of ethics, concentration, and wisdom, chosen titles will support the development of awareness and compassion.

2023 Schedule 

A Field Guide to Nature Meditation
52 Mindfulness Practices for Joy, Wisdom and Wonder
By Mark Coleman

In this clear and methodical field guide, Mark Coleman shows readers step-by-step how to develop a nature-based meditation practice every week of the year. Through systematic cultivation of mindfulness techniques, he teaches readers how to attune to their senses and connect with the richness of the sensory world.

Coleman demonstrates how to meditate in a variety of settings, in different landscapes, and in all kinds of weather with confidence and clarity. The book is divided into sections, each of which is oriented to different kinds of meditations. There are practices one can do sitting in stillness, those that involve walking and movement, and meditations that allow for an intimate, direct connection with the rich facets of the natural world.

This book is for anyone who wishes to take the contemplative awareness that comes from meditation into the outdoors.

“Coleman’s book prompts readers to lean into the mysteriousness of life, to evoke curiosity, to feel into the awe that nature bestows, and to accept the gift of living existence.”—Sharon Salzberg

Date: Tuesday, June 6, 7-8:15 PM

For more information and to register for the meeting, click here

The IMS Book Club will take a break in July & August. We will post the fall 2023 schedule soon!

Previous IMS Book Club Authors Include
  • Sharon Salzberg
  • Gregory Kramer
  • Rodney Smith
  • Joseph Goldstein
  • Sebene Selassie
  • Pamela Ayo Yetunde, Ruth King, Lama Dawa Tarchin Phillips, Kamilah Majied, Gyozan Royce Andrew Johnson
  • Judson Brewer
  • Narayan Helen Liebenson
  • Chenxing Han
  • Mark Coleman
  • Kaira Jewel Lingo
  • George Mumford
  • Mark Epstein
  • Rhonda V. Magee
  • Martin Aylward
  • Dan Harris
  • Kate Johnson
  • Guy Armstrong
  • Jacoby Ballard
  • Allan Cooper
  • Christina Feldman
  • Rima Vesely-Flad
  • Amita Schmidt
  • Shaila Catherine
  • Valerie Brown
  • yung pueblo
  • John Teasdale
  • Kimberly Brown