"My mind is so busy, I really need to meditate."
"My mind is so busy, there's no way I can meditate."

Familiar dilemma? These days just about all of us know we should be meditating, but that doesn't make it any easier to sit down and face the repetitive thoughts careening around our brains seemingly pointless, sometimes hurtful, nearly always hard to control. Rather than quitting meditation or trying to wall off the monkey mind, Ralph De La Rosa suggests asking yourself a question: If you were to stop demonizing your monkey mind, would it have anything to teach you? In a roundabout way, could repetitive thoughts be pointing us in the direction of personal and even societal transformation?

Poignant and entertaining, The Monkey Is the Messenger offers a range of evidence-based, somatic, and trauma-informed insights and practices drawn from De La Rosa's study of neuroscience and psychology and his long practice of meditation and yoga. Here at last-a remedy for all those who want to meditate but suppose they can't because they think too much.

The Monkey Is the Messenger: Meditation and What Your Busy Mind Is Trying to Tell You, Raph De La Rosa, Shambhala, 2018, 262 pages, $16.95

Ralph De La Rosa, LCSW is the author of The Monkey Is the Messenger: Meditation & What Your Busy Mind Is Trying to Tell You. His work has been featured in CNN, GQ, SELF, Women's Health, and many other publications and podcasts. He's was named amongst Sonima's "Next Generation of Meditation Teachers."

Ralph is a state-licensed therapist in private practice in NYC specializing in trauma, anxiety, depression, and intimacy issues. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Fordham University's Graduate School of Social Services. He trained in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Trauma Systems Therapy as a social worker in the foster care and community mental health systems. Today his work integrates Internal Family Systems therapy, somatic psychology, and mindfulness-based approaches.

CONTENTS: The Monkey is the Messenger: Meditation & What Your Busy Mind is Trying to Tell You
List of Practices		ix
Foreword by Susan Piver		xi
Prelude		xv
Introduction		1
PART ONE: Body--The Monkey Is a Meditator		11
1.	Taking Responsibility for Your Own Happiness	13
2.	The Magnificent Mismatch	21
3.	Befriending the Body in Meditation	31
4.	Evolving the Monkey's Motivations	55
PART TWO: Mind--A Monkey Molded by Model Scenes		71
5.	The Body of Breath	73
6.	Our Monkeys, Ourselves	81
7.	How You Breathe Is How You Feel	97
	Interlude: The Stories We Tell Ourselves	111
8.	How We Get Stuck: Trauma and the Unconscious Mind	117
9.	What We Lose When We Lose Empathy	141
PART THREE: Heart--The Monkey's Ultimate Message		153
10.	The Challenge of Self-Love	155
11.	The Monkey Is a Mensch	169
	Interlude: Love, Level 10	183
12.	The Gifts of Difficulty	185
13.	The Family Within	205
14.	Working with the Inner Critic and Other Harsh Voices	227
15.	Putting It All Together: Integrating Buddhist Meditation with Parts Work	239
Conclusion		245
Acknowledgments		249
Notes		251
Resources		259
About the Author		263