Drawing upon his personal experience as a practitioner-researcher, visual artist, and cancer survivor, Michael A. Franklin offers a rich and thought-provoking guide to art as contemplative practice. His firsthand experience and original artwork complement this extensive discussion by consulting various practice traditions including yoga, rasa and darshan experiences, imaginal intelligence, and the contemplative instincts of select early twentieth-century artists. From this synthesis, Franklin suggests that we treat art as a form of yoga and meditation with the potential to awaken deeper insight into the fundamental nature of the Self. Exercises and rubrics are included that offer accessible instruction for any artist, meditation or yoga practitioner, art educator, or art therapist.

List of Figures, Tables, and Rubrics Foreword Author's Note Acknowledgments Introduction Simplified Sanskrit Pronunciation Guide Abbreviated Glossary of Sanskrit Terms Part I. Foundations, History, and Imaginal Awareness 1. Art as Contemplative Practice: Beginnings 2. Art as Contemplative Practice: Foundations 3. Snapshots of Western History and Lineage in Art as Contemplative Practice 4. Tasting and Seeing the Divine: Rasa, Darsan, and Art as Worship 5. Imaginal Intelligence and Contemplative Practice Part II. Concerning the Contemplative in Art as Yoga and Meditation 6. Art as Yoga 7. Art as Meditation 8. Karma Yoga, Ahimsa, and the Socially Engaged Artist 9. Expressive Pathways to the Self Part III. Exercises and Appendices Appendix A: Imaginal Mindfulness Techniques, Exercises, and Materials Appendix B: Core Principles of Art as Contemplative Practice and Accompanying Exercises Appendix C: Rubrics Notes References Illustration Permissions Index