The Book
You don’t have to labor for years to recognize and abide in your natural state of nondual presence, awakened awareness, the source of lasting peace, joy, happiness, and love, it’s available to you right now in a heartbeat of illumination--and this book can guide you directly to realize it for yourself. Based on the author’s many years of study and practice in three of the primary nondual wisdom traditions--Zen, Dzogchen-Mahamudra, and Advaita Vedanta--and refined and adapted to contemporary sensibilities over more than 25 years of teaching the direct approach to truth, Infinite Awakening is a wise and powerful companion on the pathless path.
Welcome from the Author
Stephan Bodian writes from awakening, not merely about it. His voice is pure and sweet, inviting and crystal clear, gentle and encouraging. He’s a master teacher, sharing a lifetime of realizations and exquisitely skillful guidance, with both deep insights and powerful experiential practices. The calming and self-compassion that fill his pages soothe and ease the stresses and anxieties of our troubling times. Even more deeply, with a kind smile Stephan invites us to come home, in the experiencing beyond all understandings, of a natural resting in awareness, love, and inner peace.
— Rick Hanson, Ph.D., New York Times best-selling author of Buddha’s Brain and Hardwiring Happiness
How you’ll benefit from reading this book
Spiritual awakening is not a distant goal. The peace, joy, and wholeness you seek are waiting to be discovered in this very moment. This book is your guide.
Infinite Awakening is a comprehensive guide to the “pathless path” of nondual spirituality. It teaches that awakening is the recognition of your true nature—a state of peace, freedom, and interconnectedness that’s already complete and present within you—and it invites you to explore the immediacy of your “natural state” and embrace awakening as a direct experience.
From the Introduction
The notion of the “pathless path” lies at the heart of the direct approach to spiritual awakening that I offer in my books, retreats, and programs. Essentially, the approach provides verbal pointers, guided meditations, self-inquiry exercises, and other skillful means that invite you to wake up directly to your natural state of nondual presence and essential inseparability from Being itself. More progressive and prescriptive approaches to truth may certainly play a part in your pathless path, as long as you don’t take to heart their counsel that you need to achieve something new or cultivate qualities you don’t already have. Remember, you already are what you’re seeking,you just need to learn to recognize it and abide there.
Beyond even the direct approach, and perhaps the most pathless of paths, is to simply recognize that this luminous, sacred, and indivisible reality right now is what you are essentially—and just be it. No path is necessary to take you there. But only the maturest of souls can even understand what this directive means, let alone follow it, so the direct approach offers an actual path constructed of steps and stages that end up leading, paradoxically, to where you already are.
After many years of teaching the direct approach in the School for Awakening, I thought it best to condense the teachings into a book while they’re still fresh in my mind and make them accessible to a wider audience. Over the years, hundreds of people have passed through the School, and a significant number have experienced some measure of awakening to their essential spiritual nature. Of course, the School is not just a collection of pointers and practices, it’s a living and lived experience with a group of kindred spirits and the live presence of a teacher.
Table of Contents
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What Does Awakening Really Mean?
The Stages of Awakening
Preparing the Path
The Direct Approach
Why Bother with a Teacher?
Deconstructing the Dream
Welcoming What Is
The Impact of Trauma
Awakened Relationship
InfiniteAwakening, Endless Unfolding
Praise for Infinite Awakening
Infinite Awakening is a powerful guide to remembering the vast, tender awareness that is our true nature. With deep clarity and a heart attuned to our shared humanity, Stephan Bodian illuminates a path to freedom and love that feels both timeless and intimately grounded and alive.
— Tara Brach, author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge
‘Stephan Bodian offers a clear, compassionate, and beautifully articulated guide to the timeless understanding that lies at the heart of all true spirituality. Infinite Awakening is a lucid companion for anyone drawn to the recognition of their own ever-present being. It is a book that points, with great clarity and tenderness, to the pathless path of non-dual awakening.’
— Rupert Spira, author of The Nature of Consciousness and Being Aware of Being Aware
Infinite Awakening is a nourishing and essential guidebook for our times, offering profound insights and support for our journey of awakening. Stephan’s beautiful writing opens doorways to the infinite and intimate exploration of who we truly are. Having read many books in this field, I can say that this will be at the top of my recommended reading list for students. Stephan’s book not only provides the heights of spiritual insight but also addresses the road block sand challenging emotions we meet along the way. His grounded understanding of nonduality and psychology is immensely helpful, making this book a truly supportive companion for anyone seeking authentic awakening in today's world.
— Loch Kelly, author of Shift into Freedom and The Way of Effortless Mindfulness
An articulate and comprehensive guide to seeing through and working with what brings forth unnecessary suffering and waking up to the aliveness and possibility of the awaring presence that we are. Stephan draws from Eastern spiritual traditions, Western psychology, and his own direct observations and insights to provide a richly textured, multi-dimensional approach to being alive.
— Joan Tollifson, author of Nothing to Grasp and Death: The End of Self-Improvement
“Infinite Awakening is a multi-faceted jewel – a wise, nuanced, warm-hearted, honest, and beautifully written distillation of living insight into the open-ended nature of nondual spiritual awakening. Drawing from his study with Zen, Dzogchen, and Advaita masters, his training and experience as a psychotherapist, and his decades as a nondual teacher, Stephan Bodian clearly points to and evokes our undivided nature while creatively addressing the psychological challenges of trauma, eros, and intimate relationship. A precious and profound companion on the pathless path of awakening in the 21st century.
— John J. Prendergast, Ph.D., author of Your Deepest Ground and The Deep Heart
Infinite Awakening is both a comprehensive map for understanding the nondual path and a treasure chest of practical meditations, pointers, and wise advice. But most remarkably, it’s a portal through which to discover ourselves as pure presence. In his deeply compassionate and clear voice, Stephan Bodian leads us from the head to the heart and into a direct experience of our boundless and loving spiritual nature. A must-read for anyone longing to taste the fullest nectar of life.
— Nancy Colier, author of Can’t Stop Thinking and The Emotionally Exhausted Woman
"Infinite Awakening is a profound exploration of nondual wisdom, guiding readers toward a direct experience of their true nature. A seasoned spiritual teacher and psychotherapist, Stephan Bodian artfully blends psychological insights with timeless spiritual teachings, offering a compassionate and accessible path to liberation. This book is an invitation to shed limiting beliefs and awaken to boundless peace and clarity.”
— Lama Palden Drolma, Buddhist teacher, author of Love on Every Breath
“A marvellously practical and sensible guide to the process of spiritual awakening. With great clarity, Stephan Bodian distills the essence from a variety of spiritual traditions and crystalizes the wisdom of a lifetime of spiritual exploration.”
— Steve Taylor, Ph.D., author of The Leap and Extraordinary Awakenings.
I believe this book will become a classic, essential reading for anyone who wishes to practice, experience, or teach the truth of the non-dual. The author has devoted most of his life to investigating the Reality that is revealed in the natural state of pure wakefulness that permeates "ordinary" reality. His writing bears the clarity and nuance that is only attained through his decades of practice in the Zen, Advaita and Dzogchen traditions and supported by knowledge gained as a therapist as well as knowledge revealed through sustained and deep spiritual inquiry and practice. The many exercises provide practical guidance in entering non-dual awareness for the student-reader. As I read this book I resisted copying wise bits from almost every page.
— Jan Chozen Bays, MD, Zen teacher, author of How to Train a Wild Elephant and Mindful Medicine
Stephan Bodian has devoted his life to exploring what it means and what it takes to recognize who we truly are, and to live wisely and well in this challenging world. This multifaceted book makes his many hard-won discoveries and gentle wisdom available to us all
— Roger Walsh, MD, PhD, Professor, University of California, co host of the podcast Deep Transformation: Self-Society-Spirit
Infinite Awakening is a concise but thorough compendium of the primary approaches to the groundless ground of awakening that we all share, and so often don't know how to find. It’s a book that had to be written, at this time of growing interest in true awakening, and Stephan's training in several spiritual traditions, as well as psychotherapy, and above all his own deep experience, make him ideally placed to provide it. He is not only a wise and compassionate guide, but also a skillful writer who speaks clearly from the inexpressible reality that heals what ails us like nothing else can. May this book bring life-changing help to seekers far and wide.
— Henry Shukman, Zen teacher, author of Original Love and One Blade of Grass
Infinite Awakening is a guidebook that spans the whole arc of navigating the great complexities of human life as well as the lesser-known terrains of spiritual awakening and the embodiment of deep spiritual insight, and Stephan’s experience, training, and expertise make him a wise guide who offers grounded, well-tried, and well-informed counsel.
