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WORK TITLE: A Fool’s Guide to Actual Happiness
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.authormarkvanburen.com/
CITY:
STATE: NJ
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
| LC control no.: | n 2017067681 |
|---|---|
| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/n2017067681 |
| HEADING: | Van Buren, Mark |
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| 100 | 1_ |a Van Buren, Mark |
| 400 | 1_ |a Buren, Mark van |
| 670 | __ |a A fool’s guide to actual happiness, 2018: |b E-CIP t.p. (Mark Van Buren) |
PERSONAL
Male.
EDUCATION:Montclair State University, B.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Mindful living trainer, yoga/meditation instructor, personal trainer, and musician. Live Free Yoga Studio, River Edge, NJ, owner and head instructor.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Mark Van Buren came to an interest in meditation and yoga through his work as a personal trainer and massage therapist. While studying massage therapy, he became intrigued by a more spiritual approach to health, and he began attending silent meditation retreats. This led him to obtain a bachelor’s degree in religious studies and training in meditation and yoga. He found himself particularly drawn to Buddhism. He eventually became owner of a yoga studio in New Jersey. He speaks in various venues about the benefits of yoga and meditation, and also runs meditation retreats, and he has also become an author of books discussing the principles he uses in his practice. Additionally, he is a musician who has played in various bands and released solo albums.
In his book A Fool’s Guide to Actual Happiness, he explains Buddhist principles and how they can provide a path to happiness. He urges his readers not to pressure themselves toward constant self-improvement. It is possible, he writes,”to find a perfect peace right at the center of all your imperfections.” He explains: “I want to show you how everything you encounter can be used as a path of awakening to the wisdom you already have within you–and how whatever arises in your life can be used to cultivate love and compassion for yourself and all beings. … I’d like you to put down the burden of trying to become an idealized version of yourself–and instead move toward deeply experiencing each and every unique moment of your unique existence.” He encourages readers to be mindful of the present moment rather than aspire to a perfect future state that will never become reality. Meditation can help produce that mindfulness, he notes. He further calls on his audience to remember that what most people think of as happiness or suffering are temporary states, contingent on what is happening in one’s life. True happiness, which he defines as contentment, comes from having mindfulness, compassion, and a sense of humor, and from letting go of expectations. He reminds readers that sometimes they will feel foolish, but that is part of life and is acceptable, as long as they do not hurt themselves or other people.
Van Buren’s “powerful book” is “a concise but informative crash course” on how Buddhist concepts and practices can lead to happiness, according to a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Although some of the information in familiar, the author is “a shrewd synthesizer of Buddhist principles for newcomers and novices,” the reviewer concluded.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, May 28, 2018, review of A Fool’s Guide to Actual Happiness, p. 92.
ONLINE
Live Free 4 Life website, https://www.livefree4life.com/ (October 29, 2018), brief biography.
Mark Van Buren website, http://www.authormarkvanburen.com (October 29, 2018).
Mark Van Buren is a Mindful Living Trainer, yoga/meditation instructor, personal trainer, and musician, that has been promoting health and wellness for over a decade. He has run dozens of workshops and retreats all over the tri-state area, and has been asked to speak at numerous colleges including Columbia, Montclair State, and Bergen Community. A handful of yoga studios have already opened their doors to his message, allowing him to give talks and run guided meditations and retreats.
He has worked extensively with children and adults with autism and other special needs, and even released two solo albums, based on his inward journey through meditation, under the band name “Seeking the Seeker.”
Van Buren holds a Bachelor of Arts in religious studies from Montclair State University and two Associate Degrees from Bergen Community College in exercise science and music. He is currently the owner and head instructor of Live Free Yoga Studio in River Edge, NJ (www.livefree4life.com), and in recent years a bestselling author.
Mark Van Buren - Owner/Head Instructor
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Mark Van Buren has been promoting health, wellness, and creative arts in his community for over 8 years. His journey began with a passion for music. Mark received an Associate's Degree in Music from Bergen Community College, but also has been in and out of various bands, which have performed at venues such as The Bitter End, Crash Mansion, and Webster Hall. He recently put out a solo album and continues to write and perform his music.
Mark then began pursuing a career in personal training. His studies started with a personal training certification from NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine). He then received a second Associate's Degree in Exercise Science, also from Bergen Community College. Following this degree, Mark furthered his studies with NASM and achieved his Sports Fitness Specialist Certification.
Enjoying health and wellness so much, Mark decided to enroll in massage therapy school. He completed his training at Healing Hands Institute in Westwood, NJ, and began eagerly practicing. Mark specialized in relieving shoulder, hip, and low back discomfort, preventing many of his clients from getting unnecessary surgery.
During his time at massage therapy school, Mark became interested in a new approach to wellness and started studying yoga, meditation and qi gong. He began taking silent meditation retreats at a meditation center in New York State, going on retreats ranging from one to ten days of silent, vigorous meditation training. He also lived at the retreat center for a month for a work study program. This deeper aspect of life interested Mark so much that he decided to go back to school and get a Bachelor's Degree in Religious Studies, taking a variety of religion and philosophy courses.
More recently Mark has become certified in meditation through Yoga Life Society and has completed his 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training at Juluka Yoga in Hillsdale, NJ. He is now a Mindful Living Trainer and the author of the #1 Amazon Best-Seller in Meditation, Be Your Sh*tty Self: An Honest Approach to a More Peaceful Life. He hopes to use all of his education and experiential learning to teach others how to "Live Free" through his variety of services.
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Quoted in Sidelights: "powerful book" "a concise but informative crash course""a shrewd synthesizer of Buddhist principles for newcomers and novices,"
A Fool's Guide to Actual Happiness
Publishers Weekly.
265.22 (May 28, 2018): p92. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* A Fool's Guide to Actual Happiness
Mark Van Buren. Wisdom, $15.95 trade paper (256p) ISBN 978-1-61429-448-1
Van Buren (Your Life Is Meditation) lays out a concise but informative crash course on finding happiness through Buddhist concepts and practices in this powerful book. In the first section, he takes up Buddhist teachings such as the three marks of existence (impermanence, suffering, and non-self) to call into question the belief that happiness comes through spiritual or material self- improvement.
He then guides readers into an investigation of the conditionality of happiness and suffering, writing that actual happiness is contentment. The second section presents various kinds of practices to help readers settle into and accept the present moment: mindfulness, sitting meditation, tong-len and metta meditations, shenpa practice, cultivation of compassion, and more. The final section contains advice to support practice, including how to find inspiration, discover one's sense of humor, and handle a formal meditation retreat. Throughout the book, Van Buren regularly reminds readers that it is acceptable to be a foolish person so long as one is cultivating awareness, taking steps to avoid hurting oneself and others, and being exactly oneself to the fullest extent. Although he treads familiar ground, Van Buren proves himself to be a
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shrewd synthesizer of Buddhist principles for newcomers and novices on the path toward mindful living. (July)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"A Fool's Guide to Actual Happiness." Publishers Weekly, 28 May 2018, p. 92. Book Review
Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A541638867/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=8bbd5fbe. Accessed 1 Oct. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A541638867
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