INTRODUCING
Wake Up Sleepy Buddha
the BOOK
Foundations of the Buddhist Path for
Ordinary Weirdos and Hidden Buddhas
A 600+ page, fully illustrated guide to Buddhist practice beyond mindfulness.
Written for ordinary people—not scholars or monks—this book bridges
ancient wisdom, modern psychology, and everyday life.
For more than thirty years, I've watched people fall in love with mindfulness.
Then I've watched many of them get lost when they tried to go deeper.
Wake Up Sleepy Buddha is the guide I wished someone had handed me
—and the one I've long hoped to place into the hands of others.
Why I Wrote This Book
When it comes to meditation, many of us begin with mindfulness. It’s a vital starting point, but eventually, we find ourselves wanting to go deeper.
This is often where the path gets difficult.
Teaching can suddenly feel overwhelming, overly intellectual, or like they simply weren’t written for someone living a modern, busy life.
There is a gap between this initial step and the profound depth of tradition — I believe we need a way to bridge these sides that doesn’t require watering the teachings down.
Our community needs an accessible way to connect ancient practices with modern life.
Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our Kickstarter supporters, Wake Up Sleepy Buddha is now becoming a reality.
Bridging Two Worlds
For nearly thirty years, I've lived with one foot in traditional Buddhist practice and one foot in modern psychology. Throughout that time, I've watched people fall in love with mindfulness—only to discover that going deeper often feels confusing, inaccessible, or disconnected from modern life.
My work has become a kind of cultural translation: helping preserve the depth of traditional Buddhist teachings while making them understandable, practical, and alive for ordinary people.
"With warmth, humor, and practical wisdom, Noel makes meditation and Buddhist insights approachable for true beginners."
— Paula, Chicago
Wake Up Sleepy Buddha grew out of those conversations.
It brings together decades of practice, study, teaching, and clinical work, shaped by the generosity of my own teachers and distilled into a practical guide that people can return to again and again.
My hope is simple: to faithfully honor the depth of the Buddhist tradition while making these profound teachings approachable, experiential, and genuinely useful in everyday life.
Here are a few pages from the actual book.
Take a look inside…
Spanning more than 650 pages, Wake Up Sleepy Buddha is richly illustrated and thoughtfully designed to make profound Buddhist teachings feel approachable, engaging, and practical.
Illustrations, diagrams, reflection questions, guided practices, and contemporary psychological perspectives work together to make complex traditions easier to understand without diminishing their depth.
Take a look inside…
Wake Up Sleepy Buddha isn't simply a book to read.
It's a book to practice with.
My hope is that it becomes a trusted companion on the path—one you return to again and again as your understanding deepens and your practice continues to evolve.
Rather than gathering dust on a shelf, I hope it becomes dog-eared, highlighted, written in, and well loved.
Read a Chapter: Buddha Nature
Enjoy a preview of Chapter 5 from Wake Up Sleepy Buddha, featuring the book's illustrated pages.
It Takes A Village
This book has been shaped by a remarkable group of artists, editors, designers, photographers, advisors, and publishing professionals. Each has cared for a different part of the journey, and the book is immeasurably better because of their generosity, talent, and craftsmanship
Robert Cocuzzo
Publishing Partner
Rob offered guidance, encouragement, and a path to making this a reality.
Robert Beer
Traditional Buddhist Art
Renowned artist and author whose intricate illustrations of Tibetan Buddhist iconography have helped bring the richness and symbolism of these traditions to audiences around the world.
Lama Tsering Ngodup Yodsampa
Teacher & Foreward Author
Noel's first dharma teacher and enduring source of guidance and encouragement throughout this project.
Your Support Matters
This book has been carried here by teachers, friends, students, artists,
and practice communities over many years.
While only one name appears on the cover,
it is the product of a much larger community and a lineage of generosity.
Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our Kickstarter supporters,
Wake Up Sleepy Buddha is becoming a reality.
I'm deeply grateful to everyone who has helped carry these teachings one step further.
The manuscript is complete, the illustrations and design are coming together beautifully, and thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our Kickstarter supporters, Wake Up Sleepy Buddha is now in the final stages of production and preparing to go to print.
Choosing to publish independently has allowed me to assemble a remarkable team of people whose craftsmanship I deeply trust. Together, we've been able to create the book exactly as it was envisioned—without compromising its voice, its artwork, or its purpose.
More than anything, I hope Wake Up Sleepy Buddha becomes a companion that people return to for years to come.
Because this book isn't simply about understanding Buddhist ideas.
it’s about how we show up in our lives,
how we suffer,
how we care for each other,
and what it means to actually wake up in the middle of this very human life.
Alannah DiBona
Amanda Maurier
Amanda Shields
Amelia C English
Anne Ryder
April Kaiserlian
Aurelia Palubeckas
Barbara Kavanagh
Bernard Ravina
Billy & Lindy Fitzgerald
Brett W. Newkirk
Brian R Ellis
Bryan Welch
Bryan Wood
Cara Hamilton
Carly Burton
Chase Brooks
Christian Sheppard
Christine Kazlousky
Christine Maclean
Christopher McCarthy
D'Arcy Lyness
Dale Savit
Dana Foresythe
Meet Our Supporters
Made Possible By You
With deep gratitude to the community of Kickstarter supporters whose generosity helped bring Wake Up Sleepy Buddha into the world.
Daniel Max
David Brockett
Deb and David Stringham
Derek Loomis
Dino Cattaneo
Donor C-137
Dr. Susan Birne-Stone
Emme Duncan &
Graham Gauthier
Eric Russ
Gabbi Stienstra
Hafer Family
Haven Sarah Ripley Daniels
Heather Cronin
Ivan & Rory Acheson
Ivory King
J
James Anderson
James Hudspeth
Jared Merrell
Jason Adamic
Jim Viera
John Grund
Julia MacMahon
Karen Mosman
Karina Bergevin
Karl Minster
Kate Leighton
Kathy Zandi
Keith Zimmerman
Krista Bucher
Krysta M. Hendrix
Laura Bee
Lauren Lu
Linda & Robert Coakley
Lisa
Liza García
Luradel Press
Marcyline Bailey
Maria Mitchell
Matt Gandurski
Matthew Thomas
MauiHeart
Megan Pitts
Mike Sullivan
Mo Hagar
Ophi
Pat Gilbert
Paul Rodine
Peter Mullen
Peter Roy
Phil & Sarah Naslund
René Fay
Robert Asuncion
Sabrina Didado Czerwinski
Sammy
Sarah Lowell Harmon
Sean Gavin
Serena Malkani
Shea & Liz Coakley
Sherry copeland
Sonia Martins
Sooz
Susan Layden
The McGaughey Family
The Oliveira Schmidheiny family
Tiffany Ely
Tom + Rachael Crosby
Tom Gibbons
Walker Young
Wes Peters
William Fink