New Books in Spiritual Practice and Mindfulness

In this episode, we chat with Dr. James Smith, a professor of philosophy at Calvin University about his most recent book How to Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now (Brazos Press, 2022). This text encourages us to cultivate the spiritual discipline of memento tempori, a temporal awareness of the Spirit's presence -- indebted to a past, oriented toward the...

With more than twenty years of experience as one of Australia’s foremost life coaches, bestselling author Shannah Kennedy describes her approach to living your best life in The Life Plan, a workbook that gives you a collection of simple strategies designed to build your confidence, prioritize your goals, and make your dreams a reality in a changing world. Do you want to change your life? Do you fi...

The Seven Circles: Indigenous Teachings for Living Well, by Chelsey Luger and Thosh Collins, was published by HarperOne in 2022. In this honest and intentional book, Luger and Collins takes us out of capitalism and into indigenous territory to learn what true wellness means. In this revolutionary self-help guide, two beloved Native American wellness activists offer wisdom for achieving spiritual,...

A young philosopher and Guinness World Record holder in pull-ups argues that the key to happiness is not goal-driven striving but forging a life that integrates self-possession, friendship, and engagement with nature. What is the meaning of the good life? In Happiness in Action: A Philosopher's Guide to the Good Life (Harvard UP, 2022), Adam Adatto Sandel draws on ancient and modern thinkers and o...

The Gift of Rumi: Experiencing the Wisdom of the Sufi Master (St. Martin’s Press, 2022), written by Dr. Emily Jane O’Dell was published by St. Martin’s Press in 2022. In this rich and insightful book, Dr. O’Dell takes us through her own spiritual and physical travels, as well as gives us historical and Islamic mystic context to help us understand and cherish the words of Rumi on a deeper level. As...

Buddhism and psychotherapy have been in conversation since the days of Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, and Erich Fromm. Today, when practices drawn from Buddhism have entered the mainstream, that conversation continues in multiple dimensions. In Prescribing the Dharma: Psychotherapists, Buddhist Traditions, and Defining Religion (University of North Carolina Press, 2019), Ira Helderman looks at the ways...

This intimate and insightful account of the life of Dr. Harry (Hari) Dickman, referred to by Swami Sivananda as “the yogi of the West,” features more than fifty years of correspondence between Dickman and well-known yoga masters such as Swami Sivananda, Ramana Maharshi, Paramhansa Yogananda, and almost one hundred others. Marion (Mugs) McConnell, Dickman’s student, has created a brilliant and lovi...

Tracey Meyers' book Yin Yoga Therapy and Mental Health: An Integrated Approach (Singing Dragon, 2022) teaches yoga therapists and mental health professionals how to integrate Yin Yoga into practice and treatment plans as part of a holistic approach to healing and treating a variety of mental health challenges and brain injuries. Yin yoga is an accessible form of yoga consisting of mainly floor bas...

An inspiring approach to a happier, more fulfilling life through Sikh teachings on love and service.  As a boy growing up in South Texas, Simran Jeet Singh and his brothers confronted racism daily: at school, in their neighborhood, playing sports, and later in college and beyond. Instead, Singh delved deep into the Sikh teachings that he grew up with and embraced the lessons to seek the good in ev...

Mark Coleman has taught meditation retreats and trainings worldwide for twenty years. He is the founder of the Mindfulness Institute and Awake in the Wild Programs. A senior teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, he lives in Northern California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm...

Ben Connelly is a Minneapolis-based Soto Zen teacher in the Katagiri-lineage. He offers a wide variety of secular mindfulness trainings, including for police departments, corporate settings, correctional facilities, and addiction recovery groups. He teaches at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center and is the author of Inside the Grass Hut, Inside Vasubandhu’s Yogacara, and most recently Mindfulness...

Hello, this is Eric LeMay, a host on the New Books Network. Today I interview Sarah Durham Wilson, whose new book Maiden to Mother: Unlocking Our Archetypal Journey into the Mature Feminine (Sounds True, 2022) is a reclamation and celebration of women, women’s power, and the possibilities for women’s lives outside of limitations imposed by our patriarchal culture. Wilson seeks to unearth a sacred,...

Today I interview Richard Schwartz. His friends know him as Dick. And while this is my first time speaking with him, I can’t help but feel friendly toward him. Dick is the creator of Internal Family Systems or IFS, an extraordinary and paradigm-shifting therapeutic model that changes not only the way we envision healing, but also the person being healed. Full disclosure: I am currently working wit...

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...

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Why doing writing and other kinds of retreats are part of the hidden curriculum How taking time for self-care is crucial to doing well at work and at school What a retreat is How to do a retreat at home Ways retreating helps you think and feel better, and the science that proves it Today’s book is: DIY Solo Retreats: A Handbook for C...

Deborah Eden Tull, founder of Mindful Living Revolution, teaches the integration of compassionate awareness into every aspect of our lives. She is a Zen meditation and mindfulness teacher, public speaker, author, activist, and sustainability educator. She trained for seven years as a Buddhist monk at a silent Zen monastery in Northern California, and she has been traveling to, living in, or teachi...

Are you curious about Buddhism but find yourself met with scholarly texts or high-minded moralizing every time you try to pick up a book about it? Well, if so, relax. This is no ordinary introduction to Buddhism; there are none of the saccharine platitudes and dense pontification that you may have come to expect. Buddhish: A Guide to the 20 Most Important Buddhist Ideas for the Curious and Skeptic...

Today I talked to Karen Joy Hardwick about her book The Connected Leader: 7 Strategies to Empower Your True Self and Inspire Others (Post Hill Press, 2021). We are not leaders having a leadership crisis. We are leaders having a human being crisis. Connection is the antidote to this crisis—yet, many of us do not know how to connect to ourselves in a rigorously honest, self-compassionate way that en...

A remarkable exploration of the therapeutic relationship, Dr. Mark Epstein reflects on one year’s worth of therapy sessions with his patients to observe how his training in Western psychotherapy and his equally long investigation into Buddhism, in tandem, led to greater awareness—for his patients, and for himself For years, Dr. Mark Epstein kept his beliefs as a Buddhist separate from his work as...

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: The science that explains our busy minds What mindfulness is The difference between mindfulness and meditation How changing our habits is a small-step by small-step process A discussion of the book Bettter Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact Today’s book is: Better Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes wi...

Improve your mental health and well-being through guided journaling It's impossible to avoid stress entirely in the hustle and bustle of modern life--but practicing mindfulness can help you maintain a positive mindset and respond to daily challenges in healthy ways. Elizabeth Cronin's Mindfulness Journal for Mental Health Prompts and Practices to Improve Your Well-Being (Rockridge Press, 2022) is...

The author of The Five Roles of the Master Herder and the bestseller The Tao of Equus, Linda Kohanov speaks and teaches internationally. She established Eponaquest Worldwide to explore the healing potential of working with horses and offer programs on everything from emotional and social intelligence, leadership, stress reduction, and parenting to consensus building and mindfulness. Her main websi...

52 Ways to Walk: The Surprising Science of Walking for Wellness and Joy, One Week at a Time (G. P. Putnam’s Sons; On Sale February 22, 2022), is a first-of-its-kind guide that blends cutting-edge research with an avid walker’s pragmatic how-to advice. This is the book for everyone—new walkers, seasoned walkers, and anyone who wants to boost the benefits of a daily constitutional. Inspirational and...

“Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one.” Voltaire You know too much, yet understand too little. And it’s the same for me, and everyone you and I happen to know. And, so it begins. What follows are a series of posts and audio-casts that respond to this living human condition, bringing together practice materials from non-Buddhism, post-traditional approaches to Budd...

The untimely losses of her brother, her father, and her husband, make this author uniquely qualified to help support you through your loss and grief. She understands that each loss will change one’s life in different ways as she writes about the fears and questions that swirled in her head following each of the deaths in her immediate family. In Chapter nine she focuses on the first loss in the fa...