Have you ever wondered how a particular organ to be found in everyone's chest, the heart, came to be associated with such qualities as compassion, courage, joy, love, strength and wisdom? Long considered by Western medicine as a physiological function, the qualities of the heart have been perhaps never more comprehensively studied than at the prestigious Institute of HeartMath. In the extensively referenced HeartMath Solution, institute founder Doc Childre and co-author Howard Martin offer the reading public their highly researched teachings of how to respond to self-criticism, agitation, panic -- and very likely the rest of the bugs that say boo! to our well-being.

Whereas visualization, as well as some meditation techniques, are centered in the head, simple conscious control techniques are centered with focus at the heart. It's here that within a brief time we can, with techniques presented in the book, take conscious control of the heartbeat. This results in a change in body chemistry and a greater tolerance for things that we find frustrating (or worse) and "a state in which very low frequency brain waves and heart rhythms are frequency-locked -- that is, entrained. This phenomenon has been associated with significant shifts in perception and heightened intuitive awareness [from the Glossary]." Using the information in The HeartMath Solution can lead one to attain internal coherence: "A deep state of internal self-management in which one generates increased order and harmony in the physical, mental and emotional systems. In this state, the cardiovascular, immune, hormonal and nervous systems function with heightened efficiency. States of internal coherence are associated with reduced emotional reactivity and greater mental clarity, creativity, adaptability and flexibility [Glossary]."

Once again we turn to the wisdom of the ancients, who taught that conscious control of the heart can change the way we respond to what comes our way. A great glossary of terms used in The HeartMath Solution follows the worthy 281 pages. $24, from HarperCollins Publishers.

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by Jeanne Spiro

"It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

"It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive...."

These words are the beginning of a poem written by Oriah Mountain Dreamer after coming home from a party filled with the usual social conversation. Unsettled and disappointed, she sat down late at night and expressed what she really wanted to say to people. Perhaps you have already heard this poem at a workshop, a wedding or other church function. It's going around, often without due credit. It speaks to me and to many others who have heard it. It is a beautiful invitation to "live with deep intimacy every day of your life."

This poem is now the foundation of a book with the same name. Oriah Mountain Dreamer has taken each part of the poem and written a chapter around it. For each verse, she tells stories from her life, expresses what the "desire to live passionately, face-to-face with ourselves and skin-to-skin with the world around us..." looks like. Each chapter ends with a meditation, an exercise that urges us to communicate with ourselves on a deep, soul level.

The Invitation is a good read all on its own. It is written in a longingly beautiful style that fills one with insight and inspiration. To those who "work" the book, do the meditations, I think this will be one of the most important books on their path. (144 pages, $16, HarperSanFrancisco.)

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by John "Bear"Wright

Spring, what a season! Nature literally explodes with possibilities. It's during this season that my attention always falls fondly onto gardening. Throughout my life, the act of gardening has been associated with pleasant memories: tilling the soil at the festive ground-breaking of my sister's first garden, assisting my local conservatory in the physically challenging pulling of an ancient cactus stump from their desert exhibit, and now the cherished time I get to spend with my mother in her garden work. What I have found is that there are many different levels to the gardening experience, leading me to see the myriad of levels that Nature resides on also; and from there, of course, a deeper vision of the layers of life. In hopes of capturing the essence of these multi-levels, I give you three books with three different views on gardens and, in a broader sense, Nature.

I would like to start at the physical act of gardening, the hows and whys of making a special place. There are many, many different books on the subject and each has its own style. One of my personal favorites is Bringing a Garden to Life by Carol Williams ($12.95, 265 pages, Bantam Books), a real peach of a small book. Williams does a very good job of walking you through the maze of setting up and maintaining a beautiful garden. Her focus, though, is not on the finished piece but rather the experience of gardening as an ongoing art form. Thomas Moore captures it well¼"This beautiful book of ordinary wisdom teaches you how to plant, compost and prune, and, along the way, how to live."

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Next, a look at the inspiration a garden can be. "You can't harvest what you don't sow. So plant your desires, gently nurture them, and they will be rewarded with abundance." A great quote from 12 Lessons on Life I Learned from My Garden by Vivian Elisabeth Glyck (120 pages, $14.95, Daybreak Books). Glyck shares with you the insights she gains as her understanding of Nature and its patterns increase through her improving gardening skills. Using the garden as a metaphor for one's personal life can be a very revealing and nurturing way towards a healthier way of being, and through her shared 12 lessons, Glyck shows how just such a transformation occurred for her.

Now, let's wander from the wonders of the physical and inspirational garden to the equally wondrous realm of Spiritual Nature. Nixies, dwarves, elves, salamanders, fairies -- what images of tale and marvel these names bring forth; but as some out there have re-discovered, these folk do not exist simply as metaphors in ancient children's tales but rather as a powerful force linking our planet to its spiritual source.

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Nature Spirits & Elemental Beings: Working with the Intelligence in Nature by Marko Pogacnik is a splendid example of the work being done to reconnect our awareness to these elemental beings and their realm. Pogacnik tells the story of his personal development and connection to the domain of Nature Spirits. He shares with the reader not only his insights and growth but also a clear vision of what unaware human development has done to our planet's delicate spiritual network. In Nature Spirits & Elemental Beings, Pogacnik walks you through his experience with many man-made environmental mistakes of varying levels, and makes it clear how reworking an environment adversely affects its spirit caretakers. A strength of this book is that the author shows the steps that can and should be taken, to help these entities heal and rebuild the flow of an afflicted area.

Pogacnik does assume that his readership has reached a certain level of experience in being on their own path and will understand what he is talking about without further instruction. There are many advanced spiritual concepts dealt with in this book, brought up without detail or instruction. Keeping this in mind, I would not recommend Nature Spirits & Elemental Beings as a beginner's book. But if you have done your prep work and feel you are ready to explore the experiential world of our planet's remarkable society of elemental beings, then I do recommend it as a terrific guide and inspiration for deeper work. (250 pages, $13.96, Findhorn Press.)

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