Inprint - New Books of interest by Jeanne Spiro

The Lazy Dog’s Guide to Enlightenment by Andrea Hurst & Beth Wilson, Photographs by Zachary Folk. ( New World Library, $12.95, Hardcover.)

Enlightenment doesn’t always come in the form we expect. It need not appear as a self-styled guru or a complicated theory measuring some mysterious quality. Sometimes it’s as close as the chocolate Lab bounding happily through the backyard or the lovable terrier contentedly curled up in one’s lap.

The Lazy Dog’s Guide to Enlightenment contains distinctive black and white photos of dogs with captions of down-to-earth spiritual wisdom from dogs to us, their often confused humans. In the foreward to this examination of enlightenment, Dr. Bernie Siegel sums it up by saying that, “Dogs are healers. They are enlightened. They seem to have figured out how to live beautifully so much better than we humans have. While we struggle to figure out why we were put here on Earth, all a dog wants is to love and be loved–– a powerful lesson for us all.”

Inspired by the 1980s underground classic The Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment, this charming collection offers a romp through canine philosophy and celebrates the simple wisdom and that special combination of natural earthiness and subtle spirituality that characterizes humankind’s best friends.

Dying was the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me: Stories of Healing and Wisdom Along Life’s Journey by William E. Hablitzel, M.D. (Sunshine Ridge Publishing, $24.95, Hardcover.)

There are moments in life powerful enough to change us instantly and forever. Far too often, though, these special moments come when we aren’t aware enough to notice, lost in the dramas of yesterday or our plans for tomorrow. Although physicians are entrusted with the lives of their patients, lives often filled with incredible stories of healing and wisdom, they often miss these moments.

In Dying was the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me, Dr. William Hablitzel, a practicing physician and medical educator, shares stories of inspiration from his patients’ lives. He balances details of the medical world with more humanistic elements–– the importance of friends and family, staying in the moment, and giving of one’s self. These stories tell the secrets of lives filled with meaning and of extraordinary journeys. In an overworked and perpetually stressed society, his carpe diem message has a universal appeal; one that will help us navigate the challenges of our human experience.

Floor Sample: A Creative Memoir by Julia Cameron. (Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penquin, $14.95, Paperback.)

Julia Cameron is the first to admit that hers has been a turbulent life. From her parents’ mental illnesses and a failed early marriage to the young Martin Scorsese to a lifelong battle with alcohol and health crises, Cameron has seen more that her share of tough times. But just one glance at her impressive list of accomplishments also reveals an incredibly creative and prolific life.

She has been a novelist, screenwriter, and playwright, as well as teacher, songwriter, and poet. While forging a successful career writing screenplays and television scripts, magazine articles, and short stories, she published twenty-three books. And if that weren’t enough, she also inaugurated the creative recovery movement, helping others tap creative inspiration using her own life as a “floor sample.” Here she recounts the dramatic and sometimes explosive events that have fueled her imagination. It is a candid a chronicle of a remarkable life.

Raw and unflinching, Floor Sample is no garden-variety memoir. It is the startling inside story of one woman’s courageous effort to realize her artistic potential despite a lifetime of upheaval, illness, and heartbreak. From her earliest days as a Rolling Stone reporter to her emergence as a guru of the creative recovery movement, Cameron figured out how to transcend chaos in order to fulfill her creative dreams. The result was, and continues to be, an artistically productive and deeply satisfying life.

You’re A Miracle…Pass It On!: A Kid’s Guide to a Better World by Monica Dougherty (Trafford Publishing, $12.00, Paperback.)

Today’s kids are the creators of tomorrow’s world. To create a better future, they need to learn about the planet they live on and about each other. You’re a Miracle...Pass It On! provides some of the tools needed to make that a reality by connecting them to their own miraculous power: the joy that comes from sharing laughter and service to others, the knowledge and empowerment that comes from learning about the past, the strength that comes from compassion to self and others, the life-long and life-enhancing power of creativity, the harmony that comes from caring for the planet, and the peace that comes from celebrating all people, all nations, and all cultures.

Each chapter in You’re a Miracle… contains short biographies and photos of diverse and inspiring people such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Patch Adams, Jane Addams, Chief Seattle, John F. Kennedy, Gandhi, Anne Frank, and others, grouped by contribution. Suggestions for further reading and sections on what you can do are included as well as contact information about organizations, many of which were founded by children.

Packed with powerful information, it will challenge kids to step up and make a difference in the world by facilitating awareness, presenting positive values, offering motivation and inspirations and calling them to action. When you know something exists and how it works, you can make it real in your life and pass it on!

Mastering Life’s Energies: Simple Steps to a Luminous Life at Work and Play by Maria Nemeth, Ph.D. (New World Library, $15.95, Paperback.)

Everyone has had luminous moments, those instances when we experience the beauty and grace of life, whether we’re looking into the eyes of a newborn or watching the sun set over the ocean. But those moments are usually brief and difficult to consciously create.

Many of us have been successful in attaining personal and professional goals, but we’re too exhausted to enjoy what we’ve accomplished. Or we might walk around in a fog, feeling vaguely frustrated, resigned, or cynical and asking all the wrong questions about how to make our lives better. In either case, we miss the purpose of being alive: to wake up and fully become ourselves, to allow others to contribute to us, and in turn to contribute our gifts to the world, fully savoring the journey along the way.

Mastering Life’s Energies gives us specific methods for bringing luminosity into our lives on a consistent basis, allowing us to view the world with much younger, more vibrant eyes. It shows us how to use all the energies of our lives–– physical vitality, creativity, time, money, enjoyment, and relationship–– to realize our goals and dreams, and even more important, live a luminous life, filled with possibility and promise.

Born A Healer by Chunyi Lin with Gary Rebstock. ( Spring Forest Publishing, $25.95, Hardcover.)

Qigong is an ancient Chinese healing practice that dates back a least 4,000 years. The principles of Qigong form the basis of all Chinese medicine. Although it takes years to become a Qigong master, you can learn techniques to heal yourself and help others in as little as five minutes.

That’s the surprising message from Qigong Master Chunyi Lin, who teaches ordinary people how to heal and become healers with his brand of Qigong called Spring Forest Qigong. In Born a Healer, Lin shows how to manipulate and transform energy in the body using a handful of simple breathing exercises, movements, meditations, sounds, and healing techniques. By practicing these basic tools, you can notice measurable changes in your energy and health right away. He differs from many other Qigong masters in his passionate belief that Qigong is not hard to learn and that it takes minutes not decades to learn techniques that will make a difference in your health. He also believes that helping others heal is even simpler than learning the Qigong exercises.

With clear instructions and photographs illustrating proper form, Lin shows readers how to do the three basic exercises, one key meditation, and the Sword Fingers Technique for healing. Although they won’t turn you into a Qigong master, these introductory exercises and techniques are all you need to know to help relive stress, experience more mental clarity and physical energy, and transform illness into wellness.

Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief by David Winston and Steven Maimes. (Inner Traditions., $18.95, Paperback.)

We all deal with stress every day, and every day our bodies strive to adapt and stay balanced and healthy. Adaptogens provides a comprehensive look into nontoxic herbs such as ginseng, eleuthero, and licorice that produce a defensive response to stress in our bodies. These rejuvenating herbs and tonics help the body to adapt to the many influences it encounters. They increase stamina and counter the normal effects of aging and thus are becoming important tools in sports medicine and in the prevention and treatment of chronic fatigue and other stress-related disorders.

Authors David Winston and Steven Maimes present the historical uses of these herbal remedies in India , Russia , china, and the Americas , and explain how they work and why they are so effective at combating stress-induced illness. Monographs for each adaptogen also present the latest scientific research and include the origin, traditional use, actions, properties, preparation, and dosage for each herb.