Between interstates and county lines, life in rural Missouri unfolds in a progression of simple moments that carry the weight of every hard thing gone by. Parker and Melinda are searching for themselves in the hollows of their estranged marriage. Parker, haunted by the demons of addiction, lives every moment at the edge of an undiagnosed disorder - a darkness that steals his awareness and throws him into convulsions. Melinda, on an odyssey of her own, knows Parker's struggles all too well,...

To stretch like a cat or wriggle like a baby in the sheer delight of the body—it's the natural way of all living beings. Yet most of us have spent our lives numbed to the sensual realms of tactile awareness. When the world threatens us, teaches Will Johnson, we learn to tighten our bodies and lose ourselves in thoughts, experiencing our lives at arm's length.But the good news is that what was learned can be unlearned. Awakening the Body is much more than a body-awareness meditation ...

The 25th anniversary edition of the classic, comprehensive guide on meditation posture and how to carry its benefits into everyday life—for practitioners of all skill levelsWhen it comes to meditation practices, the body is as important as the mind—a fact that may come as a surprise to the many people who regard meditation as a strictly mental activity. But, as Will Johnson shows, the physical aspect of the practice is far too often underemphasized. The alert-yet-r...

• Explores the culminating instruction of the Buddha in the Satipatthana Sutta to breathe through the whole body• Teaches you how to alter your physiology to move beyond the static consciousness of mindfulness to a natural, spontaneous state of embodied awareness• Provides instruction and somatic koans for practicing the core principles of radiant mindfulness—awakening the body, liberating the breath, and opening up to vision and soundDrawing on the Buddha’...

The emphasis on the mind in meditation can be somewhat misleading: If we pay attention only to mental processes and overlook the experience of the body, we can remain stuck in our heads and not be able to break free of the involuntary thinking that we find so claustrophobic and toxic. This short, practical guide helps us embrace the fact of our embodiment—the experience of the sensations, movements, and gestures of the body—and to realize that mindfulness is the natural state of awareness ...

Of course that headline is mostly for fun. But, there are definitely advantages to carrying on conversations with your garden. provided you have a garden, of course.We are fast coming to the growing season in the northern hemisphere and to sowing the fruits of your labor in the southern hemisphere. Wherever you hang your hat, there's one thing that's pretty common across this blue marble we all share.Gardening, and gardeners, speak a universal language. Whether you are an e...

A guide to meditative breathing practices in Western religions and how these practices provide a direct experience of God• Reveals how Western spiritual traditions, such as the Book of Genesis, the Jewish teachings of ruach, and the poetry of Rumi, contain hidden instruction for meditative breathing practices• Explains how breathing practices can bring all of us, including Christians, Muslims, and Jews, closer to a direct experience of the palpable presence of God

Erin Osmon presents a detailed, human account of the Rust Belt–born musician Jason Molina—a visionary, prolific, and at times cantankerous singer-songwriter with an autodidactic style that captivated his devoted fans. The songwriting giant behind the bands Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co. had a knack for spinning tales, from the many personal myths he cultivated throughout his life to the poems and ballads he penned and performed. As with too many great musicians, Molina’s complicated...

A literary thriller and love story set during the Nicaraguan revolution, from the National Book Award winner and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist. • Now the basis for a major motion pictureSet in Nicaragua in 1984, The Stars at Noon is a story of passion, fear, and betrayal told in the voice of an American woman whose mission in Central America is as shadowy as her surroundings. Is she a reporter for an American magazine, as she sometimes claims, or a cont...

American master Denis Johnson's nationally bestselling collection of blistering and indelible tales about America's outcasts and wanderers.Denis Johnson's now classic story collection Jesus' Son chronicles a wild netherworld of addicts and lost souls, a violent and disordered landscape that encompasses every extreme of American culture. These are stories of transcendence and spiraling grief, of hallucinations and glories, of getting lost and found and lost...

Sponsored by a grant from the National Science Foundation to the Denver Museum of Natural History. Ever wondered what the ground below you was like millions of years ago? Merging paleontology, geology, and artistry, Ancient Wyoming illustrates scenes from the distant past and provides fascinating details on the flora and fauna of the past 300 million years. The book provides a unique look at Wyoming, both as it is today and as it was throughout ancient history—at times a vast ocea...

Here are two complete audiobooks by Denis Johnson, narrated by Will Patton. Listen to both Train Dreams, and Jesus’ Son, as well as an excerpt from Denis Johnson’s National Book Award-winning Tree of Smoke.In Train Dreams Robert Grainer is a day laborer in the American West at the start of the 20th century—an ordinary man in extraordinary times. Buffeted by the loss of his family, Grainer struggles to make sense of this strange new world. As his ...