This book's groundbreaking Cardiac Wellness Program uses relaxation response techniques, nutrition, and exercise to reduce cholesterol, blood pressure, and other risk factors for heart disease.
A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats spans the decades between the 1950s and the present. When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the reader’s belief in the power of love to move mountains.
A “heroic” biography of John Cage and his “awakening through Zen Buddhism”—“a kind of love story” about a brilliant American pioneer of the creative arts who transformed himself and his culture (The New York Times) Composer John Cage sought the silence of a mind at peace with itself—and found it in Zen Buddhism, a spiritual path that changed both his music and his view of the universe. “Remarkably researched, exquisitely written,” Where the Heart Beats weaves together “a great many threads of cultural history” (Maria Popova, Brain Pickings) to illuminate Cage’s struggle to accept himself and his relationship with choreographer Merce Cunningham. Freed to be his own man, Cage originated exciting experiments that set him at the epicenter of a new avant-garde forming in the 1950s. Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, Allan Kaprow, Morton Feldman, and Leo Castelli were among those influenced by his ‘teaching’ and ‘preaching.’ Where the Heart Beats shows the blossoming of Zen in the very heart of American culture.
The sequel to the international best-selling novel The Art of Hearing Heartbeats. Almost ten years have passed since Julia Win came back from Burma, her father’s native country. Though she is a successful Manhattan lawyer, her private life is at a crossroads; her boyfriend has recently left her and she is, despite her wealth, unhappy with her professional life. Julia is lost and exhausted. One day, in the middle of an important business meeting, she hears a stranger’s voice in her head that causes her to leave the office without explanation. In the following days, her crisis only deepens. Not only does the female voice refuse to disappear, but it starts to ask questions Julia has been trying to avoid. Why do you live alone? To whom do you feel close? What do you want in life? Interwoven with Julia’s story is that of a Burmese woman named Nu Nu who finds her world turned upside down when Burma goes to war and calls on her two young sons to be child soldiers. This spirited sequel, like The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, explores the most inspiring and passionate terrain: the human heart.
“A stunning accomplishment. This story pierces the heart.” —Chicago Sun-Times RUN RUN RUN. That’s what twelve-year-old Annie loves to do. When she’s barefoot and running, she can hear her heart beating…thump-THUMP, thump-THUMP. It’s a rhythm that makes sense in a year when everything’s shifting: Her mother is pregnant, her grandfather is forgetful, and her best friend, Max, is always moody. Everything changes over time, just like the apple Annie’s been assigned to draw a hundred times. Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech masterfully weaves this tender and intuitive story told in free verse about a young girl beginning to understand the many rhythms of life, and how she fits within them. Named one of the New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing “Tenderhearted. Vintage Creech. Its richness lies in its sheer simplicity.” —School Library Journal (starred review) “The story soars as Annie’s feet fly.” —Bookpage
Many people in Great Britain and the United States can recall elderly relatives who remembered long stretches of verse learned at school decades earlier, yet most of us were never required to recite in class. Heart Beats is the first book to examine how poetry recitation came to assume a central place in past curricular programs, and to investigate when and why the once-mandatory exercise declined. Telling the story of a lost pedagogical practice and its wide-ranging effects on two sides of the Atlantic, Catherine Robson explores how recitation altered the ordinary people who committed poems to heart, and changed the worlds in which they lived. Heart Beats begins by investigating recitation's progress within British and American public educational systems over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and weighs the factors that influenced which poems were most frequently assigned. Robson then scrutinizes the recitational fortunes of three short works that were once classroom classics: Felicia Hemans's "Casabianca," Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard," and Charles Wolfe's "Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna." To conclude, the book considers W. E. Henley's "Invictus" and Rudyard Kipling's "If--," asking why the idea of the memorized poem arouses such different responses in the United States and Great Britain today. Focusing on vital connections between poems, individuals, and their communities, Heart Beats is an important study of the history and power of memorized poetry.
Who are we? What defines us? Is it our individual experiences, emotions, and decisions? The interaction of the heart and brain is essential to our ability to make conscious decisions, with the heart sending signals to the brain that influence our feelings and emotions. So, experiences that affect our heartbeats can therefore modify the results of our brain processes, including decision-making. Heart on the Brain is a reflection on what it means to be human, a discussion of the scientific evidence for the heart's influence on the brain, and a guide to listening to both in order to make better decisions and be the person we aim to be.
The secret to a good life is not what you think. Most of us have been raised to believe that we can solve any problem if we think about it hard enough. We spend years honing our intellect, knowing that our brains are our best line of defense against whatever roadblocks life throws us. But each and every one of us has a secret weapon to call upon when brainpower isn’t enough, and that is Heart. Amy Bloch discovered the power of heart quite by accident. An accomplished psychiatrist, fully in control of her professional and family life, Amy was dealt what she thought was a devastating, insurmountable set-back when her daughter Emily was born with a severe brain malformation. Amy tried desperately to “fix” Emily, and exhausted herself in her efforts to deal with the “problem” using her intellect, going at it brain-first—the default way we tend to approach challenges in our society. Emily, on the other hand, lives completely heart-first: she simply doesn’t have the capabilities to approach life brain-first. Yet to Amy’s initial surprise—and ultimately, to her great admiration—Emily is remarkably happy and successful. The Power of Heart is the distillation of what Emily taught Amy—lessons that are applicable to anyone’s life. Learning to be Emily’s mom and observing how Emily approaches life prompted a radical change in Amy’s life. It also transformed her work with patients in her professional practice, where she witnessed over and over again how getting out of brain and into heart made life deeper and richer, less stressful, and more meaningful. While the brain is amazing, powerful, and useful, it does come with limitations. There’s some stuff the brain just doesn’t know, which is where heart comes in. Tapping into heart helps your brain perform better, and makes you stronger and smarter than you will ever be trusting only your brain. Heart will allow you to live with uncertainty; find strength, resilience, courage, and persistence in tough times; cast off self-criticism and doubt, and have a lot more confidence and fun. The Power of Heart is for readers of all ages and walks of life who are ready to move beyond the brain-first strategy, and embrace heart as well.
With Mindful Birthing, Nancy Bardacke, nurse-midwife and mindfulness teacher, lays out her innovative program for pregnancy, childbirth, and beyond. Drawing on groundbreaking research in neuroscience, mindfulness meditation, and mind/body medicine, Bardacke offers practices that will help you find calm and ease during this life-changing time, providing lifelong skills for healthy living and wise parenting. SOME OF THE BENEFITS OF MINDFUL BIRTHING: Increases confidence and decreases fear of childbirth Taps into deep inner resources for working with pain Improves couple communication, connection, and cooperation Provides stress-reducing skills for greater joy and wellbeing
Heartwarming historical fiction from a bestselling favorite set in the heartland just before WWI; friends who grew up in an orphanage long for home and find love.