Search results for ""Author Mark Nepo""

A deeply heartfelt weave of reflections and poems about what it means to live the creative, expressive life. “I cherish the wisdom and embrace the practices offered in this luminous book.” —Mirabai Starr, author of Caravan of No Despair and Wild Mercy “Meaningful art, enduring art—and the transformative process it awakens—keeps us alive,” writes Mark Nepo. With Drinking from the River of Light, this bestselling poet and philosopher will lead you on a journey to discover just how art and authentic expression can bring our deepest truths to bear in the world. In this collection of interconnected essays and poetry—covering subjects ranging from the importance of staying in conversation with other forms of life to a consideration of how innovators such as Matisse, Rodin, and Beethoven saw the world—Nepo presents a lyrical ode to the creative urge that stirs in each of us. Whether it’s the search for a metaphor to reveal life’s beauty or the brushstroke that will thoroughly capture the moment, Drinking from the River of Light examines what it means to go “. . . beyond the boundaries of art, where the viewer and participant are one.” Here you will discover: · The importance of openly embracing the full scope of your emotions · The need for raw honesty and self-exploration in education · Why a new perspective always waits only a “quarter turn” away · The importance of staying in constant conversation with other creative voices · The crucial difference between giving and getting attention · Concrete guidelines for respectful peer review · What it means to channel the sound of your innermost being—and the universe In Nepo’s words, “This book is meant to be experienced and journeyed with.” Including dozens of journaling prompts and personal exercises meant to enliven the reader’s creative instincts, Drinking from the River of Light traces the search for our most essential selves and the importance of the life of expression to bear witness to the sorrow, depth, and joy of life.

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A Reader for Navigating the Depths of Our Lives The Universe holds us and tosses us about, only to hold us again. With Things That Join the Sea and the Sky, Mark Nepo brings us a compelling treasury of short prose reflections to turn to when struggling to keep our heads above water, and to breathe into all of our sorrows and joys. Inspired by his own journal writing across 15 years, this book shares with us some of Mark’s most personal work. Many passages arise from accounts of his own life events—moments of "sinking and being lifted"—and the insights they yielded. Through these passages, we’re encouraged to navigate our own currents of sea and sky, and to discover something fundamental yet elusive: How, simply, to be here. To be enjoyed in many ways—individually, by topic, or as an unfolding sequence—Things That Join the Sea and the Sky presents 145 contemplations gathered into 17 themes, each intended to illuminate specific situations. The themes include: Unraveling Our Fear, Beyond What Goes Wrong, The Gift of Deepening, The Practice of Relationship, What Holds Us Up, Right-Sizing Our Pain, The Reach of Kindness, Burning Off What’s Unnecessary, How We Make Our Way and many more. For those interested in either beginning or expanding their own journaling explorations, this reader also provides a guide to the practice of daily writing, with 100 compelling questions to get us started. "Joy is the sea that holds all," writes Mark, "the Unity of Being where feelings don’t separate, but surface like waves to remind us we are alive." Here, he helps us swim in those waters until we are held in the mystery of their buoyancy.

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A fresh perspective on the art of being alive and essential insight into how we can minimize what stands between us and an authentic experience of life, in the spirit of works by Deepak Chopra and Ram Dass “Once again, Mark Nepo draws us to the heart of what matters. He illuminates love with the light of his own understanding.”—Marianne Williamson In these fast-paced times, the exquisite risk facing each of us every day is to slow down so that we may experience life rather than simply manage it. In The Exquisite Risk, poet and teacher Mark Nepo encourages readers to become quiet enough and open enough to listen to what truly matters—our own hearts, our loved ones, the wonders of nature—in order to live a life with nothing held back.  In rich, lyrical prose, Nepo shares his own spiritual path, including a battle with illness that helped him understand how daring to embrace all t

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Many are familiar with teacher and poet Mark Nepo's books on inner transformation, relationship, and the emergence of purpose in our lives. But less well-known is the journey that shaped his vision as a teacher that began in 1987 when he was diagnosed with cancer. The revelations during that time would inform every dimension of his work to follow. With Inside the Miracle, Mark Nepo shares what he discovered along this challenging terrain, and the insights most essential to those of us who now find ourselves there. The lessons and stories here are for all of us, ill or not, when the inevitable question arises: How do we move through an overwhelming crisis—whether from physical illness, grief, or a major life change—into the rest of our lives? This offering presents in its entirety Nepo's 1994 literary gem Acre of Light, written shortly after his recovery. Here, he expands and enriches its themes with new poems, essays, and teachings gathered in the decades since. Throughout, Mark includes compelling questions and exercises from his popular workshops, to invite us to personalize the experience. What emerges is a reading companion to be explored in many ways: as a memoir, as a "survival kit" of wisdom and verse that helped Mark during his own journey, and as a conversation to spark our own contemplation, journaling, and discovery. "To live in wonder on the other side of suffering and disappointment," reflects Mark Nepo, "is to know how magnificent and fragile it is to be here at all." Inside the Miracle calls us to leap into our lives with tenderness and courage, so we can fully inhabit the miraculous moments that await us.

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Poetry and Inspiration for the Journey of Being Human The infinitely varied journeys of our lives share a common destiny: to be worn of all that is not essential till we are reduced to joy. On Reduced to Joy, bestselling author and poet-philosopher Mark Nepo invites you to join him in a poignant examination of "the gifts and challenges of being a spirit here on Earth," through six captivating sessions that address the vital task of discovering and returning to what matters. Listening to the Teachers Hidden in Every Moment Mark Nepo describes poetry as "the unexpected utterance of the soul." Every poem and by extension every moment can serve as a teacher, if we can attend to it with an open mind and heart. By sharing 56 original poems along with the insights of fellow writers, Mark brings us into our own living conversation with the teachers hidden in everything that we experience, in order to welcome their universal lessons. Over the course of this six-hour program, he reveals the genesis of his own poems, unpacks the stunning insights they hold, and encourages us to reflect both personally and with friends on how these empowering truths show themselves in the poetic revelations of our own lives. There is a Sioux saying that the longest journey you will ever make in your life is from your head to your heart. No one is exempt from this great adventure. With Reduced to Joy, Mark Nepo awaits as your guide to the place "where the glow of your heart touches everything it meets so you can't help but remember how dear it is to be alive." Highlights The Longest Journey—on doing, being, and awakening the source of genius within • To Know By Heart—on moving from depth to surface and "loving your window" • The Art of Facing Things—on the courage to say yes to life again and again • Walking Together—on authentic relationship and expanding the heart's perception • Made from Bone—on the promise of the inner world and our lineage of spirit • The Sublime Disturbance—on that which causes us to live fully in the open

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From the #1 New York Times bestselling author, “a consummate storyteller with a rare gift for making the invisible visible” (Publishers Weekly), this beautifully written spiritual memoir explores the endless ways we can listen for life’s deepest messages.Mark Nepo moved and inspired millions of people with his #1 New York Times bestseller The Book of Awakening, a spiritual day book. Now, in this new exploration of the human journey, Nepo inquires into the endless ways life asks us to listen. Having experienced hearing loss, Nepo affirms that listening is one of the most mysterious, luminous, and challenging art forms: “Whatever difficulty you face, there are time-tried ways you can listen your way through. Because listening is the doorway to everything that matters.” Weaving together memoir and meditation exercises, Nepo offers many ways to listen to life and live more fully. A moving exploration of self, our re

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Embracing the Life of Growth and Transformation "Each of us carries some wisdom waiting to be discovered at the center of our experience, and everything we meet, if faced and held, reveals a part of that wisdom," teaches Mark Nepo. Flames That Light the Heart brings you into the company of the beloved poet and author for a rich conversation on the life of transformation and the heartwork that is required to be a spirit in the world. Teachings and Practices for Making Sense of Our Experience How do we listen to life and not to what life does to us when suffering and loss meet us at every turn? How do we make sense of our experience? "My offering here is to explore these challenges and introduce you to your own wisdom and gifts, to help you personalize the ways you can nourish the spark of life we each carry inside," explains Mark Nepo. In 10 audio sessions, he explores the passages that open us, as well as the skills and ways of being that help us meet the difficulties that life brings us. Join him in this intimate conversation on our shared "growing pains of transformation" and the art of living "as an awakened part in an awakened whole." Highlights: • What it means to be transformed by what we go through • Being true to your own nature • The wisdom of a broken heart • Changing our relationship with fear • The practice of loving what you do • Obstacles as teachers • The peace that abides in every moment • More than five hours of insightful teachings, moving poetry, and practical guidance

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The modern practice of medicine and psychology grew out of the ancient Greek healing tradition, said to be founded by Asklepios, god of healing and dreams. For two thousand years the system spread all over the Mediterranean world and planted the roots of Western medicine and psychology by offering ritual and holistic practices that recognized that healing begins at the soul level. Yet, since that time, the spiritually based practices were cast aside, leaving behind only the scientific medical techniques that dominate healthcare today. Resurrecting and restoring the sacred, mythological, and cultural origins of medicine and psychotherapy, Edward Tick, Ph.D., explores the soul-healing practices missing in our contemporary health systems. He looks at the dream incubation tradition of Asklepios, sacred theatre of Dionysos, oracle gifting of Apollo, special practices of warriors, and their roots in Neolithic shamanism and indigenous traditions. Demonstrating the ritual use of dreams, visions, oracles, synchronicities, and pilgrimage for healing and connecting to the transpersonal and divine, he explains how dream incubation is a technique where you plant a seed for a specific healing or growth goal in order to facilitate dreaming and work toward soul restoration. Using both ancient wisdom and modern depth psychology alongside stories of healings from his more than 25 years of guiding Greek pilgrimages, Tick explores how we can use ancient healing philosophies and practices to achieve holistic healing today. He examines the interaction between mind and body (psyche and soma) and between physical illness and the soul. He explains the art of making accurate and holistic interpretations of signs, symbols, and symptoms to determine what they reveal about the soul. Showing how dreams and other transpersonal experiences are essential components of soul medicine, the author reveals how restoration of the soul facilitates true healing.

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