Nature and the Human Soul

Since 1980, depth psychologist Bill Plotkin has been guiding women and men into the wilderness - the redrock canyons and snow-crested mountains of the American West - but also into the wilds of the soul. He calls this work soulcraft. There's a great longing in all people to uncover the secrets and mysteries of our individual lives, to find the unique gift we were born to bring to our communities, and to experience our full membership in the more-than-human world.

In this special 25th anniversary edition of Thomas Moore's best-selling book, Care of the Soul, listeners are presented with a revolutionary approach to thinking about daily life - everyday activities, events, problems, and creative opportunities - and a therapeutic lifestyle is proposed that focuses on looking more deeply into emotional problems and learning how to sense sacredness in even ordinary things.

The challenges we face can be difficult even to think about. Climate change, the depletion of oil, economic upheaval, and mass extinction together create a planetary emergency of overwhelming proportions. Active Hope shows us how to strengthen our capacity to face this crisis so that we can respond with unexpected resilience and creative power.

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Rising Strong, written and read by Brené Brown. The physics of vulnerability is simple: if we are brave enough often enough, we will fall. This is a book about what it takes to get back up and how owning our stories of disappointment, failure and heartbreak gives us the power to write a daring new ending. Struggle can be our greatest call to courage and Rising Strong our clearest path to deeper meaning, wisdom and hope.

How can we discover this perfect, somatic knowing? It begins by removing the blockages that manifest mentally, emotionally, and physically. Join Reggie Ray as he presents the practice of pure awareness in nine guided, sequential sessions that lead to the direct experience of our true nature. Emphasizing deep relaxation, the power in the lower belly, opening the central channel, and the significance of posture, Reggie helps us unfold ever-subtler realizations of our capacities to love and heal.

As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers.

In the first half of life, we are naturally preoccupied with establishing ourselves; climbing, achieving, and performing. But as we grow older and encounter challenges and mistakes, we need to see ourselves in a different and more life-giving way. This message of falling down - that is in fact moving upward - is the most resisted and counterintuitive of messages in the world's religions. Falling Upward offers a new paradigm for understanding one of the most profound of life's mysteries: how those who have fallen down are the only ones who understand "up".

'True belonging doesn't require us to change who we are. It requires us to be who we are.' Social scientist Brené Brown, PhD, LMSW has sparked a global conversation about the experiences that bring meaning to our lives - experiences of courage, vulnerability, love, belonging, shame and empathy. In Braving the Wilderness, Brown redefines what it means to truly belong in an age of increased polarisation.

How do trees live? Do they feel pain or have awareness of their surroundings? Research is now suggesting trees are capable of much more than we have ever known. In The Hidden Life of Trees, forester Peter Wohlleben puts groundbreaking scientific discoveries into a language everyone can relate to.

Shaman, meaning 'intermediary between spirit and the natural world', has become a much overused word in the West. It's not a job title one can give oneself, and in indigenous societies, a shaman is usually born to this role. Ya'Acov Darling Khan is one of the few westerners who have been acknowledged as shamans by indigenous elders or teachers.

Come to the stage between two worlds - come to the Theatre of the Imagination. On this six-part live performance series, bestselling author and beloved cantadora (keeper of the old stories), Clarissa Pinkola Estes shares the work of her lifetime: myths, tales and poetry with the power to nourish and heal. Contained within the audio for Theater of the Imagination are the great univeral themes - tales of loss and ressurection, of love and sacrifice; of the courage to survive- yet it is if Dr. Estes is speaking only to you.

Pema Chödrön's perennially best-selling classic on overcoming life's difficulties cuts to the heart of spirituality and personal growth, and makes for a perfect addition to one's spiritual library. Drawing from traditional Buddhist wisdom, she offers life-changing tools for transforming suffering and negative patterns into habitual ease and boundless joy.

Best-selling author Starhawk has reached across barriers of skepticism and orthodoxy to initiate thousands into the practice of authentic magic, the ability to tap the ever-present enchantment of our world. On Earth Magic, listeners now have an unprecedented opportunity to hear this legendary figure in Wiccan and Pagan spirituality teach rituals for connecting to and channeling the elemental forces of nature.

Since its release in 1949, The Hero with a Thousand Faces has influenced millions of readers by combining the insights of modern psychology with Joseph Campbell's revolutionary understanding of comparative mythology. In this book, Campbell outlines the Hero's Journey, a universal motif of adventure and transformation that runs through virtually all of the world's mythic traditions. He also explores the Cosmogonic Cycle, the mythic pattern of world creation and destruction.

In When the Body Says No, physician and writer Gabor Maté explores the mind-body link and the connection between stress and disease. Can a person literally die of loneliness? Is there a relationship between the ability to express emotions and Alzheimer’s disease? Is there such a thing as a “cancer personality?” Drawing on scientific research and years of experience as a practicing physician, Maté provides answers to these and other important questions.