When the Heart Breaks

"In the middle of the road of my life I awoke in a dark wood, where the true way was wholly lost." When you find yourself suddenly without bearings, as Dante Alighieri voiced so well centuries ago, where will you look for guidance? Throughout the ages, teaches David Whyte, the language of poetry has held a special power to hazard ourselves boldly at the "fierce edges" of our lives. On Midlife and the Great Unknown, you will engage with poetic imagination as it was meant to be experienced.

The human soul is hungry for beauty; we seek it everywhere in landscape, music, art, clothes, furniture, gardening, companionship, love, religion, and in ourselves. When we experience the Beautiful, there is a wonderful sense of homecoming; we feel fully alive. Our lives become illuminated, and behind the shudder of appearances we come to glimpse the sure form of things. On Beauty: The Invisible Embrace, Irish poet and philosopher John O'Donohue invites us to remember and to awaken the Beautiful.

Have you ever felt that your life was guided by larger forces? Unseen but very real energies that influence every direction your life takes? In her renowned work as a medical intuitive, Caroline Myss examined the patterns of hundreds of archetypes that exist in human consciousness, and found that each of us has a "sacred support team" of 12 primary archetypes. Once identified, these archetypes allow you to discover your highest purpose, what she calls your "Sacred Contract".

'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.

Following the success of At Blackwater Pond, this second CD from best-selling poet Mary Oliver contains a selection of 37 previously published poems and four as yet uncollected, read by the poet in her steady, magnetic voice. Oliver recites from the full range of her poetry - from her classic nature writing, to her verses for her mischievous bichon Percy, to her ever-deepening spiritual poems. Many Miles will be a most welcome addition to the collections of her fans.

In To Bless the Space Between Us, O'Donohue presents an adaptation of his thought-provoking book of the same title, providing comfort and insights to illuminate the passage of our life path.

What is love? Sharon Salzberg believes that love is a powerful healing force for us all and that modern associations with romance and adoration are limiting. By redefining love, she helps us to recognize our desire for happiness and enhance our connections with each other. Real Love is a creative toolkit of mindfulness exercises and meditation techniques that can help you to truly engage with your present experience and create deeper love relationships - with yourself, your partner, friends and family, and life itself.

Dr. Brown defines spirituality as something not reliant on religion, theology, or dogma - rather, it is a belief in our interconnectedness and in a loving force greater than ourselves. Whether you access the sacred through traditional worship, solitary meditation, communion with nature, or creative pursuits, one thing is clear: Rising strong after falling is a spiritual practice that brings a sense of perspective, meaning, and purpose to our lives.

Our bodies are mere outlines of a vast and complex interior world, a landscape of contradiction and immense mystery. This Celtic view of the human condition predates Christianity yet survives to this day as part of Ireland's unique spiritual tradition. In The Inner Landscape, poet and Catholic scholar John O'Donohue explores the themes of self-exile and hardship and the Celtic way of welcoming paradox and finding precious light in the darkest valleys of our inner terrain.

Drawing from her work as a psychoanalyst and cantadora (keeper of old stories), Dr. Estes uses myths and folktales to illustrate how societies systematically strip away the feminine spirit. Through an exploration into the nature of the wild woman archetype, Dr. Estes helps listeners rediscover and free their own wild nature.

In The Invisible World, scholar and poet John O'Donohue recovers Celtic spirituality's original mysteries, sharing practices and beliefs that enrich Ireland and its people to this day. For the Celts all life was sacred, yet they reserved their greatest reverence not for what they could see but for what they could not. Around them they sensed an "invisible world", the great unknown from which they came and the source of eternal wonder in their lives.

On Nonviolent Communication, this renowned peacemaker presents his complete system for speaking our deepest truths, addressing our unrecognized needs and emotions, and honoring those same concerns in others. With this adaptation of the best-selling book of the same title, Marshall Rosenberg teaches in his own words.

Robert Bly - one of the most compelling mythologists and storytellers of our time - captures the imagination in two live recordings. In The Human Shadow, Bly takes us on a thought provoking and entertaining journey exploring our "shadow" through poetry, music, and storytelling. What Stories Do We Need? reminds us that the mythology we have inherited is often defective. Just as the church refused to accept the reality Galileo saw in his telescope, literalists have removed the dark soul images that nourished our ancestors from mythology.

As a child growing up in a family of cantadoras (keepers of the old stories) Clarissa Pinkola Estes learned first hand how a stroy told at bedtime can soothe away the troubles of the day and prepare the way for another night's dreams to follow. Now a beloved cantadora herself, Estes shares this treasured family tradition with you on Bedtime Stories, her own special collection of tales to relax and ease you to sleep.

James Hillman was a past master of alchemical psychology. This field uses metaphors derived from ancient alchemy to elucidate deep structures in the creative imagination. Creative processes are not random. By studying alchemical psychology we come to understand ourselves and other humans in surprising ways that frequently diverge sharply from the habitual understandings we have unconsciously absorbed from the cultures in which we were raised.