How does a deeper understanding of the ancient spiritual traditions of India shed new light on our contemporary yoga practice? And what can India’s River Ganges teach us about how to live in a meaningful way? Through photography and personal narrative, Jennifer Prugh documents a series of pilgrimages over the last ten years to spiritually significant locations along India’s Ganges River. The Ganges is India’s most sacred river, winding some 1550 miles from its source, high in the western Himalayas, traveling eastward across the subcontinent to empty out at Sagar Island near Kolkata. The river is also known among Hindus as Mother Ganga, the Goddess. She dissolves sins, drinking her waters cures those who are sick, and dying on her banks ensures freedom from the cycle of life and death. She is a perpetual offering to all who inhabit the Ganges River Valley. What began for the author as simply a trip to India in 2007 to deepen her understanding of her yoga practice became a passionate pursuit to broaden her understanding of the ancient spiritual culture of India, from which modern yoga practice evolved and changed her life. By plane, train, automobile, rickshaw, and on foot, she traveled with camera in tow to many of India’s sacred destinations along the Ganges, from high in the Himalayas at the river’s source at Gangotri, to the great Kumbha Mela festival held in Allahabad, to the cremation ghats in Varanasi. Prugh explores the stories from the heroic epics that provide the backbone for contemporary yoga philosophy, as well as the sacred wisdom that animates India’s spiritual legacy. Part history, part mythology, and part travel narrative, this is a visual and written account of the trials, tribulations, and personal discoveries of an American female yoga practitioner. River of Offerings serves to broaden our understanding of how to live our lives meaningfully, with passion and purpose. A visually compelling and beautiful journey from cover to cover, this book will be a cherished source of inspiration for years to come.

Right now, are you breathing to the best of your ability? This may sound like an odd question, but breathing actually involves a lot more than just taking a breath in and letting it out. Each breath we take from birth until death sustains our fragile lives, yet most of the time we think very little about our breathing unless we have a problem. But breathing is always with us in everything we do. Through fascinating stories, Dr. White, a cardiologist, writes about real people and their challenges with breathing. This inspiration book provides much insight on something we each do several times a minute for a lifetime.

Unraveling QAnon: A Survivor’s Guide to Recovery Over the past two years, Katrina Vaillancourt shared her story of entry into and exit from the QAnon conspiracy community with me for a book on which I was working. Her account is brimming with curiosity, insight, and vulnerability. So many of us have stereotypes of people who follow QAnon and other conspiracy theories, and we forget the very human reasons that people turn in this direction, which offers equally human strategies to bring them back. Through her radical openness, Katrina opens a door for those curious enough to listen instead of judging. Her message can help many." ~ Jamil Zaki, Stanford Professor of Psychology and author of War for Kindness and Hope for Cynics In the throes of the 2020 pandemic, Katrina Vaillancourt, a dedicated Bernie Sanders supporter and seasoned Nonviolent Communication trainer, found herself unexpectedly spiraling down the rabbit hole of QAnon. "ReQovery: How I Tumbled Down the QAnon Rabbit Hole and Climbed Out" is her candid, vulnerable account of the six tumultuous months she spent ensnared by the "Pastel Q" phenomenon—a journey marked by shock, elation, deep disillusionment, and ultimately recovery. Navigating through intense emotional highs and devastating lows, Katrina's story is not just about the allure of a conspiracy that captivated millions worldwide, but also about the profound psychological toll it takes. With the world turned upside down by a global crisis, she delves into how sophisticated social media algorithms exploit our deepest fears and desires, creating echo chambers that reinforce extreme ideologies. Through her expertise in Nonviolent Communication, Katrina offers a rare glimpse into the subtle yet powerful ways our everyday interactions can either fuel division or foster understanding. "ReQovery"goes beyond a personal saga— it is a crucial guide laden with insights into dismantling the psychological traps set by movements like QAnon and reclaiming a sense of reality grounded in present-moment truths. This book is an indispensable resource for anyone struggling to understand a loved one lost to QAnon, providing not just context but also hope and practical solutions for bridging seemingly insurmountable ideological divides. Join Katrina on her journey back to rationality, equipped with empathy, clarity, and a heartfelt roadmap for healing. Topics Thoroughly Covered in ReQovery: • How could anyone intelligent fall into QAnon? • How on earth could a Bernie supporter flip to supporting Trump? • How did she get out? • What did other’s do that helped her come around? • What were the turning points that helped her question QAnon? And so much more ReQovery is a must-read for anyone personally touched by or studying the challenges of misinformation and ideological extremism dividing our nation and harming the mental health of our people. As a scholar deeply committed to engaging our differences together in deliberation rooted in the fundamental American values we share, I find Katrina’s path to be a powerful call to embrace our shared humanity. ~ Barbara A. McGraw, JD, PhD, professor of social ethics, law, public life and politics; author of Rediscovering America’s Sacred Ground: Public Religion and Pursuit of the Good in a Pluralistic America. As a certified Nonviolent Communication trainer for over two decades, and a mediator before that, I struggled when two dear friends fell into QAnon in 2020. I had tried everything and still these relationships were suffering. When Katrina reached out to me for support during her recovery, our conversations provided mutual benefit. I offered her empathy, and she gave me insights into QAnon that I couldn't have gained otherwise. This education helped me rebuild and maintain close friendships with those holding different worldviews than my own. May the wisdom of Katrina’s personal experience of recovery, as shared in this book, be a beacon of light for all who are seeking to restore relational bonds in the wake of QAnon. ~ Jim Manske, Nonviolent Communication assessor, trainer & mediator As an expert in neuroscience, trauma, and Compassionate Communication, I believe Katrina’s story is essential to creating compassion and connection across political divides, especially divisions caused by QAnon. ~ Sarah Peyton, certified NVC trainer, founder of Resonance Healing, author of The Antiracist Heart

Road rage, animal rights, cyberporn, crystal healing, doctor-assisted suicide — everywhere we look, the signs all tell us we’re living in a post-Christian culture. Or are we? Leonard Sweet -- cultural historian, preacher, futurist, creatologist, and preeminent thinker -- firmly believes we live today in a pre-Christian society, fraught with challenges, dangers, critical choices, and above all, tremendous potential for the church. The outcome will depend on our response to today’s flood of religious pluralism that threatens to sweep us away. What will we do? Deny the reality of the incoming surge? "Hunker in the bunker," hermetically sealing ourselves in an increasingly out-of-touch church counterculture? Or will we boldly hoist our sails, and -- looking to God for guidance and strength -- move with confidence and purpose over the waves. SoulTsunami is a fascinating, even mind-numbing look at the implications of our changing world for the church in the 21st century. With uncanny wisdom and trademark wit, Leonard Sweet explores ten key "futuribles" (precision guesses that fall short of predictions), expanding on and relating topics ranging from the reentry of theism and spiritual longing in contemporary society, to the impact of modern technology, to the global renaissance, to models for the church to reach people caught in the cultural maelstrom. Here are eye-opening perspectives on the church from within and from without — from its surrounding society.Lively, well-written, and provocative, SoulTsunami is a clarion call for Christians to remove their tunnel-vision glasses and take a good look at the swelling postmodern flood. It also is a voice of encouragement, affirming the church in its role as God’s lifeboat. And it is a passionate, prophetic guide, pointing the way to reach a world swept out to sea.

This reader explores current interest in spirituality in the United States. It traces the concept and presence of spirituality in the nation's past and explains the strong attraction to spiritual themes in the present, with attention to questions of definition, historical usage, and connection to religion. Twenty-seven selections pursue the difference and diversity among Americans in terms of their spiritual styles, here understood as modes of experiential knowledge. Catherine L. Albanese has organized these selections to reflect four approaches to spirituality: knowing through the body, or ritual-based spiritualities; knowing through the heart, or evangelical and emotionally toned spiritualities; knowing through the will, or prophetic and social-action spiritualities; and knowing through the mind, or metaphysically oriented spiritualities. Taken together, these essays make the argument that the spiritual is human-made, essentially religious, and surely not the same at all American times and places. The anthology includes selections by Catherine L. Albanese, Janet and Robert Aldridge, Daniel Berrigan, Joseph Epes Brown, Charles W. Colson, Annie Dillard, Virgilio Elizondo, Tamar Frankiel, Emma Goldman, Charles E. Hambrick-Stowe, B. K. S. Iyengar, Curtis D. Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Chen Kung, Jerena Lee, Shirley MacLaine, Aimee Semple McPherson, Thomas Merton, Carry A. Nation, E. Burke Rochford, Jr., Jerry Rubin, Molly Rush, Starhawk, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Trine, Joachim Wach, B. Alan Wallace, Steven Wilhelm, and Dhyani Ywahoo. Catherine L. Albanese is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is the author of the widely used textbook America: Religions and Religion, now in its third edition, and of numerous other articles and books, including Nature Religion in America: From the Algonkian Indians to the New Age. Albanese is a former president of the American Academy of Religion. 552 pages, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4, bibl., index cloth0-253-33839-5$65.00 L / £50.00 paper0-253-21432-7$27.50 s / £21.00

New edition being published in March 2014 as Find Happiness Now. The path to fulfillment in relationships, work, and spirituality is easy if you know the shortcuts. Bestselling author Jonathan Robinson provides clear, accessible, and proven "power tools" that take the labor out of self-help.