From a recovering addict, musician, and tattooed indie culturist: a guidebook for today’s generation of spiritual misfits who crave a dogma-free path. Brutally honest and radically unconventional, Chris Grosso’s collection of stories and musings about his meandering journey of self-inquiry, recovery, and acceptance shows what it means to live a truly authentic spiritual life. Set amongst the backdrop of Grosso’s original music (includ­ed for download via QR codes in the text), Indie Spiritualist encourages you to accept yourself just as you are, in all your humanity and imperfect perfection.

"After years of heavy addiction, Chris Grosso found himself at the age of 25 literally on his knees utterly lost and broken. If he was going to live, he needed to find a new way to approach life. But he battled with how to wrangle a spiritual path with his alternative, eclectic lifestyle. Drawing upon his punk rock roots and question everything mindset, Grosso offers a collection of stories and musings on his own no bullshit exploration of spirituality that are brutally honest, and many times, bitingly humorous. A guidebook for today's generation of non-religious spiritual misfits, who crave a truly dogma-free path. Through his own self-inquiry and meandering journey, Grosso shows readers that spirituality is not something that only happens on meditation cushions or yoga mats, in sanghas, churches, mosques, temples, or synagogues. It's not always peaceful and quiet. A tattooed, independent culturist, recovering addict, spiritual aspirant, and musician, Grosso wanted more than what conventional religious or spiritual doctrine could provide. Rejecting the trappings, hypocrisies, and judgements, Grosso empowers readers to accept themselves as they are, in all their humanness and imperfect perfection"--

“I’m not a yogi from the Himalayas, a preacher from the pulpit, or a guru with dollar signs in my eyes,” says Chris Grosso. “The truth is, as a result of years of heavy drug and alcohol addiction, I’ve been to some extremely dark places that resulted in a literal life-or-death search for something more.” With Everything Mind, this emerging voice of the spiritual counterculture presents a riveting and insightful book about meditation, the search for deeper meaning, and the life-changing (and life-saving) process of waking up. “Everything Mind” means it’s all part of the path—dark and light, sacred and profane, serious and goofy, tragic and joyous. Each experience is unique, each has something profound to teach us if we open ourselves and let it in. Sharing hard-won wisdom and the spiritual practices that helped him through his darkest times, Chris invites you to discover: • Spirituality—how something that doesn’t fix your problems or change who you are can still revolutionize your life • Why well-worn ideas like “love everyone” and “anything is possible” are much more than just wishful bullshit • The perils of railing at fundamentalism—how to put down the pitchfork and practice compassionate spiritual discernment • The mystery of “interbeing”—convincing your head, heart, and gut that you’re actually connected to everything • Expressing your truth through service, meditation, sports, relationships, punk rock, skateboarding—or just about anything done with love Finding our own spirituality is both liberating and terrifying. Liberating because we no longer have to be tied down by dogma or march off to war just because a guy in a fancy hat says so. Terrifying because it’s now totally on us to find out what’s true, what’s holy, what really matters to each of us. “Cultivating a spiritual lifestyle may be the most challenging undertaking you’ll ever face,” says Chris Grosso. “But if you stick with it, you can learn to meet allof life with an open heart—which, when you get down to it, is pretty fucking amazing.”

Chris Grosso invites us to sit in on conversations with beloved luminaries and bestselling authors such as Ram Dass, Lissa Rankin, Noah Levine, Gabor Mate, and Sharon Salzberg to discover why people return to self-defeating behaviors—drugs, alcohol, unhealthy eating, sex, media—and how they can recover, heal, and thrive. In his recovery from drugs and alcohol, Chris Grosso has stumbled, staggered, and started all over again. In an effort to understand why he relapses, and why many of us return to the myriad of other self-defeating behaviors despite our better judgment, he went to bestselling authors, spiritual teachers, psychologists, doctors, and more, and asked them why we tend to repeat mistakes in our lives, even when we know these actions will harm us and the ones we love. In Dead Set on Living, Chris shares these intimate conversations and the practices that have taught him to be more loving, compassionate, and forgiving with himself as well as new meditation and healing techniques he learned through his journey. Unabashedly honest and inspiring, Dead Set on Living is essential reading for anyone seeking a path towards triumph over adversity, understanding the human condition, and rebuilding relationships after promises have been broken.

Tip over your sacred cows of belief, dump your personal prejudices and biases, and begin to rebuild a spiritual lifestyle that really works. Wife, mother, and award-winning producer of the sleeper hit What the Bleep Do We Know!? Betsy Chasse thought she had it all figured out...until she realized she didn’t. She didn’t know anything about happiness, love, spirituality, or herself...nothing, nada, zilch. In a book that’s anything but quiet, Chasse takes readers on a playful romp through the muddy fields of life and spirituality. Witty, yet unflinching, Chasse exposes her own experience tipping sacred cows and dissects the fragile beliefs we all hold so dear. Because the truth is, we each have a choice to believe the stories we tell ourselves or create new ones. A candid, no-nonsense confession, Chasse’s story gives readers the freedom to break free from their old patterns and gleefully frolic through fields, cow tipping at will and in the process, create a new reality for themselves.

Based on very real and practical commentary, life experience, and occasionally, tongue-in-cheek-misfortunes of horror legends, Necessary Death explores how the horror genre, its motifs, and its characters offer individuals a unique opportunity for insight and understanding of their own lives. Necessary Death looks back on several iconic horror films and finds that maybe the genre wasn’t ever really just about men in hockey masks chasing good looking coeds through old dark houses. Even a cursory examination of the horror convention will reveal a plethora of stories from recovering addicts, survivors of trauma and sexual abuse, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and minorities. So what, then, can this genre so concerned with death teach us about being alive—and how can we apply those lessons in our day-to-day existence? Using some of the most quintessential movies in the genre, Chris Grosso and Preston Fassel invite readers to an in-depth examination of the human condition—its fears, anxieties, hopes, joys, sorrows, and everything in-between—and how it’s all grist for our personal and collective evolutionary mill. A hallmark of the genre is how horror films force their characters to find some semblance of inner strength and wherewithal in order to stand up to the monster, ghost, or villain that is trying to take their lives. Through fascinating discussion of this and other elements, Fassel and Grosso relate these films’ dark subject matter and characters to real world issues people face every day, showing that there’s something deep within us that, if even just metaphorically, can relate to the pain in these stories. This sharp analysis is complimented by exercises that prompt readers to consider gratitude, forgiveness, determination, and bravery in the face of adversity. An unusual mix of film study and self-help, Necessary Death might surprise or even shock readers, but it will also enlighten, educate, and most importantly hearten those looking for an unexpected source of inspiration.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER San Francisco Chronicle’s 10 Books to Pick * HelloGiggles’ 10 Books to Pick Up for a Better 2021 * PopSugar’s 23 Exciting New Books * Book Riot’s 12 Essential Books About Black Identity and History * Harper’s Bazaar’s 60+ Books You Need to Read in 2021 “A clear, powerful, direct, wise, and extremely helpful treatise on how to combat and heal from the ubiquitous violence of white supremacy” (Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author) from thought leader, racial justice educator, and acclaimed spiritual activist Rachel Ricketts. Do Better is a revolutionary offering that addresses racial justice from a comprehensive, intersectional, and spirit-based perspective. This actionable guidebook illustrates how to engage in the heart-centered and mindfulness-based practices that will help us all fight white supremacy from the inside out, in our personal lives and communities alike. It is a loving and assertive call to do the deep—and often uncomfortable—inner work that precipitates much-needed external and global change. Filled with carefully curated soulcare activities—such as guided meditations and transformative breathwork—“Do Better answers prayers that many have prayed. Do Better offers a bold possibility for change and healing. Do Better offers a deeply sacred choice that we must all make at such a time as this” (Iyanla Vanzant, New York Times bestselling author).

The first modern, comprehensive resource on spiritual awakenings, this pragmatic, clear guide covers everything from the first step on a spiritual journey to enlightenment, and the different types of spiritual awakenings, from mild to dramatic, we may go through. Using the concept of the twelve layers that cover an awakened state Mary Mueller Shutan addresses every step of the spiritual journey, starting with the Self and showing how family, ancestral, past lives, karmic, archetypal, and other larger layers such as societal, cultural, global, and cosmic energies condition us to sleep and obscure our realization of an awakened state. Instructions for how to navigate through each of these layers and how to recognize where we are in our spiritual journey are included each step of the way along with common physical, emotional, and spiritual symptoms that may be experienced. By addressing post-awakening states, oneness, dark nights of the soul, ego death, near-death and severe illness, psychic abilities, addictions, dietary changes, the God self, personal and collective shadow, and psychosis vs. awakening we understand the experiences we may go through while struggling with spiritual awakenings. This practical book opens new understandings of how to live in the world while going through an awakening process, and offers the revolutionary idea that we are meant to be humans, to have a physical body with physical, sensate experiences and emotions. We are meant to live in the world and be a part of it even as fully awakened individuals. This guide proposes a look at the possibility of leading a grounded, earth-bound life of work, family, friends, and other experiences in an awakened state.

Fueled by the music of revolution, anger, fear, and despair, we dyed our hair or shaved our heads ... Eating acid like it was candy and chasing speed with cheap vodka, smoking truckloads of weed, all in a vain attempt to get numb and stay numb. This is the story of a young man and a generation of angry youths who rebelled against their parents and the unfulfilled promise of the sixties. As with many self-destructive kids, Noah Levine's search for meaning led him first to punk rock, drugs, drinking, and dissatisfaction. But the search didn't end there. Having clearly seen the uselessness of drugs and violence, Noah looked for positive ways to channel his rebellion against what he saw as the lies of society. Fueled by his anger at so much injustice and suffering, Levine now uses that energy and the practice of Buddhism to awaken his natural wisdom and compassion. While Levine comes to embrace the same spiritual tradition as his father, bestselling author Stephen Levine, he finds his most authentic expression in connecting the seemingly opposed worlds of punk and Buddhism. As Noah Levine delved deeper into Buddhism, he chose not to reject the punk scene, instead integrating the two worlds as a catalyst for transformation. Ultimately, this is an inspiring story about maturing, and how a hostile and lost generation is finally finding its footing. This provocative report takes us deep inside the punk scene and moves from anger, rebellion, and self-destruction, to health, service to others, and genuine spiritual growth.