The Tao of Sobriety shows how to apply eastern philosophy to enhance recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs. With a few simple mental exercises, readers can learn how to quiet "The Committee," those nasty mental voices that undermine serenity and self-esteem. With leaders of the recovery movement enthusiastically endorsing this uniquely helpful book, The Tao of Sobriety is an invaluable addition to the recovery bookshelf.

The friends and family of a drug or alcohol addict are often left out of the recovery process. The timeless wisdom of the Tao has been adapted to gently change those who are suffering into peaceful, healthy, self-confident humans, ready to fully rejoin life in a serene and harmonious way.

"Like a child who receives a gift, but plays with only the box,we possessed sobriety the entire time and did not know it." v17, Buddy C.If you are reading this, you, or someone you love, is probably dealing with a life controlling addiction even though they have tried to break free. The author, Buddy C., wrestled with the same dilemma. Years of heartfelt efforts poured into a black hole, only to return to a destructive lifestyle.Buddy tried the twelve-step recovery process but found surrendering to a "power greater than ourselves" undefinable and even unattainable. Others shared his challenge of finding a "God of our understanding" as well. Like himself, they were sincere people searching for relief, but did not fit within the common solution of AA.For many in recovery, traditional views of a Higher Power do not resonate. This dissonance left Buddy feeling hopeless. As a result, Buddy C. entered a cycle of recovery and relapse for over six years.Searching the world's religions for answers, Buddy discovered a healing way of life that connected with his needs. The revealed Taoist philosophies were not only close to other principles he had learned in recovery, but resonated with his experience growing up as a Christian attending church in the south.The Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu opened a path to his recovery that traditional methods had not been able to do. Once Buddy utilized these principles, he discovered that when applied daily, Taoism also opened a path that healed other aspects of his life.What is this pathway? Who is Lao Tzu? How does Taoist philosophy describe a higher power?Find all these answers and more in this book. A life free from addiction is just a page turn away.

Chi Kung, the art of cultivating life force energy, is here distilled into a key selection of exercises designed to boost health, enhance vitality, and increase mind-body-spirit consciousness. For anyone interested in exercise with a deeper spiritual significance, this step-by-step guide takes readers through essential breathing, meditation, and mindfulness techniques that yield exponentially more powerful benefits than traditional exercise.

White Out

This classic book, written 17 years ago but still selling more than 13,000 copies every year, has been completely updated and expanded by the author. "I used to drink," writes John Bradshaw,"to solve the problems caused by drinking. The more I drank to relieve my shame-based loneliness and hurt, the more I felt ashamed." Shame is the motivator behind our toxic behaviors: the compulsion, co-dependency, addiction and drive to superachieve that breaks down the family and destroys personal lives. This book has helped millions identify their personal shame, understand the underlying reasons for it, address these root causes and release themselves from the shame that binds them to their past failures.

A Twelve Step Journey to SELF-transformation is the true story of two men whose paths crossed and whose lives were changed forever after. The authors reveal how they reached all four levels of healing that Bill W. spoke of: spiritual sobriety, mental sobriety, physical sobriety, and emotional sobriety.

Perhaps the most unconventional and literally breathtaking father-son story you'll ever read, My Friend Leonard pulls you immediately and deeply into a relationship as unusual as it is inspiring. The father figure is Leonard, the high-living, recovering coke addict "West Coast Director of a large Italian-American finance firm" (read: mobster) who helped to keep James Frey clean in A Million Little Pieces. The son is, of course, James, damaged perhaps beyond repair by years of crack and alcohol addiction-and by more than a few cruel tricks of fate. James embarks on his post-rehab existence in Chicago emotionally devastated, broke, and afraid to get close to other people. But then Leonard comes back into his life, and everything changes. Leonard offers his "son" lucrative—if illegal and slightly dangerous—employment. He teaches James to enjoy life, sober, for the first time. He instructs him in the art of "living boldly," pushes him to pursue his passion for writing, and provides a watchful and supportive veil of protection under which James can get his life together. Both Leonard's and James's careers flourish…but then Leonard vanishes. When the reasons behind his mysterious absence are revealed, the book opens up in unexpected emotional ways. My Friend Leonard showcases a brilliant and energetic young writer rising to important new challenges—displaying surprising warmth, humor, and maturity—without losing his intensity. This book proves that one of the most provocative literary voices of his generation is also one of the most emphatically human.

When we break free from the habits that limit us, a new world of possibilities opens up. In Let Go, Martine Batchelor leads the way there. Negative patterns of mind may manifest as fear, avoidance, depression, addiction, judgment of self or other, and any of a host of other physical, mental, or psychological forms. Let Go aims at understanding what really lies at the root of these behaviors so we can reclaim control. Each chapter concludes with an exercise or guided meditation as a tool for the reader to work with negative habits in new and creative ways. You don't have to be a Buddhist for them to work. You just need to want to move on. Helpful exercises and guided meditations - designed to build understanding of our negative habits, as well as the confidence and skill needed to instead embrace our greatest qualities - appear throughout the book. Batchelor also looks at Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for depression, Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz's use of meditation to deal with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), successful combinations of meditation and Twelve-Step programs, and offers her own innovations.

This inspiring work shows readers what it feels like to "hit the wall" or "hit bottom" on a spiritual path, and gives them insight on how to move forward toward a better life. It deals with the darkness, the despair and the joy that are inherent in the quest for enlightenment and self-knowing. Though focused mainly on issues relating to recovery from various kinds of addictions, the principles presented in this tale hold true for all spiritual journeys. The story of The Dark Night of Recovery is in the form of an ongoing dialogue between a relative newcomer to recovery (Lawyer Bob) and an old-timer (Tyler) who meet every two weeks to discuss life and turmoil and love and lust and everything else. Each of the twelve chapters deals with one of the Twelve Steps, using the wisdom of the Tao, the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Winnie the Pooh, Yoda, Thomas Merton and many others. The story line follows Bob as he struggles through personal and spiritual problems, trying to apply the principles he is learning. At the end of the twelve sessions, Bob (and hopefully the reader) has acquired a few more skills to apply to the art of living one day at a time.