A group of Chagga-speaking men descend the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro to butcher animals and pour milk, beer, and blood on the ground, requesting rain for their continued existence. Returning Life explores how this event engages activities where life force is transferred and transformed to afford and affect beings of different kinds. Historical sources demonstrate how the phenomenon of life force encompasses coffee cash-cropping, Catholic Christianity, and colonial and post-colonial rule, and features in cognate languages from throughout the area. As this vivid ethnography explores how life projects through beings of different kinds, it brings to life concepts and practices that extend through time and space, transcending established analytics.

A group of Chagga-speaking men descend the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro to butcher animals and pour milk, beer, and blood on the ground, requesting rain for their continued existence. Returning Life explores how this event engages activities where life force is transferred and transformed to afford and affect beings of different kinds. Historical sources demonstrate how the phenomenon of life force encompasses coffee cash-cropping, Catholic Christianity, and colonial and post-colonial rule, and features in cognate languages from throughout the area. As this vivid ethnography explores how life projects through beings of different kinds, it brings to life concepts and practices that extend through time and space, transcending established analytics.

A renowned Zen teacher and contemporary of Shunryu Suzuki explores the many pillars of Zen spirituality, explaining how we can bring these practices into our daily lives For twenty-five hundred years Buddhism has taught that everyone is Buddha—already enlightened, lacking nothing. But still there is the question of how we can experience that truth in our lives. In this book, Dainin Katagiri points to the manifestation of enlightenment right here, right now, in our everyday routine. Genuineness of practice lies in “just living” our lives wholeheartedly. The Zen practice of sitting meditation (zazen) is not a means to an end but the activity of enlightenment itself. That is why Katagiri Roshi says, “Don't expect enlightenment—just sit down!” Based on the author's talks to his American students, Returning to Silence contains the basic teachings of the Buddha, with special emphasis on the meaning of faith and on meditation. It also offers a commentary on “The Bodhisattva's Four Methods of Guidance” from Dogen Zenji's Shobogenzo, which speaks in depth about the appropriate actions of those who guide others in the practice of the Buddha Way. Throughout these pages, Katagiri Roshi energetically brings to life the message that “Buddha is your daily life.”

Are there places in your life you need to come back from? Maybe it’s around family brokenness or a friend’s betrayal. It could be classmate drama or a family divorce. Perhaps money problems or health issues have caused a loss. Whatever the case, it feels like life has been against you. Come Back: Returning to the Life You Were Made For offers five elements that are crucial to renewal. Each element is paired with an ancient practice that has helped people for thousands of years in countless cultures navigate the tricky waters of transformation. These five practices are designed for everyday people. It’s not too late and you’re not too far gone. You were made for a turnaround. You don’t need a spiritual pedigree to start the journey. Here’s what you do need: A heart-felt desire to see your life change and an openness to the process. That’s it. The rest will be revealed along the way.

There are books out there on every baby-related topic imaginable. But how about one that helpsyou plan your return to work, ease your concerns and fears about the transition so you can focus on your baby, introduce you to a community of otherreturning-to-work mamas, and empower you to make calm and thoughtful choices? Back to Work After Baby fills this much-needed gap. Whether you are a brand new mom wondering how this return from maternity leave will go or it's your second or third return, Back to Work After Baby will inspire you with new ideas on how to approach the return with a healthy mindset, tackle all those logistics, view your leave and return as a leadership opportunity, and commit to staying in community with other working mamas.

Functioning as both a dense manual, a detailed roadmap, and an edifying tale of spiritual maturity, this third installment in Wang Yun's best-selling series brings you rare and authentic Daoism, straight from the culture that gave birth to it. With clear instruction and dozens of illustrated and filmed exercises, you can begin or strengthen your spiritual practice, boost your immune system, and find deep peace of mind, all right from the comfort of your home. Lofty Daoist philosophy and its practical applications are made easy to grasp and apply through Wang Yun's effort to translate the old teachings on how to apply the mindset and skills of Daoist meditation, alchemy and qigong to all affairs of life. To this end, Returning from Qingcheng Mountain spins a blend of rare tales from Daoist lore, straightforward explanations of ways to shape the body and mind, and inspiring stories from Wang Yun's own practice path. To 'remain natural in all things' is the tenet that pervades every page, an eternal invitation toward being at ease, no matter the circumstances. By doing so, one returns to the world out there and handles mundane matters with poise and efficiency, transforming all the challenges and joys and relationships of daily life into a practice, a meditation, and a chance to grow and develop one's spirit, and by token, the body.

The Acclaimed International Bestseller “It is impossible to do justice to the beauty of Returning Light. The whole book is a poem.” — New York Times Book Review By the lighthouse keeper on the remote, otherworldly Irish island of Skellig Michael, a "profound memoir about the importance of place and what it really means to belong" (Belfast Telegraph) “On Skellig Michael, thousands of birds appear and disappear, erecting towers, coming together in wings of movement which build and unravel over the empty sea. Often, no one else is there to stand beside me on the island. The mind wanders; links with the past are easily made; ancient ways of viewing things come alive.” In 1987, Robert Harris happened upon an unusual job posting in the local paper—a new warden service was being set up on the island of Skellig Michael, and the deadline was imminent. Just weeks later he was on his way to set up camp in one of Ireland’s most remote locations, unaware that he would be making that same journey every May for the next 30 years. Here he transports us to the otherworldly island, a place that is teeming with natural life, including curious puffins that like to visit his hut. From the precipice he has observed a coastline that is relatively unchanged for the last thousand years—a beacon of equilibrium in an ever-changing world. But the island can be fierce too. It’s inhabitable for only five months of the year, and solitude can quickly become isolation as bad weather rolls in to create a veil between Skellig Michael and the rest of the world, when the dizzying terrain can become a very real threat to life. A beautiful and evocative work of nature writing, Returning Light is an extraordinary memoir about the profound effect a place can have on us, and how a remote location can bring with it a great sense of belonging.

Similar to The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Life with Hope thoroughly explains the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions as they relate to marijuana addicts and those with cannabis use disorder. This is an essential resource for anyone seeking recovery through Marijuana Anonymous (MA). "How can we tell you how to recover? We cannot. All we can do is share with you our own experiences and recovery through the Twelve Steps of Marijuana Anonymous." Similar to The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Life with Hope thoroughly explains the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions as they relate to individuals with cannabis use disorder. The text includes the 12 Steps and the 12 Traditions, fifteen personal stories from Marijuana Anonymous members, and the section, A Doctor's Opinion about Marijuana Addiction. Life with Hope is an essential resource for the marijuana addict and for anyone with a cannabis use disorder who is seeking recovery through Marijuana Anonymous (MA). The text is ideal for newcomers, people who are in active addiction, and anyone interested learning more about how marijuana addiction affects people’s lives.

"There was a question that had come to trouble me a bit earlier, once I had taken the first steps on this return journey to Reims... Why, when I have had such an intense experience of forms of shame related to class, shame in relation to the milieu in which I grew up, why, when once I had arrived in Paris and started meeting people from such different class backgrounds, I would often find myself lying about my class origins... why had it never occurred to me to take up this problem in a book?" Returning to Reims is a breathtaking account of one man's return to the town where he grew up after an absence of thirty years. It is a frank, fearlessly personal story of family, memory, identity and time lost. But it is also a sociologist's view of what it means to grow up working class and then leave that class; of inequality and shifting political allegiances in an increasingly divided nation. A phenomenon in France and a huge bestseller in Germany, Didier Eribon has written the defining memoir of our times.