Still Points

In an uncertain world, we all seek a sense of security and inner peace. In Still Points: A Guide to Living the Mindful Meditative Way shows us how to achieve this, simply by following a daily spiritual practice. In doing so, we enter into a deep connection to sacred stillness, revealing to us the beauty within the present moment. In a book that can be followed throughout the year, or dipped in and out of to find 'still points' in times of distraction and worry, Brother Richard brings us on a transformative journey of meditation, poetry and sacred pause, enabling us to experience a sense of peace, happiness and belonging in our lives. 'Still Points is a call to stop, to consider, to see the beauty and sacredness of ourselves in everyone and everything' SISTER STAN

Part adventure story, part love story, part homecoming, Still Points North is a page-turning memoir that explores the extremes of belonging and exile, and the difference between how to survive and knowing how to truly live. Growing up in the wilds of Alaska, seven-year-old Leigh Newman spent her time landing silver salmon, hiking glaciers, and flying in a single-prop plane. But her life split in two when her parents unexpectedly divorced, requiring her to spend summers on the tundra with her “Great Alaskan” father and the school year in Baltimore with her more urbane mother. Navigating the fraught terrain of her family’s unraveling, Newman did what any outdoorsman would do: She adapted. With her father she fished remote rivers, hunted caribou, and packed her own shotgun shells. With her mother she memorized the names of antique furniture, composed proper bread-and-butter notes, and studied Latin poetry at a private girl’s school. Charting her way through these two very different worlds, Newman learned to never get attached to people or places, and to leave others before they left her. As an adult, she explored the most distant reaches of the globe as a travel writer, yet had difficulty navigating the far more foreign landscape of love and marriage. In vivid, astonishing prose, Newman reveals how a child torn between two homes becomes a woman who both fears and idealizes connection, how a need for independence can morph into isolation, and how even the most guarded heart can still long for understanding. Still Points North is a love letter to an unconventional Alaskan childhood of endurance and affection, one that teaches us that no matter where you go in life, the truest tests of courage are the chances you take, not with bears and blizzards, but with other people. Praise for Still Points North “Newman has crafted a vivid exploration of a broken family. . . . Her pain will resonate strongly with readers, and she vividly brings both Alaska and Maryland to life. . . . A natural for book clubs.”—Booklist “Newman’s adult search for her own true home is riveting, as are her worldwide adventures; it’s a joy to be in on the ride.”—Reader’s Digest “What really sets this fearless memoir apart is the heartfelt, riotously funning writing, which will have you reading passages aloud, and rooting for Newman all the way.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “Newman writes so lucidly about bewilderment, so honestly about self-deception, so courageously about fear, so compassionately about insensitivity, so hilariously about suffering and loss. Still Points North is a remarkable book: a travel memoir of the mapless, dangerous seas and territories between childhood and adulthood.”—Karen Russell, Pulitzer Prize finalist for Swamplandia! “A wise, refreshing and enjoyable read.”—New York Daily News “[Newman is] at her best bringing to life the chapters on her near-feral Alaskan upbringing. You can practically smell the freshly killed game.”—Entertainment Weekly

Research shows that the stress points in children's daily lives are on the increase and can have a negative impact on their ability to learn, relate to others and to themselves. This practical resource: explains and demystifies relaxation, meditation and visualisation; provides an educational rationale backed up by case study material that shows the benefits of helping children to develop 'stillpoints' in order to neutralise stress, develop a stronger sense of 'self' and create 'optimum' learning states; includes a very practical and unique resource for use in the classroom or home. Based on sound educational, yogic and psychological philosophies, each of the 7 tracks has a specific theme and is only 5 minutes long: Track 1: Relaxation - 5/6 minutes (sitting in a chair); Track 2: Heart Meditation - 5/6 minutes (sitting in a chair); Track 3: Finding Peacefulness - 5/6 minutes (sitting in a chair); Track 4: Pack Up Your Troubles - 5/6 minutes (sitting in a chair); Track 5: Finding Silence - 5/6 minutes (sitting in a chair); Track 6: The Learning Tree - 5/6 minutes (sitting cross-legged); Track 7: The Learning Tree 2 - 5/6 minutes (lying down). The handbook provides the rationale for the 'why' and the downloadable resources provide the guidance and practical application on the 'how'.

Philip Zumwalt is an accomplished musician, poet, and idealist-a dreamer. Fresh out of college in 1940, he takes a job as a music teacher in a small, rural Illinois town. His plan is to teach for a few years hoping to save enough money to finance his dreams: go to Chicago to become a professional musician and get his pilot's license. These dreams dominate his thoughts until one summer night when he meets Elinor Robinson. Philip and Elinor's forbidden romance-and the specter of war hanging over the country-put Philip's dreams on hold. When he enlists in the Army Air Force, the gifted artist goes on an unpredictable journey of lost innocence. Life and death hang in the balance as he overcomes his fears and spiritual doubts in a desperate effort to survive aerial combat in the maelstrom of the Southwest Pacific Theater. In the end, a single dream remains for Philip: to return home to the woman he loves. Based upon the World War II diaries of the real Philip Zumwalt, this debut novel is a bittersweet tale of the transcendent power of love and reminds us of the immense sacrifices made by the men and women of that era.

Still Points is a collection of remarkable photographs taken by award-winning nonfiction filmmaker and author Robert Gardner during his anthropological and filming expeditions around the world. His images--from the Kalahari Desert, New Guinea, Colombia, India, Ethiopia, Niger, and other remote locations--are now in Harvard's Peabody Museum.