The latest spiritual awareness guide from Mark Nepo, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awakening.

New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awakening Mark Nepo offers a storyguide book for those who seek a deeper experience of life.

Stories carry the seeds of our humanity. They help us, teach us, heal us, and connect us to what matters. By stimulating change through reflection of thoughts and feelings by means of stories, poet and philosopher Mark Nepo offers listeners an invitation to be in relationship with deep and life-giving material. This collection of forty-five stories, questions for discussion, and jounaling prompts brings a fresh and new perspective to the field of spirituality. Drawn from Nepo’s personal history, dreams, and the myths of our ancestors, each one is an invitation to awaken an aspect of living in relationship with the sacred.

For the first time Finding Inner Courage (previously titled Facing the Lion, Being the Lion) is available on audio and will coincide with its trade paperback reissue and the audio release of The Book of Awakening.

Finding Inner Courage is an exploration into how to find our way to our core, to stand by our core, and to then sustain the practice of living from our core–to live out of our courage. To encourage means to impart strength and confidence, to inspire and hearten. So, the question unfolds: How do we encourage ourselves, each other, and the world? And just what does it mean to live a life of encouragement?

If to find our way to our core is to face the lion, then to stand by our core is to be the lion. And to sustain the practice of living from our core–to live out of our courage–is to find our way in the world by tracking inner courage and where it lives. These notions frame the journey of this book.

The courage we all admire, where ordinary people summon unexpected strength to run into burning buildings or to stand up to tyrants, whether an abusive father or an abusive leader, this inspiring and mysterious impulse to rise to a dangerous situation, which Hemingway referred to as grace under pressure, grows from another kind of courage–inner courage. These are the ways of living and being that make bravery possible in the first place; not just as an event, but as an approach to life, as a way of life.

Thinking about courage in this way opens us to an array of small and constant efforts that no one ever sees, but which have changed the world: the courage to face ourselves, each other, and the unknown, the courage to see, to feel, to accept, to heal, to be. Efforts of this nature often go unnoticed and unrecognized. Like the courage to break life-draining patterns and let the story of our lives unfold, to stand by one’s core, and to persevere through the doorway of nothing into the realm of everything. Like the courage to choose compassion over judgment and love over fear, to withstand the tension of opposites, and to give up what no longer works in order to stay close to what is sacred.

Mark Nepo–the #1 New York Times bestselling author and popular spiritual teacher–“has given us not only a much-needed message of hope and inspiration, but a practical guide on how to build a better tomorrow, together” (Arianna Huffington, founder of HuffPost). This poignant and timely meditation on the importance of community, demonstrates how we can live more enriching lives by cultivating connectedness.

At once a moving meditation and an empowering guide, More Together Than Alone is a compelling testament to the power of community and why it’s so essential in our lives, now more than ever. Mark Nepo draws from historical events, spiritual leaders, and the natural world to show how, in every generation, our tendency is to join together to accomplish our greatest achievements, from creating education to providing clean drinking water, and preserving the arts.

Nepo’s historical snapshots, from ancient times to contemporary examples, show how community creates a light in the darkest of times. The book explores the heart of how we come together in varied and beautiful ways, whether forming resistance groups during the Holocaust or rebuilding after the nuclear devastation in Nagasaki. These inspiring stories teach us that even in the bleakest days, we have the power to create connections and draw strength from one another.

Featuring thought-provoking analysis and practical takeaways, More Together Than Alone will help us inhabit a stronger sense of togetherness where we live and in the world so we can achieve our highest potential, as individuals, and as communities. “In an age of racial divisions, school shootings, and international conflict, this book’s message about the necessity of coming together is timely, and its examples of human compassion and unity are often comforting” (Publishers Weekly).

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author, “a consummate storyteller with a rare gift for making the invisible visible” (Publishers Weekly), this beautifully written spiritual memoir explores the endless ways we can listen for life’s deepest messages.

Mark Nepo moved and inspired millions of people with his #1 New York Times bestseller The Book of Awakening, a spiritual day book. Now, in this new exploration of the human journey, Nepo inquires into the endless ways life asks us to listen. Having experienced hearing loss, Nepo affirms that listening is one of the most mysterious, luminous, and challenging art forms: “Whatever difficulty you face, there are time-tried ways you can listen your way through. Because listening is the doorway to everything that matters.” Weaving together memoir and meditation exercises, Nepo offers many ways to listen to life and live more fully. A moving exploration of self, our relationship to others, and the world around us, this remarkable guide unpacks the many ways we are called to redefine ourselves and to name what is meaningful as we face life’s challenges.

This program is read by the author.

“This book is an enduring resource for our times. Journey here and discover your own strength.” –Chip Conley, New York Times bestselling author and founder of the Modern Elder Academy

In Surviving Storms, bestselling author and spiritual teacher Mark Nepo explores the art and practice of meeting adversity by using the timeless teachings of the heart.

We live in a turbulent time. Storms are everywhere, of every size and shape. And like every generation before us, we must learn the art of surviving them, so we can help each other endure.

In order to stand firm against life’s unavoidable storms, we need to know our true self, deepening our roots and solidifying our connection to all Spirit and all life. Then we, like a firmly rooted tree, can endure the force of trials and heartbreak.

A profoundly timely resource, Surviving Storms describes the heart’s process of renewal and connection with insight and accuracy. Though we must each map the territories of our souls for ourselves, this spiritually practical book is an indispensable guide, bringing us to common passages and paths and urging us forward on the journey. Once the rubble clears, we, like those before us, are inevitably called to build the world one more time, admitting that we need each other.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press Essentials.

Hailed as one of “Oprah’s Ultimate Favorite Things,” Mark Nepo’s bestselling “thinking person’s devotional” of inspirational stories and essays is now available from S&S Audio.

In this work, Mark Nepo invites listeners to explore their own inner core through the stories of ordinary people, political activists, artists, and spiritual teachers from a variety of traditions. These are people who have faced themselves, their warts and weaknesses. They have stood by the courage of their convictions in all kinds of moments, great and small.

Nepo’s insights and commentary are spot on, and help listeners relate the stories of others to their own lives. The Book of Awakening is divided into three sections–finding our inner core, standing by our inner core, and sustaining the practice of living from that place. Each of the brief essays and stories elucidates and inspires. Nepo’s broad range of stories and people, of traditions and insights, offers myriad ways for listeners to relate to their own search for courage.

A powerful new audiobook of spiritual awakening from #1 New York Times bestselling author Mark Nepo

In The Book of Soul, Mark Nepo, the bestselling author of The Book of Awakening, offers a powerful guide to inhabiting an authentic and wholehearted life. After we are physically born, we must be spiritually born a second time, a process that takes place through the labor of a lifetime as we develop into more fully realized beings. The Book of Soul delves into the spiritual alchemy of that transformation in all its mystery, difficulty, and inevitability.

The audiobook is divided into four sections that mark the passages we all face: enduring our Walk in the World, until we discover Our True Inheritance, which allows us to live in the open by Widening Our Circle, as we Help Each Other Stay Awake. The Book of Soul is a piercing guide, replete with beautiful truths and startling insight, that leads us deeply into the process of transformation.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Essentials

Poet, philosopher, and cancer survivor Mark Nepo has been breaking a path of spiritual inquiry for more than forty years. In his latest book, the #1 New York Times bestselling author “writes reflectively and poetically about the lifelong spiritual journey” (Publishers Weekly).

Called one of the finest spiritual guides of our time, Nepo explores what it means to become our truest self as we face life’s challenges–as well as its joys. Navigating some of the soul’s deepest, most ancient questions, he asks: How do we stay vital and buoyant amid the storms of life? What is the secret to coming alive? The soul’s journey is inevitable, and no matter where we go we can’t escape this foundational truth: What’s in the way is the way. As Nepo writes, “The point of experience is not to escape life but to live it.”

Featured on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday program, and a key presenter in Oprah’s nationwide The Life You Want Weekend Tour, Nepo inspires each of us to discover who we were born to be. Like his bestselling The Book of Awakening, The Endless Practice is filled with insights and stories, guidance and practice that will bring you closer to living life to the fullest.

A call to advance integrative teaching and learning in higher education. From Parker Palmer, best-selling author of The Courage to Teach, and Arthur Zajonc, professor of physics at Amherst College and director of the academic program of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, comes this call to revisit the roots and reclaim the vision of higher education. The Heart of Higher Education proposes an approach to teaching and learning that honors the whole human being–mind, heart, and spirit–an essential integration if we hope to address the complex issues of our time. The book offers a rich interplay of analysis, theory, and proposals for action from two educators and writers who have contributed to developing the field of integrative education over the past few decades. Presents Parker Palmer’s powerful response to critics of holistic learning and Arthur Zajonc’s elucidation of the relationship between science, the humanities, and the contemplative traditions Explores ways to take steps toward making colleges and universities places that awaken the deepest potential in students, faculty, and staff Offers a practical approach to fostering renewal in higher education through collegiality and conversation The Heart of Higher Education is for all who are new to the field of holistic education, all who want to deepen their understanding of its challenges, and all who want to practice and promote this vital approach to teaching and learning on their campuses.

“I would follow this man anywhere his words want to take us,” writes Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, in praise of Mark Nepo and The One Life We’re Given. “His voice helps us find pathways where we might have believed that no pathway could possibly exist.”

“Mark Nepo is a national treasure,” says Rev. Ed Bacon, author of Eight Habits of Love. Now, Nepo–popular spiritual teacher and #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awakening–crafts a new road map for the soul’s journey. It is “a powerful guide to being in the world without being overwhelmed by it. Profound and poignant stories and insights help us survive what life brings us, and to thrive,” says Arianna Huffington. The One Life We’re Given “shares how to shape the life of the soul, and make sense of pain, fear, and loss, as well as surprise, beauty, and wonder” (Library Journal).

Exploring the craft of awakening, The One Life We’re Given affirms our purpose: we are here not just to stay alive but to stay in our aliveness. “The wisdom presented in the shining pages of this holy book is another luminous gift from a gallant, grateful, and imaginative spiritual master” (Spirituality & Practice).