Bøger udgivet af North Atlantic Books,U.S.

Urban gardeners. Native seed-saving collectives. Ecovillage developments. What is the connection between these seemingly disparate groups? The ecological design system of permaculture is the common thread that weaves them into a powerful, potentially revolutionary-or reevolutionary-movement. Permaculture is a philosophy based on common ethics of sustainable cultures throughout history that have designed settlements according to nature's patterns and lived within its bounds. As a movement that has been building momentum for the past 40 years, it now is taking form as a growing network of sites developed with the intention of regenerating local ecologies and economies. Permaculture strategies can be used by individuals, groups, or nations to address basic human needs such as food, water, energy, and housing. As a species, humans are being called forth to evolve, using our collective intelligence to meet the challenges of the future. Yet if we are to survive our collective planetary crisis, we need to revisit history, integrating successful systems from sustainable cultures. To boldly confront our position on the brink of the earth's carrying capacity and make changes that incorporate the wisdom of the past is truly revolutionary. Sustainable Revolution features the work of a worldwide network of visionaries, including journalists, activists, indigenous leaders and permaculturists such as David Holmgren, Vandana Shiva, Charles Eisenstein, Starhawk, Erik Assadourian, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Albert Bates, and Geoff Lawton. This beautifully photographed collection of profiles, interviews, and essays features 60 innovative community-based projects in diverse climates across the planet. Edited by anthropologist Juliana Birnbaum Fox and award-winning activist filmmaker Louis Fox, it can be read as an informal ethnography of an international culture that is modeling solutions on the cutting edge of social and environmental change. The research presented in the book frames the permaculture movement as a significant ally to marginalized groups, such as the urban poor and native communities resisting the pressures of globalization. Sustainable Revolution uplifts and inspires with its amazing array of dynamic activists and thriving, vibrant communities.

This book, an authoritative text on musculoskeletal and physical medicine that integrates Eastern and Western approaches, covers every aspect of musculoskeletal medicine, starting with an in depth introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) principles as they relate to the subject. Author Alon Marcus surveys the science of pain from both modern biomedical and TCM perspectives, examines the foundations of integrative musculoskeletal medicine, explores biomedical and osteopathic clinical assessment, and outlines treatment options such as acupuncture, blood-letting, and meridian therapy. Other chapters analyze herbal medicine, integrative electrotherapeutics, manual therapy, and much more.

History is filled with accounts of great leaders, but how did they become so? Written for emergent leaders in any endeavor, this new work from renowned consultant Richard Strozzi-Heckler offers a new approach to leadership. The first book of its kind to base business and management strength on integral body awareness, the book presents key principles such as shugyo, or self-cultivation, as crucial in developing the individual responsibility, social commitment, and moral and spiritual vision required to lead with authority and efficacy. The Leadership Dojo is based on three questions: What does a leader do? What are the character values most essential to exemplary leadership? How do you teach these values? Drawing on the wisdom of ages from Plato to the Bhagavad-Gita, from Thucydides to the Abidharma, the book asserts that understanding and answering these questions holds the key to superior leadership skills. Strozzi-Heckler teaches with real-world examples based on his wide experience training decision-makers at companies like AT&T and Microsoft. The book's multifaceted approach helps readers establish a powerful Leadership Presence, a platform from which they can take ethical action with compassion and pragmatic wisdom.

An unprecedented voyage into the world of Peru’s indigenous warrior culture, Rumi Maki offers a fascinating look at this exotic martial art as preserved by a practicing master. The book begins win an in-depth look at the history of the sacred Incan fighting arts, dispelling many of the myths surrounding them. The authors then present a detailed look at Rumi Maki’s five-level structure, with step-by-step instructions and demonstrations of the techniques from each level. The Incas'' unique approach to physical and mental conditioning, philosophy, spirituality, weaponry, and military structure are also presented for the first time. Hundreds of photographs and illustrations help further document the Incas'' martial legacy. Of great interest to all martial arts enthusiasts, the book’s absorbing description of early Peruvian civilization attracts readers interested in the cultural and spiritual history of the Andean people.

While some scholars approach the Gospels from an historical point of view, analyzing John in the context of his own personal experience as a follower of Jesus, others focus on John’s roots in ancient Judaism. In this provocative book, Albert LaChance approaches the Gospel of John from the perspective of Eastern mysticism, drawing on indigenous beliefs and ancient global spiritual traditions originating in the Middle East, India, and China. Through this expansive approach, the book attempts to understand John’s Gospel in its richest sense—as a guide to achieving the direct experience of a universal God.Throughout the book, LaChance returns to the Gospel’s Prologue and uses it as a framework for uncovering Jesus’s message about his own identity as the Son of God and his similarities to ancient Eastern mystics. The author also discusses themes woven throughout the Gospel of John that derive from Eastern religions and other indigenous spiritual practices: individual ego versus the essential self, separation versus union, and the earthly versus the heavenly. This important book delves into the mysteries of Christian understanding to unearth universal truths, defining the very essence of religious and spiritual experience.

From sorcery to animal totems, buzzard feathers to hawk spirits, talking trees to magical stones, sacred circles to healing rituals, the Kabbalah brings readers a rich body of ancient wisdom that has been long neglected and even longer misunderstood. The Kabbalah celebrates a quality of consciousness that enables one to experience magic in the ordinary, miracles in the natural course of events, and spirituality in the physical. Its roots are as old and rich as most aboriginal shamanic traditions, sharing in common with many of them the belief that all of creation is alive, from animals and plants to the sun and the moon.The uniqueness of this book lies in its selections from this rare tradition of Jewish mystery wisdom. Culled from ancient and medieval Hebraic and Aramaic sources, much of this material has been hidden in dusty archives or obscure translations. These short selected readings are intended as contemplative, inspirational, and even entertaining extracts. As short as a few lines or as long as a page, they are translated and paraphrased here to render them accessible to readers of all backgrounds and spiritual paths.

Featuring more than 250 photographs and 50 anatomical drawings, this revised edition of Deep Tissue Massage is the standard guide to the essentials of touch, biomechanics, and positioning options for a multitude of strategies to treat all major conditions encountered in a bodywork practice. The book is divided into three sections. “Fundamentals” covers basic skills of palpation, explaining the deeper layers of the body and presenting detailed instruction on working with these layers to release tension. This section gives clear information on the proper use of knuckles, fist, forearms, and elbows in preventing injury to the therapist. “Strategies” offers more precise protocols and treatment plans for the entire body with emphasis on client positioning options to stretch muscles rather than just kneading tissues. “Caveats” details areas in which the practitioner needs to exercise caution. Deep Tissue Massage presents a wealth of information in a way the therapist can immediately utilize. This new edition has been thoroughly revised and includes a preface to the new edition, a foreword, an index, a Suggested Reading list, and extended sections on integrating deep-tissue massage into bodywork practice and the psychology of treating injuries.

A spiritual crisis sent Orthodox rabbi Gershon Winkler to remote regions of the Southwest, where he studied with Native American healers. From them he began to recover the long-lost wisdom of what he calls “Aboriginal Judaism”: the religion’s tribal roots. This book tracks his personal journey and draws from a dazzling mix of sources to detail the surprising connections between two seemingly unrelated religions.

The Blue Heron Ranch Cookbook, based on Cooking Off the Grid, also by Nadia Natali, blends 126 tasty, healthful recipes with lively tales of the Natali family’s adventures living close to the land—in the wilds of California’s Los Padres National Forest. Nadia Natali''s varied dishes, suitable for any group or family, are presented in a simple style that makes them both visually appealing and effortless, as a sequence of ingredients that correspond to numbered directions. Each chapter opens with a vivid account of the family’s trials and triumphs at Blue Heron Ranch, followed by a particular category of recipes, arranged in seven groupings. Whimsical illustrations adorn the recipes and embellish the sometimes poignant, often hilarious stories about raising a family in the wilderness, running a meditation center, and facing nature’s seemingly endless challenges—with the Blue Heron Ranch kitchen being the center around which these events unfold. Recipes include Blue Heron Ranch Potato Leek Soup, Saturday Market Quiche, Miso Pine Salmon, Ojai Bouillabaisse, Early Morning Rice Cream, Aunt Ev’s Cardamom Bundt Cake, and Honey Almond Chai. The Blue Heron Ranch Cookbook offers culinary and spiritual sustenance to anyone who wants to experience, or revisit, the pleasures of comforting, communal meals at Zen and other retreat centers.

Tara is an inspirational figure to many practitioners. She embodies the most compelling and vital qualities of the feminine: beauty, grace, and the ability to nurture, care for and protect. In addition, she is a true warrior, vanquishing fear and ignorance. One could say she is the earliest known Buddhist feminist.Skillful Grace is an entirety of instructions on deity practice centered on the female Buddha Tara. It covers everything from beginning to end. It has all the preliminaries, as well as the main part and the subsequent yogas. There is the outer and inner sadhanas with Tara and her retinue of twenty-one Taras that dispel the various fears. There is also the innermost practice of Tara with consort. It has all the details on the development stage, and describes completion stage both with and without conceptual attributes. Nothing is left out. It is utterly complete with treasure and pith instructions from Tulku Urgyen and Adeu Rinpoche, skillfully arranged by the translation/author team of Erik Pema Kunsang and Marcia Binder Schmidt.There are many explanations of the different Tara practices. However, Skillful Grace is unique in that it outlines an entire path, taking Tara as support. This book is s divided into three main sections. The first is the root text of this cycle, The Essential Instruction on the Threefold Excellence, according to the mind treasure of the profound essence of Tara as revealed by Chokgyur Lingpa. Following that is a commentary on this root text by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. Next is Jamgön Kongtrül and Adeu Rinpoche’s synthesized commentary on the same text. In order to make this work less scholarly and more applicable to practitioners, we decided to paraphrase Jamgön Kongrtül commentary and blend it together with Adeu Rinpoche’s teaching.The book is rounded out with a foreword by Tara Bennett Goleman, author of the best selling book Emotional Alchemy, in depth introduction by Marcia Schmidt, and various appendixes and footnotes.

As a well-known scholar and meditation master—His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama called him “extremely modest, a true spiritual practitioner of deep and broad learning”—Sheng Yen is uniquely qualified to guide Western seekers into the world of contemporary Chinese Buddhism. Written while the author was secluded in solitary retreat in southern Taiwan, Orthodox Chinese Buddhism provides a wealth of theory and simple, clear guidelines for practicing this increasingly popular form of spirituality. One of the most influential Buddhist books in the Chinese language, the book explores a wide range of subjects, from distinguishing core teachings from outdated cultural norms to bridging the gap between Western and Chinese traditions. In the process, it addresses such questions as “To what extent should Buddhism be Westernized to fit new cultural conditions?” and “Does Westernization necessarily lead to ‘a dumbing down’ of Buddhism?” In addition to the translation of the complete original text, this edition includes new annotations, appendixes, and a glossary designed for the Western reader.

Addiction, argues Albert LaChance in this insightful book, affects more than the individual who suffers from it. Cultural Addiction shows how contemporary lifestyles have become addictive, consuming the planet''s resources—soil, air, water—in a destructive way that comprises earth''s life systems and endangers the survival of both humankind and other species. This book presents a 12-step program for recovery from these dangerous lifestyles. Identifying such traits as egocentricity, materialism, overeating and drinking, and apathy as products of addiction, the author draws on the world''s spiritual traditions—Hinduism, Buddhism, shamanism, Christianity, and others—to show individuals and communities how to work together to overcome these problems. The 12-step Greenspirit program empowers people to change the way they live in their environment. This “cultural therapy” in turn creates a renewed culture dedicated to protecting—and respecting—the planet.

Those who love Japanese food know there is more to it than sukiyaki, tempura, and sushi. A variety of miso-based soups, one-pot cooking (nabemono), and vegetable side dishes with sweet vinegar dressing (sunomono) are just a few of the traditional dishes that are attracting many interested in Asian cooking. Homma presents an intriguing mixture of Japanese country cooking, folk tradition, and memories of growing up in Japan. Cooking methods include techniques for chopping vegetables, making udon and soba noodles, making tofu and using various tofu products, and making rich soup stocks. This is a book to use and treasure for its traditional Japanese cooking methods.

Wing Chun, also called Ving Tsun, is a popular system of kung fu designed centuries ago by a Buddhist nun and Shaolin master. Together, the two volumes of The Wing Chun Compendium offer a complete guide to the discipline, from theory and philosophy to drills and forms. In this volume, author Wayne Belonoha takes students to the next level, focusing on the final three and most advanced forms of the Wing Chun system and their associated skills: the “Mook Yan Jong” or wooden man; the “Lok Dim Boon Quan” or six-and-a-half point long pole; and the “Baat Cham Dao” or eight-cut sword form, demonstrated here for the first time by Grandmaster Sunny Tang. Also included are distance and angle improvement drills, fighting strategy and training, instruction on proper body mechanics, and “Sticking Hands” techniques. While intended for the serious practitioner, The Wing Chun Compendium, Volume Two also teaches the basics of body movement, psychological components of practice and performance, and how to use martial arts for overall self-improvement—factors that can help any martial artists seeking to enhance their physical and mental development. The book includes hundreds of tips and techniques as well as 400 photographs.

This book is a collection of writings on principles and techniques by the pioneers of bodywork and body awareness disciplines. Together, they represent a historical record of the field of somatics. Ranging from hands-on workers like Ida Rolf to phenomenologist Elizabeth Behnke, their lives span this century. In these lectures, writings, and interviews, editor Don Hanlon Johnson has sought to revel the unbroken lineage, theoretical differences, and major similarities of these originators.

Sabaki means staying open to the world at large and responding to others in a way that blends energies in new directions. Whether it is a question of repelling an attack or building relationships, the combined energy that comes from sabaki is an effort of cooperation, openness, and respect. Whether you are training for health, competition, or self-defense, The Sabaki Method can show you how to turn defense into offense, anticipate attacks, condition the body, and focus the mind. Kancho Ninomiya takes the mystery out of karate.

Wizard of the Upper Amazon is an extraordinary document of the life among a tribe of South American Indians at the beginning of the 20th century. For many readers, the most compelling sections of the book will be the descriptions of the use of Banisteriopsis caapi, the ayahuasca of the Amazon forests. This powerful hallucinogen has long been credited with the ability to transport human beings to realms of experience where telepathy and clairvoyance are commonplace. Manual Córdova, the narrator of these adventures is a well-known as a healer in Peru.