Banyen Books ~ Branches of Wisdom

Stephen Cope speaks with Banyen on his new book. The Dharma in Difficult Times: Finding Your Calling in Times of Loss, Change, Struggle, and Doubt. How do we make sense of our lives when our world seems to be falling apart? In this beautifully written book, scholar and teacher Stephen Cope shows that crises don’t have to derail us from our purpose—they can actually help us to find our purpose and step forward as our best selves. In the spirit of Pema Chödrön’s When Things Fall Apart, The Dharma in Difficult Times is required reading for anyone forging a path through crisis. Stephen Cope is a bestselling author and scholar who specializes in the relationship between the Eastern contemplative traditions and Western depth psychology. Among his seminal works in this area are Yoga and the Quest for the True Self, The Wisdom of Yoga, The Great Work of Your Life, and Deep Human Connection. For almost 30 years, Stephen has been Scholar-in-Residence at the renowned Kripalu Center—the largest center for the study and practice of yoga in the Western world. Stephen is also the founder and former director of the Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living—one of the world’s most influential research institutes examining the effects and mechanisms of yoga and meditation. In its 25th anniversary edition, “Yoga Journal” named him one of the most influential thinkers, writers, and teachers on the current American yoga scene.

Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé discuss Diet for a Small Planet (Revised and Updated), 50th Anniversary Edition. The book is available here: https://www.banyen.com/ In 1971, Diet for a Small Planet revolutionized the meaning of our food choices. It broke new ground, revealing how our everyday acts are a form of power to create health for ourselves and our planet. The book sold more than 3 million copies and sparked a food revolution. Now in this revised and updated 50th-anniversary edition, Lappé goes even deeper: sharing her personal journey, and showing us how plant-centered eating can help restore our damaged ecology, address the climate crisis, and move us toward real democracy. Frances Moore Lappé is the author or co-author of twenty books about world hunger, living democracy, and the environment, beginning with the three-million-copy Diet for a Small Planet in 1971. She has been featured on the Today show, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, the CBC and BBC, and other news outlets. Frances is the cofounder of three organizations including the Oakland-based think tank Food First and the Small Planet Institute, which she leads with her daughter, Anna Lappé. The pair also cofounded the Small Planet Fund, which channels resources to democratic social movements worldwide.  Anna Lappé is a national bestselling author, a respected advocate for food justice and sustainability, and an advisor to funders investing in food system transformation. A recipient of the James Beard Leadership Award, Anna is the co-author or author of three books and the contributing author to fourteen others. Anna’s work has been translated internationally and featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Oprah Magazine, among many other outlets. She was named one of TIME’s “eco” Who’s-Who.

Judith Orloff, MD, speaks with Banyen Books about The Empath's Empowerment Deck. Judith Orloff MD, is the New York Times bestselling author of The Empath’s Survival Guide, Thriving as an Empath, and Emotional Freedom. Dr. Orloff is a psychiatrist, an empath and intuitive healer, and is on the UCLA Psychiatric Clinical Faculty. She synthesizes the pearls of traditional medicine with leading-edge knowledge of intuition, energy, and spirituality. Dr. Orloff has been called the “Godmother of the Empath Movement.” Her work has been featured on the Today Show; CNN; O, The Oprah Magazine; The New York Times; and USA Today. She has spoken at the American Psychiatric Association, Fortune magazine's Most Powerful Women Summit, and Google. Dr. Orloff offers a limited number of Zoom or phone sessions for those wanting to awaken empathy and intuition.

Celebrated poet Jane Hirshfield joins Banyen Books for an hour of poetry and conversation on her new book, Ledger: Poems. Jane Hirshfield is one of our most celebrated contemporary poets. Her books have received the Poetry Center Book Award, the California Book Award, and the Donald Hall-Jane Kenyon Prize in American Poetry and have been finalists for The National Book Critics Circle Award and England’s T. S. Eliot Prize and long-listed for the National Book Award. Hirshfield has received fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Academy of American Poets, and she presents her work at literary and interdisciplinary events worldwide. Her poems appear in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New Republic, Harper’s Magazine, and Poetry, and have been selected for ten editions of The Best American Poetry. She is a 2019 elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

Stephen Mitchell joins Banyen Books in conversation about The First Christmas: A Story of New Beginnings–an astonishingly beautiful re-imagining of the Nativity story, enchanting to readers of every background. Stephen Mitchell also shares spiritual insights, discusses the influence of Zen on his life & work, and speaks about his relationship with Byron Katie.Stephen Mitchell was born in Brooklyn in 1943, educated at Amherst, the Sorbonne, and Yale, and de-educated through intensive Zen practice. He is married to Byron Katie, founder of The Work, with whom he co-authored the bestsellers Loving What Is and A Thousand Names for Joy. A world renowned translator and scholar, he has brought to life a wide range of literary classics, including the Tao Te Ching, Gilgamesh, the Bhagavad Gita and the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke. His work has been praised by Anne Lamott, Billy Collins, Daniel Goleman, Jack Kornfield, and Elizabeth Gilbert.

Stephen Jenkinson shares wisdom from his new book, A Generation’s Worth: Spirit work while the crisis reigns. In this conversation, Stephen Jenkinson addresses questions about vaccines, mass hysteria and conspiracy thinking, ecology, aging and elderhood, hope and being hope free, and more. Stephen Jenkinson has described A Generation’s Worth as "something of a plague document... dispatches from the front lines of a strange occupation undeclared." What does a life’s work mean in a time of undoing? A Generation’s Worth sets out to learn liveable answers. Dying and death, love and matrimony, money and soul, aging and elderhood, drawn through the eye of a pestilential needle: this is the spirit work, and that is the crisis. Stephen Jenkinson, MTS, MSW is a spiritual activist, author, ceremonialist and farmer. Stephen teaches internationally and is the creator and principal instructor of the Orphan Wisdom School, founded in 2010. With Master’s degrees from Harvard University (Theology) and the University of Toronto (Social Work), he is the author of several books including the award-winning Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul and Come of Age: The Case for Elderhood in a Time of Trouble. Stephen is the subject of the National Film Board of Canada feature length film documentary, Griefwalker.

Apela Colorado, PhD, discusses 'Woman Between the Worlds: A Call to Your Ancestral and Indigenous Wisdom. Apela Colorado of Oneida-Gaul ancestry, has dedicated her life’s work to bridging Western thought and indigenous worldviews. As a Ford Fellow, Dr. Colorado studied for her doctorate at both Harvard and Brandeis Universities and received her Ph.D. from Brandeis in Social Policy. She founded the Worldwide Indigenous Science Network (WISN) to: Foster the revitalization, growth, and worldwide exchange of traditional knowledge; Safeguard the lives and work of the world’s endangered indigenous culture practitioners; Develop an interface with Western science. Dr. Colorado was one of twelve women chosen from 52 countries by the State of the World Forum to be honoured for her role as a woman leader.

Martha Beck, Ph.D., discusses The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self. The author of several New York Times and international bestsellers including Finding Your Own North Star, Martha Beck has been a regular columnist for O: The Oprah Magazine since its inception. She has been described by USA Today as “the best-known life coach in America.” She holds three Harvard degrees in social science, has taught career development at the American Graduate School of International Management, and was research assistant to Dr. John Kotter at Harvard Business School.

Dr. Martin Shaw speaks about his new book, Smoke Hole: Looking to the Wild in the Time of the Spyglass. At a time when we are all confronted by not one, but many crossroads in our lives, Dr. Shaw delivers a work of literary tonic. In Smoke Hole, Martin shares three ancient stories that are metaphors for our world today, a world where we are losing our sense of direction. With extraordinary poignancy, Smoke Hole illuminates the complexities of contemporary life and–through story–a way forward. Martin Shaw is widely regarded as one of the most exciting teachers of the mythic imagination. Author of the award-winning Mythteller trilogy (A Branch from the Lightning Tree, Snowy Tower, Scatterlings), he founded the Oral Tradition and Mythic Life courses at Stanford University, and is director of the Westcountry School of Myth in the UK. He has introduced thousands of people to mythology, and for twenty years Shaw has been a wilderness rites of passage guide, working with at-risk youth, those who are unwell, returning veterans as well as many women and men seeking a deeper life. His translations of Gaelic poetry and folklore (with Tony Hoagland) have been published in Orion Magazine, Poetry International, and Poetry magazine. Dr. Shaw's work has received top praise from the likes of Malidoma Somé, Stephen Jenkinson, Coleman Barks, Robert Densmore, and Robert Bly. His essay and conversation with Ai Weiwei on myth and migration was released by the Marciano Arts foundation. 

Jesse Thistle joins Banyen in conversation about his award-winning book, From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way. In his extraordinary and inspiring memoir, Jesse Thistle chronicles his life on the streets and how he overcame trauma and addiction to discover the truth about who he is. An eloquent exploration of what it means to live in a world surrounded by prejudice and racism and to be cast adrift, From the Ashes is, in the end, about how love and support can help one find happiness despite the odds. Jesse Thistle is Métis-Cree, from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He is an assistant professor in Métis Studies at York University in Toronto. He won a Governor General’s Academic Medal in 2016, and is a Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation Scholar and a Vanier Scholar. He is the author of the #1 National Bestselling book, From the Ashes, a CBC Canada Reads finalist and recipient of multiple awards.