{"title":"Books by Valerie Brown","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781952692642","title":"Healing Our Way Home","description":"\u003cb\u003e#1 New Release in Zen Spirituality on Amazon\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This powerful trinity of Black authors invites us into the living room of their hearts, affirming who we are with earthy straight talk, textured diversity, and wise tenderness.\"—Ruth King\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReal talk on living joyfully and coming home to ourselves—with reflective self-care practices to help us on our interconnected journeys of liberation\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJoin three friends, three Black women, all teachers in the Plum Village tradition founded by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, in intimate conversation, touching on the pain and beauty of their families of origin, relationships and loneliness, intimacy and sexuality, politics, popular culture, race, self-care and healing. No subject is out of bounds in this free-flowing, wide-ranging offering of mindful wisdom to nourish our sense of belonging and connection with ancestors.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAuthors Valerie Brown, Marisela Gomez, MD, and Kaira Jewel Lingo share how the Dharma's timeless teachings support their work for social and racial equity and justice in their work and personal lives. The book offers insights in embodied mindfulness practice to support us in healing white supremacy, internalized racial oppression, and social and cultural conditioning, leading to a firm sense of belonging and abiding joy.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56309892055413,"sku":"9781952692642","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781952692642_3616ac48-bc77-4bae-8506-50de9a3904fb.jpg?v=1786030659"},{"product_id":"9781506478371","title":"Hope Leans Forward","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFind spiritual insight for developing courage and meeting life's broken-open, pulled-apart times for anyone seeking hope.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDaily we are asked to move toward bravery, to stretch in the direction of goodness, kindness, forgiveness, patience, and vulnerability. Yet life's tender fragility, fear, anxiety, and our own practiced self-sabotage can derail us from growing and thriving, leaving us fractured and afraid.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOrdained Buddhist teacher and Quaker Valerie Brown invites us into the heart of compassion, insight, and courage. Filled with Quaker wisdom, mindfulness meditation practices, and portraits of real people living out simple yet life-affirming bravery, \u003ci\u003eHope Leans Forwar\u003c\/i\u003ed is a guidebook for all of us who are on journeys of self-transformation, self-discovery, and spiritual discernment. Centering small, everyday acts of bravery with diverse stories from marginalized communities, Brown's unique perspective as a Black Buddhist Dharma teacher in the Plum Village tradition and her extensive leadership experience shepherd us in navigating life's essential questions to discover true aliveness and meaning. When we focus on cultivating clarity and discernment in our purpose, we begin to understand that we are truly connected to--and that we \u003ci\u003econtribute to\u003c\/i\u003e--a larger whole.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWritten through a period of profound personal loss and in the urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement, Brown's spiritual insight and life- and spirit-tested wisdom offers a new source for anyone seeking hope, and seeking to alleviate suffering within ourselves and our communities.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56312501502325,"sku":"9781506478371","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781506478371_665f7428-744f-4797-8972-6cdf778c3794.jpg?v=1786021817"},{"product_id":"love-is-liberation","title":"Love Is Liberation","description":"\u003cb\u003eA courageous call forward from BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ Buddhist practitioners to transform the cycle of societal suffering through ethical choices and action from a place of belonging and love—the ultimate liberation—in this companion to Thich Nhat Hanh's Five Mindfulness Trainings\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe five precepts of traditional Buddhism—not to kill, steal, lie, ingest harmful substances, and to refrain from sexual misconduct—are universally applicable ethical foundations for a happy life for people of all religions and none. Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's Five Mindfulness Trainings reframe these guiding principles as positive steps that, followed wholeheartedly, open the way to transform the suffering of ourselves, our communities, and the planet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAware of the interconnection of all people, and the truth that we are all affected if even one person lives on the knife-edge of systemic social oppression and discrimination, authors and Dharma teachers Valerie Brown and Marisela B. Gomez address the suffering of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, who face disproportionate levels of violence, poverty, sickness, displacement, and death. Sharing their contemplations on the Mindfulness Trainings, they conclude with the voices of five BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ mindfulness practitioners sharing how each Mindfulness Training impacts their daily lives, celebrating the powerful transformative potential of each training: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ereverence for life, \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003etrue happiness, \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003etrue love, \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eloving speech and deep listening, \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eand nourishment and healing. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThrough sharing their lived experience of the Five Mindfulness Trainings for ethical living, the contributors to this treasure of a book call us all forward toward individual and collective awakening.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57509966053749,"sku":"9781967175178","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781967175178.jpg?v=1787130129"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-valerie-brown.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}