The Soul-Directed Life

The Call to Be Grateful Dr. Mario Martinez is a clinical neuropsychologist who lectures worldwide about how cultural beliefs affect health and longevity. He is the founder of biocognitive science, a new paradigm that explains how cultural beliefs affect our immune, nervous, and endocrine systems. Dr. Martinez has investigated cases of alleged stigmata for the Catholic Church, the BBC, and National Geographic. His new book is The Mind-Body Code.

The Call to Be Grateful Nina Lesowitz is an award-winning marketing professional. Her firm Spinergy creates customized marketing support for (my favorite people!) authors. She coauthored the best-selling Living Life as a Thank You and What Would You Do If You Knew You Could Not Fail? In her newest book, The Grateful Life, Nina shares the science that explains how gratitude generates happiness and contentment.

The Call to Pierce the Veil of Death What would you do if your bad-boy brother started talking to you three weeks after he died? Annie Kagan picked up a red notebook and began to capture what he said. And what he said about the afterlife is thrilling, comforting, astonishing, perplexing, mysterious, and just plain gorgeous. If you've ever wondered what is happening to your loved ones (and what will happen to you), read The Soul-Directed Book Club selection for October: The Afterlife of Billy Fingers.

The Call to Pierce the Veil of Death PMH Atwater experienced three near-death experiences (NDE) in 1977. When she recovered, she interviewed first dozens, then hundreds, and now more than 4,000 near-death experiencers. She has published 15 books, including Future Memory, which explains the quantum physics of what is seen on the other side. Her latest book, Dying to Know You: Proof of God in the Near-Death Experience, shares a lifetime of research into NDE and the surprisingly consistent aftereffects. PMH Atwater is a treasure trove of information about death.

The Call to Pierce the Veil of Death Linda Backman is a psychologist trained by world-famous Dr. Michael Newton to conduct life regressions. In her newest book, The Evolving Soul, Dr. Backman shares the wisdom she has amassed from hundreds of hypnotic regression clients, including: how we create prebirth blueprints, the seven soul archetypes, and your "soul ray."

The Call to Pierce the Veil of Death Sunny Dawn Johnston is an internationally renowned psychic medium. Since early childhood, she's known she was different and profoundly aware of the angelic realm and Spirit world. She has helped hundreds of people communicate with their angels, guides, and loved ones who have crossed over to the other side. The one message she receives: The Love Never Ends.

The Call to Pierce the Veil of Death Roberta Grimes saw a bright light in her bedroom when she was 8 years old. She has devoted the rest of her life to figuring out what happened. Roberta is a lawyer, wife, mother, and devoted researcher of death. After studying nearly 200 years of afterlife evidence, Roberta shares her conclusions in The Fun of Dying: Finding Out What Really Happens Next.

The Call to Live From Intention. Tony Burroughs is the cofounder of the worldwide intentional community "The Intenders of the Highest Good." He's the author of nine books, including The Intenders Handbook and The Code: 10 Intentions for a Better World, and our book club selection for our September theme: Get What You Want. But this is not standard-issue materialistic intention; this is intention for a better world. It's based on 10 intentions he calls The Code.

The Call to Live From Intention. Mallika Chopra grew up with intention as the foundation of her life. Taught how to meditate at the age of 9 by her world-renowned father Deepak Chopra, Mallika is exceptionally well-versed on how to harness the power of intention. The 40-year-old mother of two daughters, author, and former MTV executive now helps others do the same at www.intent.com, a place to set an intention and have a community-at-large offer support and spur accomplishment.

The Call to Live From Intention. Brian Johnson, founder of En*Theos: The Academy of Optimal Living, is the walking, talking embodiment of what can happen when you live not only from intention, but from informed intention. Brian spent years gathering clues to optimal living in the writings of Tal Ben-Shahar, Eric Butterworth, Joseph Campbell, Sonja Lyubomirsky, Leonardo da Vinci, the Tao, and dozens more captured in A Philosopher's Notes. As he studied, one essential ingredient became clear: virtue.

The Call to Live From Intention. Dianne Collins has spent her life exploring the question: How do we create the results we desire? After decades of research, her answer is a radical new way of thinking she calls "Quantum Think." And what is the soul of quantum thinking? Why, intent, of course. But, surprise! Intent is not the same as intention.

The Call to the Practice of Prayer-Book Club Discussion Andrew Harvey is a wild and glorious lover-lover of Rumi, of mystics, of diverse spiritual practice, and of sacred activism. He is a lover of the Sacred Mother and of course, he is a lover of prayer. If you've ever heard Andrew speak, you know you have been touched by the heart of the Beloved. In Light the Flame, our Soul-Directed Life Book Club selection for August, Andrew gathers 365 short but heart-thumping prayers from Thomas Merton to Cesar Chavez to Swami Vivekananda to the Prophet Muhammad. We aren't just talking in this episode, we're praying!

Theme: The Call to the Practice of Prayer I first encountered Phyllis Tickle as the founding editor of the Religion Department for Publishers Weekly, and I've longed to speak with her ever since. Phyllis is a true authority on religion in America. She is the author of more than three dozen books, but perhaps best known for The Divine Hours series on fixed-hour prayer. We talk about how Christian fixed-hour prayer relates to the call in Islam to pray five times a day, if the call to prayer is universal or unique to particular traditions, and how she prays as a lay Eucharistic minister and lector in the Episcopal Church.

Theme: The Call to the Practice of Prayer Wouldn't you love to ask gurus, saints, and teachers of all traditions how they pray? Well, Celeste Yacoboni did! She brings us the exciting results in How Do You Pray? Inspiring Responses from Religious Leaders, Spiritual Guides, Healers, Activists, and Other Lovers of Humanity. She talks about some intriguing ideas such as "the prayer field" and "walking prayer." And I have to ask her just who or what we're praying to!

Theme: The Call to the Practice of Prayer As a teenager, Mirabai Starr lived at the Lama Foundation, a spiritual community that has honored all the world's faith traditions since 1967. There, she encountered Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi, Native American, and many other prayer traditions. This ecumenical grounding blossomed into teaching world religions, translating mystics like Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, and her latest book God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We have a juicy conversation about her experiences with prayer, what she learned from praying in so many traditions, why Shabbat is essential, and how the SBNR (spiritual but not religious) can pray and pray with joy.