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BOOKS
From meditation and spirituality to relationships and creativity, Susan’s books support you to discover your unique path.
Inexplicable Joy: On the Heart Sutra
Right now countless humans are reciting the Heart Sutra—no matter when “right now” happens to be. This ancient, essential Buddhist text carries with it a mystery of origin and a myriad of versions for consideration. The longest is 100,000 lines. The one contemplated in Inexplicable Joy is 43 lines. The ultimate is no lines at all. Just one syllable: AH.
The Heart Sutra is multi-layered, sacred, and sometimes impenetrable. It also lays out the path to full enlightenment.
In this short book (the first in a new series, Buddhism Beyond Belief), I break down each of its 43 lines, how it is practiced, and offer suggestions for bringing it into your life—while keeping all of its mysteries intact. Also included are instruction for how to chant it, for those who would like to experiment.
“In Inexplicable Joy, we are invited into an intimate relationship with The Heart Sutra– one of the most mysterious, deep and powerful spiritual texts in human history. Drawing on her decades-long love relationship with this scripture, Susan Piver points to ultimate truth with a wonderful freshness and vitality.” —
Tara Brach, author of Radical Acceptance
“Susan Piver’s book Inexplicable Joy is small in size but big at heart. It is a very helpful practical guide to reading, reciting, and contemplating the Heart Sutra. But it is much more than that because it is profound, personal, direct, and at times funny. It also leaves you dangling out there with just your own mind; just as the Heart Sutra itself does so many times. Susan doesn’t give too many answers but opens up space for personally exploring this text that is both celebrated and enigmatic. She appeals to ‘Don’t-know mind’ but also has some insights as to how not to know but experience. I’d say the book is Susan’s love letter to the Heart Sutra, coming from her heart and embracing the heart of Prajñāpāramitā. As the famous saying of Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince goes: ‘It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.’” —
Karl Brunnhölzl, author of The Heart Attack Sutra
The Buddhist Enneagram: Nine Paths to Warriorship
Develop self-compassion, deepen insight about relationships, and cultivate the ability to communicate with anyone.
You have every good intention of being kind to yourself, more toward loving others, and fearless about accomplishing your most meaningful goals. But if you find that you recreate certain obstacles over and over through any of the following, The Buddhist Enneagram can help.
- Harsh Self-Talk
- Repeating The Same Argument With Loved Ones
- Running Into Identical Obstacles At Work
- An Inability To Communicate With Certain Types Of People
- Putting Off Commitments To Yourself.
E D I T O R I A L R E V I E W S:
“By blending her long-time studies of Buddhism and the enneagram, Piver supports us to turn away from incessant self-improvement and relax into our natural brilliance. She assures us that everything we seek . . .is already here.” —
Mark Hyman, MD, 14-Time New York Times Best-Selling Author And Founder Of “Ultrawellness”
“With wisdom, creativity, and artistry, Susan Piver brings a Buddhist lens to the spiritual map of the enneagram. The results are vibrant and nourishing; a banquet of insights that help us transmute our difficult emotions into pure expressions of our basic goodness.” –Tara Brach, Best-Selling Author Of Radical Acceptance And Trusting The Gold
“A revelation. A genuinely novel, deeply wise, immensely insightful, and valuable guide that will change the way you see yourself and live your life.” –Jonathan Fields, founder of Good Life Project
Additional Press and Editorial Reviews here.
The Four Noble Truths of Love: Buddhist Wisdom for Modern Relationships
To apply a Buddhist viewpoint to relationships is eye-opening. It points to a radically different worldview, one that runs counter to the spirit of much of the conventional advice we receive.
Broken hearts, resentment, affairs, divorce. Why is it so hard to make relationships work? New York Times bestselling author and mindfulness expert Susan Piver applies classic Buddhist wisdom to modern romance, including her own long-term relationship, to show that ancient philosophies have timeless—and unexpected—wisdom on how to love.
The Four Noble Truths of Love will challenge the expectations you have about dating, sex, and romance, liberating you from the habits, traumas, and expectations that have been holding back your relationships. This mindful approach toward love will help you open your heart fearlessly, deepen communications with your partner, increase your compassion and resilience, and lead you toward a path of true happiness. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain: expansive, real love for yourself and others.
P R E S S:
Facebook Live with Seth Godin: April 2, 2018
10% Happier Podcast with Dan Harris: September 26, 2018
Danielle LaPorte Interview: June 12, 2018
E D I T O R I A L R E V I E W S:
“The Four Noble Truths of Love is like the book baby of the Buddha and Oprah Winfrey. It pulls no punches in the best of ways. Chock-full of relationship a-ha moments, it made me reflect not just on my marriage and how to keep deepening into it, but also on every loving relationship in my life. This wisdom may be thousands of years old, but Piver’s ability to convey it with grace, humor, humility, and profound relevance to modern life is a true gift. Get it, read it, live it!” –Jonathan Fields, founder of Good Life Project
“Clear and heart-warming, this book is a guide to living relationships completely, with all their pleasures and other- wise. Susan Piver brought the four noble truths to life in her own marriage, and here shares the fullness of that experience. A wonderful read.” –Sharon Salzberg, author of Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection
Additional Press and Editorial Reviews here.
Start Here Now: An Open-Hearted Guide to the Path and Practice of Meditation
If you want to meditate but have no idea where to start, this book will help you: it contains everything you need to know to start a meditation practice and, even more importantly, to continue one. It defines what meditation is (and what it is not), offers tips for making the practice a part of your life, dispels the most common misconceptions, describes the obstacles we all face and how to navigate them, and addresses the most frequently asked questions. Piver gives a concise overview of the various popular styles of Buddhist meditation and offers suggestions on how to explore them further. Most important, this book contains specific, concrete steps for beginning your own meditation practice in a stress-free, dogma-free, jargon-free way.
The Wisdom of a Broken Heart
When a relationship ends, the anguish and disappointment can be devastating. A broken heart is genuinely traumatic. Typical recommendations to keep busy, move on, repair your hidden flaws, and then forget about it may not be helpful. In these pages, Susan Piver reveals that heartbreak actually creates an opportunity for genuine emotional and spiritual transformation, enabling you to emerge on the other side stronger, softer, and capable of loving with renewed confidence.
In the years following her own experience, relationship writer Susan Piver searched the world’s wisdom traditions and discovered that heartbreak can be an uncompromising teacher of authenticity, power, and even joy. She shares that wisdom here, with instantaneously recognizable anecdotes, insights, on-the-spot practices, exercises, meditations, and down-to-earth advice that make The Wisdom of a Broken Heart a steadying prescription of solace and encouragement, wisdom and humor during the hardest time of your life. Like an infinitely patient, trusted friend, Piver tells you in a thousand different ways the most important thing to remember and the easiest to forget: “You’re going to be okay.”
How Not to Be Afraid of Your Own Life
Fear can be conquered. We can meet any situation, important or trivial, old or new, surprising or predictable, with self-confidence, gentleness, and elegance. And we don’t have to change one thing about ourselves to do so. In fact, we already possess all the courage we’ll ever need, and it-not fear-can animate the way we think about ourselves, others, and the world. The ancient practice of meditation can show us how.
-From the Introduction
Quiet Mind
This unique book-and-audio program brings together some of the country’s most beloved meditation teachers. Each contributor presents a short written teaching along with an audio recording of a guided practice. Quiet Mind features:
• Sakyong Mipham on shamatha, the practice of tranquillity
• Larry Rosenberg on vipassana, the practice of clear seeing
• Edward Espe Brown on zazen, the practice of freedom
• Sharon Salzberg on metta, the practice of lovingkindness
• Judith Lief on tonglen, the practice of transformation
• Tulku Thondup on healing the body and mind through meditation
• Yoga teacher Richard Faulds on the link between yoga and meditation
Includes a 78-minute CD.
The Hard Questions: 100 Essential Questions to Ask Before You Say "I Do"
A revised and expanded edition of the classic relationship book that has helped thousands of couples shape a shared vision for their lives together.
With this simple-yet-profound relationship tool, Susan Piver shows couples at any stage of their relationships–whether they are considering engagement, have been married for decades, or just want to deepen their connection–how they can forge and strengthen lasting, intimate bonds. Focusing on key areas such as home, money, work, community, and family, The Hard Questions contains 100 thought-provoking questions for couples to ask each other,
including:
• What will our home look like?
• What are our professional goals?
• How do you feel about sharing our life on social media?
• Will we try to have children, and if so, when?
The Hard Questions provides couples with guidance and support for having the kind of conversations that will lead them to a deeper understanding of each other and a happy, healthy, and prosperous future together.
I ordered this book based on seeing Susan Piver on “Oprah”. Although I didn’t question my love, communication with my husband needed some “work”, so I thought this book could be helpful. I was extraordinarily surprised by the results. My first surprise was that my husband was so willing and eager to participate in this. My second surprise was some of the answers and information we exchanged. Some of the simpler questions that I thought would be one word answers, led to deep discussions. There is no question but that this book has been extremely helpful to us. Even without the book to guide us, we now find the exchange of honest and open conversation much easier. “The Hard Questions” is a good book!!! (A Customer, Amazon)
We have so much to share with you
Get a new meditation from me every Monday morning