Turning Suffering Inside Out: A Zen Approach to Living with Physical and Emotional Pain

by Darlene Cohen and Athena Dixon

Book Overview

Darlene Cohen discovered the secret to finding happiness in the midst of debilitating pain. She shares her knowledge in her popular workshops and now in this book. Cohen, who has suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for eighteen years, was hobbling painfully to her local Zen center one day, when she made a discovery that changed her life: if she focused on the foot that was in the air rather than the one that was hitting the pavement, her stamina increased...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1570628173
• ISBN13: 9781570628177
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Shambhala
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

If You Are Suffering Chronic Pain - this is your book

I read this book several years ago when I sustained a permanent injury to my SI joint. I also have nerve damage there, and in my foot. Some days it really sucks. This book is an excellent approach to managing pain and health issues that seem unmanagable - that feel like they have stolen your life and taken all joy from you. The author's approach is very practical and doable... learn to focus on what is right in your life... on moments. Life is not made up of big events. Life is made of the tiny joys in every day. But when you are buried in pain, you have to train yourself to find them. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. You owe it to yourself, and to your loved ones, to read it. It's very hard to suffer... it's also hard to watch someone suffer. Take a positive step in the middle of what seems impossible and read this book. Really.

Not only for those in pain

A helpful, encouraging blueprint for enriching any life -from those tetter on physical or psychological problems, to those with "mundane" stresses and worries. Not a how-to-book; although there are specific tips and techniques for dealing with physical and/or emotional problems. Not a woe-is-me-book, although Cohen's odessey of illness, growth, nurturing a new perspective and way of being is inspirational and makes the reader feel better about peoplekind. Not a dry medical book, but a warm, human, witty personal book. Almost anyone with a functioning mind, open to new thoughts and feelings, will benefit from this.

For more than just physical pain

Even if you do not have chronic physical pain, this book is a true gift from a wise and experienced teacher. The compassionate observations and suggestions serve as guidelines for any kind of pain -- mental, emotional or spiritual. Thank you, Ms. Cohen,for sharing the fruits of your life and suffering with us.