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Free Yourself

Ten Life-Changing Powers of Your Wise Heart

Foreword by James Baraz
Published by Wisdom Publications
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

LIST PRICE ₹798.00

PRICE MAY VARY BY RETAILER

About The Book

Discover your inherent capacity to overcome obstacles and find unlimited joy—with these quick and easy tools.

Though the voice of our heart may be buried beneath the shouts of our ego and the clamors of our worries, our heart already has all the characteristics of the person we want to be in the world -- it's trusting, curious, aware, resourceful, compassionate, kind, grateful, forgiving, truthful, and peaceful. And if we manage to listen deeply, we can access these traits and the strengths they bring.

In an encouraging, uplifting voice, therapist Carolyn Hobbs draws from her years of counseling experience and her spiritual practice to present the liberating truth: each of us has within ourselves the power to release ourselves from fear, from past traumas, from our ingrained habits of mistrust and defensiveness. All we have to do is listen to our wise hearts.

Each chapter in this gentle, pragmatic book focuses on a single power of our heart and contains illustrating examples drawn from real life. Hobbs concludes each chapter with clear tools we can use to develop and apply these strengths amid the challenges of daily life. Busy people of all faiths will be able to use these tools to find freedom and inner peace -- to tame anxiety, anger, grief, and despair while awakening fearless love.

Warm and inspiring, Free Yourself maps the path to lasting peace and freedom -- a path that absolutely anyone can follow, as the way lies within our own hearts.

About The Author

As author, therapist, teacher, and workshop leader, Carolyn Hobbs has used the heart tools outlined in this book with clients, couples, and workshop students for over thirty years. A licensed marriage and family therapist with a masters degree in humanistic psychology, Hobbs blends her two lifelong passions -- Buddhist meditative wisdom and body-centered therapy -- into her work, which draws from studies in bioenergetics, Feldenkrais work, Breathwork, as well as Buddhism. This October, Omega Institute in New York will offer Hobbs's five-day Workshop, "Free Yourself: 10 Life-Changing Powers of your Wise Heart," to teach participants the ten heart powers outlined in this book. Based on her first book, JOY, No Matter What (2005), Hobbs began in 2004 teaching Everyday Joy workshops each spring at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in the San Francisco Bay Area and lecturing to professional therapists at U.S. Journal's annual Self and Family Conferences in Santa Fe, NM. Prior to this, she was a visiting professor at Naropa Institute in Boulder, CO, and Ft. Lewis College in Durango, CO. Excerpts and reviews of her first book appeared in such magazines and professional journals as Woman's World, Woman's Day, Shambhala Sun, AHP Perspective, Imagine, and Essence. Certified since 1992 as a body-centered therapist by Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks, she works with clients nationally from her home base in Durango, CO.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Wisdom Publications (October 14, 2014)
  • Length: 328 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781614291008

Raves and Reviews

“Carolyn Hobbs offers readers a guide for awakening heart wisdom that arises from her years of healing work with others—and her own deep understanding. Free Yourself is filled with poignant vignettes, meditative practices, and reflections that help us to inhabit our lives with the fullness of loving presence.”

– Tara Brach, PhD, author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge.

“None of us escape life without feeling fear, pain, and loss. At times, we all need a helping hand. Free Yourself helps you learn to tenderly hold your heart with your own loving hands.”

– Jacob Liberman, OD, PhD, author of Take Off your Glasses and See

“Based on thirty years of helping clients face anxiety, illness, depression, fear, and loss with her special blend of Buddhist wisdom and therapy, author Carolyn Hobbs offers readers of many different faiths a priceless treasure chest of quick, practical tools for awakening presence, kindness, gratitude, compassion, and freedom right in the middle of their busy lives.”

– Debra Chamberlin-Taylor, core teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center

“All readers, whether therapists or anyone seeking personal insight and growth, will find Free Yourself a rich resource. Having had the privilege of sponsoring author Carolyn Hobbs for various training events and conferences, I have seen first-hand audiences appreciate the author’s clinical insights and experiential techniques, enthusiastically embracing both. In this book, she distills life-tested approaches to help readers open their minds and hearts to meet life’s challenges with deepening levels of awareness and confidence.”

– Dan Barmettler, codirector of conferences, US Journal Training Inc. and The Institute for Integral Development

“Carolyn Hobbs writes as though her hair is on fire. She is passionately giving us tools to free ourselves, and she bridges everyday life and freedom with paunchy verve.”

– Devi Weisenberg, poet and teacher at Spirit Rock

“Author Carolyn Hobbs, in her friendly style, teaches us how easy it can be to step beyond familiar roadblocks and live in freedom and inner peace by asking simple questions, feeling grateful for what is and meeting challenges with compassion. This book will awaken your heart and soul.”

– Eleanor A. Greenlee, licensed marriage and family therapist and International Bioenergetics Trainer

"Like a warm and helpful conversation with a wise friend over a cup of tea, Free Yourself wraps the wisdom teachings in stories, humor, and suggestions that gently nudge us toward the freedom inherent in every beat of our heart. Listening will definitely change your life!"

– Shoshana Alexander, co-author, Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness

"A fine and trustworthy guide for healing and heart-centered living! With a supportive and compassionate tone, Ms. Hobbs helps us believe that any one of us, no matter how self-limited or wounded we might be, can finally live with majesty and joy. Waking Up Free is hands-down one of the most empowering books I’ve read in a very long time, definitely a must-have for your personal growth/spiritual growth library."

– Janice Lynne Lundy, author of Your Truest Self: Embracing the Woman You Are Meant to Be

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