books by amy edelstein


#1 Amazon bestseller

Adventure In Zanskar

PRESS INQUIRIES / MEDIA KIT

Adventure In Zanskar: a young woman’s solitary journey to reach physical and metaphysical heights

In 1983, twenty-one-year-old Amy Edelstein set out on a 500-kilometer journey in Zanskar, India, the highest valley in the world. She walked alone by foot, crossing passes above 16,000 feet, sleeping in caves, meeting high lamas, and exploring a culture that had remained virtually the same for thousands of years — a culture that was about to change irrevocably. Drawn by the seeker’s quest for wisdom, what Amy found shaped her life. Readers in our stressed and troubled times can now share the fruits of her adventure, and grow lighter and happier in the process.

IPPY Award Winner
#1 Amazon bestseller

The Conscious Classroom

PRESS INQUIRIES / MEDIA KIT

IPPY Award Winner Excellence in Education WritingThe Conscious Classroom: the Inner Strength System(TM) for transforming the teenage mind shows educators, parents, and everyone concerned about our youth a sound, illuminating, and uplifting way to educate our kids today for their well-being in the world of tomorrow. The Inner Strength System is currently being used by over a dozen high schools in the inner city of Philadelphia to support thousands of teens to realize their higher potentials. In this evidence-based program, she uniquely pairs the best of her 35 years experience with mindfulness tools with the art of systemic and developmental thinking. Given how rapidly our world is changing, our teens urgently need skills that help them rise above emotional as well as practical upheaval. The guidance offered in this book gives educators both the understanding and the tools to work with challenging classrooms today. It empowers teachers to train our adolescents with education that will prepare them both inwardly and outwardly to be wise and compassionate stewards of our shared future.

A designated CASEL-recommended program

Teaching Inner Strength: a school mindfulness teacher’s manual

CASEL Recommended programThe Inner Strength Teen Mindfulness Program is the only adolescent mindfulness program to incorporate evidence-based and trauma-sensitive mindfulness techniques for whole person wellness, with systems thinking, positive psychology, and social emotional learning. The 12-lesson curriculum deftly weaves together perspectives from 300 million years of brain development, evolutionary theories and latest insights of adolescent neuroscience, and a perspective on large-scale cultural shifts over hundreds of years. Students learn to see their experience in perspective, depersonalizing challenges and catalyzing interest and inner strength. In this detailed course manual, teachers will find lesson plans for the 12-lesson Inner Strength Teen Mindfulness Program. This manual accompanies the 80-hour teacher training program. Instructions for teachers include overview explanation, additional resources and readings, and a clearly delineated set of Goals, Objectives, and Skills for each section. (110 pages)

We All Come from Somewhere

Amy Edelstein’s first volume of poems is a hauntingly moving collection of vignettes about the land, about cultural issues, and about intimate family moments. Like a box of photographs, this volume lets us sift through fleeting memories and reflections, coming away with the impression that through her words we have discovered a thought-provoking montage of our own. WIth a voice that is distinct, strong, and penetrating, Amy’s poems speak to a generation of readers looking for signposts that will direct us to our own depths.

“Amy Edelstein has the uncanny ability to discern in the everyday the underlying essence of what many call ‘real life.’ With the fresh eye of the poet and the perception of the wise woman she weaves magic where many might only note the surface features of human experience. Her poems are adorned with stunning metaphors and images, the mark of a rare talent indeed.”
~Dorothy Walters, Ph. D., Some Kiss We Want: Poems Selected and New

Great Awakenings: Radical Visions of Spiritual Love & Evolution

CoAuthored by Chris Parish

The work of great mystics is endlessly inspiring. In this beautifully written book, Amy Edelstein and Chris Parish have crafted rare insights into the lives and work of an eclectic collection of spiritual visionaries from the East & West. From Ralph Waldo Emerson to 15th century Indian poet Mirabai, from Ramana Maharshi to Abraham Joshua Heschel, this volume of 12 mystics brings the reader into the life and heart of these thinkers. Through biographical essays, with passages from the mystics’ own work, Edelstein and Parish bring alive for readers the unique courage, vision, and heart of these visionaries of the soul.

The author’s goal? To encourage readers to pursue their own inner discoveries. Ideal for those just beginning a mindfulness practice or those familiar with the spiritual path. A beautiful source for interfaith sermons, and as nourishment and education for the SBNR or Spiritually Independent community in search of water for the soul. The 12 mystics include: Teilhard de Chardin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, J. Krishnamurti, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Lama Yeshe, Alfred North Whitehead, Irina Tweedie, 15th century poet Mirabai, Buddha, Ramana Maharshi, Vimala Thakar & Ram Dass.

“I love all Amy’s writing yet this touched me in a particularly deep way. I love the experiences she writes about on her own spiritual path. What an amazing road she has journeyed with all the wisdom, depth, compassion, and love gained. I am in awe. She inspires me greatly and touches my heart so deeply.”

Love, Marriage & Evolution

Love, Marriage & Evolution is an inspiring, and innovative guide to making intimate relationships work. In eight chapters on essential pillars of long-term relationships, Amy helps couples engage in a fun and thoughtful exploration of the values they hold most dear. Illuminating how a developmental perspective with spiritual roots can create trust, love, and purpose, Amy helps demystify how to make good relationships last and deepen over time. The book includes a workbook with guided contemplations and space for reader notes. A much-needed support for joy and love filled marriages.

“Amy Edelstein has written a simple, sane and deeply reassuring guide to one of life’s most passionate, fiery and confusing topics: sex, love and marriage. Her tone is warm and personal so that the reading experience feels more like having a conversation with a caring friend than a lecture on how to change or correct one’s behavior.

She draws easily and frequently on her own experience and on wisdom that was surely gained from a life grounded in spiritual practice and personal inquiry. One readily senses that this is not a compilation of what the author has read or learned secondhand but is advice and encouragement sourced in personal exploration, including failures, successes and a willingness to dig deeper. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in romantic relationships and the possibility of integrating spiritual ideals into a well-rounded, fully engaged life.”

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