Embodying the Mystery

Somatic Wisdom for Emotional, Energetic, and Spiritual Awakening

Description

• Follows the author’s apprenticeships with masterful teachers, out-of-body experiences, meditation retreats in Asia, martial arts in Japan, facing his trauma at the hands of his father, and his struggles to become emotionally literate

• Offers interpretations of his experiences poised as questions, reflections, and inquiries, inviting the reader to participate in what opened for the author on his quest for self-realization, including successes, failures, struggles, and enigmas

Sharing profound stories, transformative incidents, and provocative situations from across his more than 7 decades of life, founding elder of the Somatics movement Richard Strozzi-Heckler explores the moments of insight and awakening that have been pivotal in forming his unique perspectives within the fields of embodiment, meditation, aikido, and leadership.

Beginning with an early experience with death that revealed the universal principle of impermanence, the author takes us on a rich, textured journey into the inquiry of what it means to embody the mystery of Spirit. As we follow him through apprenticeships with masterful teachers, out-of-body experiences, meditation retreats in Asia, martial arts in Japan, facing his trauma at the hands of his father, and his struggles to become emotionally literate, we’re also taken on a path of learning, healing, and transformation.

For each story, the author offers interpretations of his experiences poised as questions, reflections, and inquiries. In this way we are invited to participate on his quest for self-realization, including successes, failures, struggles, and enigmas. A deeply personal and intimate portrayal of a life’s journey through a somatic wisdom, this insightful memoir depicts the immeasurable wealth that teachers, practices, vulnerability, and community can offer the sincere seeker on an embodied spiritual path.

About the author(s)

Richard Strozzi-Heckler has a Ph.D. in psychology and is a Shihan seventh-degree black belt in Aikido. A nationally known speaker, coach, and consultant on embodied leadership and mastery, he has spent more than five decades researching, developing, and teaching Somatics to business leaders, executive managers, teams from Fortune 500 companies, NGOs, technology start-ups, non-profits, and the U.S. government and military. He was featured on the cover of the Wall Street Journal for his groundbreaking leadership program for the U.S. Marine Corps and was named one of the 50 top coaches in Profiles in Coaching. He is the founder of the Strozzi Institute, where he teaches courses on Somatic Coaching and Leadership in Action. The author of eight books, including In Search of the Warrior Spirit, he lives in Northern California.

Reviews

“In Embodying the Mystery, we are invited on a journey where Richard shows us the pivotal moments in his transformative journey, and it is a profound unveiling. The longing for more that Richard speaks of feels so familiar--there is a path within each of us that can hold, wants to hold, the great mystery. By showing us these intimate moments of learning and opening, Richard opens a portal for us to see both the possibilities of and practices toward our own awakenings.”

“Richard shares his journey through healing, learning, and growth into awareness and appreciation of the sacred interconnected web of life. Part memoir, part inquiry, part transmission, it is a beautiful reflection about living consciously in a human body.”

Embodying the Mystery is a gift of bone-deep wisdom and spirit springing; you’ll find yourself celebrating the wonder and possibility of living in a human body. It is the kind of book that only comes out of a life as deeply lived as Richard’s has been--wonderful to read!”

“Richard Strozzi-Heckler shares his life’s journey with us with inspiring vulnerability and grace. Story after moving story, exquisitely written, reveals the powerful experiences, personal struggles, and healing practices that have shaped him since childhood. How wonderful, how refreshing it is to read the honest questions he continues to ask, as he offers clear wisdom from a life of deep practice. He encourages us all to dig deep, find the treasure within, practice courageously, and share our gifts with the world.”

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