This book takes you on a lively, sometimes light-hearted, journey through nine Buddhist practices that can bring "blessed relief" to a wide range of human suffering--and teaches you the skills to reduce suffering in the long term for yourself and others:

The practices include:

• Three-Minute Breathing Space-a breathing practice to loosen the grip of suffering
• The Work--a way to engage and question limiting views, thoughts, and opinions
• The Practice of Inquiry--a practice to deconstruct ten common assumptions
• The Sacred Breath--a way to be present in each moment
• Working with RAIN--an acronym that can help you come through emotional storms
• Nonviolent Communication (NVC)--four steps to more peaceful communication
• The Practice of Beginning Anew--a ritual to deepen communication with your partner
• The Five Remembrances--a meditation on mortality and the preciousness of life
• Compassion Practice--a guided meditation to cultivate compassion

As you read the chapters and engage in each practice, you will work with your own stories of suffering--stories in which you have felt abandoned, deprived, subjugated, defective, excluded, or vulnerable--and you will learn how to release yourself from suffering by investigating it with curiosity and kindness....