Which Way Is Up?: Finding Heart in the Hardest of Times

A heartfelt guide for meeting difficult times with mindfulness, compassion, and courage--from a psychotherapist and Buddhist practitioner who learned from her own crisis.

Features explorations of the three types of fear and practices to transform into opportunities for personal growth.

This three-part guide feels like a friend stepping up to offer support during difficult times. It warmly invites readers into a safe space to contemplate their personal fears and encourages them to re-imagine their personal crisis as a journey that they can emerge from by learning how to work with--rather than against--fear.

Using personal examples from her own recent bardo crisis--undergoing cancer treatment during the pandemic--and offering contemplative prompts for inner-reflection and a meditation practice in each chapter, psychotherapist and Buddhist practitioner Susan Chapman demystifies the three main types of fear people experience (frozen, awake, and core), and how to meet each with love. This heartfelt guide from someone who's been there and done the work will help us get through life's challenges and restore our equilibrium, while also inviting a valuable opportunity for personal growth.

Which Way Is Up? draws from traditional Buddhist teachings on the bardo, a Tibetan word most often associated with the period between death and rebirth. Chapman likens the bardo to abrupt episodes in our lives when things seem to turn upside down and we can't find our footing. In such times of not-knowing--whether it's navigating the end of a relationship, a health scare, the loss of a career, or other unexpected challenges--our fearful mind tends to panic trying to make sense out of our experience. Instead, Chapman meets the reader in their groundlessness to show how these turning points can force us to let go of our assumptions about the future and allow something new to be reborn.

Author: Susan Gillis Chapman
Publisher: Shambhala
Published: 06/04/2024
Pages: 216
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.81lbs
ISBN: 9781645472131

About the Author
SUSAN GILLIS CHAPMAN is a retired family therapist (LMFT) who has been studying, practicing, and teaching mindfulness and compassion meditation for over forty years. She was introduced to contemplative prayer in a Catholic convent school and in 1974 transitioned into studying Buddhism with her teacher, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. With a master's degree in Buddhist and Western psychology, she worked in the field of domestic violence intervention in addition to her private counselling practice. To deepen her spiritual training, she spent nine years in retreat and also completed a three-year retreat program at Gampo Abbey with her mentor, Pema Chödrön. She is the author of The Five Keys to Mindful Communication and founder of Green Light Conversations. For more information visit www.susangillischapman.com.