Writing can be cathartic. It can be healing. And you do not have to be a writer to benefit from the healing and meditative effects of writing. Likewise, you do not have to be a meditator to experience the life-changing power of mindfulness and self-compassion. But sometimes, writing can be frustrating, when you can’t seem to find the way to express your feelings on paper, so that the healing can begin. Unlocking the Heart: Writing for Mindfulness, Courage, and Self-Compassion is a book for those seeking to bring more self-care and creativity into their routines. Award-winning poet and author James Crews shares his poems with subjects ranging from vulnerability and grief to courage and gratitude. But more than just a poetry anthology, each poem is accompanied by James’s personal insight into his inspiration and state of mind when writing his poetry, and writing prompts to help inspire you get started on your writing journey. It is the perfect book for anyone who is interested in the poetic work of others or is inspired to try any kind of writing for themselves. But whether r not you want to write your own poetry, this deeply moving, and ultimately inspiring, practice in mindfulness can help bring self-compassion, courage, and creativity into your daily life. Award-winning author: James Crews is the recipient of the Prairie Schooner Prize and Cowles Prize. His writing has been featured in The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, Ploughshares, and Sun Magazine. The perfect companion: Unlocking the Heart is the perfect companion to Kindness Will Save the World and How to Love the World, as well the rest of James Crews’ growing bibliography. Foreword by bestselling poet and philosopher Mark Nepo, author of the New York Times #1 bestseller The Book of Awakening, pens a thoughtful and insightful foreword to Crews’ work.

James Crews is the editor of several bestselling books, including The Path to Kindness and How to Love the World, which has over 100,000 copies in print. He has been featured in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, The Christian Science Monitor, and on NPR’s Morning Edition. The author of numerous prize-winning books of poetry and of the book Kindness Will Save the World, James also speaks and leads workshops on kindness, mindfulness, and writing for self-compassion. He lives with his husband on forty rocky acres in the woods of Southern Vermont. For more info, visit: JamesCrews.net 

Mark Nepo is a poet, philosopher, master storyteller. and the author of more than twenty books including the New York Times Number 1 bestseller The Book of Awakening. Visit him at www.MarkNepo.com.