BOOKS
From meditation and spirituality to relationships and creativity, Susan’s books support you to discover your unique path.
The Four Noble Truths of Love: Buddhist Wisdom for Modern Relationships
To apply a Buddhist viewpoint to relationships is eye-opening. It points to a radically different worldview, one that runs counter to the spirit of much of the conventional advice we receive.
Broken hearts, resentment, affairs, divorce. Why is it so hard to make relationships work? New York Times bestselling author and mindfulness expert Susan Piver applies classic Buddhist wisdom to modern romance, including her own long-term relationship, to show that ancient philosophies have timeless—and unexpected—wisdom on how to love.
The Four Noble Truths of Love will challenge the expectations you have about dating, sex, and romance, liberating you from the habits, traumas, and expectations that have been holding back your relationships. This mindful approach toward love will help you open your heart fearlessly, deepen communications with your partner, increase your compassion and resilience, and lead you toward a path of true happiness. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain: expansive, real love for yourself and others.
E D I T O R I A L R E V I E W S:
“Susan Piver brings together decades of wisdom and experience from both her Buddhist practice and her relationships. This book is direct, insightful and honest to its core. Using the lens of the Buddha’s noble truths and the path of liberation, Susan presents a practical roadmap that can be accessed by anyone. I don’t think a book quite like this has been written before. She is definitely a wise guide on what it truly means to love altogether and how compassion and insight can be mined from the ups and downs of everyday life and every connection. Susan presents the biggest view possible on what love can be–it’s quite an invitation.” –Josh Baran, author of The Tao of Now: Daily Wisdom from Mystics, Sages, Poets, and Saints
“The Four Noble Truths of Love is like the book baby of the Buddha and Oprah Winfrey. It pulls no punches in the best of ways. Chock-full of relationship a-ha moments, it made me reflect not just on my marriage and how to keep deepening into it, but also on every loving relationship in my life. This wisdom may be thousands of years old, but Piver’s ability to convey it with grace, humor, humility, and profound relevance to modern life is a true gift. Get it, read it, live it!” –Jonathan Fields, founder of Good Life Project
“Susan Piver consistently offers what so many of us seek: A generous, caring, loving teacher, someone with an open heart and a clear mind, eager to help us find our own way forward.” –Seth Godin, author of Linchpin
“If you’ve ever felt that secret shame of not loving well or not managing to embody that perfect detached modern-day Buddha you know you’re supposed to be, this is not only your book, it is your salvation. Susan’s message, voice, and real world guidance show you the way out of the illusions and traps of relationship and into a level of freedom that is at once both profound and practical.” –Christine Kane, founder and CEO of Uplevel You
“Susan Piver does far more than tell us how the Four Noble Truths apply to love, she lives that application with great depth and honesty, and lets us come along for the ride. Give your heart–and your capacity to do the toughest spiritual work of all, be in relationship–a gorgeous boost with this brilliant guide.” –Jennifer Louden, author of The Woman’s Comfort Book and The Life Organizer
“With insight, humor, and warmth, Susan Piver’s new book shows us how traditional Buddhist wisdom can help us connect more deeply with those we love.” –Sakyong Mipham, author of The Lost Art of Good Conversation
“Susan has combined three threads to give us a beautiful tapestry of spiritually conscious love: We find a clear and in-depth view of Buddhism. We see how it offers a path to intimate love. Susan uses her own relationship as an example of how it all comes together. This is a stand-out book for enriching love and closeness along the spiritual path.” –David Richo, author of How to Be an Adult in Relationships: The Five Keys to Mindful Loving
“This is the only book you need for your romantic relationship–it’s just that good. Honest, wise, and raw, Susan will show you the four truths you need to actually make your relationship last.”
–Lodro Rinzler, author of Love Hurts: Buddhist Advice for the Heartbroken
“Clear and heart-warming, this book is a guide to living relationships completely, with all their pleasures and other- wise. Susan Piver brought the four noble truths to life in her own marriage, and here shares the fullness of that experience. A wonderful read.” –Sharon Salzberg, author of Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection
Start Here Now: An Open-Hearted Guide to the Path and Practice of Meditation
If you want to meditate but have no idea where to start, this book will help you: it contains everything you need to know to start a meditation practice and, even more importantly, to continue one. It defines what meditation is (and what it is not), offers tips for making the practice a part of your life, dispels the most common misconceptions, describes the obstacles we all face and how to navigate them, and addresses the most frequently asked questions. Piver gives a concise overview of the various popular styles of Buddhist meditation and offers suggestions on how to explore them further. Most important, this book contains specific, concrete steps for beginning your own meditation practice in a stress-free, dogma-free, jargon-free way.
The Wisdom of a Broken Heart
When a relationship ends, the anguish and disappointment can be devastating. A broken heart is genuinely traumatic. Typical recommendations to keep busy, move on, repair your hidden flaws, and then forget about it may not be helpful. In these pages, Susan Piver reveals that heartbreak actually creates an opportunity for genuine emotional and spiritual transformation, enabling you to emerge on the other side stronger, softer, and capable of loving with renewed confidence.
In the years following her own experience, relationship writer Susan Piver searched the world’s wisdom traditions and discovered that heartbreak can be an uncompromising teacher of authenticity, power, and even joy. She shares that wisdom here, with instantaneously recognizable anecdotes, insights, on-the-spot practices, exercises, meditations, and down-to-earth advice that make The Wisdom of a Broken Heart a steadying prescription of solace and encouragement, wisdom and humor during the hardest time of your life. Like an infinitely patient, trusted friend, Piver tells you in a thousand different ways the most important thing to remember and the easiest to forget: “You’re going to be okay.”
How Not to Be Afraid of Your Own Life
Fear can be conquered. We can meet any situation, important or trivial, old or new, surprising or predictable, with self-confidence, gentleness, and elegance. And we don’t have to change one thing about ourselves to do so. In fact, we already possess all the courage we’ll ever need, and it-not fear-can animate the way we think about ourselves, others, and the world. The ancient practice of meditation can show us how.
-From the Introduction
Quiet Mind
This unique book-and-audio program brings together some of the country’s most beloved meditation teachers. Each contributor presents a short written teaching along with an audio recording of a guided practice. Quiet Mind features:
• Sakyong Mipham on shamatha, the practice of tranquillity
• Larry Rosenberg on vipassana, the practice of clear seeing
• Edward Espe Brown on zazen, the practice of freedom
• Sharon Salzberg on metta, the practice of lovingkindness
• Judith Lief on tonglen, the practice of transformation
• Tulku Thondup on healing the body and mind through meditation
• Yoga teacher Richard Faulds on the link between yoga and meditation
Includes a 78-minute CD.
The Hard Questions: 100 Essential Questions to Ask Before You Say "I Do"
The classic New York Times best seller that introduced the notion of discussing marriage (not just the wedding) to hundreds of thousands of engaged couples.
I ordered this book based on seeing Susan Piver on “Oprah”. Although I didn’t question my love, communication with my husband needed some “work”, so I thought this book could be helpful. I was extraordinarily surprised by the results. My first surprise was that my husband was so willing and eager to participate in this. My second surprise was some of the answers and information we exchanged. Some of the simpler questions that I thought would be one word answers, led to deep discussions. There is no question but that this book has been extremely helpful to us. Even without the book to guide us, we now find the exchange of honest and open conversation much easier. “The Hard Questions” is a good book!!! (A Customer, Amazon)