Leaves Falling Gently - by Susan Bauer-Wu (Paperback)

About the Book

"The book's three sections each contain prompts for meditations, reflective writing, and daily mindfulness and compassion practices that are rooted in Buddhism and can benefit everyone. Backed by research and clinical studies and interspersed with stories from the author's own experiences working in end-of-life care, this book is a welcome offering for all of us to treat ourselves and those around us gently in order to live more fully"--

Book Synopsis

Accessible meditations, reflections, and practical advice to help patients and their loved ones navigate the emotional landscape of serious illness.

Dealing with chronic illness can be an isolating and challenging experience. Whether it's you or someone you love, it's common to struggle with feelings of fear, sadness, or anger as you navigate the uncertainty of a diagnosis. This revised, expanded edition of Leaves Falling Gently empowers readers to embrace the present moment, find peace within themselves, and deepen interpersonal connections. With accessible meditations, reflective prompts, and mindfulness practices that resonate deeply with both patients and their loved ones, it offers a nurturing roadmap for navigating the complexities of health challenges.

The book's three parts--Mindfulness, Compassion, and Connectedness--each contain prompts for meditations, reflective writing, and daily practices that are rooted in Buddhism and can benefit everyone. Frequent reminders to "pause now" encourage us to be where we're at and move at a pace that is comfortable.

Backed by research and clinical studies, and interspersed with stories from the author's own experiences working in end-of-life care, this heartfelt guide is a welcome offering for all of us to treat ourselves and those around us gently in order to live more fully.

Review Quotes

"Leaves Falling Gently is a beautifully composed field guide to living fully, even in the face of serious illness. This book uniquely braids together wisdom threads from Susan Bauer-Wu's remarkable professional and personal paths, which include frontline palliative care nursing, pioneering mind-body integrative oncology research, decades of practicing and teaching mindfulness meditation, and leading international transdisciplinary dialogues bridging contemplative practices and global health. Emanating from her warm heart and down-to-earth voice, Susan offers practical, clear, and actionable tools not only for individuals facing illness and their caregivers but for every one of us who knows that the arc of our lives will likely encounter existential health challenges that can serve as catalysts for growth, resilience, and becoming more human. This is a book I plan to share widely with my family, friends, and colleagues."
--Peter M. Wayne, PhD, director of Osher Center for Integrative Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital & Harvard Medical School and author of The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi

"A friendly introduction to a way of being that can literally and metaphorically give your life back to you."
--Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, author of Full Catastrophe Living and Coming to Our Senses

"Leaves Falling Gently beautifully combines the wisdom of reflection, the rigor of science, and the beauty of a deeply engaged heart. Susan Bauer-Wu guides readers to live fully and gracefully with serious illness. With gentle clarity, this book offers a wealth of ideas and practices illuminating a way of being that has the power to transform our individual and collective lives."
--Shauna L. Shapiro, PhD, author of Good Morning, I Love You and professor of counseling psychology at Santa Clara University

"Susan Bauer-Wu describes how to live fully rather than withdrawing and feeling dread and despair when faced with a life-limiting illness. Leaves Falling Gently empowers readers to achieve peace of mind through mindfulness meditation and gain control over their feelings and relationships. This is a must-read for those individuals confronted with chronic, life-threatening diseases and their families."
--David S. Rosenthal, MD, past president of the American Cancer Society, past director and CEO of Harvard University Health Services, and founding medical director of the Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

"Leaves Falling Gently offers a direct, compelling, and practical guide to living fully even when facing serious illness. It can help us help our friends and family in the times when we so rarely know how to respond."
--Sharon Salzberg, author of Real Happiness and Lovingkindness

"Susan Bauer-Wu's book Leaves Falling Gently is the most accessible, loving and practical introduction to mindful awareness, compassion, healing and wholeness that I have ever seen. It is a precious gift for anyone who faces (or will face) life-limiting illness and death. She shows us how conditions of illness and dying, often experienced as profoundly limiting, point us to hidden wellsprings of kindness, empathy, gratitude and forgiveness beyond limits. Right through the particulars of our feelings, emotions, and reactions to illness and dying, she brings us home to the deep safety, compassion, and wholeness in the very ground of our being."
--John Makransky, PhD, author of Awakening Through Love and associate professor of Buddhism and comparative theology at Boston College

"Susan Bauer-Wu writes with the precision of a scientist, vision of a scholar, and pragmatism of someone who cares for others professionally and personally. In Leaves Falling Gently, she has distilled the wisdom of generations of teachers and global traditions into a practical, actionable guide for being well through the most difficult times in human life. Leaves Falling Gently is simple and unpretentious, yet profound. It is, quite simply, a guide to living honestly, fully, soulfully, and joyfully through even the hardest of times. What a gift! Leaves Falling Gently is a treasure--one to be savored and shared."
--Ira Byock, MD, author of The Four Things that Matter Most and The Best Care Possible and chief medical officer of Providence St. Joseph Health Institute for Human Caring

"This important book offers insight and inspiration for all who seek to live life fully, even in the midst of challenges beyond your control. Research, experience, and personal practice blend together to illuminate a unique approach, and Susan's writing is clearly helpful in connecting us with what matters most."
--Ben Campbell Johnson, PhD, late professor emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary and author of Companions in Contemplation

"Leaves Falling Gently is simply a magnificent guide for all of us on how to stay fully alive even as we approach the inevitable moment of our death. Written with a poet's eye for incisive clarity and a clinician's heart for compassionate care, this treasure of a book is a gift for us all. Whether the timing of our life's ending remains uncertain or the onset of illness has made clear our journey's end, Susan Bauer-Wu's clear and loving words provide life-affirming wisdom that will greatly aid the lives of caregivers and care receivers alike. Soak in these transformative words and your life will be greatly enriched, wherever you are in your journey."
--Daniel J. Siegel, MD, author of IntraConnected and Mindsight

"In her beautiful book, Leaves Falling Gently, Susan Bauer-Wu offers us the possibility and the means of finding a true place of peace amid the storms of serious and life-limiting illness. She encourages each of us--and we will all face "life-limiting illness" eventually--to learn to live fully through mindfulness, compassion, and connectedness, and to discover a sense of ease and possibility embedded within the challenging landscapes associated with life-limiting or catastrophic illness. I think readers will find this book to be a treasure and a comfort, and I recommend it wholeheartedly."
--Jeffrey Brantley, MD, DFAPA, professor emeritus of psychiatry and human behavior at Duke University and author of Calming Your Anxious Mind and Five Good Minutes series

"When you open the pages of this book, you will be looking into a mirror. The reflection you will see is tenderness accompanied by the sublime fragrance of self-compassion. Stay for a while, gazing into your image, breathing deeply the rich scent of your life. Enjoy the embrace of care and love that you are capable of offering to yourself now and every remaining moment of your life."
--Saki Santorelli, EdD, MA, author of Heal Thy Self: Lessons on Mindfulness in Medicine and past executive director of the UMass Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society

About the Author

SUSAN BAUER-WU is an organizational leader, clinical scientist, and mindfulness teacher whose lifework has been dedicated to alleviating suffering and fostering well-being through contemplative wisdom. She was previously the president of the Mind & Life Institute and was also the Kluge Professor of Contemplative End-of-Life Care at the University of Virginia. She is an avid gardener and hiker, living in Charlottesville, Virginia, and is also the author of A Future We Can Love.