Slow down, strip away stress, and save your sanity with this practical guide to creating a better life. Let the experts at Real Simple, America's beloved guide to living a better and more authentic life, show you how to relax and get the most out of your days.

Nautilus Book Awards Winners for 2007 (category: Self-Help/Psychology/ Personal Growth) "Like many people, Kathleen Hall found that despite great success and material wealth, she had yet to identify purpose, meaning, and balance in her work and her life. She left her Wall Street firm and devoted herself to understanding the relationships between mind, body, and spirit, and between professional and personal fulfillment. Since then, she has studied with great spiritual leaders including the Dalai Lama, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and the exiled Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. She has also learned from medical experts like Dr. Dean Ornish of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute and Dr. Herbert Benson at the Harvard Mind-Body Institute. Inspired by those diverse influences, Dr. Hall has written A Life in Balance, a guided journey to joy, peace, and an intentional life grounded in the four roots of the SELF: * Serenity. Find what brings us peace, and channel it into everything we do * Exercise. Align the body with energy and health through walking, yoga, martial arts, and more * Love. Build community and relationships that heal others as well as ourselves * Food. Pay attention not just to what we eat, but to what we experience through all our senses Our lives pull us in many different directions; to find happiness, we must first create balance. Filled with wit, wisdom, and compassion, A Life in Balance will help any reader identify and stay true to his or her authentic self."

In this much anticipated follow-up to their groundbreaking book, Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom, authors Jan Burkins and Kari Yates, together with co-author Katie Cunningham, extend the conversation in Shifting the Balance 3-5: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Upper Elementary Classroom. This new text is built in mind specifically for grades 3-5 teachers around best practices for the intermediate classroom. Shifting the Balance 3-5 introduces six more shifts across individual chapters that: Zoom in on a common (but not-as helpful-as-we-had-hoped) practice to reconsider Untangle a number of "misunderstandings" that have likely contributed to the use of the common practice Propose a more science-aligned shift to the current practice Provide solid scientific research to support the revised practice Offer a collection of high-leverage, easy-to-implement instructional routines to support the shift to more brain-friendly instruction The authors offer a refreshing approach that is respectful, accessible, and practical - grounded in an earnest commitment to building a bridge between research and classroom practice. As with the first Shifting the Balance, they aim to keep students at the forefront of reading instruction.

Stardom, thanks to Woody Allen and his film Manhattan, came at an early age...but so did the problems of a broken and dysfunctional family. Yet in a life so out of kilter, Mariel Hemingway summoned the strength and inner resolve that enabled her to find -- and to keep -- her balance. In Finding My Balance, actress Mariel Hemingway uses the lessons and practices of yoga as a starting point for her own personal reflections and larger-than-life family story. The result is a searingly honest memoir that is as deeply moving as it is helpfully prescriptive. Mariel turned to yoga and its meditative practice in an effort to maintain her center when her life threatened to spin out of control. Having experienced family tragedy, sudden stardom, and the continuing challenges of a full and demanding life, Mariel learned through practice how to find her balance in emotionally disorienting situations. Throughout the book, Mariel uses her yoga training as a starting point for each chapter, carefully describing a particular position, then letting her mind wander into thoughts of the past and of her tumultuous life. As each chapter begins with instruction, so does the book end with exercises organized in a sequence that can be followed by anyone who wants to practice them. As a special bonus for this edition, Mariel has added a section that describes the basics of her own "In Balance Philosophy," calming words of advice for people in search of their own emotional center.

Satisfying and Nutritious Meals without the Hassle Real Food, Real Simple makes preparing whole, nutrient-dense foods as easy as one, two, three, four, five with delicious recipes that are gluten-free, Paleo-friendly and exceptionally healthy. Taylor Riggs, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and founder of Simply Taylor, shares 80 incredible recipes that encompass her healthy lifestyle manifesto in five steps or less. Her recipes showcase complex and intriguing flavors but are surprisingly easy to make. They include: • Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps • Balsamic Date and Prosciutto Pizza with Goat Cheese and Arugula • Rich Chocolate Ramekin Cakes • Coconut Crêpes Two Ways • Hawaiian Beef Burgers with Pineapple and Avocado • Game Day Bison and Sweet Potato Chili With Mornings Over Easy, Effortless Entrées and everything in between, you’ll have delicious and creative dishes to fuel your body and entice your taste buds with little-to-no effort.

Nik Wallenda, "King of the High Wire," doesn't know fear. As a seventh generation of the legendary Wallenda family, he grew up performing, entertaining, and pushing the boundaries of gravity and balance. When Nik was four years old, he watched a video from 1978 of his great grandfather, Karl Wallenda, walking between the towers of the Condado Plaza Hotel in Puerto Rico, stumbling, and falling to his death because of improper rigging. When Nik heard his father quote his great-grandfather-"Life is on the wire, everything else is just waiting"-the words resonated deep within his soul and he vowed to be a hero like Karl Wallenda. Balance is the theme of Nik's life: between his work and family, his faith in God and artistry, his body and soul. It resonates from him when performing and when no one is looking. When walking across Niagara Falls, he prayed aloud the entire time, and to keep his lust for glory and fame in check, Nik returned to the site of his performance the next day and spent three hours cleaning up trash left by the crowd. Nik Wallenda is an entertainer who wants to not only thrill hearts, but to change hearts for Christ. Christ is the balance pole that keeps him from falling. Nik Wallenda is an entertainer who wants to not only thrill hearts, but to change hearts for Christ. Christ is the balance pole that keeps him from falling.

“Falls can kill you. Here’s how to minimize the risk. . . . Get Carol Clements’s new book, Better Balance for Life, that details a 10-week plan for improving stability.”—Jane Brody, The New York Times Improve your balance in just ten weeks without breaking a sweat As you age, stumbling blocks are everywhere: the bottom step, the roadside curb, and even the living room carpet. But you don’t have to live in fear of falling. With Better Balance for Life, you will learn all-new, simple activities to help you build strength and increase flexibility to improve your balance! In this ten-week program, personal trainer Carol Clements shows you effortless moves to slide into your everyday routine. Already brushing your teeth? Try standing on one foot while touching the counter to build stability. Watching TV? Learn how to extend your toes and flex your ankle to develop more nimble feet—and greater mobility. With four new activities each week, building better balance is fun and easy. By the end, you, too, will be marching with your eyes closed!