Join us for an afternoon with Susan Bauer-Wu, who will speak about her recently reissued book, Leaves Falling Gently: Living Fully with Serious Illness through Mindfulness, Compassion, and Connectedness. This in-person event will be free and open to the public. We recommend arriving early for the best seating.
About the Book: 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 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 palliative 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.
About the Author: Susan Bauer-Wu integrates the different strands of her career as a nurse, clinical scientist, mindfulness teacher, and nonprofit and healthcare leader to inspire us to live fully while navigating serious illness. She was the Kluge Professor in Contemplative End-of-Life Care and director of the Compassionate Care Initiative with faculty appointments in Nursing and Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, and is the former president of the Mind & Life Institute, a nonprofit with global reach cofounded by the Dalai Lama. In 2021, she was recognized nationally as one of “the most powerful women in the mindfulness movement.” Through her current work with Coming to Life, Susan works with individuals and groups to guide them in purpose-full living and dying. She also volunteers as an end-of-life doula with Hospice of the Piedmont and is the author of two books, A Future We Can Love and Leaves Falling Gently.
The revised edition of Leaves Falling Gently will be released on May 27. To order the book, please see below for the New Dominion Bookshop book order form or call the shop at 434-295-2552.
"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
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