Practitioners and Teachers Books

Like any book in this genre this book will not actually help you unless your "motivated" to change your own behavior. It's simple, easy to read, and practical. It shows you the keys to changing your perspective on on how motivation actually works in yourself and others. I enjoyed it.

Being a cardiac rehab nurse and spending a lot of time each day trying to get people to change their lifestyles to create better health, this book caught my eye. After reading it, I found the principles instantly useful for me to use at work. They can help anyone get motivated to get past the barriers that keep them from making changes to improve their health. Additionally, the book is short and to the point which is good for a busy Mom like myself.

Along with helping to build my motivation, this little book was straight to the point and very easy to read. In this short story, the author combines his personal experience, and research to convey the importance of motivation through how ready the person is to change their daily habits for the better. The author tells about the patients he encountered during an internship opportunity and how change (no matter how big or small) helped them become motivated to do better. I would recommend this book to anyone who feels as if small change wouldn't be significant in their life. This book would dramatically change their opinion and make them want to strive for a better lifestyle. The Sixty-Second Motivator offers its readers simple steps (referred to as "secrets") to follow through with their improvement. It was enjoyable to read and very eye opening!

This is a great book for anyone to learn about how to motivate yourself or others. It's in a very simple story format without a lot of exercises like other self-help books. Very good book - I highly recommend it to anyone that needs to know more about motivation.

I read this short book within a space of an hour. It is straight to the point, and is written in the style of a story. The author is a Physical Therapist and tells the story of when he was a student and he visited a senior Physical Therapist in a hospital as part of his training. He learned how to motivate someone within 60 seconds to undertake therapy by increasing importance + confidence in the patient. Although this book was essentially about how someone was able to increase his patients' motivation, this can also be applied to other areas of your life - for any goal. It is an easily understandable read and if you are looking for a way to increase motivation quick then look no further than this book.

The book was extremely well written and clear. If I had to pick one Reiki book to learn from, it would be this one.

As a Reiki master and one of Tina's former students we did not have this book but rather we learned right from the teacher herself. The Reiki Teacher's Manual is a wonderful teaching and technical tool for everyone who is thinking about learning more about Reiki.
As one of Tina's former students, I can say that it is her personality that makes learning so much easier. This book is the most informative I have read about Reiki and I have read many.
This woman knows what she's talking about and practices what she teaches. I'm so excited about this book and know how helpful it will be for anyone.
Go Tina!

Nita Seabaugh

Tina's "The Reiki Teachers Manual" for me is a refresher course I can use whenever I have time. She presented the reicki material in a language all can comprehend from students to teachers. The hands on techniques were outstanding. Thanks Tina for being "you" for so many of us. Lovingly, Anita K. Carter

The Reiki Teacher's Manual: A Guide for Teachers, Students and Practitioners I read Tina Zion's new book from cover to cover. The organization and the text are so clear and concise that this is an excellent manual for a Reiki teacher or student. I am a college professor so I admire an author who can present her material in such an understandable and easy flowing manner. If I were teaching a Reiki class, I would most certainly use this book for myself and my students. I learned a great deal about energy and Reiki from reading the manual and I look forward to other offerings from this author in the future.

Comprehensive in its coverage of Reiki and clear in its design, this book is a priceless step-by-step guide on how to conduct Reiki classes. All you need to know as a Reiki teacher is right here -- including handouts! It also contains more in-depth information for those of us who have already been trained in Reiki. A fun and enjoyable read, the author's writing style reflects her wisdom, reverence, and vast experience with Reiki.

There is so much in this book that is wonderful and unique in the literature of yoga that I want to comment on, but for this review I want to concentrate on just one of the essays, the brilliant and penetrating, "The Meaning of Brahmacharya" by Adrian S. Piper.

This essay by Wellesley Professor of Philosophy Adrian Piper centers on two yogic practices, both much misunderstood, and worse, much misrepresented. The first is celibacy (brahmacharya). A lot of cant about how brahmacharya really means moderation or monogamy, sex within marriage only, or a non-lustful state of mind, etc., is given the ghost by Piper, who is a long practicing brahmacarin and expert on jnana yoga. Piper's first point is that brahmacharya means quite simply what it is purported to mean, that is, celibacy. Period. Of course this is hard to accept, and for young people well-nigh impossible, and so most "authorities" have cheapened the message, have compromised the intent, and have said, what is meant is "moderation," etc. Some cultist gurus have even exploited this "interpretation" by assuming this mentality as their mantra: "I make love to you and only you (at this time) because you are special. In this way I practice brahmacharya, I practice moderation and restraint."

Very appealing, but one might also slip through that eye of the needle and enter into the kingdom of heaven wearing a money belt. Piper has no such delusions. She's got it right. Celibacy is celibacy. That is why in the Hindu social philosophy one is first a student, and then a householder, then a mendicant and finally a renunciant. Householders are not celibate. In is only in the latter stages that one can be truly celibate. (There are exceptions of course, just as there are exceptional people.)

Having said this I must confess that I disagree with Professor Piper on one particular. She writes (p. 39): "...the policy governing self-stimulation for brahmacharins is: Hands above the sheets!" What this means, I imagine, is that one must, in so far as it is possible, not practice onanism. Instead one should realize that celibacy means, as Piper phrases it, "to walk with God." This reminds me of the Catholic tradition that has the nuns "married" to Jesus--although, of course the God that Piper is referring to, the God of the Vedas, is Ineffable, being beyond anything we can say or not say. I would differ with Piper by insisting that a complete understanding of celibacy includes this most important distinction of how one should practice sex, that is, quite simply, not with others. Instead one should make love to oneself. Indeed, this is part of self-study. To say that one should not practice sexuality at all is to remain ignorant. There are many reasons that the path of yoga includes brahmacharya, but the most important one is that the practice of celibacy is the best answer to the problem of sex. Sex leads to copious karmas created. It leads to distraction and worldly responsibility. Ultimately, it leads to birth and death, to the perpetuation of the wheel of karma, which is exactly what the yogi wants to get away from, what the yogi is working to transcend. One also acts through nonaction, the Gita teaches. A kind of non-touching of oneself only prolongs and exacerbates the excitement, the tension and leads further along the path to sensuality. That is why in tantra it is taught that the man should withhold...himself for as long as possible. This is not done to conserve his strength, as some strictures have it, but to prolong his and her enjoyment. Putting this minor disagreement aside, I have to say that Piper's delineation of brahmacharya demonstrates a profound understanding of the intent and practice of yoga.

Her essay is also about the somewhat infamous tantra of the left-handed path, which she calls "California Tantra," a felicitous phrase that captures the essence of the practice. Again, Piper's insight and expression reveals her deep understanding of the subject. As she writes (p. 56), "Variants on the general rule of thumb [for tantric yoga] might be: Party until you've gotten your yayas out; or until you've had enough partying for three lifetimes; or until you've learned the lessons from it you need to learn." This is tantric yoga in a nutshell: one finds liberation by giving into one's desires, it being believed that finally when the fires of youth are exhausted one will find samadhi (as Siddhartha does in Herman Hesse's celebrated novel). Piper acknowledges on page 55 that this liberation is "nothing to sneeze at." What she doesn't say in her essay is that tantra of the left-handed path is a torturous and very painful way of finding God, to be employed only when all else fails. It is the path of the junkie and the libertine; it is the roller coaster ride of exhaustive highs and lows; it is the path that will burn the aspirant out at an early age. It is dangerous.

Piper's final note is magnificent: "The point of practices is not what one gives up but rather what one gets." She adds, "One does not give up the good life, but rather maximizes its goodness."

This book has been a godsend. It is a collection of essays by various yogis, some of them teachers, some of them just folks trying to understand their lives. Over the past six months I have tried to start a yoga practice in order to gain some insight and bring some clarity into my life. In trying to deal with a lifetime of chronic depression and obesity I have found the holistic and non-striving philosophy of yoga very appealing. And yet I must admit that I am at times intimidated by the placid and flexible gurus who tend to write most of the books, appear in most of the videos, and teach most of the classes. How wonderful it is to encounter the doubts, insights, fears, and questions of the writers in this book. Personally the essays that I prefered were not the ones writen by yoga teachers, but rather the ones writen by people, like me, who have been touched by yoga, and who are just trying to find a "way." This book has opened a door and allowed me into the world of yoga, and I am very grateful.

This collection of short essays by yoga instructors, authors, and others details the many varied impacts of yoga. Some of the stories are fun and lighthearted, such as the email exchanges between cousins Janet Bowdan/Roz Peters and Judith Lasater's reflections on yoga and parenting. Others, like Adrian Piper's "The Meaning of Brahmacharya," are more academic in nature and more geared for those interested in yogic philosophy.

For myself, the stories which I found most compelling were those which were born from tragedy. In "Brick by Brick," Samantha Dunn shares her discovery of kundalini yoga after a devastating horse accident left her badly injured. Robert Perkins' "Journey in Yama-Yama Land" describes the depression he experienced after the death of his wife and the role of yoga in providing him with a way out. Both Elizabeth Kadetsky's "Coming Apart in Pune" and Lois Nesbitt's "An Insomniac Awakens" relate tales of lives unraveling in the midst of a yoga practice (the former became part of the book First There is a Mountain, a memoir of Kadetsky's studies with BKS Iyengar in India). And in "The Art of Breathing," the suicide of Reetika Vazirani's father plays a central role in her own yoga practice.

Although not all of these stories spoke to me personally, each contains an element of the personal, providing a window of insight into just a few of the infinite ways in which yoga is lived by those who practice it. Anyone with a regular yoga practice is bound to find at least one connection here, but this book is likely to be of little interest to non-yogis.

This book takes a refreshingly candid look at the way yoga fits into the world of a variety of different people. By allowing the reader to see that even experienced teachers struggle with their practice at different points in their lives, Jeremijenko de-mystifies some of our commonly held beliefs. This book is a very enjoyable read with something for everyone, no matter where they are in their practice or their lives.

Peter Checkland's soft system methodology has fascinated me for many years as a practical tool that I might potentially apply to improving problem situations involving people. However, in the past Checkland has always allowed his academic bent and difficult writing style to get in the way of teaching people how to use his potentially valuable tool. I have recently joined a small non-profit organization, Sustainable Silicon Valley, and want to contribute to improving the sustainability of Silicon Valley in particular, and the world in general in a timely manner. Even if most of us agree there is this enormous problem that needs immediate attention, and we're getting to that point, then what practical steps must be take to effectively address it? Just in time for me, this book coauthored by Peter Checkland and John Poulter was published in 2006. It is the first book coauthored by Checkland that lays out the soft system methodology in a relatively well organized, brief and useful way that helps me to apply it in my own planning. It starts with a useful "Ten-Minute Account of Soft Systems Methodology for Very Busy People," and adds detail from there. I would very much like to see people who are already skilled in using the methodology link up with people who are concered about sustainability, and see what we could come up with together by way of action plans and learning about our grave situation. Because of this potential application of soft system methodology, I believe this could be a most valuable book for our and successive generations. Well done, Peter Checkland, and thanks to John Poulter as well.

I'm sure if you buy this this book you won't regret it. I've read professor Checkland's books related to SSM but not like this a well orginized manual of the methodology - SSM (Soft System Methodology). The book will help you define your messy real-life situations of your organization. Read carefully and understand what the authors want to tell us about methodology and its utility. We can use the common language of system thinker the system thinking throughout the reading. If you are in charge of the analysis and design of information system of your organization or any human activity system - this book is for you.

Peter Checkland is pushing 80 and this book may well be a valedictory statement on his life's work: soft systems methodology. For two reasons Checkland would like this to be a definitive account of the approach: first, because the authors are convinced that over the last decades the methodology has sufficiently matured to warrant full and definitive codification, and second, because something needs to stop the annoying profusion of faulty interpretations of SSM in the secondary literature. With this book, Checkland and Poulter are offering a bare bones, practical introduction to the methodology.

The book falls into two parts. The first one is conceptual and explains SSM in three passes (first a 5-page preamble for very busy people, then a skeleton version - about 20 pages long - followed by a more fleshed-out account). The second part is devoted to practical case studies, with one chapter focusing on management situations and another one on problematic situations in the field of information systems. Then there is a section on SSM "misunderstandings and craft skills". The final few pages once more sum up the basic principles behind the approach. Five short appendices contain optional material on the theory, concepts and history.

Soft systems methodology is an enormously useful contribution to the field of systemic problem solving. It combines conceptual rigour with an enormous flexibility in application to real-world problematical situations. In its zen-like purity, simplicity and modesty it is almost aesthetic. The subtlety of SSM is reflected by its vocabulary. In SSM we don't refer to "problems" but to "problematical situations"; we don't talk about "organisations" but about "human activity systems", not about "consensus" but about "accomodation". All these differences are vitally important in steering away from a hard systems approach that objectifies the process of enquiry and the problem under study.

So, SSM may be simple but it certainly isn't simplistic: applying SSM demands a very skilled and centered problem solver or facilitator. With the development of SSM, Checkland was one of the pioneers in creating problem-solving strategies that are more nimble, more adaptive, more local, and more socially robust than the heavy-handed, technical apparatus of erstwhile decision-making experts. Today this ethos of "learning for action" is taken further in the explosive development of action learning approaches worldwide.

I think this short, definitive account is a very welcome addition to the SSM literature and a good reference point for anyone - both beginners and more advanced professionals - wanting to learn more about the approach. However, I have one or two reservations about the book. In their discussion of craft skills, Checkland and Poulter focus on the application of the methodology. In my practical experience there is also a lot of craft skills involved in convincing potential clients to adopt the methodology. Indeed, "SSM" may not be the most helpful label to denote the approach. Many people instinctively shy away from the notion of "systems" - they think it has something to do with computers - or they assume that a "soft" methodology will hardly be capable of dealing with their "hard" problems. So some practical advice about how to build confidence in the approach with people that have not been initiated to it would be helpful.

Another skills issue which is overlooked in this book concerns working across the boundaries of a given organisation. Working with a dispersed set of actors brings its own challenges, such as lacking problem ownership and potentially much more outspoken tensions between interests and worldviews. I would love to have some practical advice on this aspect.

My second reservation concerns a conceptual point that lies at the heart of the methodology. SSM users create an organised process of enquiry and learning by making models of purposeful activity. Ironically, Checkland is very ideological about a non-ideological point, namely that these models should reflect a single, "pure" worldview, not some kind of consensus model everybody assumes to be a part of the real world. SSM-based activity models are conceptual devices to ask good questions about the real-world situation and nothing else. As these models only reflect one way of looking at reality and one is invariably working in the tectonic zone of non-overlapping (and potentially conflicting) worldviews, one usually doesn't stop with developing one single activity model: one builds several models, each of them grafted on a particular worldview. This underlines the relative nature of each of these constructs and expands the basis for asking relevant questions.

However, in practical situations it may not always be so easy or even desirable to go beyond a single model. For example, in dealing with complexity people are prone to premature cognitive lock-in: they cling to the first speck of structure they see emerging from the chaos and are unwilling to go beyond and reaffirm the multiplicity by developing several activity models side by side. As a practitioner you may well be facing a problem solving team that would rather embrace a quasi-consensus than to keep several activity models in suspension. So I sometimes wonder whether the accomodation can also happen at a another point. If, for whatever reason, there is no basis to go beyond a single activity model, is it then possible to build a kind of consensus model in which there is a specific module dedicated to dealing with the tensions between different worldviews? The multiplicity remains, but is absorbed by the model itself. Checkland doesn't entertain this option and I doubt that he has any sympathy for it. (It is, on the other hand, an approach that is defended by Brian Wilson, another very prominent practitioner of the methodology whose contribution to its development is nowhere acknowledged in Checkland's definitive account).

A final, but minor point, is the fact that none of the section headings in the book is numbered. This makes navigating this slim volume unnecessarily complicated.

Despite these few reservations there is no doubt that this book deserves five stars for "lifetime achievement". Thank you, Mr. Checkland.

SSM provides a very useful approach to dealing with messy situations involving human beings who approach those situations with differing worldviews. As Checkland also insistently points out, SSM is not about solving problems, it is a about addressing a problematical situation and, through the M(for Methodology) of SSM, learning to improve matters.

Checkland uses simple language to introduce and then elaborate SSM in relative detail, provides examples of its use in various contexts, and finally, provides some discussion with a view to creating insight - including correcting errors in the secondary literature. References to earlier work on SSM in its maturation are well documented. The title of the book is apposite.

It's a book I have permanently by my side at the moment, referring to it every so often as I start to use SSM, especially where other approaches provide little, no or poor insight.

There are, however, several issues which perhaps Checkland may care to clarify in future editions.

Firstly, Checkland talks about the reality of different worldviews which sits at the heart of SSM. I don't think the book clearly shows how multiple worldviews related to the one given problematical situation are addressed. Yes, Checkland talks about accommodation in some detail, but, none of his examples actually show - they only imply - how accommodation is addressed in practical terms - that would be useful.

The difference between issue-based and primary-task initiatives need to be spelled out explicitly by example. Yes, you can work it out, but, there are sufficient subtleties in SSM to make it better for Checkland to do so.

Finally, Checkland clearly comes across as the master of SSM. He has internalized it totally. I don't think he places enough emphasis on the change in mindset required by others to use SSM properly. This is especially highlighted in the chapter - "SSM - Misunderstandings and Craft Skills". Checkland talks about subtlety, changes of mindset, etc, but subsequently seems to ignore his own observations on why the secondary literature is full of errors. I can see from my own experience, that I would have fallen into the same traps as those whom he criticises. Perhaps SSM is more subtle than Checkland realises. He is not sufficiently arms-length to appreciate it. I guess, however, that the chapter is important to ensure that such errors are immediately corrected, ensuring SSM is placed in its proper context.

Overall, a very useful book.

As a social worker and educator, I highly recommend this fantastic book. The author clearly explains the many ways in which helpers are at risk for compassion fatigue and burnout due to the intensity of their work lives. He also provides many useful tips for preventing burnout. This is a very infomative and practical resource. I use it frequently to inform my own teaching of compassion fatigue, vicarious traumatization, and burnout issues.

This book is indeed practical in its application and theoretical enough to be able to us it as a text book for students. I recommend it for professionals and students who are in any type of helping industry in order to be informed of the very real risks involved to one's own health and welfare when giving so much of ourselves to others. This book is sorely needed in the areas of church ministry where there is a great emphasis on helping our fellow man but often pastors and lay workers are burnt out through lack of know how and knowledge to care for themselves because of the high demands of their congregations. Although not intended by the author to be used as a religious text as such it has invaluable insight which corelates to the 'other' types of caring that is done in community life.

I found this book to greatly reduce my anxiety as it addressed all of my worries and other issues that were leading me towards burnout. It also has clear indications that it will continue to be useful as I move further into my career. This is a book I plan to read again and again.

This book gives good insight into the world of teaching and how the differences we perceive as teachers are some of the same differences our students face in the learning process. It opens your eyes to understanding your role as a teacher and how the stereotypes we bring with us may affect our effectiveness as teachers. I recommend this book to everyone trying to understand how to effectively teach a diversity of students to reach their full potential.

I think that racism is an almost impossible subject to tackle; but if there is a good reason to go through it - it is our future, the kids. These two authors struggle with the issues and come to some important understanding. If you really want to understand it and if you need a powerful reason to struggle with it. This book will help you do it.

I read this book because I was considering using it in a college level diversity issues class that I teach for teachers and those preparing to be teachers. Once I read it, I knew that I would have to use it; I couldn't put it down! It was like a great novel. Hankins reminded me of the importance of truly listening to students and knowing them. That is an important message for teachers at any level. Plus her meditations on journal writings as data for qualiative research are fascinating. I recommend this book for anyone who could use a little inspiration.

Any teacher, from pre-service to veteran, would be greatly served by reading this book.

The marks of a great teacher are those that cannot be taught in even the best of teacher ed programs. These are the qualities of compassion, empathy, and sincere love for one's students. The author possesses these qualities; she shares them with the reader time and time again in the text.

The book is part reflection, part narrative. Through reflection/narrative, we enter into the lives of several first graders. At times, the horror of what children live through is overwhelming. At other times, Ms. Hankins' tender and creative methods of teaching the children are what leaps from the page (you find yourself wondering if you would ever have been able to think of such ingenious strategies for soothing the troubled 6 year old).

What stands out, though, is not the heartbreaking stories (although they are unforgettable), but how Ms. Hankins was able to better inform her teaching, and therefore better serve her students, by reflecting on the everyday occurrences in the classroom. Highly recommended book.

In this powerful new book [circa 1996],Creating Democratic Classrooms, the first volume in the Practitioner Inquiry Series, seven teachers analyze their own efforts to integrate social, moral, and political questions and issues into the public school classroom. The contributors - both new and veteran teachers - weigh the possibilities for making classrooms more responsive to the need for social justice, critical consciousness, and democratic values. By developing their own narratives on experience, these teachers reveal the successes and failures, rewards and frustrations, that are involves in pursuing democratic forms of classroom life. Providing a critical and incisive complement to the teachers' chapters id Editor Landon Beyer's analysis of the teacher education programs from these programs are invariably located. A concluding chapter synthesizes the work of these committed teachers and looks toward future possibilities.

Contributors: Erin Roche, Ushma Shah, Joni Garlock, Noelle Hawk Jaddaoui, Krista Sorensen, Katie Poduska, and Mary Cunat.

Creating Democratic Classrooms as a thoughtful, accessible, and compelling resource for graduate courses and professors involved with teacher education, foundations and the politics of education.
--- from book's back cover

FROM ANOTHER ANGLE is for teachers and parents--brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles--for any person who knows and loves a child--for anyone invested in helping that child reach his or her full potential as an ethical, creative, intellectual, spiritual, physical being. Pat Carini's compassionate vision of how we might begin to understand and teach our children shines through this collection on the Prospect School and the process of "Descriptive Review."

Margaret Himley has done an exceptional job of editing the volume, juxtaposing detailed descriptions of children and their learning styles with illuminating essays on the guiding philosophies of Prospect's processes.

The Descriptive Review of a Child is based on phenomenology, on the belief that all possible facets of human experience are valuable and important, worthy of inquiry and respectful contemplation. As Margaret Himley says, "Through description the person becomes more visible and real education begins, and it is, finally, this *taproot value of the person* that characterizes Prospect's particular ethical stance and that gives meaning to the descriptive processes. It is the ethical insistence on the hard work necessary to accord others--*all others*--the status of person, with all the complexity, capability, range of emotions and desires, and possibilities that we know ourselves to have."

Indeed, the actual Descriptive Reviews of Three Children--Gabriel, Victoria, and Nile--are at the heart of this remarable volume. Pat Carini and her Prospect colleagues believe curiosity is the core of all passionate learning. Students who are given the opportunity to pursue their natural interests are more inclined to take risks, to challenge themselves to work well beyond the expectations for their ages and grade levels."....

This thoughtful, cyclical work is the core of Prospect processes, a means of discovery that is neither singular nor static. In her lucid essay on the value of "Oral Inquiry," Margaret Himley reminds us that language must remain fluid, that we must resist the tendency of words to "fix" ideas in our minds or to "explain" things in terms too reductive to be helpful. By participating in dialogues with others, by pooling information, we keep ourselves alert and flexible, willing to interrogate our own biases and perceptions, able to see and celebrate the unique spirits and the limitless potential of our children, our parents, our friends, ourselves. The joyful work of description is an explosive affirmation of life itself, the never-ending miracle of creation.

For twenty-six years, the work of Pat Carini and her colleagues at the Prospect School in North Bennington, Vermont transformed the lives of children and their families. Though the school closed in 1991 when the fragile financial base finally gave way, the work at Prospect continues, and the bold vision of Pat Carini continues to fire the imaginations of all who have ears to hear, voices to describe and encourage, hands to help, and minds to remain forever open and alive and curious. We cannot love our children unless we know them; we cannot nuture their unique interests and gifts unless we allow ourselves to watch them with absolute attention and wonder. Teachers and parents who visit the Prospect School, who read Carini's and Himley's work, who embrace the difficult and rewarding endeavor of Descriptive Review, will be forever changed. There is great hope in this--for all of us.

This book is tremendous--it provides an engaging entrance into the authors' dilemna (one all teachers have): How to teach usefully? Next is an excellent overview of Dewey's educational theories, and then a step-by-step description of the authors' successful application into a college classroom. I am so motivated now to try it myself. "They" said it could not be done, but "they" were wrong! My response: Aaaahaahhhh!