Introduction -- Part I -- The Call of the Soul -- What Einstein Knew -- What Dante Knew -- The Hands That Work on Us -- Open Secret -- Bozos on the Bus -- Open-Heart Surgery -- Heart Warrior -- Lightening Up and Falling Down -- When They Revolutionize the Cocktail Parties -- Sleeping Giants and Strange Angels -- The Rapture of Being Alive -- Part II -- The Phoenix Process -- Chimidunchik -- Here Begin the Terrors, Here Begin the Miracles -- Fierce Grace -- Before and After -- A Broken Heart Is an Open Heart -- September 11th -- Crooked Hearts -- Part II -- The Shaman Lover -- Leaving My Father's House -- Marriage Math -- The Shaman Lover -- Initiation -- The Crossroards -- Goethe's Chain Letter -- The Joy of Being Wrong -- Part IV -- Children -- Firstborn -- Run Away, Bunny! -- The Great Movement of the Couch -- Gift -- The Vroom, Vroom Gene -- Letting Them Go -- Iron John -- Widening the Circle -- Despair and Dulcimers -- Part V -- Birth and Death -- Trailing Clouds of Glory -- The Hundredth Name -- No Birth, No Death -- Visitation Dreams -- Good Grief -- Karaoke -- Practicing Death -- The Turtles and the Trees -- A Meditation for Practicing Dying -- Part VI -- The River of Change -- Enjoying the Passage of Time -- The Workshop Angel -- When Grapes Turn to Wine -- Ch-ch-Changes -- Comfortable with Uncertainty -- For Hugo -- Peaceful Abiding -- The Truth -- The Spirit House -- Appendix: Toolbox -- Meditation -- Meditation Instructions -- Ten-Step Meditation Practice -- Psychotherapy -- Working with Teacjers, Therapists, and Healers -- Prayer -- Acknowledgments -- A Reader's Guide

« “A most extraordinary book . . . Lesser is a brilliantly gifted writer.”—Caroline Myss, author of Sacred Contracts and Anatomy of the Spirit

“Elizabeth Lesser bravely and beautifully explores one of the most compelling questions of life: How do we emerge from suffering and challenge with real, encompassing wisdom and love? Broken Open is personal, pragmatic, and enlightening.”—Sharon Salzberg, author of Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience

“Rich in food for philosophical mastication, and sparkling in their stylistic clarity, the true-life stories in Broken Open are both entertaining and enlightening.”—Tom Robbins, author of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Still Life with Woodpecker, and Villa Incognito

“Insightful reflections . . . Reminiscent of Rachel Naomi Remen’s books (e.g. Kitchen Table Wisdom), the book is gentle in tone without falling into sentimentality an clear without being dogmatic or simplistic.”—Library Journal » (Publisher's Website)