Author: Stephen Kiesling
From the Editor - March/April 2019
One of the big questions we’ve wrestled with since the launch of this magazine 2…
From the Editor - January/February 2019
Just after our 20th Anniversary issue came off the press, I traveled by plane, t…
From the Editor: November/December
It’s the best possible time to be alive, when almost everything you thought you …
From the Editor: September/October
The Toe of Awakening In the rush of this issue I took a break and waded into th…
From the Editor: July/August 2018
In this issue we’ve got a letter from Jacki Mallett, an original subscriber (Tha…
Is Your Yoga Class a Stanley Milgram Experiment?
Perhaps the hardest pose—and greatest enlightenment—is to sit comfortably.…
From the Editor: November/December 2017
I’ve been wrestling lately with some extra pounds that have me worried—and…
Entrepreneurs of Civilization
We have no wisdom traditions nearly as old as we are, and maybe that’s because w…
Book Review: How Cycling Can Save the World
Cycling could save the world, and very quickly. If we all switched to bikes for …
Maybe the “First Agreement” Is “Don’t Bite Anybody”
Then Comes “Share the Wealth,” “Reduce Your Footprint,” and “Don’t Poison the Bugs Inside You.”
Your Assignment: Complete the Story
Complete the Story of The Sword in the Storytelling Stone and Win $1000
Are You Closer to Muhammad than to Jesus?
Last summer, the University of Birmingham announced a startling discovery: two m…
The Commons: Create First Nations Day
Grandma Agnes Baker Pilgrim, 91, was about to fly to Amsterdam and then on to Af…
The Fashions of Our Addictions
Did shamans pack tobacco leaves into leather pouches only for symbolic reasons?
Bringing Grandma Home
Grandma Aggie wants to sit in her family chair. Who could say no to that? But Gr…
How the Body Creates Our Moods
Classic research grounds our moods in the body, not in the head, and points toward simple steps to happiness.
Prioritize Your Priorities!
Living an authentic, conscious life now requires us to manage ourselves like modern multinationals. Here’s how!
How to Achieve Whole Body Happiness
One thing I have learned in my weekly men's group is how fragile we are. Lawyer,…
Injustice in a Group Boosts Willingness to Volunteer
Research from New York University suggests a counter intuitive notion: A s…
How Much of Aging Is in Your Head?
In 1979 a young Harvard psychology professor named Ellen Langer (soon to be play…
Lessons from Peak Experiences
About 10 years ago I paddled my white-water kayak onto a wave at “Steamer Lane” …
How Meditation Might Help Break the Cycle of Poverty
In our July issue we reported on studies by Martha Farah, director for Cognitive…
Latest Message from Water: Is Dr. Emoto a Spiritual Madoff?
Ten years ago this magazine received an advance copy of Dr. Masaru Emoto’s book …
A Perfect Day for Couples In Santa Fe
Whether it’s Adam and Eve, Adam and Adam, or Eve and Eve, neuroscience suggests …
Survival Consciousness
Infinite bliss and enlightenment may be just a breath away. But what does that r…
Is Yoga Safe?
Two years ago, at breakfast with the dean of yoga at Kripalu Center for Yoga and…
Virtue Fatigue: The Anatomy of Temptation
Consider the classic recipe for seduction: chocolates, dinner, wine, dessert, da…
Practicing the Art of Trying with a 28-Year Comeback at the Olympic Trials
The time is 6:39 p.m. at the Olympic Rowing Center at Lake Mercer, New Jersey. T…
Beyond the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
About fifteen years ago, Robert E. Thayer, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at C…
Wired for Compassion
In the mid-seventies, psychologist Daniel Goleman, Ph.D., left teaching at Harva…
The Ceremony at the Heart of "Salmon Nation"
About 18 months ago, an extraordinary woman came to my home on the Rogue River i…
Be the Change
“You must be the change you want to see in the world,” said “Mahatma” Gandhi, wh…
This Thanksgiving, Call in the Directions
Over the past 25 years, the Mankind Project and New Warrior Training Adventure h…
America's Most Spiritual Spa 2010: Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary
Even a first award requires a history. And any history of spiritual spas leads i…
Do Eyeshades Protect Against Obesity and Cancer?
In Newsweek last December, science writer Sharon Begley pulled together research…
The New Power Plant in the Backyard?
One day recently my friend Oliver Fix and his colleague Rudy Behrens arrived at …
Teaching a Boy to Meditate Underwater
Relax, and bring your attention to your breath. If you are like many, this is a …
Why We Surprise Ourselves Doing Grand or Stupid Things
Over the last decade a number of studies and books have likened willpower to a s…
Most Spiritual Spa 2011: Haramara Retreat Center
Religious faith can turn any place or building or gathering into a potential sou…
The Art of Trying
Practicing the art of trying with an 8-year comeback at the Olympic Trials.…
The Social Artist's Way
With the world changing at the speed of mouse clicks, there is a call for a new …
High-Tech and Healing Touch
On the cutting edge of cardiac medicine, in a mainstream hospital, the best of E…
A Simple Prayer, A Profound Freedom
Half a century of monastic life has taught Father Thomas Keating that there is a…
When Creativity Is Under the Gun, It Usually Ends Up Getting Killed
The biggest drop in creativity occurred when time pressure was highest.…
Managing Your Life
Hoshin is a Japanese word roughly meaning both internal compass and personal Nor…
The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve
Surprising Lessons from the Truly Greatest Corporate Leaders
A Hierarchy of Consciousness
Decades of research worldwide suggest that cultures evolve in stages, a hierarch…
The Generative Game of Life
Generative people tend to be those who have worked through their identity crises…
The Things Called Love
Science is discovering that we share many kinds of love, but they all share root…
Welcome to the Great (Interfaith) Swamp!
Making interfaith dialogue a priority: the "other" is our neighbor, our co-worke…
The Millennium Games
The brain science is clear that my eyes are not cameras recording the glittering…
The Company You Keep: Does it Need Transformation?
Shaping corporations to enhance rather than crush the spirit of employees turns …
Artificial Intelligence and Human Development
The logos (empirical data) is that future robots will likely be smarter, more ca…
Intoxicated in the Spirit of Tobacco
The First Americans understood the joys and addiction of tobacco. (And the nicot…
The Most Powerful Healing God & Women Can Come Up With
Finding healing tools for surviving breast cancer.
Give Us Ten Minutes... We’ll Give You the Kosmos
According to Ken Wilber, the biggest challenge facing our world is not the incom…
The Changing Pursuit of Happiness
Over the last seventy years, what makes people happy and fulfilled and what moti…
Stephen Kiesling is a former Olympic rower, cocreator of the Nike Cross Training System, and editor in chief of Spirituality & Health. A 35th anniversary edition of The Shell Game: Reflections on Rowing and the Pursuit of Excellence has just been published.