Customer Reviews

Stretching Lessons: The Daring that Starts from Within

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Sure, we all want to grow stronger and wiser, but we're all stressed out and often don't know where to begin. In "Stretching Lessons," Sue Bender offers charming and easy-to-practice methods and philosophies for growing spiritually, mentally and physically.

To begin with, the secret lies in giving up struggling and competing through life and chattering our negative internal monologues. Loosen up and stretch and start feeling each moment, and listen to the whispers of your inner voice, Bender suggests. Instead of living in that "no pain, no gain," cycle, Bender says we should just gently stretch our imaginations, our bodies and our possibilities. Keeping an open mind and an open heart can help you on your way; so can finding the lesson in everyday occurrences, no matter how apparently banal they may first seem. "Get to know your life," Bender seems to be telling us, "and then your life will stretch."

The author of the New York Times bestseller, "Plain and Simple," and "Everyday Sacred," Bender holds a master's degree in education from Harvard and a degree in clinical social work from UC Berkeley. She has worked as a high school teacher and psychotherapist, and has exhibited her pottery in museums around the United States. She is the mother of two grown sons.

Everyone is an artist in some medium, Bender believes, and everyone is spiritually gifted. People can benefit from realizing and honoring their artistic and spiritual potential. One of the most moving examples in "Stretching Lessons" involves a woman who tearfully confesses that she feels inadequate because she is surrounded by artist friends and yet she makes no art. All she does in her free time is feed the dogs of homeless people in her neighborhood since for many, dogs are their only source of love.

Deeply moved by this woman's nurturing; Mother Teresa-like actions, Bender announces, "But you are an artist," and with these reassurances, we, the readers, see how she who feeds the dogs of the homeless is indeed artfully helping sustain many lives, while stretching her own.

"Stretching Lessons" glows with dynamic encounters with author and physician Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., spiritual guru Ram Dass, psychotherapist Mitzi McCloskey, artist M.C. Richards and Bender's beloved yoga and stretching teacher, Nancy Minges, M.A., of Berkeley's Claremont Resort and Spa. This is the kind of book that everyone can benefit from: teenagers, women and men of all ages, and anyone who is intent on knowing their lives and growing with grace. You will feel stretched just by reading this book, and inspired to stretch more.

As with her preceding work, this author succeeds at getting our attention on the, so often missed, power of the ordinary...We, seekers, are always looking "out there" for what is most often within us or immediately around us..if we pause long enough to notice...

After reading Everyday Sacred, I looked forward to this next book of Sue Benders. I was not dissappointed.

READ THIS BOOK SLOW AND THINK ABOUT WHAT SHE IS SAYING, HOW IT PARALLELS YOUR OWN LIFE
If you do get this book read it slow and think about what she is saying. This is an introspective book. One woman's journey to stretch in her own life.

SEVERAL MAIN THEMES
Sue Bender's concerns and issues with her own life will ring a chord with your own. Like Everyday Sacred this book is a wandering jewel of a book touching on several main themes:
The Daring that starts from within
Opening
Risking
Stretching
Growning wings

WE SET OUR OWN LIMITATIONS
This book if you think about each section will help you understand the limitations in your life you self impose and how to work around them and grow.

NO LESSONS JUST STORIES OF ENLIGHTENMENT
Does she give assignments and a cookbook approach? "No". Sue Bender relates her story so you can learn from it.

A thoroughly enjoyable journey.

I have ADD and its always been hard for me to focus on everyday
simple...getting the house in order, spending time being quiet,
etc. I read all three books in the same few days, in reverse
order and frankly the content of each distinctive book is jumbled
in my mind...however the overall impact has been amazing. For the first time in over 20 years I am in the process of deep
cleaning and organizing my home/life and its finally shaping up
into an environment I enjoy. The Sacred in it, the Amish references, the patterning of thought and example given in the
three books hooked to my heart in a way nothing else has before.
I am so grateful for these books. I gave them away to a treasured friend tied in a big bow. She was delighted!

I loved it! Sue's style of short chapters, with an "a-ha" that she finds from everyday encounters or happenings, is an effective way to connect with every person. So deceptively simple, but so powerful that I had to stop and reflect after most chapters. She is a wonderful guide for all of us that know there is more out there for ourselves, if we just knew how to let it happen.

A graceful and perceptive companion to Sue Bender's earlier books - Plain and Simple and Everyday Sacred - Stretching Lessons uses Bender's ability to tell simple stories with poetic rhythms and powerful messages.

We all have it in us to be 'bigger than that.' We need only to trust and to try.

I very much enjoyed Plain and Simple, and also Everyday Sacred, so I was expecting a grand finale to a charming trilogy. Instead I encountered self-absorption to an extreme degree and despite the simplicity of the text I simply couldn't get past half way. I think Sue Bender needs to do some volunteer work, or just somehow get out of her own head for a while.