Stretching Lessons: The Daring that Starts from Within (Hardcover)

by Sue Bender (Author) "It took me a while to appreciate how much courage the daring really takes..." (more)
Key Phrases: stretching lessons, growing wings, Boom Boom, Ram Dass, New York City (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Like the delicate finger exercises that help pianists achieve great sonatas, Stretching Lessons reads like a series of contemplative exercises that help readers achieve great wisdom. Writing with utter humility and humanity, Sue Bender shares the private (and sometimes painful) life lessons that have helped her stretch into a bigger person. We read of Bender as a sixth-grade girl who didn't get chosen for the accelerated progress class, and how her body helped her find a face-saving solution. Sometimes her confessions are downright comforting, particularly since this author of Plain and Simple and Everyday Sacred lets us know that she still struggles with creating too much struggle:

I am wiser.

And I am still struggling...

I'm sixty-six years old and I want to learn about ease.

Consider this an in-and-out book, one that can be opened to any page, where readers will find brief one-to-three-page essays about stretching into one's biggest self, biggest dream, biggest life. Although it's billed as a memoir, don't expect a tightly woven literary narrative. Even so, the airy format with plenty of white space manages to convey a strong sense of Bender's life and the common ground we all find in her experiences. --Gail Hudson

From Library Journal
Bender, author of Plain and Simple: A Woman's Journey to the Amish, as well as Everyday Sacred, has written a new account of her continued efforts at spiritual growth. While this book is not so rooted in exceptional experiences as its two predecessors, Bender is undoubtedly a writer of charm and persuasion, and she pursues the theme of spiritual renewal (stretching) with sweet, calmly written anecdotes and insights. Recommended; likely to be popular where Bender's other books have found an audience, or where there is a strong audience for women's spirituality.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; 1 edition (April 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062516825
• ISBN-13: 978-0062516824
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,097,049 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiration Information, May 23, 2001

By	Kyle Anne Roderick (Los Angeles, CA. USA) - See all my reviews

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.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another touching book...., April 11, 2001

By A Customer

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...

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book to savor and internalize, October 9, 2001

By	atmj (Rochester, NY USA) - See all my reviews

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.