Though we are seemingly more connected to our world than ever before, many of us cannot ignore a nagging sense of loneliness and isolation. To keep this anxiety and discontentment at bay, we can search for connection through unhealthy distractions, believing these will bring us true nourishment. And yet, loneliness is on the rise, exacting detrimental effects on our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. Even those of us who have succeeded in the ways that society applauds, often feel unanchored, disengaged, and purposeless. If true pleasure is what we desire, how do we look past the surface, to discover a life filled with meaningful connection and genuine relationships?

Untangled is a welcoming guidebook to finding expansive ease and true joy through what is traditionally called the eightfold path, one of Buddhism's foundational teachings. Psychotherapist and Zen teacher Koshin Paley Ellison compassionately walks readers down these eight roads, leading them on a path of transformation and to experience true joy. Combining teachings from both Eastern and Western wisdom traditions, Paley Ellison equips readers with the tools needed to untangle our tangles and make profound change, inside and out. Infused with Paley Ellison's own anecdotes of his life as a young gay kid facing abuse and discrimination, this approachable guide will help you transform your ever day interactions, your most intimate relationships and offers a path for social healing. It is an ancient cure that's up to the challenge of healing the modern dysfunction of our times.

Untangled: Walking the Eightfold Path to Clarity, Courage, and Compassion, Koshin Paley Ellison, Balance, Hardcover, 256 pages, $28.00

Author, Zen teacher, and Jungian psychotherapist Koshin Paley Ellison is recognized as one of today�s most thoughtful and trusted leaders in the contemplative medicine movement. With his husband, Chodo Campbell he co-founded the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, an educational non-profit dedicated to integrating contemplative approaches to care with contemporary medicine. Through Koshin�s leadership and vision, NYZC has developed transformational, collaborative training experiences: the Foundations in Contemplative Care and the Contemplative Medicine Fellowship. Today, New York Zen Center�s teachings and practices are internationally recognized � and have touched the lives of tens of thousands of individuals.

CONTENTS: Untangled
Part I Before Your Journey (Is There a Before?)
1.	True Pleasure Is a Place of Practice	3
2.	The Tangle	16
Part II Beginning to Go Beyond
3.	Your Are Not Just Your Body	27
4.	You Are More Than Your Feelings	39
5.	You Are Not Just Your Thoughts	58
6.	Confronting the Giants and Their Wheels of Suffering	72
7.	The Pivot: Finding Our Place of Practice	93
Part III The Eightfold Path to Clarity, Courage, and Compassion
8.	The Path Is a Place of Practice	105
9.	Perspective Is a Place of Practice	120
10.	Speech Is a Place of Practice	136
11.	Action Is a Place of Practice	150
12.	Work Is a Place of Practice	170
13.	Effort Is a Place of Practice	181
14.	Attention Is a Place of Practice	191
15.	Seated Meditation Is a Place of Practice	207
16.	Mystery Is a Place of Practice	226
Appendix 1: Resources		233
Appendix 2: Further Reflection for Untangling with the Four Noble Truths		235
Acknowledgments		239
About the Author		243