Elizabeth Lesser Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

Glen and Connie Foss, both active in HVWA, have known the author through Omega Institute in New York. The chapter titled "Before and After" is Glen's own account of the tragic death of their twin son, Eric, in a motorcycle accident, just as he was returning home from a pre-college adventure in New Zealand's glacier country. It was the "Phoenix Process" of breaking open through a conscious encounter with pain and true suffering of loss described in this book that helped Glen and Connie through this dark night of their soul to a new life.

The book is beautifully written by a co-founder of Omega Institute, an organization that holds healing retreats and workshops on the Phoenix Process. The author's own and others' experiences with loss and recovery take up a good part of the book. Final chapters drawing on her Phoenix derived wisdom treat the challenges of the different stages of child-rearing and conclude with chapters on birth and on the dying process.

The reader will encounter an amazing series of trials by fire and their inspiring outcomes. Glen Foss would like to invite the author to visit the Waterville Center on the strength of his connections with the author. What a great opportunity for HVWA!