Most Popular Books by Priscilla Warner

Priscilla Warner has had a great life: a supportive husband, a flourishing marriage, two loving sons, and a bestselling book, The Faith Club. Despite all her good fortune and success, she suffers from anxiety and panic attacks so debilitating that they leave her unable to breathe. She’s tried self-medicating—in high school, with a hidden flask of vodka—and later, with prescription medications—daily doses of Klonopin with a dark-chocolate chaser. After forty years of hyperventilating, and an overwhelming panic attack that’s the ultimate wake-up call, Warner’s mantra becomes “Neurotic, Heal Thyself.” A spirited New Yorker, she sets out to find her inner Tibetan monk by meditating every day, aiming to rewire her brain and her body and mend her frayed nerves. On this winding path from panic to peace, with its hairpin emotional curves and breathtaking drops, she also delves into a wide range of spiritual and alternative health practices, some serious and some . . . not so much. Warner tries spiritual chanting, meditative painting, immersion in a Jewish ritual bath, and quasi-hallucinogenic Ayurvedic oil treatments. She encounters mystical rabbis who teach her Kabbalistic lessons, attends silent retreats with compassionate Buddhist mentors, and gains insights from the spiritual leaders, healers, and therapists she meets. Meditating in malls instead of monasteries, Warner becomes a monk in a minivan and calms down long enough to examine her colorful, sometimes frightening family history in a new light, ultimately making peace with her past. And she receives corroboration that she’s healing from a neuroscientist who scans her brain for signs of progress and change. Written with lively wit and humor, Learning to Breathe is a serious attempt to heal from a painful condition. It’s also a life raft of compassion and hope for people similarly adrift or secretly fearful, as well as an entertaining and inspiring guidebook for anyone facing daily challenges large and small, anyone who is also longing for a sense of peace, self-acceptance, and understanding.

"Welcome to the Faith Club. We''re three mothers from three faiths—Islam, Christianity, and Judaism—who got together to write a picture book for our children that would highlight the connections between our religions. But no sooner had we started talking about our beliefs and how to explain them to our children than our differences led to misunderstandings. Our project nearly fell apart." After September 11th, Ranya Idliby, an American Muslim of Palestinian descent, faced constant questions about Islam, God, and death from her children, the only Muslims in their classrooms. Inspired by a story about Muhammad, Ranya reached out to two other mothers—a Christian and a Jew—to try to understand and answer these questions for her children. After just a few meetings, however, it became clear that the women themselves needed an honest and open environment where they could admit—and discuss—their concerns, stereotypes, and misunderstandings about one another. After hours of soul-searching about the issues that divided them, Ranya, Suzanne, and Priscilla grew close enough to discover and explore what united them. The Faith Club is a memoir of spiritual reflections in three voices that will make readers feel as if they are eavesdropping on the authors'' private conversations, provocative discussions, and often controversial opinions and conclusions. The authors wrestle with the issues of anti-Semitism, prejudice against Muslims, and preconceptions of Christians at a time when fundamentalists dominate the public face of Christianity. They write beautifully and affectingly of their families, their losses and grief, their fears and hopes for themselves and their loved ones. And as the authors reveal their deepest beliefs, readers watch the blossoming of a profound interfaith friendship and the birth of a new way of relating to others. In a final chapter, they provide detailed advice on how to start a faith club: the questions to ask, the books to read, and most important, the open-minded attitude to maintain in order to come through the experience with an enriched personal faith and understanding of others. Pioneering, timely, and deeply thoughtful, The Faith Club''s caring message will resonate with people of all faiths.

Do Pânico à Paz "Eu tinha muito do que uma mulher poderia desejar para se dizer feliz: um bom marido, compreensivo e atencioso, um casamento bem-sucedido, dois filhos amorosos e um best-seller; em suma, uma excelente vida. Mas, ao contrário do que parecia, apesar de todo o sucesso e sorte, eu sofria de ansiedade crônica e tinha frequentes ataques de pânico. Esses ataques me sufocavam; era insuportável. Tentei a automedicação, no início com uma garrafinha de vodca que eu levava escondida comigo, e, mais à frente, parti para a alopatia e comecei a tomar Rivotril diariamente. Depois de uma fortíssima crise, decidi que tinha de dar um fim àquela situação: meu mantra pessoal passou a ser ''Neurótica, cura a ti mesma''." Este emocionante depoimento expõe o drama de milhões de pessoas, em todo o mundo, devastadas pela temida Síndrome do Pânico. Priscilla, uma nova-iorquina espirituosa, parte numa jornada em busca do monge tibetano que, acredita ela, habita todos nós. Uma jornada a partir da meditação diária rumo ao equilíbrio de corpo e alma, coração e mente, e, de uma vez por todas, o controle dos nervos. Nesse caminho sinuoso, muitas vezes pedregoso e árido, ela foi do pânico à paz e conheceu uma enorme variedade de práticas de cura alternativa e espiritual, algumas sérias, outras... nem tanto. Este livro, na verdade, deve ser o fiel companheiro dos leitores em busca de qualidade de vida e plenitude. Acredite, é possível, sim!