THE LITTLE BOOK OF ZEN HEALING by Paula Arai

This is a great little compendium of Japanese wisdom and teaching stories. The author was born in America to a Japanese mother and went on to undergo Zen training in Japan. Paula Arai started the book after her mother’s death when she went on a kind of pilgrimage to seek wisdom and thus comfort around the death of her loved one. There are many opportunities everywhere to start small processes of healing such as creating an altar, developing rituals within the family, chanting or paying close attention to small everyday tasks like watering the plants. There are illustrative calligraphies at the start of every chapter by her Zen teacher and wash drawings in black and white of everyday objects like flowers in vases and a broom, accompanied by haiku. It’s an inspiring book.

224pp, 187 x 145 mm, Hardback, 2023, RRP £17.99