Posts Tagged ‘health’

Author Spotlight: Lewis Richmond

Sunday, March 20th, 2011
From the constant push and pull in our personal and work lives, it’s a disappointing fact that many people find well-being and happiness far from reach.  Through Buddhism and Zen meditation, Lewis Richmond aims to educate people and encourage sufferers of daily life to discover what healthy awakenings await those who take bold steps and traverse new spiritual terrain.
Lewis Richmond is a Buddhist teacher, Aging and Elderhood author, and Blogger. Lewis leads a Zen meditation group, Vimala Sangha, and teaches at workshops and retreats throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.  He has published three books, including the national bestseller Work as a Spiritual Practice.  Lewis also leads a discussion on aging as a spiritual practice at  Tricycle magazine’s online community site and is the author of the blog,  Aging As A Spiritual Practice, where he regularly writes on topics such as aging, fear, beauty, spiritual practice, gratitude, and kinds of Buddhism to name a few.
Work as a Spiritual Practice by Lewis Richmond manages to complete the task of incorporating spiritual practice within the workplace.  As a veteran corporate executive and former Zen Buddhist priest, Lewis is in an authoritative position to claim that not only is work and meditation a partnership made possible in the office, but through recognizing four characteristics of human thought and emotion, an opportunity for inner growth is completely within grasp. Work as a Spiritual Practice from Broadway is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, and IndieBound.

  • “leaving the house without one or the other of Lewis’s practices in mind is like venturing into the wilderness without my boots.”

–Peter Coyote, movie actor and author of Sleeping Where I Fall

  • “This book on utilizing the workplace as a place for spiritual growth comes straight from the workshop of the heart”

–Lama Surya Das, author of Awakening the Buddha Within

  • “An exquisite guide to finding happiness and health in one’s work.”

–NAPRA ReView

  • “an accessible, personal, witty, and poetic book that will be helpful, even transformative, for anyone who works for a living.”

–Sylvia Boorstein, author of It’s Easier Than  You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness

Read Lewis Richmond:

Lewis Richmond:

  • was the Executive Vice President of Smith & Hawken, Ltd.
  • the founder and owner of Forerunner Systems, Inc., the leading provider of inventory management software to the catalog industry.
  • is a musician and composer with a solo piano album, Lake of No Shore, released by Artifex Records.
  • is an ordained disciple of Buddhist master Shunryu Suzuki Roshi.

Connect with Lewis Richmond:


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Warming Reads

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

The winter can be a cold and lonesome period with days spent contemplating long hours away.  We ask ourselves where we’ve been and what’s on the horizon.  Family, friends, and aging are often the center of swirling thoughts that wander in search of answers.  And these are the same subjects confronted by authors in a selection of books currently on the shelves here at FSB.  To help persevere during this cold season, we hope the following books offer you insight, guidance, companionship and a warm smile or two.

Falling Apart in One Piece by Stacy Morrison

Just when Stacy Morrison thought everything in her life had come together, her husband of ten years announced that he wanted a divorce. She was left alone with a new house that needed a lot of work, a new baby who needed a lot of attention, and a new job in the high-pressure world of New York magazine publishing.

Told with humor and heart, her honest and intimate account of the stress of being a working mother while trying to make sense of her unraveling marriage offers unexpected lessons of love, forgiveness, and dignity that will resonate with women everywhere.

Falling Apart in One Piece from Simon & Schuster is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Changing Shoes by Tina Sloan

In Changing Shoes, Tina Sloan addresses the issues and feelings most women eventually have to deal with, using humorous personal anecdotes from her personal life (starting with her first pair of Chanel pumps) and her twenty-six years on Guiding Light (where she started out in a pair of white high heels and a fitted nurse’s uniform and finished off in sneakers and modern nurse’s scrubs).  Changes in her looks, love life, career, and family are managed with footwear to match: broken-in black flats when taking care of her aging parents, lavender “Cinderella” shoes to seduce her husband, and pink snow boots to hike Mount Kilimanjaro.

Changing Shoes from Gotham Books is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Tales From the Yoga Studio by Rain Mitchell

In Los Angeles, yoga teachers have become celebrities and designer tank tops can cost a small fortune.  Still, many students flock to the relatively unglamorous Edendale Yoga in the hip, out-of-the-way Silver Lake neighborhood.  It’s here where Lee uses her extraordinary teaching skills and unusual empathy to help students gain control of their bodies and possibly their lives as well. But will  Lee’s students have learned enough from their beloved teacher to help her when she faces financial problems and a marital crisis of her own?

Tales From the Yoga Studio is a warm, funny, and gripping novel about the gift of connection and the joys of discovery, featuring five amazing women you will never forget.

Tales From the Yoga Studio from Plume is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

The Longevity Project by Howard S. Friedman

For years we have been told to make lists and obsessively monitor when we’re angry, what we eat, how much we worry, and how often we go to the gym.  So why isn’t everyone healthy? Now, based on the most extensive study of long life ever conducted, The Longevity Projectreveals what really matters across the long run — the personality traits, relationships, experiences, and career paths that naturally keep you vital.

With self-tests that illuminate your own best paths to longer life, and a deeper scientific understanding than we have seen before of the true causes of long-term health, this book will change the conversation about what it really takes to optimize your chances for a long, healthy life.

The Longevity Project from Hudson Street Press is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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Balancing New Books

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

We’re nearing the end of the month, but there’s no slowing down for the crew here at FSB.  Our third week into the new year brings us four new projects that are spread across a range of topics including books in fiction thriller, health, adventure memoir, and business management.  Whether we’re getting wiser, healthier, laughing, crying, or gripping the edge of our seats, we’re sure to enjoy this busy balancing act.

From New York Times bestselling author and internationally renowned environmental and consumer advocate Erin Brockovich, comes Rock Bottom, a debut thriller and first in a series of novels that introduces one of the most fascinating and memorable characters in suspense fiction. In Rock Bottom, Erin Brockovich combines passionate intensity, first-rate story-telling, and her real-life experiences in a novel that will leave you breathless. Rock Bottom from Vanguard Press is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

If you’re one of the 13 million Americans who have survived a heart attack or been diagnosed with heart disease, Dr. Janet Bond Brill offers a delicious and foolproof plan that can lower your risk of a second heart attack by up to 70 percent.  Inspired by the heart-healthy Mediterranean diet, the Prevent a Second Heart Attack Plan is based on satisfaction, rather than deprivation. Prevent a Second Heart Attack: 8 Foods, 8 Weeks to Reversing Heart Disease from Crown/Three Rivers Press is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

For Conor Grennan, what began as a footloose adventure volunteering at the Little Princes Children’s Home in war-torn Nepal becomes a commitment to reunite children he had grown to love with their families, but this would be no small task. He would risk his life on a journey through the legendary mountains of Nepal, facing the dangers of a bloody civil war.

Little Princes is a true story of families and children, and what one person is capable of when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds. At turns tragic, joyful, and hilarious, Little Princes is a testament to the power of faith and the ability of love to carry us beyond our wildest expectations.  Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal from William Morrow is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

What Could Happen if You Do Nothing? offers managers clear, usable tools to enhance the way they listen and engage their people. Mini-dialogues, sample questions, listening tips, and suggestions use familiar situations to show how to transform business challenges into coaching opportunities. This is an essential resource for developing employees to their full potential and for fostering better working relationships for individuals, teams, and the business itself. What Could Happen If You Do Nothing? A Manager’s Handbook for Coaching Conversations from Giraffe Business Publishing is available on Amazon.

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Winter Hits

Friday, January 21st, 2011

Winter is here and the view out our windows is pristine as you can see from the picture of our office park.  Once we step into our office, though, things really start to heat up.  We’re just halfway through the first month of the new year and overjoyed with the traction our current campaigns are picking up.  Here’s a look at some of the big places around the web you’ll be able to see our recent projects.

Revealing the high-stakes drama behind the scenes of the hit television show American Idol comes a new book by veteran journalist Richard Rushfield, American Idol: The Untold Story.  On the heels of the book’s release, American Idol: The Untold Story has been creating quite a buzz in the media and we’re proud to have it featured on cnn.com, Can a reboot save ‘American Idol?’, villagevoice.com, American Idol Dish about Kara vs. Ellen, and collegecandy.com, The Top 10 American Idol Scandals.  American Idol: The Untold Story from Hyperion is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Simplicity isn’t about what you give up. It’s about what you gain.  That’s the focus behind Tsh Oxenreider’s book Organized Simplicity featuring simple outlines to organize your home and bring balance to your life.  Read her article, Learning value of stuff by moving overseas, on cnn.com for a lesson in cutting the clutter.  Organized Simplicity from Betterway Home is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Naked Fitness by Andrea Metcalf is not about working out in the nude.  It’s about stripping away all the clutter that stops you from getting your wonderful, beautiful body into the best shape possible.  And what better time to start building a new you than the new year?  We’re planning on seeing many start their plans after reading this article, Are You An Emotional Overeater? on mamapedia.com.  Naked Fitness from Vanguard Press is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

From the world’s leading authority on mind-body healing comes a revolutionary process for accessing the power of your true inner voice-the voice of wisdom, intuition, and the unconscious.  Dr. Brian Alman calls this voice TruSage in his book The Voice: Overcome Negative Self-Talk and Discover Your Inner Wisdom.  The author shares three steps on dealing with any physical or emotional challenge in an article, How to Find Your Inner Voice, on beliefnet.com.  The Voice: Overcome Negative Self-Talk and Discover Your Inner Wisdom from Vanguard Press is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Drowning in Oil by Loren Steffy is the first in-depth examination of how a lack of corporate responsibility and government oversight led to the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion; the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.  An in-depth review on seattlepi.com of the Houston Chronicle business reporter’s book will help readers discern the important issues this book presents from those in the general media that float on the surface.  Drowning in Oil: BP and the Reckless Pursuit of Profit from Vanguard Press is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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New Books Prove Life is Worth Examining

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

The new year at FSB kicks off with three new projects in tune with people reflecting upon lives past, present, and future. We think about ourselves, our loved ones, and humanity in general. Reexamining life raises questions of happiness, virtue, origin, unity, and good will.  All of which are covered in the books found below and addressed to broaden your awareness of life in the world around us.

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What Will Happen to Me? by Howard Zehr

“Sometimes when I’m alone, I sit there and look up and close my eyes and think, ˜If he were here, what would happen? ˜ I would have had my full life. It’s just half now.” These sobering words from teenager Cassandra are typical of the devastating accounts included in Zehr and Amstutz’s portraits of American children who have at least one incarcerated parent. Zehr’s portraits are compassionate and ennobling and, though often cursory, the text from the children and caregivers is heartbreaking and thought-provoking. What Will Happen To Me? from Good Books is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Midnights with the Mystic by Cheryl Simone

A series of intimate conversations with a wise guru is a compelling idea. How many times have each of us wished for answers to life’s deep questions? In Midnights with the Mystic, Cheryl Simone relates her personal experience of learning at the feet of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, India’s most sought-after mystic. Midnights with the Mystic from Hampton Roads is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Breath of God by Jeffrey Small

In 1887, a Russian journalist made an explosive discovery in a remote Himalayan monastery only to be condemned and silenced for the heresy he proposed. His discovery vanished shortly thereafter.

Now, graduate student Grant Matthews journeys to the Himalayas in search of this ancient mystery. But Matthews couldn’t have anticipated the conspiracy of zealots who would go to any lengths to prevent him from bringing this secret public. Soon he is in a race to expose a truth that will change the world’s understanding of religion. A truth that his university colleagues believe is mere myth. A truth that will change his life forever—if he survives. Breath of God from West Hills Press is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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New Projects for December

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

Our new projects for this week have YOU in mind. December being a good time of year for reflection and making resolutions for the new year, we’re excited to start work on three new self-help titles in business and personal health genres.

The Voice: Overcome Negative Self-Talk and Discover Your Inner Wisdom by Brian Alman MD and Stephen Montgomery

From the world’s leading authority on mind-body healing comes a revolutionary process for accessing the power of your true inner voice-the voice of wisdom, intuition, and the unconscious. Dr. Brian Alman calls this voice TruSage, and it offers us the self-caring, compassion, and unconditional love that’s too often repressed by socially conditioned thoughts and feelings. Learn how to hear and use it to solve life’s challenges, whether they’re physical, emotional, or both.

The Voice: Overcome Negative Self-Talk and Discover Your Inner Wisdom by Brian Alman MD and Stephen Montgomery from Sterling Ethos is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Slow Down, Sell Faster: Understand Your Customer’s Buying Process and Maximize Your Sales by Kevin Davis

The biggest mistake you’re making in your sales career right now is equating a faster pitch with a faster close. Believe it or not, you will actually experience greater success if you slow down. Slow Down, Sell Faster! shows you how to stop jumping the gun and work with your customers to identify and quantify their real needs, so by the time you begin your pitch in earnest, you’re already halfway home. Featuring a simple yet powerful eight-step process and practical, repeatable techniques, Slow Down, Sell Faster! is packed with examples from the author’s extensive experience, plus research on customer buying processes rather than traditional selling processes. This buyer-focused approach to selling extends to proposals and presentations, loyalty and retention, and, of course, cultivating more business. Each step in the book corresponds to a role you should adopt to meet a customer’s needs at each stage of the buying process. There are two sides to every sale. In today’s extra challenging business climate, understanding the buying process is where professional selling should start.

Slow Down, Sell Faster! by Kevin Davis from AMACOM is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

The Solution: Conquer Your Fear, Control Your Future by Lucinda Bassett

Thanks to this new program by best-selling self-help author Lucinda Bassett, it’s possible to do a life-changing emotional makeover in only 21days. Her process-oriented approach to dealing with stress and anxiety covers everything from money to health to relationships.

Bassett shows readers how to go from fearful to focused; how to alleviate insecurity and feel confident about the future; and how to transform depression and anxiety into hope, happiness, and peace of mind. She offers a positive action plan that turns every challenge into an opportunity, and even helps relieve stress-induced exhaustion and poor health.

So even if you can’t change what’s happening around you…you CAN change what’s happening inside of you, thanks to this empowering new solution.

The Solution: Conquer Your Fear, Control Your Future by Lucinda Bassett from Sterling Ethos is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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Appetite For Awareness 2010 Giveaway

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

By Ken Ishii

I was working as a chef in a restaurant 15 years ago when I first heard about celiac.  One of my regular customers, a good friend who I’ll refer to as ‘Kate’, managed to maintain a healthy slim appearance at a time when so many other patrons struggled with tabbed binders, charts, and food points just to keep their pants zipped.  It’s not that Kate limited her portions (she often ordered more than her husband who’s twice her size), she just avoided anything with starch including certain noodles, floured meats and vegetables, and foods with fried coatings.  She would also ask how sauces were made for nearly everything on the menu.  Naturally, I started to think Kate was on the no-carb diet phenomenon that swept the country off its feet at the time, but then I realized she ate plenty of rice, soba, and potatoes.  Over time we grew close enough that I could come right out and ask what kind of wicked diet she was religiously chained to.  Over a few drinks (rice wine sake) behind bolted restaurant doors after hours, the whole staff shared laughs with Kate and her husband over all the crazy ideas we concocted for years about her eating habits which, in the end, turned out to be a disease that prevented Kate from eating anything made with wheat.  From that night on I went on a quest to create dishes and find ingredients Kate could eat that didn’t contain any wheat, rye, barley, malt, or oats.  This proved to be a greater task than I imagined.  The term gluten-free was foreign to supermarkets and specialty markets that actually had celiac-friendly products often kept them in sections that were small, isolated, over-priced, and of inferior quality.  Today, the gluten-free food market is alive with healthy variety, competition, and experience.  Stores both large and small are catering to an estimated three million US celiac sufferers with products that have broken out from cramped dusty shelves in misfit aisles to sharing spaces next to wheat-loaded counterparts in every aisle, on every shelf.

One enthusiast voicing gluten-free awareness is Silvana Nardone.  Silvana is the former editor in chief of Ever Day with Rachel Ray magazine, a food columnist, cooking instructor, and author of Cooking for Isaiah: Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Recipes for Easy Delicious Meals which she wrote after adjusting her entire family’s eating habits to accommodate the needs of her son Isaiah who lives with celiac.  You can also visit the author’s website, DishTowelDiaries.com, for recipes, tips, and stories with and without the wheat.

More recently, Silvana Nardone has been gearing up for a culinary event coming to Philadelphia, PA on Sunday, October 24th.  Foodies will want to mark their calendars to make sure they don’t miss the annual Appetite for Awareness 2010 festival sponsored by The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness.  Silvana will be among several special guests attending and will be signing copies of her book and inviting visitors to sample gluten-free treats featured in her book.  Additionally, dozens of local restaurants will participate in gluten-free food and beverage samplings and products will be showcased from over 85 gluten-free vendors from across the country.  For more information including pricing for this event, swing on over to the NFCA website at www.CeliacCentral.org.

Now for the part you’ll REALLY be into! FSB Associates will be accepting entries for our contest where we’ll be giving away free tickets to Appetite for Awareness 2010 and Silvana Nardone’s cookbook, Cooking For Isaiah! (tickets valued at $75 each)  To enter, simply leave a comment (preferably food related) with your email address and/or Twitter handle so we can contact you if your entry is drawn (fret not, we will never sell or give away any of your contact information to outside parties or vendors) by Friday, October 21st at 11:00 am EST.  Want to boost your chances?  Add one entry by becoming a fan of our FSB Facebook page and leaving a comment under our contest giveaway post.  Add another entry by following us on Twitter, @FSBAssociates, and retweeting this message:

Big @FSBAssociates giveaway! Free tickets to AppetiteForAwareness in Philly, PA! Details on blog. http://ht.ly/2T31J #GF #AFA #NFCA

You must first post a comment on this blog to qualify for additional entries.  Two grand prize winners and two runners-up will be drawn on Wednesday, October 24th.  Runners-up will receive a copy of Cooking For Isaiah.  Grand prize winners will receive a book and instructions the following day by email for obtaining registration to the event for each winner plus one guest.  You heard right, two winners plus one guest each will be given free access to Appetite for Awareness 2010, Philadelphia’s spectacular culinary event!  Good luck!

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Serotonin Power Diet

Monday, September 13th, 2010

Serotonin Power Diet

by Ken Ishii

We recently wrapped up a campaign with the wonderful authors of The Serotonin Power Diet, Judith J. Wurtman, PhD, and Nina T. Frusztajer, MD. The diet outlined in the book is backed by true scientific findings and offers a much greater health reward beyond just losing weight. It was an incredible journey and learning experience for all of us and we thank you for your kind words of support:

“The visibility of our weight loss book was enhanced significantly through the strategies of FSB. Everyone was extremely generous with their time and patience in teaching us how to use the web as a marketing tool and their enthusiasm and encouragement certainly helped us persist in our efforts. We would not have had the visibility we do today without them” – Judith J. Wurtman, PhD

Praise for a job well done never gets old.

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