Standing at the Edge

Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet

By: Joan Halifax

Narrated by: Joan Halifax

"In Standing at the Edge, Joan Halifax weaves together scientific research and her own powerful personal experiences as a social activist and humanitarian to show how we can transform our biggest challenges with compassion and wisdom. Standing at the Edge is essential reading for our time." (Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global)

Standing at the Edge is an evocative examination of how we can respond to suffering, live our fullest lives, and remain open to the full spectrum of our human experience.

Joan Halifax has enriched thousands of lives around the world through her work as a humanitarian, a social activist, and an anthropologist and as a Buddhist teacher. Over many decades, she has also collaborated with neuroscientists, clinicians, and psychologists to understand how contemplative practice can be a vehicle for social transformation. Through her unusual background, she developed an understanding of how our greatest challenges can become the most valuable source of our wisdom - and how we can transform our experience of suffering into the power of compassion for the benefit of others.

In this audiobook, Halifax identifies five psychological territories she calls Edge States - altruism, empathy, integrity, respect, and engagement - that epitomize strength of character. Yet each of these states can also be the cause of personal and social suffering. In this way, these five psychological experiences form edges, and it is only when we stand at these edges that we become open to the full range of our human experience and discover who we really are.

Recounting the experiences of caregivers, activists, humanitarians, politicians, parents, and teachers, incorporating the wisdom of Zen traditions and mindfulness practices, and rooted in Halifax’s groundbreaking research on compassion, Standing at the Edge is destined to become a contemporary classic.

A powerful guide on how to find the freedom we seek for others and ourselves, this is an audiobook that will serve us all.

©2018, 2018 Joan Halifax, foreword copyright by Rebecca Solnit (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“Halifax offers an invitation to hold these states not only in our minds, but in our hearts.” (Psychology Today)

"...narrator Joan Halifax's meditative voice takes us by the ear and reorients us toward serenity... Her slow and steady pace allows listeners to keep up with the considerable wisdom she is passing along. This title will likely leave listeners feeling serene." (AudioFile)

Absolutely healing!

This book goes through so many stories and examples showing us things that we do not normally see in each other or in life.

Compassion

Stunning, gentle, and revelatory. For those seeking to serve with open minds and open hearts.

Profoundly moving book

I found Roshi Joan Halifax’s exploration of the edge states profoundly meaningful and useful. She doesn’t just explore what it means to be empathic and compassionate, she gives practical instruction on how to act with compassion to serve others. The stories she tells are moving and eye opening and her reading of her book is exceptional. I feel such gratitude for this book and for her wise teachings.

This book is a refuge!

I want to offer my heartfelt gratitude for Joan and the tribe of folk who helped her write this book! I found it after beginning a new public service job. Within a few short weeks, I was suffering with deep empathic distress and a sense of groundlessness as my old cosmology and unconscious attachment to consensus reality crumbled.

This book is a gift and a guiding text of how to navigate edge states while accessing more compassion for self and others.

Written by a beautiful human who has stood at the edge and looked into the abyss of suffering, Joan gently articulates but doesn't shy away from the experiences of what it's like to witness extreme suffering. She compassionately describes her growth edges along with moments of success, creating a bridge for all of us to deepen our own awareness and relationship with compassion- no matter where we may be in our practice.

Thank you, Joan and for all that blessed you with help and guidance to release this much needed text

listen again and again

joan halifax describes so eloquently the keys to finding groundedness and joy. her examples are personal stories guaranteed to invoke feelings. her path, on high moral ground as a zen buddhist priest, is inspiring and yet relatable. this book i will play again and again. ॐ

Deep bows of gratitude

I will keep this book close as I navigate these edge states in my profession as a psychologist and as a Buddhist practitioner. I have been over the edge feeling the burnout of care for others in ways that were not helpful for me or those I serve. This book reminds me of the essentials of self-care, so important in order to sustain the intention to bring healing to the world where possible. Thank you very much for the wisdom you share.

Pure

Love. Grounding. I will revisit again and again as I seek and walk through the edge.

Excellent book!

The autor help me to understand all the states when we are experiencing suffering. Especially, when we are standing at the edge! Practicing Compassion leads us through! Many Thanks!🙏

Handbook for the 21st Century

In this rich book, you'll find inspiration and maps for the varied challenges we face in our personal and social and ecological lives. Halifax shares warm-hearted stories of her own experiences along with those of others who've moved her in her work to relieve suffering. She also brings alive her disciplined studies via science and Zen practice in her search for what can help.

A treasure

Nearing the end of a long and adventurous life, Joan Halifax shares concepts for both coping with life, and personal growth. These concepts are clearly based on personal experience and observation, therefore, all the more valuable. I felt sometimes as if was having an informal session with a wise and sensitive therapist. I’ve returned to it several times since I bought it to solidify her concepts. Her speaking voice is gorgeous and soothing. I always have a little problem with the audio quality of Audible downloads (hey Audible!) - I’d gladly take the time for a slow download and a larger file size if the audio would have more detail and sound less digitized.