Stay in the know with our newslettersStephen Kiesling
Stephen Kiesling is editor in chief of S+H. He was a Scholar of the House in philosophy at Yale and rowed on the 1980 Olympic Rowing Team. He has written for the New Yorker and Sports illustrated and is the author of books including The Shell Game and Walking the Plank. He lives at Ti’lomikh Falls in Oregon, where he discovered The Story Chair and helped restart the ancient Takelma Salmon Ceremony, which is a likely source of the “Right to Life” in The Declaration of Independence.
From the Editor: On Wild Awakenings
Steve Kiesling chats about Druidic enlightenment, time in nature, and what's fea…
Faith Tech
Stephen Kiesling has a virtual dialogue with venture capitalists bent on buying …
From the Editor: On Wise Elders and Workshops
Our editor-in-chief shares thoughts on the wisdom of aging, and explores what's …
The Source of The Declaration of Independence
Freedom is what makes America America. As we approach our nation’s 250th birthda…
From the Editor: 25 Years of Spirituality+Health
Our returning editor-in-chief shares what it was like at the very beginning of S…
Lessons From Extreme Rituals: An Interview With Dimitris Xygalatas, PhD
Why do so many ordinary people regularly participate in painful religious rites?…
Fierce and Tender Self-Compassion
Kristin Neff, PhD, created the scale that psychologists worldwide use to measure…
Celebrate Whatever Life Brings: The Art of Seeing Each Day as a Poem
An Interview with Jaqueline Suskin
What Is the Human Potential Movement?
The Human Potential Movement peaked in the 1960s and 1970s. Read about it from s…
Leap into Your Great Mystery Story
“I love mystery stories and so, decades ago, I wrote one. My agent told me that …
Escape the Trance of Busyness: A Conversation With Tara Brach, PhD
S&H's Stephen Kiesling sat down with Tara Brach, founder and senior teacher …
In Memory of Grandma Agnes Baker Pilgrim
“Grandma spoke of the Creator and traveled the world blessing water, but she did…
The Break-In Before Christmas
Yesterday, I went out to a distant corner of the property to put some lumber ins…
How Spiritual Stories Take Flight
The world champion levitator had a good reason: To get to the front of the class…
Autobiography of a Yogını: An Interview with Seane Corn
Seane Corn describes her evolution and the revolution she's taking part in durin…
“Drunk, Stoned, or Laid”
Memories of Manhattan spur S&H Editor at Large Stephen Kiesling to reflect o…
Looking Back at Easter
"The rabbi wasn’t lying. I sensed that immediately. He believed what he was sayi…
Chasing That Most Important Point
Stephen Kiesling and Zen priest Edward Espe Brown converse about Zen, Tassajara,…
From the Editor
"We’re celebrating 20 years of S&H, and I find myself sorting through old st…
How to Swim in Our Sea of Fake News
What matters is keeping your own story strong, lighthearted, and up to date
From the Editor - March/April 2019
One of the big questions we’ve wrestled with since the launch of this magazine 2…
From the Editor - January/February 2019
Just after our 20th Anniversary issue came off the press, I traveled by plane, t…
From the Editor: November/December
It’s the best possible time to be alive, when almost everything you thought you …
From the Editor: September/October
The Toe of Awakening In the rush of this issue I took a break and waded into th…
From the Editor: July/August 2018
In this issue we’ve got a letter from Jacki Mallett, an original subscriber (Tha…
Is Your Yoga Class a Stanley Milgram Experiment?
Perhaps the hardest pose—and greatest enlightenment—is to sit comfortably.…
From the Editor: November/December 2017
I’ve been wrestling lately with some extra pounds that have me worried—and…
Entrepreneurs of Civilization
We have no wisdom traditions nearly as old as we are, and maybe that’s because w…
Book Review: How Cycling Can Save the World
Cycling could save the world, and very quickly. If we all switched to bikes for …
Maybe the “First Agreement” Is “Don’t Bite Anybody”
Then Comes “Share the Wealth,” “Reduce Your Footprint,” and “Don’t Poison the Bugs Inside You.”
Your Assignment: Complete the Story
Complete the Story of The Sword in the Storytelling Stone and Win $1000
Are You Closer to Muhammad Than to Jesus?
Last summer, the University of Birmingham announced a startling discovery: two m…
The Commons: Create First Nations Day
Grandma Agnes Baker Pilgrim, 91, was about to fly to Amsterdam and then on to Af…
The Fashions of Our Addictions
Did shamans pack tobacco leaves into leather pouches only for symbolic reasons?
Bringing Grandma Home
Grandma Aggie wants to sit in her family chair. Who could say no to that? But Gr…
How the Body Creates Our Moods
Classic research grounds our moods in the body, not in the head, and points toward simple steps to happiness.
Prioritize Your Priorities!
Living an authentic, conscious life now requires us to manage ourselves like modern multinationals. Here’s how!
How to Achieve Whole Body Happiness
One thing I have learned in my weekly men's group is how fragile we are. Lawyer,…
Injustice in a Group Boosts Willingness to Volunteer
Research from New York University suggests a counter intuitive notion: A sense o…
How Much of Aging Is in Your Head?
In 1979 a young Harvard psychology professor named Ellen Langer (soon to be play…
Lessons from Peak Experiences
About 10 years ago I paddled my white-water kayak onto a wave at “Steamer Lane” …
How Meditation Might Help Break the Cycle of Poverty
In our July issue we reported on studies by Martha Farah, director for Cognitive…
Latest Message from Water: Is Dr. Emoto a Spiritual Madoff?
Ten years ago this magazine received an advance copy of Dr. Masaru Emoto’s book …
A Perfect Day for Couples In Santa Fe
Whether it’s Adam and Eve, Adam and Adam, or Eve and Eve, neuroscience suggests …
Survival Consciousness
Infinite bliss and enlightenment may be just a breath away. But what does that r…
Is Yoga Safe?
Two years ago, at breakfast with the dean of yoga at Kripalu Center for Yoga and…
Virtue Fatigue: The Anatomy of Temptation
Consider the classic recipe for seduction: chocolates, dinner, wine, dessert, da…
Practicing the Art of Trying with a 28-Year Comeback at the Olympic Trials
The time is 6:39 p.m. at the Olympic Rowing Center at Lake Mercer, New Jersey. T…
Beyond the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
About fifteen years ago, Robert E. Thayer, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at C…
Wired for Compassion
In the mid-seventies, psychologist Daniel Goleman, Ph.D., left teaching at Harva…
The Ceremony at the Heart of "Salmon Nation"
About 18 months ago, an extraordinary woman came to my home on the Rogue River i…
Be the Change
“You must be the change you want to see in the world,” said “Mahatma” Gandhi, wh…
This Thanksgiving, Call in the Directions
Over the past 25 years, the Mankind Project and New Warrior Training Adventure h…
America's Most Spiritual Spa 2010: Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary
Even a first award requires a history. And any history of spiritual spas leads i…
Do Eyeshades Protect Against Obesity and Cancer?
In Newsweek last December, science writer Sharon Begley pulled together research…
The New Power Plant in the Backyard?
One day recently my friend Oliver Fix and his colleague Rudy Behrens arrived at …
Teaching a Boy to Meditate Underwater
Relax, and bring your attention to your breath. If you are like many, this is a …
Why We Surprise Ourselves Doing Grand or Stupid Things
Over the last decade a number of studies and books have likened willpower to a s…
Most Spiritual Spa 2011: Haramara Retreat Center
Religious faith can turn any place or building or gathering into a potential sou…
Keeping Up With the Primates?
How many times do our closest genetic relatives, the peace-loving primates known…
The Generative Game of Life
Generative people tend to be those who have worked through their identity crises…
The Company You Keep: Does it Need Transformation?
Shaping corporations to enhance rather than crush the spirit of employees turns …
