Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears

What does it mean to get unhooked from the destructive habits and painful emotions that keep us stuck—to free ourselves from anger, blame, self-hatred, and addiction using the Buddhist teaching of shenpa? Pema Chödrön's Taking the Leap is a powerful guide to breaking free from the patterns that cause suffering, offering heart-to-heart teachings on how certain habits of mind "hook" us and, most importantly, how we can liberate ourselves from them. This is not about suppressing emotions but understanding the mechanism of attachment and compulsion, by "one of the world's wisest women" (O, the Oprah Magazine) who shows us how to awaken our natural intelligence, warmth, and openness.

Chödrön explains that everyone, everywhere, possesses three basic human qualities—natural intelligence, natural warmth, and natural openness—and can call on them to help themselves and others. Drawing on time-honored Buddhist teachings on shenpa (the attachments and compulsions that cause suffering), she shares insights and practical exercises from her lifetime of practice that we can immediately put to use to recognize when we're getting hooked, interrupt the pattern, and take a bold leap toward a new way of living that brings positive transformation for ourselves and our troubled world.

For readers seeking contemplative wisdom and practical tools for breaking destructive patterns, Taking the Leap serves as both spiritual teaching and actionable guide to personal liberation. This is a book for anyone trapped in recurring habits and painful emotions, for those working with anger, blame, or self-hatred, for meditation practitioners exploring shenpa and attachment, for readers seeking to awaken their natural qualities of intelligence, warmth, and openness. It's a reminder that we're not stuck forever, that liberation is possible in this very moment, and that our capacity for courage and compassion is already present, waiting to be uncovered.

Explore more Pema Chödrön teachings: Begin with When Things Fall Apart for heart advice during difficult times, The Places That Scare You for cultivating fearlessness, Comfortable with Uncertainty for 108 essential teachings, or Welcoming the Unwelcome for wholehearted living in polarized times.

What You'll Discover

• Buddhist teachings on shenpa—the attachments and compulsions that cause suffering
• How to recognize when you're getting "hooked" by destructive patterns
• Practical exercises for awakening natural intelligence, warmth, and openness
• Methods for interrupting habits of anger, blame, self-hatred, and addiction
• Guidance for taking a bold leap toward personal and collective transformation

Pema Chödrön is an American Buddhist nun in the Tibetan tradition and one of the foremost teachers of Buddhism in the West. Ordained by the Sixteenth Karmapa in 1981, she studied with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and now serves as resident teacher at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia. An internationally beloved author, Chödrön has written numerous books including the bestselling When Things Fall Apart, The Places That Scare You, and Welcoming the Unwelcome.

Perfect for: Anyone trapped in recurring habits and painful emotions, readers working with anger, blame, or self-hatred, those struggling with addiction or compulsive patterns, meditation practitioners exploring shenpa and attachment, students of Buddhist psychology, readers seeking to awaken natural intelligence and warmth, practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism, fans of Pema Chödrön's previous works, anyone feeling stuck and ready for transformation, those seeking practical exercises for breaking free, readers who loved When Things Fall Apart, anyone ready to get unhooked and take the leap toward liberation.

Quality paperback edition | ISBN 9781611806830. Pema Chödrön's essential guide to freeing yourself from destructive habits—offering teachings on shenpa, practical exercises, and heart-to-heart wisdom to help you awaken natural intelligence, warmth, and openness and take a bold leap toward liberation.