Books and Endorsements

  “Two thoughts recurred as I read Julie Hliboki’s new book, Breathing Light. First, science has promised and delivered extraordinary improvements in health in the past century. It has taught far less on how to deal with death. Hliboki shares her experiences in easing the transition. Second, I once asked Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of St. Christopher’s Hospice in 1967, the beginning of a worldwide movement, “What is the most important thing I should tell my family?” Her reply was, “Tell them they do not need to be with you when you die, but you do want closure with them in advance.” Hliboki provides lessons on reaching closure.” 

—Bill Foege, Professor Emeritus, Emory University

  “Cultivating Compassion in an Interfaith World captures the essence of compassion from different spiritual traditions showing us how common love is amongst all peoples. In spite of this, many people find it hard to practice compassion in their daily lives to others and to themselves. Hliboki’s book presents practical contemplative spiritual exercises that can be easily taught to clinicians and others needing to integrate compassion into our own lives and helping them recognize the sacred in all we do. I strongly recommend this book to anyone searching for the sacred within and especially to those in the healing professions.”

—Christina M. Puchalski, MD, Director, George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health

  “A wonderful comparison of the shared roots across religious traditions that lifts out the centrality of compassion. In concrete and inviting ways, Cultivating Compassion in an Interfaith World illustrates respect for each tradition while engaging the reader with creative suggestions to develop the practice of compassion within and across our traditions—a brilliant contribution to all of us concerned with finding ways to deepen our wells of kindness and build bridges across our many divides.”

—John Paul Lederach, PhD, Professor of International Peacebuilding, Kroc Institute, University of Notre Dame, author of The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace

  “Care responders to those who are suffering or saying goodbye are often undernourished. Dr. Hliboki has produced a companion for that journey. The gathered wisdom and guiding thoughts help us to center on the beauty of relaxing our breath and capturing sacred moments. As mindfulness and other meditative practices account for routine health interventions alongside allopathic responses, Hliboki reminds us of the spiritual source of their power. This beautiful book will serve as an internal reference that soothes the soul so that another soul can be revered.” 

—George Henry Grant, MDiv, PhD, Executive Director, Spiritual Health at Emory Healthcare 

 “A stunning feast of the spirit, this book describes a pathway to God. Through stories of her personal journey, the author shows us how we can breathe God too. By drawing upon faith traditions, she shares wisdom of the ancients. We have been invited on the journey, accompanied every step of the way.” 

—Frances Henry, founder of Global Violence Prevention 

“As a teacher of contemplative practice, I am constantly reminded that most practices focus on only one dimension of experience—for example, the use of images rather than words. But Julie Hliboki moves past this narrowness, inviting us into a multi-dimensional contemplative experience. She draws on the wisdom of the Abrahamic spiritual paths to weave together processes of vocal, musical, and visual expression, as well as insights from the sacred words, texts, and sages. By allowing us to activate this full range of contemplative capacities, The Breath of God offers us a rare and much-needed experience: a profoundly integrated contemplative practice for the cultivation of a profoundly integrated life.” 

—Andrew Dreitcer, PhD, Associate Professor of Spirituality and Director of the Center for Engaged Compassion, Claremont School of Theology