The Spiritual Activist: Practices to Transform Your Life, Your Work, and Your World (Penguin Compass, 2002) is a practical guide to individual and social transformation through spirit and faith. Written by stone circles’ Executive Director Claudia Horwitz, the book includes activities to help reconnect with core values and beliefs, questions for reflection, resources, and stories from socially conscious leaders discussing their lives and their spiritual practices.

Excerpt from Part One: REFUGE: Turning Inward, Finding Strength

Animals threatened with extinction and in need of protection often find themselves in a refuge, a place of safety and nourishment. To lead a sane and beautiful life, we, too, need a space of quiet and deep rest where we can turn inward and find strength. In this place, we find compassion, tranquility, love, strength, and a sense of ease. The seed of our renewal lies in our ability to develop practices of mindfulness, a language of spirit and a reconnection with the body. If we don’t find refuge within ourselves, we will always be asking others to be what they are not meant to be.