Drew Leder is Professor of Western and Eastern Philosophy at Loyola University in Maryland and is profiled in S&P's Living Spiritual Teacher Project. In this substantive paperback, he dons his philosophical hat and takes a hard look at the body, illness, pain, treatment, and healing.

"Distressed bodies can be de-stressed," Leder observes in his introduction to this collection of essays on medical centers, prisons, and factory farms. We need to change the way we think about these places. It is no longer individuals but communal groups of people working hand in hand who are best suited to bring about needed changes.

Whether Leder is writing about pain as a paradoxical phenomenon; touch as a healing modality that works best when the recipient of this bodywork is patient, hopeful, and relaxed; ways to take pills based on ancient wisdom; the relevance of bioethics to organ transplants; the art of relieving the stress of animals in factory farms; or the life-world of human beings in prisons; the author compels us to re-think our responses to these challenging issues.

As an antidote to the separations encouraged by dualistic thinking, Leder affirms "embodied practices that are relational and liberating." With his distinctive brand of creativity, the author shares his understanding of animal shape-shifting, the meaning of movement in movies, and his belief that we enact the sacred by honoring our bodies.