Written by a new author, this is nonetheless a work of deep wisdom marked by vast experience. Celidwen is a native of the Nahua and Maya lineages, from Chiapas, Mexico. She teaches at California-Berkeley and elsewhere. She has worked at the United Nations on behalf of the rights of Indigenous communities. She co-chairs the Indigenous Religious Traditions Unit of the American Academy of Religion and is part of the steering committee of the Contemplative Studies Unit there as well; the combination of these two fields is key to what is presented in this book.
It is informed by scholarship — the author is a PhD — but the book’s design and purpose is practical. As Celidwen explains, “[This] is intended to be a book held within the heart, body, mind, and Spirit. By this I mean that it is not a book of ideas. It is a book of stories, emotions, perceptions, sensations, and all sorts of invitations to sense, dream, dance, sing, imagine together.”
Each chapter concludes with a practice for integrating what’s been discussed and offered. These practices often have multiple parts, extending for four or five pages. They include guided meditations, reflective questions, journaling prompts, visualization exercises, and guides to online links where it is possible to listen to audio presentations of the practices.
Chapters fall under three sections on the topics of “Contemplating,” “Reverencing,” and “Collecting Well-Being.” That final one is key, and relates back to the book’s title. As the author explains, “Kin Relationality is our ability to perceive all living beings as Relatives — a perspective shared by Indigenous Peoples worldwide.” These chapters teach the reader to value, and pursue with practice, an openhearted and generous embrace of our shared home of Mother Earth.
Celidwen’s experience with Indigenous wisdom and contemplative practices come together here, as she explains: “I hope to broaden and strengthen our understanding of how contemplation can elicit planetary flourishing and health and how the sciences of contemplation, flourishing, and happiness can enable a world of collective participation and empowerment.”
