Banyen Blog

Frédérick Leboyer
November 1, 1918 – May 25, 2017

Frédérick Leboyer, a French physician whose natural birth methods were adopted in delivery rooms around the world, died on May 25 at his home in Vens, Switzerland.

In his seminal work, Birth Without Violence, Mr. Leboyer argued that the modern delivery room bowed to the needs of doctors, women and procedures while often overlooking those of a primary player in the birth: the baby.

Mr. Leboyer argued that babies feel pain, anxiety and suffering, and that the manner in which they come into the world shapes the adults they will become.  Thus in the Leboyer method, the delivery room is kept quiet and dimly lit, to spare the baby from sensory overload. The newborn is not held upside down and spanked, and is not whisked away to be examined directly after birth.

Robert M. Pirsig
September 6, 1928 – April 14, 2017

Robert M. Pirsig was an American writer and philosopher who inspired generations to road trip across America with his “novelistic autobigraphy,” Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

He wrote just two books: Zen (subtitled An Inquiry Into Values) and Lila: An Inquiry into Morals. Zen was published in 1974 after being rejected by 121 publishing houses. “The book is brilliant beyond belief,” wrote Morrow editor James Landis before publication. “It is probably a work of genius and will, I’ll wager, attain classic status.”

Richard Wagamese
October 14, 1955 - March 10, 2017

Richard Wagamese was a celebrated Canadian novelist and former journalist who was Ojibwe of the Wabaseemoong First Nation in northwestern Ontario.

His 2012 novel Indian Horse won the Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit, and in 2015 he was the recipient of the Matt Cohen Award from the Writers’ Trust of Canada for his lifetime of work.

Wagamese also wrote for the TV show North of 60. Prior to becoming a novelist he was a journalist with the Calgary Herald, with his articles often appearing in the Vancouver Sun and other Southam publications of that era.

Planetary Initiation, Donald Trump, Psychedelic Shamanism, Ecological Crisis, and the Return of Quetzalcoatl

In this Banyen interview author & consciousness explorer Daniel Pinchbeck discusses how we may be in the midst of a radical planetary initiation. The author spoke with us via Skype from New York.

Many traditions today call our attention to the roots of Christmas that are far older than the story of Jesus, traditions of renewal, and the return of light into a darkened world: the lighting of candles, evergreens, feasting and generosity -- are echoes of a past that extends many thousands of years further than we ever before imagined.

The Mesopotamians were first, it claims, with a 12-day festival of renewal, designed to help the god Marduk tame the monsters of chaos for one more year.