If had not stopped to watch A feather flying by, I would not have seen its landing. A tiny, pure white, fine feather. Gently, I blew a soft breath to…
Sister Dang Nghiem
Healing is always possible, especially when we have a spiritual practice to take care of our body and mind. In fact, to be aware that you have a body and to learn to listen to it is already healing. The healer, the healed, and the healing process are in each other, they are each other— they interare.
Sister Dang Nghiem, MD (“Sister D”) was born in 1968 in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive, the daughter of a Vietnamese mother and an American soldier. After losing her mother at the age of twelve, she moved to the United States with her brother at the age of seventeen, where she learned English and went on to earn a medical degree from the University of California-San Francisco. After suffering further tragedy and the loss of her partner, she quit her practice as a doctor to travel to Plum Village monastery in France, founded by peace activist and Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, where she ordained as a nun in 2000. Her writing draws on her unique experiences as a physician, a nun, and an individual navigating diverse worlds. Sister D is the author of four books: a memoir, Healing: A Woman’s Journey from Doctor to Nun (2010), Mindfulness as Medicine: A Story of Healing and Spirit (2015), Flowers in the Dark: Reclaiming Your Power to Heal from Trauma with Mindfulness (2021), and the poetry collection The River in Me: Verses of Transformation (2024).
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Flowers in the Dark
Reclaiming Your Power to Heal Trauma through Mindfulness
View this bookLearn the accessible and deeply compassionate practices for healing trauma, known as the Five Strengths of applied Zen Buddhism. More than a philosophy, these body-based practices are backed by modern...
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Mindfulness as Medicine
A Story of Healing Body and Spirit
View this bookBefore she became a Buddhist nun in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, Sister Dang Nghiem was a doctor. She’d traveled far in her 43 years. Born during the Tet...
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Healing
A Woman's Journey from Doctor to Nun
View this bookHealing is an extraordinary story that takes the reader from the rice fields of Vietnam to the peaceful surrounding of Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastery in Plum Village where Sister Dang...
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The River in Me
Verses of Transformation
View this bookEmbark on a journey of refuge and wisdom with Sister Dang Nghiem, a disciple of Thich Nhat Hanh, through her poignant poetry collection. Delve deep into overcoming life’s adversities with Zen-inspired insight.
Articles in The Mindfulness Bell
A Collection of Gathas
By Sister Dang Nghiem
Gathas are verses used to focus attention on the present moment during various tasks in daily life. —Ed. Gatha before Going to SleepI vow to bring awareness into my sleep tonight to…
