A transformative 100-day exploration through the seemingly desolate lands of Mexico's "place of the dead" etches a path of collapse and renewal, documented in poignant, imaginative prose and remarkable macro lens photography. A visually arresting and contemplative giftable object that pairs luminous, full color macro photography from the stark, mythical deserts of Oaxaca, Mexico with short, reflective prose rooted in mindfulness After the loss of his career and identity as a New York City journalist, Jo Confino finds himself in pandemic exile in Mitla, Mexico—the “place of the dead”—where the silence of the landscape becomes the canvas for a radical unlearning. The book that emerged, compact and aesthetic, is a tactile, treasured companion for personal reflection or ritual space. Inspired by the Engaged Zen teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and the tradition of mindfulness, these reverent pages invite the reader to slow down, look deeply, and encounter impermanence, interconnection, and endless mystery. The spritiual arc—from disintegration to insight and renewal—the author discovers offers a map through global disruption and toward rootedness in unfamiliar places. Tracing 100 days of unexpected lockdown, Between Earth and Sky folds together memoir, photographic meditation, and spiritual inquiry to create a fresh, poetic take on ecological awareness and spiritual resilience in a time of crisis that speaks to anyone who’s ever been brought to their knees by change and found something sacred in the dust. "The writing and photography that emerged from Jo Confino’s one hundred days of quiet reflection carry a lived-in clarity—the sensitivity of someone who has sat with both collapse and renewal and was able to touch what his teacher, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, calls the 'ultimate dimension.' These pages open a subtle threshold into a deeper way of seeing. To read these pages and linger with these images is to be drawn into a meditation." —Chris Levine, artist and photographer of the Lightness of Being portrait of Queen Elizabeth II “A stunning compilation of images and words that collaborate in entraining the reader not only into the high-resolution universes and challenges that Jo’s camera and commentary so magnificently capture and celebrate, but even more importantly, into our own musings on the precarity and preciousness of life and its endless wonders and challenges. It reminds us in every momen—wherever we find ourselves, no matter how difficult the circumstances—not to miss what is before us and all around us. This book is a moving and deeply illuminating oeuvre; a masterpiece in a singular genre of its own." —Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, founder of Mindfulness- Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and author of Wherever You Go, There You Are “The writing and photography that emerged from Jo Confino’s one hundred days of quiet reflection carry a lived-in clarity—the sensitivity of someone who has sat with both collapse and renewal and was able to touch what his teacher, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, calls the ‘ultimate dimension.’ These pages open a subtle threshold into a deeper way of seeing. To read these pages and linger with these images is to be drawn into a meditation.” —Chris Levine, artist and photographer of the Lightness of Being portrait of Queen Elizabeth II “Through the skillful and mindful lens of his camera, Jo Confino reveals astonishing miniature worlds in Mexico's desert-like Oaxacan valley, which is teeming with universal dramas of life and death. His exquisite photography is wrapped in irresistible storytelling of his search for a deeper path through globally disrupted times. In so doing, Confino invites every one of us to recognize the extraordinary fractal emotional landscapes that are hidden in our own everyday experience. The result is heart-stoppingly beautiful.” —Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics “A genre-defying travelogue that seamlessly blends Zen wisdom with awe-inspiring photography to capture a candid process of deepening self-awareness and enlightenment at a time when the world went dark. Jo Confino’s latest book beautifully embodies the Buddhist precept that when something big gets in the way (such as a global pandemic), there is no way around it—it is itself the way.” —Britt Wray, PhD, author of Generation Dread and director of CIRCLE, a research and action initiative focused on Community-minded Interventions for Resilience, Climate Leadership, and emotional well- being in the Stanford University School of Medicine “In this exquisite, extraordinary book, Jo Confino combines hauntingly beautiful images of the very small and his own deeply felt experience of the desert to give us insights onto the largest questions of life. A tour de force .” —Rebecca M. Henderson, author of Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire Jo Confino is a leadership coach, spiritual mentor, facilitator, journalist, author, and sustainability expert. He works at the intersection of