Gail Straub, executive director of the Empowerment Institute and a leading authority on women’s empowerment, will give a free talk and sign copies of her new book, The Ashokan Way, May 5, from 4 to 5 p.m., at Merritt Bookstore in Millbrook. She will also teach an empowerment workshop May 25 to 28 at Omega Institute in Rhinebeck.

The Ashokan Way is a collection of short essays takes readers on a year’s worth of walks that explore and celebrate Straub’s beloved upstate New York terrain and its profound effect on her “inner landscape.” Almost daily for the past 35 years, she has walked the paths along the Ashokan Reservoir and the 18 bluestone peaks that form the Catskill Mountain Watershed. She says she’s grown to rely on them as portals to self-understanding and spiritual restoration.

Straub cofounded the Empowerment Institute as well as IMAGINE: A Global Initiative for the Empowerment of Women, which helps women heal from violence, build strong lives and contribute to their community. “The purpose of my Empowerment Workshop is to support you in creating your life as you most want it,” she says. “Over the past three decades, David Gershon and I have assisted tens of thousands of people in living their heart’s desire.”

For more info about the talk about book signing, visit MerrittBooks.com. For more info about Gail Straub or the Omega workshop, visit EmpowermentInstitute.net.