One Woman's Quest to Conquer Skepticism, Cynicism, and Cigarettes on the Path to Enlightenment
May 30, 2011
This winning memoir first took shape as a one-woman show that Morrison still performs in her native Seattle, and it translates nicely to written form: the author's voice is thoughtful, honest, and hilarious. Morrison looks back on her younger self with a mix of empathy and exasperation, touching off her story with the intense fear of death that overtook her when she turned 25, just a month after September 11. Her new yoga teacher, the serene Indra, offers her an opportunity to improve her yoga and connect with her spirituality via a two-month retreat in Bali. There, Morrison embraces her yoga practice, improving poses but remaining skeptical of poseurs. Journal entries from that time alternately pulsate with enthusiasm for yoga, Morrison's yoga-mates, and the Earthâand ooze irritation at coffee cravings, self-righteousness, and others' insistence on drinking their own urine. Morrison finds some of what she sought, including the courage to end her sputtering romantic relationship.
May 15, 2011
A smoker from Seattle heads to Bali to train as a yoga teacher, providing an entertaining voice to her doubts and inner rebellion.
Morrison followed Indra, her beautiful blond yoga teacher, and her mind-reading husband Lou, to a remote Indonesian village for a two-month training program. While there, the author struggled with the austere lifestyle and faced unresolved spiritual issues from her Catholic youth. Upon discovering her beloved guru's flaws, Morrison became disillusioned with yogic teachings and began drinking milkshakes in an act of rebellion, leading to open resistance and rejection of the higher path, and returned to America disappointed to be the same woman. Ten years later, Morrison found herself in New York, still unforgiving of the yoga world. She humorously dismisses the urban yoga scene, calling the practice "yogaerobics," the teachers "celebriyogis" and the boutiques "sacred schwag." Optimistic despite her constant questioning, Morrison reflects on her time as "a real yogi in Bali," and finally is able to forgive her teachers their humanity and move toward acceptance. Though her love life provides the framework for her story and decisions, the author candidly describes her thoughts in detail, whether selfish, cynical or mushy, without professing a message or conquering her own dualistic world view, allowing the reader to participate in her processes along the way.
Brings the higher path down to Earth with refreshing honesty.
(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
July 1, 2011
Writer/performer Morrison offers a totally different take on the yoga experience, based on her one-woman show of the same title. She writes from the perspective of a former cigarette-smoking sluggard who embarked on a life-changing two-month intensive yoga program in Bali. In diary form, she candidly discusses her issues with meditation, exercise, and relationships. It's a convoluted course, with no real "aha!" moments; however, Morrison offers a distinctive view of the New Age experience.
Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
July 1, 2011
Morrison doesn't believe in God, but she wants to believe in something. So she follows her yoga teacher, Indra, to Bali for an intensive two-month retreat. Will she become one of those New Age wanderers, traveling from ashram to sweat lodge in search of spiritual epiphanies? Hardly. Practically from day one, when she balks at the idea of urine therapy, it's clear that her skepticism will remain firmly intact. If only pursuing the higher path would allow for milkshakes and cigarettes, she would find it much easier to follow. Throughout her memoir, written largely as journal entries, Morrison is unflinchingly honest, poking easy fun at herself, her companions, and her surroundings, sharing eye rolls with her readers. But this belies a more substantial journey. Morrison left Bali exhausted and disillusioned, yet the seeds for transformation were planted and eventually sprouted. The lessons from Bali ultimately led her stop pursuing the life she was supposed to want and start leading the one that nourishes her. The faith she so desperately sought turns out to be love.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)