when my father would go off on one of his research adventures to obscure places, he would always leave a note that said "off to the hills, back in spring" or something equally sweet. despite my plans to be at the writing retreat center by now, i've been trying to handle projects that were backlogged due to a full schedule last week. no problem, i'll be on the road shortly, settled into my writing room by 7:30ish, and ready to face my muse.
this week is just what the doctor ordered (especially since i have a march 15 deadline!) and it feels good to have my ducks in a row even if i'm getting a later start. sometimes you have to throw the best laid plans to the wind, do what feels right, and just keep going! life continues to throw curveballs and i'm finding that the less i fight the balls, the more i enjoy them. let go and open up to a world of fluidity. it feels good.
since i don't have internet access at the farmhouse i'll be writing in, i plan to get a dose on wednesday night when i head to town. look forward to reconnecting with the world then. in the interim, i'm heading to the hills and hoping my muse will join moi!
1 comment:
Hi Tranquility, I love your blog. I'm a yogi and frequent Yoga Journal writer. I thought you might be interested in doing a little blog on my upcoming surfing/yoga/zen memoir, Saltwater Buddha: a surfer's quest to find Zen on the sea. The book comes out this May from Wisdom Pubs and you can read some advanced praise, as well as see some of my other writings, at www.jaimalyogis.com or below. Let me know if you'd like a copy.
Thanks for your time!
Best wishes,
Jaimal Yogis
www.jaimalyogis.com
Advanced Praise
“It’s the perfect read for those who love the ocean as much as their yoga mats, or for anyone who wants to gain a deeper understanding of the spiritual practice that is surfing.”
Karen Macklin, Yoga Journal
"Jaimal Yogis has done, in this terrific first book, what every artist
and writer strives to do: he has made something beautiful and
universal from the particulars of his own life. He writes well about
surfing; he writes well about Buddhism; he writes well about what it feels like to be a person; but mostly, he just writes well. Yogis’s
sentence are clean, clear, and disciplined, and his story-telling
instincts are strong, so strong that this book will surely find the
audience it deserves–among surfers, among seekers, and among those
who enjoy being swept along on a curious ride.”
Daniel Duane, author of Caught Inside: a surfer’s year on the California Coast
“Jaimal Yogis starts off as an Everyteen with two deep hungers—to learn surfing and to calm his mind—and his simple, amused, deadly serious report on how he tries to satisfy those desires may ultimately launch an entirely new breed of memoir: the coming-of-sage story. Yogis’ prose is etched yet effortless, a conversation with a friend who pretends to be naïve, but has clearly drunk up so much life experience that you trust his authority as a truth-telling more than you know. He rocked me happily for chapters as he recounted his journey from Atlantic island to California suburb to a series of beach towns (including, memorably, Brooklyn). But each time I was lulled, I always was also on edge, wondering if bigger surf may be coming. Indeed, it was: several moving, sharp-edged episodes—sets, really—that will stay vivid in my mind for a long, long time.”
Bruce Kelley, editor-in-chief, San Francisco Magazine
“…lighthearted and natural and unafraid…a beautiful coming of age story.”
Abby Gruen, New York Times contributing writer
“Saltwater Buddha is a wryly told, compelling nonfiction saga of a young
man’s apprenticeship in breaking waves and the deep, still waters of
Buddhism. A pilgrim’s progress, this attractively self-deprecating narrative
makes no grandiose claims for either the teller’s surfing or for his soul.
Still, we perceive, finally, that surfing becomes him–as does writing.
Saltwater Buddha will be rich reading for both surfers and spiritual
seekers, who are, we learn here, sometimes one and the same.”
Thomas Farber, author of The Face of the Deep
“At sixteen, Jaimal Yogis ran way on a spiritual journey of a magnitude few of us even dream of, to learn to ride the waves of the world’s oceans, and the bigger surf within his own mind. As Jaimal gains hard-won spiritual lessons with a teenager’s eagerness and a surfer’s passion, we cannot help but see our own spiritual life with fresh, beginner’s eyes. His journey started in nothingness–at least in a material sense. But it ends in deep riches of spiritual insight, human warmth and humor. The pages kept turning. I couldn’t put this book down.”
Michael Ellsberg, author of The Power of Eye Contact (HarperCollins, forthcoming)
“The quality of Yogis writing is up there with, amongst others, Daniel Duane, Allan Weisbecker, Kem Nunn, Tim Winton etc. Surfers and searchers alike will love it. Out in May 2009….reserve a copy!”
Matt Strathern, extremehorizon.blogspot.com
“A personal Odyssey in which the writer has followed his dreams and listened to the quiet whispers of his soul as if they were carried on a gentle offshore wind. It’s an inspiring and thought-provoking book which may well have you returning to it again and again.”
Tim Kevan, author of Why Lawyers Should Surf
“…heartfelt, honest and self-deprecating, enabling the reader to empathise with Yogis at every stage of his journey, whether he’s fleeing home to learn to surf in Hawaii, immersed in Buddhist ritual in a French monastery, grappling with surf Nazis in Santa Cruz or suffering for his art while aboard a commercial fishing boat…great stuff with the words ‘cult classic’ stamped all over it.”
Alex Wade, author of Surf Nation
“I’m just not in to spirituality, or so I thought. Turns out I read it in two sittings. As will you.”
Dailystoke.com
“In a time when the world seems to be ready to self destruct a little, this book brings with it a message of fun, wisdom, inner exploration and a way to find and lose yourself in the most prevalent element on the planet, water…will make a timeless addition to anyone’s collection whether you are a surfer or not.”
South West Surf Review
“Anyone who has a love of the ocean, the beach and the waves and is overwhelmingly drawn to them will truly enjoy this book!”
Rob Nixon, blogger and founding Member of the South Texas Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation
“I am not a surfer; still Jaimal openly welcomes me into his world of passion for surfing, both the actual wet, cold, hard-rock bottom of the sport and the mistiness of the analogy for life.”
Ross Anthony, Hollywood Report Card
“I have always had an interest in things Zen since reading Zen and the Art of motorcycle maintenance as a young man. Now thirty years on Jaimal Yogis has written his version, all be it from a more youthful point of view, founded in the surf of Hawaii, California and New York.”
Tony Foster, surfr.blogspot.com
“Great book to put on the book shelf between ‘i am that’ and ‘The mindless ferocity of sharks”
kiwihobo.blogspot.com
“…captures the spirit of zen in a savory broth of water metaphors.”
Jack Ricchiuto, Jackzen.com
“The author has a mind born with spiritual habits and a brain able to write prose pictorially vivid and spiritually telling. I found it a pleasure to go along on this man’s adventure.”
pithingcontest.blogspot.com
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