Bare Bones Meditation: Waking Up from the Story of My Life

I have read this book several times and it still moves me profoundly. Joan describes wonderfully the search for a more meaningful life. The book is in part an engaging story, in part a portrait of a period and, more importantly, an insightful meditation that I highly recommend to anyone with an interest in the search of the real self.

I've read the book three times. Each time feeling as if I have gone a little deeper into my own life. Joan peels back the layers until there is just This and just Now. I highly recommend it.

As the most visible practices of religion in this country now seem to come from cranks and their crankiness, Joan Tollifson offers a wild ride from crankiness into contemplation. What a relief! She is a disabled lesbian who internalizes her marginalization into something far more painful and crippling than meets the eye. (I very briefly washed dishes next to her, without knowing she was a lesbian and very impressed with her dexterity, which over-matched my two-armed pot scrubbing.) In this book she moves in and out of this despair with the practices of clearness, simplicity, humaneness and directness than Toni Packer has so stunningly written about. It is moving and fascinating to share so intimately in this very human chronicle.

Joan Tollifson writes with such directness she causes us to see. Taking us through the muddy waters of her early life--born without a hand, rejected and rebellious, she takes us through her coming out as a lesbian, her fierce love affairs and battles with alcohol and drugs, with being a victim. And yet the book is not about any of this. It could be any life struggle; the essence is seeing it clearly. And through the aid of several meditation leaders she finds her own ability to see and know. Her writing is a cup of tea thrown against our face. When we recover our breath it is easy and full, relaxed with her. Our vision penetrates to the bottom of the pool. At a time when "meditation" books are overflowing the market, this is one you'll want to take into your life. -Larry Smit