You’re Invited: Virtual Book Launch Mini-Tour!

 

The author in Lumbini, Nepal - birthplace of Gautama the Buddha

Hello Beloved!

I’m writing to invite you to a very special event - two book launch parties on May 25th and May 26th via Zoom. Think of it as a large baby shower for a very special inanimate object. In this case, it’s my new book, Truth Seeker! I want to celebrate with you and honor this very important work.

Truth Seeker, my second spiritual memoir, is a legacy project. It was vital that I finished the book and published it, to bring it to the planet. If I had a Bucket List, getting this book out there and into the world would have been on that list.

I’m inviting you to join me in an hour of FUN and CELEBRATION. 

Evening Launch Party – 7pm PT Tuesday, May 25th - uncork the bubbly!

Reply to this email to RSVP and get the Zoom link for Tuesday, May 25^th at 7:00pm Pacific

Daytime Launch Party – 12N PT Wednesday, May 26th - coffee and chai!

Reply to this email to RSVP and get the Zoom link for Wednesday, May 26^th at 12pm Pacific 

 

The author at the Ganges. Rishikesh, India

 

Here’s an idea of what I’m planning: 

• Erin’s story: What was it like for me - good, difficult, fulfilling - to write Truth Seeker and share it with the world?
• Reading aloud from Truth Seeker - What’s your favorite chapter/scene, if you've read it? Email me and let me know!
  
• Q&A – What else do you want to know? Something more about the characters, events? The writing and publication of the book? What it’s like to write a memoir?
• Book Group Style Sharing – Say a few words about what struck you (if you've read it)! (Haven’t read it yet? You can order it here in paperback or Kindle. Amazon delivers Truth Seeker via Prime in 48 hours!)
• Entertainment – Each event will kick off with a different surprise special guest! Don’t miss out!
• Open Bar and Refreshments – (Hahahha! At your house, silly!). BYOB of choice!

Ghats of Varanasi, India

How you can make it a success:

#1 – RSVP for one or both of the parties on the FULL MOON! Reply to this email and let me know which time(s) you'd like to be there. You'll receive the Zoom link in return!

#2 – Read, share, enjoy Truth Seeker (and Bindi Girl, the unofficial prequel, on sale!)

 #3 – Tell Your Friends About the Book

#4 – Invite them to the event

#5 – Post or write about Truth Seeker!

 Share the book with:

• Folks needing spiritual support
• People having an existential or life crisis
  
• Armchair and intrepid travelers
• Yogis and meditators and Indophiles
• People who need a love story
• Those who need a grief story
• People who need a good laugh
• SPIRITUAL SEEKERS AND FINDERS

Can't wait to see you! Let's celebrate!

Lots of love!

Erin

 

TRUTH SEEKER IS NOW ON KINDLE AND PAPERBACK.

A spiritual memoir, an off-the-beaten path India travel tale, and a bittersweet love story all rolled into one wild ride.

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR COPY.

THANK YOU!

The author in Varanasi, India on the ghats of the Ganges

CLICK HERE TO GET TRUTH SEEKER

THE STORY OF A WOMAN'S EXISTENTIAL CRISIS,

THE END OF SEEKING,

AND THE WILLINGNESS TO LOSE EVERYTHING 

TO FIND TRUE, LASTING FREEDOM.

A combined off-the-beaten path India travel adventure, bittersweet romance, and deeply personal spiritual memoir, this book shares the profound, inexpressible grace of encountering one's spiritual teacher, or guru, and is an homage to the absolute faith and fearlessness required to be released from the shackles of suffering.

Truth Seeker: A Spiritual Adventure of Love, Loss, and Liberation is the long-awaited follow-up to the spiritual travel memoir, The Adventures of Bindi Girl: Diving Deep Into the Heart of India (2012).

Advance Praise for Erin Reese's new book

TRUTH SEEKER:

A SPIRITUAL ADVENTURE OF

LOVE, LOSS, AND LIBERATION

 “With razor-sharp wit and breathtaking pace, Truth Seeker immerses readers in the India few travelers see—the authentic India in all its beauty and abomination. Equal parts love story, spiritual quest, and travelogue, Truth Seeker, ultimately, is an homage to India itself and the extraordinary teacher Erin Reese found—and lost—there. This book is exactly what many of us need right now—spiritual sustenance, a glimpse of the majestic potential of humans, and a good, hard laugh.” —Lynn Braz, author of Flying Free: Life Lessons Learned on the Flying Trapeze

“Erin Reese’s Truth Seeker is a true gem! It relates both her journey through the land of India and her spiritual search culminating in spiritual awakening. As I read this beautifully written account, I could feel the heat, hear the sounds, and smell the scents of her Mother India. I could feel her emotions as she struggled along the way. I felt her devotion for her beloved guru. Her description of spiritual awakening is honest, clear, and genuine. To paraphrase Christ’s words about his disciple Nathanael, “Here is a woman in whom there is no guile.” —Marshall Davis, author of Experiencing God Directly: The Way of Christian Nonduality

Sun in Taurus: Time Out to Tune Up

How's your nervous system?

We’ve just come off a radical jolt of a Full Moon in Scorpio week where themes of death and regeneration, purging and transmogrification shook most everyone up internally – if you are paying attention. Shedding, morphing, regenerating through shamanic experiences, radical release, and strange illnesses have arisen for folks to help us evolve, release, surrender to the collective evolution. The Sun in Taurus conjoined radical change agent Uranus to surprise and shift us all – a sci fi movie that is not fiction at all – these changes are happening, and our body-minds are along for the ride, like it or not.

What’s a body to “do”? Ride the ride, and take care of your self best you can while the Cosmos goes through this quickening dance. The Sun continues his sojourn through the fixed sign of Taurus, the Bull, for another two-and-a-half weeks. For myself, I turn to All Things Taurean to make myself feel better. The springtime sign of the earthy four-footed Bull is best honored with the five senses: smell, sight, taste, and touch.

Staying glued to a device, whether phone, laptop, TV screen would not be healthy these days. Our eyes need a break – they need to see things far off in the distance. They need dimensionality, perspective, varying hues of color, especially green, and movement that is not programmed bytes of zeroes and ones.

Snow melt in the canyon

Our noses need the smells of the forests, of chocolate chip cookies baking, of our lover’s neck in a nuzzle, of the blossoms on a walk.

Our bodies need to feel, to be massaged, to stretch and strengthen.

Our ears need breaks from headsets and Bluetooth. Many folks have had tinnitus lately, and it seems to clear up a great deal by stopping the use of constant headphones, especially Bluetooth. Another way to take care of the ears is to sit quietly in a room or out of doors, just letting the energy purge off the ears. I also love ayurvedic ear oil (nose oil, too!) as a way to care for the ears.

And taste – try new recipes, even if we don’t know how they’ll turn out. I love Google recipe searches for this reason – just put in “tilapia” and “instant pot” and few hours later I’m smelling a fish curry wafting through the house, waiting for rice at dinner time.

But most of all, most of all… in time of Taurus… do get outside.

This past weekend, my Beloved and I went for a three-day backpacking stretch along the Pacific Crest Trail. A shorter trek, we wanted to slip it in before the crowds head up to the mountains. Incredibly healing, I could barely stomach turning my phone on again once we reentered civilization.

Was it the best night’s sleep? Was I cozy and warm all the time? Was it easy hauling straight up a mountain face with a pack for 8.5 miles?  No, it isn’t the Ritz. But it’s got a much larger return on investment, believe you me.

High Sierra Salamander

I saw a beautiful salamander on the trail, many American dippers (aka water ouzel, the only true aquatic songbird!) in the river, at least eight snakes (luckily not rattlers), a deer bounding away up ahead. We ate cheesy potatoes for breakfast, took a freezing cold bath in a raging snow-melt stream, and watched the campfire dance at night, a beautiful nod to Beltane (May Day) fires.  I savored Nescafe, instant oatmeal, beans 'n rice, and maxed out on trail mix.

My Beloved and I pondered doing the entire Pacific Crest Trail in chunks – he might do it solo with me joining in for certain stretches. I feel ready now to get out there solo myself, albeit for shorter periods at a time.

Another great thing about hiking for a few days in uncrowded trails is that it is a natural walking meditation retreat. It’s wonderful, if you’re with another, to allow at least a long distance between your pacing. No talking, texting, looking anything up on Google. It’s just you and the trail. And you have to pay laser sharp attention, or you might step on a snake. For reals.

Rattlesnake Spring

While walking and looking for snakes, thoughts often turned to the current World Changes, and how I am embodying this in my work and personally. I keep a lot of this to myself, though am hopeful that I can start to share this with others in private sessions. Having moved up to the High Sierra this past year, I have more time and space and access to a direct line of what is happening cosmically. The information I get is definitely far outside the norm (when have I ever been of the norm?) and it takes courage to admit even to myself what I am downloading. I am grateful for the few individuals that I am able to speak about this with. Talking to the trees and the sky and the mountains is a gift; they simply know.

Being in the woods for even a few days – absolutely no one around, early in the season, far away from restrooms, cell towers, and highways – is a blessing. It may sound hard, but perhaps you yourself can find a way to go for it, alone or with others. You may be uncomfortable, but the rivers will cleanse your bloodstream and the cold mountain air can clear your mind faster than any meditation practice.

Blessings to you in time of Taurus and always!

Heading Out on the PCT

Erin Reese, M.S. is a contemporary non-dual spiritual teacher, author and guide. A modern mystic with over thirty years of experience, Erin Reese offers incisive, practical intuitive readings to her clients worldwide. She is a counselor, guide and mentor to those seeking an alternative to traditional psychotherapy or business coaching. Erin also offers non-dual meetings and retreats on embodied liberation and freedom from suffering. Visit erinreese.com for more information.  

It's here! My new book, Truth Seeker, now in Paperback!

BIG NEWS, EVERYONE!

MY LONG-AWAITED SECOND BOOK, TRUTH SEEKER, IS ALIVE, KICKING, AND AVAILABLE NOW ON KINDLE AND PAPERBACK.

A spiritual memoir, an off-the-beaten path India travel tale, and a bittersweet love story all rolled into one wild ride.

I hope you love it!

And if you do, please leave a review!

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR COPY.

THANK YOU!

The author in Varanasi, India on the ghats of the Ganges

CLICK HERE TO GET TRUTH SEEKER

THE STORY OF A WOMAN'S EXISTENTIAL CRISIS,

THE END OF SEEKING,

AND THE WILLINGNESS TO LOSE EVERYTHING 

TO FIND TRUE, LASTING FREEDOM.

A combined off-the-beaten path India travel adventure, bittersweet romance, and deeply personal spiritual memoir, this book shares the profound, inexpressible grace of encountering one's spiritual teacher, or guru, and is an homage to the absolute faith and fearlessness required to be released from the shackles of suffering.

Truth Seeker: A Spiritual Adventure of Love, Loss, and Liberation is the long-awaited follow-up to the spiritual travel memoir, The Adventures of Bindi Girl: Diving Deep Into the Heart of India (2012).

Advance Praise for Erin Reese's new book

TRUTH SEEKER:

A SPIRITUAL ADVENTURE OF

LOVE, LOSS, AND LIBERATION

"If you read a lot of “spiritual” books, as I do, you can be filled to the brim with theory. Truth Seeker is what happens in one woman's life when the theories become fact in the day-to-day. There's romance – human-to-human and human-to-India – and courage and humor and an incredible degree of acceptance of life as it comes and where it is. And that might be the essence of those spiritual books, after all."

—Victoria Moran, author of The Good Karma Diet, cofounder of The Compassion Consortium

 “Erin Reese’s excellent new book is a deep dive into the heart, dedication, and courage required while on the spiritual awakening journey. This book isn’t merely about truth seeking; it’s about truth finding. The book is far more than a journey into the spiritual cornucopia of India; it’s an inspirational nudge into the deepest depths of your own heart. Do you have the courage? The dedication? I highly recommend this book to both glistening spiritual newbies and jaded old-timers. After reading I was left in a beautiful, resonant, heartfelt state. This alone is worth the price of admission.” 

—J. Stewart Dixon, author of Spirituality for Badasses: How to Find Inner Peace and Happiness Without Losing Your Cool

“So often overlooked on today’s spiritual path is the mystical bond with a guru to support the journey to self-realization. Ramesh Balsekar was a laser beam of integrity and a fountain of peace. This book shows the transformative blessing of meeting such a master on one who is passionate and sincere. One that has the power to surrender.” 

— Prajnaparamita, spiritual master, author of Wings of Freedom 

Erin Reese, M.S. is a contemporary non-dual spiritual teacher, author and guide. A modern mystic with over thirty years of experience, Erin Reese offers incisive, practical intuitive readings to her clients worldwide. She is a counselor, guide and mentor to those seeking an alternative to traditional psychotherapy or business coaching. Erin also offers non-dual meetings and retreats on embodied liberation and freedom from suffering. Visit erinreese.com for more information.  

TRUTH SEEKER: Now Available for Pre-Order!

“The willingness to lose everything to find true, lasting freedom!”

Hello dear friends!

I have some BIG NEWS. My long-awaited second book, Truth Seeker: A Spiritual Adventure of Love, Loss, and Liberation is available now for preorder on Amazon Kindle – and will be ready in paperback on April 12!

Here is the link to preorder:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B091BKLZ49

I am THRILLED to share this with you.

Such a long time coming! I published The Adventures of Bindi Girl: Diving Deep Into the Heart of India in 2012. I became pregnant immediately afterward with my second book! Can you imagine? Pregnant for nine years? It was beyond uncomfortable. Cankles and cravings, mood swings and meltdowns don’t even begin to describe it.

At my tiny, small-town post office the other day, mailing off advance review copies to readers around the globe, the post office worker said, “You send a lot of books! Are you an author?”

“Yes,” I replied. “It is NOT fun. Don’t ever say you want to write a book.”

“Oh!” she responded. “Another woman who comes in here is also an author. She told me I should definitely try writing a book, that it’s a wonderful thing!”

Yeah… well…

Different strokes for different folks!

Notwithstanding the crushing and horrifically grueling process of “killing one’s darlings (or babies)” – the dark term referring to throwing out massive chunks of your own cherished writing to make the work stronger – the reason Truth Seeker has been so challenging to shape, finish, edit, publish is that it shows not the finished, nicely wrapped up product of intense spiritual and psychological work, but rather, the book exposes the process. The guts of it all. What it’s really like to have a major existential meltdown, to be “ready to die,” to chuck everything and surrender in India. To risk everything to find true, lasting freedom. To find one’s teacher and to be released from the shackles of suffering and seeking.

In writing Truth Seeker, first I had to LIVE it, then I had to write about it while I was being torn to bits, and then I had to put it all together in a coherent fashion, then clean it all up to make it into a professional, polished work of art.

During the last painful weeks of work, I thought of Fleetwood Mac and the making of the album Rumours (there’s a great documentary on Amazon Prime about it). Stevie Nicks, Lindsay Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine and John McVie reveal about how incredibly long the process took and how arduously painful it was. They were in a bunker-style situation in a Sausalito studio for over a year. More money, more writing and arranging; no sleep, strung out, relationships coming and going – and all the while deeply committed to the art.

It had to be right. It had to be beautiful art. And it had to tell the truth.

The result? Rumours is a masterpiece, and almost 45 years later, it is still being thoroughly loved, appreciated, adored by fans new, young, and old.

I am not saying my book is another Rumours (one never knows). But, it is most definitely my personal Rumours.  My “Dreams.” My “Silver Springs” (hidden track!). And my “Chain.”

My Dreams for Truth Seeker

This morning I asked myself, what do I wish for Truth Seeker?

I wish for many, many folks to read it. To enjoy it. To feel less alone. To be inspired.

This book is…

For those who are having or have had a serious existential crisis.

For those who have had their own experience of a personal hell.

For those who are suffering, spiritually, mentally, emotionally.

For those who feel they can’t go on anymore, or who felt that way in their past.

It is also…

For those who love yoga, meditation, or mindfulness.

For those spiritual practitioners who have been practicing a while, and experience some benefits, but are not feeling the deep relief and peace they seek.

For those who are drawn to India, or exotic, off-the-beaten path travel.

For those who are drawn to Eastern philosophies like Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta, Tantra, Zen, Taoism.

And it is…

For those who have been unlucky in love, and wonder “what is wrong with me?”

For those who dream of falling in love, but can’t seem to make it work. Ever.

For those who straight-up appreciate memoirs, women’s memoirs, spiritual memoirs, travel memoirs.

For those who need strength to keep going. A good laugh. A good cry…

And a good read.

Thank you in advance for reading Truth Seeker! When you do, please leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads if you are so inclined and inspired! And tell your friends!

If you preorder here today, it will be delivered to your Kindle automatically on April 12! OF COURSE I’ll send out another email when the paperback goes live the same day!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B091BKLZ49

(Bonus good karma points to repost the link to share with friends!)

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

A deep bow to you and all the readers.

With love,

Erin

“Erin Reese’s excellent new book Truth Seeker is a deep dive into the heart, dedication, and courage that is required in spiritual awakening. This book isn’t merely about truth seeking; it’s about truth finding. At first glance the book appears to be about a journey into the spiritual cornucopia of India, but the book is far more than this.  It’s an inspirational nudge into the deepest depths of your own heart. Do you have the courage? The dedication? I highly recommend this book to both glistening spiritual newbies and jaded old-timers.  After reading I was left in a beautiful, resonant heartfelt state.  This alone is worth the price of admission.”

– J. Stewart Dixon, author of Spirituality for Badasses: How to Find Inner Peace and Happiness Without Losing Your Cool

Sun Enters Aries: Spring and the Super-Powered Seed

Jet Martinez, Te Quiero Tantito (2016)

Tomorrow in the wee hours of March 20, the Sun enters fiery Aries, the sign of “I AM.” We celebrate the vernal equinox with its full potential of springtime, and all that is new. Our hearts and minds, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, are prickling with fresh energy.

At this point, however, we know not exactly how this potential energy will take shape. It is tempting to force it into being, to have a plan, to make up a story with your ideas of how this, that, and the other thing are going to unfold this season and into summer. We immediately impose a mental framework onto this new baby potential of springtime. When this happens, we are in great danger of missing the magic.

I am about to launch my second book, Truth Seeker: A Spiritual Adventure of Love, Loss, and Liberation, into the world. It’s a matter of days now before the paperback and Kindle version go live on Amazon. I’m relieved, and thrilled, that this seed is going to burst onto the scene – finally! People will be able to read this spiritual memoir that I’ve toiled with for over ten years. Finally!

Now, have I any firm intention as to how this book is going to find its way in the world? How and when it will start walking and talking? To find its way to a bookstore virtual reading, an interview, a top-book-pick list? Nope. Do I have an agenda as to what it’s going to result in – more recognition, more students, more money, more, more, more…?

Nope. When I think of imposing a limited collection of thoughtforms – ideas of how it should be – onto this book baby, I lose all the magic, all the wonder, all the faith in Existence to show the way.

Of course, I absolutely hope that people enjoy the book and benefit from it, are inspired by it, or even transformed. But is that up to me? Not a chance.

I’ve done my part. I’ve fertilized the soil, I’ve weeded and tilled and toiled. I’ve been pregnant for years, had many false labors, premature contractions. I was in the delivery room for eons, it seemed, without epidural. Without drugs. A raw, natural childbirth that had both mother and emerging babe screaming and wailing in fits and starts. So many breach moments, so many crownings, fantasizing about forceps, asking for help, and more help, and more help.

Until finally, the little truth-seeking infant lands on the scene. Just about ready to be shown to the world. Packed chock-full with all its DNA ready at the helm, a life stored within from start to finish, a blessed star is born.

And of course, I have heard, seen, and felt pressure within and without to do a book launch the right way, the correct way. To get Facebook ads, more advance reviewers, a larger mailing list. To which I say, let’s see what happens! Let’s let the baby herself have a moment to show me the way.

At this time of Spring Equinox, when the potential energy within and without is throbbing, pulsing, ready to burst forth, see if you can take a moment to let it reveal itself to you, rather than imposing an idea of what should happen next.

We are coming off a year of being isolated, limited in movement, and more turned inward than ever before. We are ourselves blessed new seeds. Rumblings of reentry back into the bustling world are being heard across the globe. They are real rumblings, and surely we will reengage in a new way. Yet, let Life lead the way, try not to push too quickly or too hard. Lest you miss the magic.

Art by Casey Weldon

Equinox 2021

 

Reenter the world

come out gently but slowly

like a tiny bud at the tip of a branch

barely quivering at first sun.

A babe is borne, really raw

very tender and fragile.

 

What have you learned this past year?

Must you pick up all the old crap?

Can you leave those old patterns,

dust motes, habits, compulsions,

convictions aside?

Salvador Dali, Rosa Papilio

Can you accept the spaciousness

of a raw, empty palate-palette?

 

This is the opportunity you have been

waiting for.

The unknown, the void

with pure potential.

A seed with all life force energy

packed inside.

 

Release the need to control the outcome.

Trust the unfoldment of life.

 

Allow the sun, the rain, the

rainbow to feed the seed.

No need to know.

All by itself, life will grow.

~ Erin Reese

 

Erin Reese, M.S. is a contemporary non-dual spiritual teacher, author and guide. A modern mystic with over thirty years of experience, Erin Reese offers incisive, practical intuitive readings to her clients worldwide. She is a counselor, guide and mentor to those seeking an alternative to traditional psychotherapy or business coaching. Erin also offers non-dual meetings and retreats on embodied liberation and freedom from suffering. Visit erinreese.com for more information.