Awake in the Heartland: The Ecstasy of What Is

Overview

A new edition with an updated Preface and Afterword for 2022. Awake in the Heartland offers clear non-dual understanding, not in the abstract, but grounded in the actuality of daily life with all its messiness, complexity, uncertainty, paradox, and apparent imperfection. If there seems to be a gap between what the enlightenment books describe and what you find in your own life, if you still think enlightenment is something that will happen to you in the future (or not at all), if you're still chasing experiences or self-improvement, then this book may be just what you need to wake up to the truth that what you are seeking is already here. Awake in the Heartland takes a fresh look at questions of addiction, free will, good and evil, authority, and identity. It encourages the reader to look for themselves without clinging to old opinions or relying on outside authorities. Honest, funny, and profound, this is a book that invites you to discover who or what you really are.

About the Author

Joan Tollifson writes and talks with people about nonduality and the wonder of what is. Her background includes Buddhism, Advaita, nontraditional meditative inquiry, radical nonduality, martial arts, somatic work, addiction recovery, political activism, visual arts, and a devotion to both boundless presence and the beauty of the ordinary. She belongs to no formal tradition. Her website is joantollifson.com.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781739724900
Publisher:	New Sarum Press
Publication date:	03/08/2022
Pages:	266
Sales rank:	660,608
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.66(d)

About the Author

Joan Tollifson writes and talks with people about the living reality Here / Now. She has an affinity with both Buddhism and Advaita, but she belongs to no formal tradition. Her approach is simple and down-to-earth, pointing beyond concepts and beliefs to the immediacy of direct knowing and being. Her first book, Bare-Bones Meditation, was published by Bell Tower in 1996. Tollifson has lived in Northern California, rural New York, Chicago, and Southern Oregon. Her main teacher was Toni Packer, but she spent time with many other teachers as well.

Interviews

Tollifson resides in Ashland, Oregon.

Editorial Reviews

There is a vibrant energy that emanates from the pages of this book that cannot help but resonate with an stir the same essence in the reader and awaken them to the ecstasy of what is—their own true nature. Because the personal story is so beautifully interwoven, the book answers the question so often asked by seekers: 'Yes, I understand BUT...How do I live my life?' Joan is constantly showing the reader, by personal example, that life lives itself as IS no matter WHAT appears.  I recommend it.”
—“Sailor” Bob Adamson, What's Wrong with Right Now Unless You Think About It?


“An excellent book. Joan has a gift for writing clearly. Her willingness to share her own very human story points out the ordinariness of realization and how things just continue on as they do...both before and after awakening.”
—Chuck Hillig, Looking for GOD and The Enlightenment Trilogy


“In her book Joan takes us on a journey that starts and ends where we already and always are. She illustrates this pathless path with humor, compassion and keen observations of human nature. Here descriptions of nature at large are vividly beautiful and remind me of Zen paintings. She pointys to the realm 'where the chariot of speech finds no tracks to go.' Enjoy!”
—Leo Hartong, Awakening to the Dream


“Thank you, Joan, for reminding me, in your plain & funny midwestern way, that there is absolutely nothing to attain.  Your book is a warrior's journal; a chronicle of surrendering to 'waht is' and finding beauty waiting.”
—Mike Stiler, Who Sees? Words and Pictures from Nowhere


“I loved reading about Joan's adventures in Awake in the Heartland. She clearly demonstrates by her own example that simply by living in recognition of our true nature as awareness, the agitated search for personal transcendence is dissolved into acceptance of life as it is, allowing the emergence of real peace and equanimity.”
—Nathan Gill, Already Awake

From the Publisher