Unexpected Awakening: 22 Days at a Buddhist Monastery Freed Me from Abuse

by Laurie S Jacobson

Overview

"Unexpected Awakening is a testament to the power of compassion and the vast potential we each hold for healing and forgiveness." -Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Life

A true story of conflict, compassion, self-discovery, love, and loss.

At forty-three years old, Laurie Jacobson found herself trapped in a painful marriage and thought her life was over. The man she once loved and admired had devolved into a cruel, emotionally abusive husband who embraced anti-Semitic rhetoric. To make matters worse, she happened to be Jewish.

Isolated in a ramshackle farmhouse in the rural Pennsylvania mountains and desperate to escape her misery, Laurie decides to attend a weeklong silent retreat at a Buddhist monastery. The Buddha's path promised an end to suffering, and she was hoping for a miracle.

After countless hours of silent meditation and a string of inexplicable coincidences, Laurie experiences blissful shifts in consciousness, and is astonished by visions of otherworldly beings. But when an immobilizing snowstorm prolongs her stay at the monastery, the unexpected happens. Seemingly magical events, coupled with the kindness and wisdom of Charles, the monastery cook, transforms her life in ways she never dreamed possible.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798991692311
Publisher:	Blue Sky Press
Publication date:	03/20/2025
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Laurie S. Jacobson is a writer, Certified Health Coach, and on-and-off meditator fascinated by the Buddha's teachings. A graduate of Boston University with a degree in psychology, Laurie has been practicing and promoting natural health for over 25 years. Her work in the natural health and wellness field has been featured on television, radio, and in local and national magazines and newspapers. At age twenty-six Laurie said good-bye to urban life, trading it for the peace and wide-open spaces of the rural Pennsylvania mountains. Once settled in an old, drafty farmhouse, she fed people healthy food to pay the rent, fed a hungry woodstove to keep warm, and filled pages of legal pads with scribbled articles, essays, and stories. Trying to age gracefully with the Buddha's teachings in mind, she enjoys a quiet, simple life in Virginia.