Dani Shapiro

108.

Dani — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:27:02 +0000

I have been fighting the urge, lately, when asked how I'm doing, to use words like "overwhelmed" or "busy" or "crazed"--even though those are familiar feelings. I've been on book tour for a month, and I have learned that anything is possible if, as they say in Twelve Step programs, I take it a day at a time. I don't need to think about what will happen tomorrow, or next week, or next month--or even in the next hour. If I do what is in front of me, if I focus on it, if I stay in the moment, then the rest of it falls away, and I am no longer overwhelmed, or busy, or crazed.

It so clearly all comes down to mindfulness. To living in the moment, which is perhaps our greatest challenge in life. When I am fully engaged in the moment, the moment expands infinitely. When I am just here, right now, and nowhere else, there is a joy and an aliveness in that--no matter what is going on. In yoga--in a pose called Warrior Two, or Virabhadrasana--it is possible to feel the physical manifestation of this. If I become aware that I am leaning a bit forward (into the future) or backward (into the past) there is the possibility of correcting this, and moving toward proper alignment. Straight up and down, balanced between future and past--right here, only here, in the infinite present.

Dani Speaking

Dani — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:15:37 +0000

Devotion: A Memoir by Dani Shapiro

Michael — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:00:38 +0000

Just published from Harper, Devotion, by Dani Shapiro

One of "O" The Oprah Magazine's must-read picks for February

One of The Today Show's best books of the Winter.

"Brave, compelling, unexpectedly witty...a stunningly intimate journey. Thanks to Shapiro's excruciatingly honest self-examination and crystal clear, lyrical writing... the journey is indeed the reward."

People Magazine
(Four Stars, People Pick)

The Book Trailer for Devotion

What makes Devotion most compelling is its willingness to explore the elusiveness of certainty.

—Time Magazine

"I was immensely moved by this elegant book, which reminded me all over again that all of us – at some point or another – must buck up our courage and face down the big spiritual questions of life, death, love, loss and surrender. Dani Shapiro probes all those questions gracefully and honestly, avoiding overly simple conclusions, while steadfastly exploring her own complicated relationship to faith and doubt."

– Elizabeth Gilbert , author of Eat, Pray, Love

107.

Dani — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:47:41 +0000

I've begun to realize that maintaining a spiritual life is a bit like sticking to an exercise regime. Use it or lose it, as they say. The muscles atrophy quickly -- though they also retain their memory. It is a paradox of my current life that as I am on the road promoting Devotion, it is hard to find the time -- the hour or two or three a day -- to maintain the practices I learned and developed during the years spent writing the book. These are practices I fully intend to maintain for the rest of my life -- but how to reconcile a fast-pace, overfull life with the rigors of silence and contemplation? Most days, as I prepare for appearances, or travel, I don't have ninety minutes to do yoga, or a half hour to sit in silent meditation. So what is to be done?

Some of the wisest people around me have suggested that everything is an opportunity to practice. Everything. When I am helping my son with his homework, that is a practice. When I'm stocking up the kitchen cupboards because I'm going to be away for a week, that is a practice. When I'm responding to the beautiful letters I receive every day about Devotion, that is a practice. Recently I was walking down the street in New York City, and I was in a grumpy mood. I began, quite unexpectedly to do a walking Metta meditation. May you be safe, I silently said to the man in the suit walking towards me. May you be happy, to the glamorous woman talking on her cell phone. May you be strong, to the elderly woman. May you live with ease, to the construction worker in the hard hat. Suddenly, walking down the street was a practice. And me? I was no longer grumpy.

Michael — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:49:17 +0000

Dani reading from Devotion, Books & Books, Coral Gables, FL

On Endurability

Dani — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:16:58 +0000

In 1985, the great editor Ted Solotaroff wrote an essay in which he mused about why most of the talented young writers he had known had disappeared, vanished from the literary landscape. The essay, called "Writing in the Cold: The First Ten Years", found its way into the hands of nearly every young writer I knew at the time. A bracing news bulletin, a source of intense discussion, a cautionary tale, Solotaroff wrote that the main quality separating those writers who persevere and those who fade away isn't necessarily talent, but rather, something he called endurability.

Last week, I published an essay for the Los Angeles Times in which I revisit Solotaroff's 1985 essay, and take a look at where we stand today. What does it mean to endure as a writer in 2010? Read it here.

Of course, there are many different ways in which writers are called upon to endure. One needs this quality of endurability in the face of creative blocks; or emotional distress; or in the face of a steady stream of rejection, or criticism, or just plain lack of interest. The only answer I have ever found in the face of all this is a steady, unwavering relationship to the work. As Annie Dillard writes: "A work in progress quickly becomes feral. It reverts to a wild state overnight. It is barely domesticated, a mustang on which you one day fasted a halter, but which now you cannot catch. It is a lion you cage in your study. As the work grows, it gets harder to control; it is a lion growing in strength. You must visit every day and reassert your mastery over it. If you skip a day, you are, quite rightly, afraid to open the door to its room. You enter its room with bravura, holding a chair at the thing and shouting, 'Simba!'"

It takes a lot to be a lion tamer: bravery, courage, quick instincts, a blind--perhaps idiotic--take -no-prisoners belief in one's own power. But more than anything, this: the ability to endure.

Exhale

Michael — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:10:11 +0000

Dear exhale guests,

For six years we have stayed true to our original intention, to help transform and improve lives through mind body programs and experiences. I have wanted to start an exhale readers community for a long time - one that stimulates the mind, lifts the spirit, and exposes our guests to books that help us explore the inner self and self-transformation. When I read Devotion by Dani Shapiro, I knew the time had come to make this a reality.

Reading Devotion is a life-changing experience. It is a literary journey that delivers true insight into our lives, allowing us to find meaning in a constantly changing world.

Devotion is a spiritual detective story that explores a variety of Shapiro's experiences - from yoga and meditation retreats to the rituals of her Orthodox Jewish relatives - and the knowledge she has gained through the choices she has made. A journey that is poignant, funny, courageously personal, and completely universal, this is a story of a woman whose search ultimately leads her home.

We have chosen Devotion to represent the beginning of the exhale readers community, which will feature a new title each quarter. The books will be available for purchase in-unit as well as online in our e-store gift category. Additionally, we'll share an excerpt in our guest newsletter to preview each new selection, invite you to meet the author at special exhale events, and offer an online venue for our readers to create dialogue with the author and each other to potentially offer mindful growth and lasting bonds.

I hope you will all join us in this exciting new chapter, and that we can come together around a single, intimate, and transformational reading experience!

Best wishes for 2010!

Annbeth Eschbach
Exhale Founder + CEO

A Writing Career Becomes Harder To Scale

Dani — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:31:23 +0000

Authors used to expect to struggle as they gained experience. But now it is sell -- or else.

106.

Dani — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:03:34 +0000

Lately I've been having trouble sitting still. Oh, it's always a challenge, but these days my body feels twitchy, impatient, my mind racing with its endless to do lists. So be it. I still need to sit down--the hardest part is sitting down--and never once have I ever regretted the five, ten, twenty minutes of stillness, even when I rise from my mat afterward, my mind still banging around like trapped bird. Certainly it helps to practice yoga before even attempting to sit down--though I don't always have the luxury of carving an hour and a half out of my day. But here's a question: is it a luxury? Just exactly how much better off am I--and everyone around me--when I have made sure to prioritize my practice? Just the other day, I was in the middle of a reverse triangle pose and realized that I was taking mental notes. I had forgotten all about breathing. Gotta cancel the dentist. Need to call that magazine editor. It got so bad that I actually stopped for a moment, walked from my yoga mat in my bedroom into my office and wrote a few things down. That way, at least, I could release my mind from the futile, slippery slope of holding onto thoughts. Breathe in, I am breathing in. Breathe out, I am breathing out. So simple, really. And so elusive.

On Multi-tasking

Dani — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:01:49 +0000

So my loyal readers of Moments of Being may have noticed that I have begun a new blog in which I continue Devotion. I thought about combining the two blogs, but decided instead to maintain each one separately. Writing, of course, is a practice, its own act of devotion. But because Moments of Being is very much about the craft of writing and the psychological and emotional life of being a writer, and because I so love writing it, I didn't want to mix the two. It strikes me, particularly today, that we writers need constant reminders that we live by our own peculiar rhythms and that we are, in many ways, outsiders, our noses pressed to the glass. For the past couple of days I've been at a literary event in Florida, and have met a bunch of writers I hadn't known before--fascinating, warm, wonderful people, I recognize them all as having that quality peculiar to writers, which is to say, we spend most of our time alone in room, except when we're suddenly in front of audiences, trying to articulate what it is that we do. We're introverts and performers. Outsiders and teachers. Requiring solitude but longing for company.

I keep copies of old Paris Review Interviews near my desk for the same reason that I so enjoyed the company of these new writer friends over this long weekend in Florida. We're all in our tiny solitary rafts doing our work, living our lives--but it's good to remember that we're all in the same boat.