Anne Lamott – Imperfect Birds

While cuddling up with a book is not a classical yoga position – taking time to take care of yourself, self study, contentment, and contemplation are all yogic practices. So “cuddle up” was the pose I assumed for an hour each day last week as I read Anne Lamott’s recent book _Imperfect Birds_.
How painful, how sweet; how tragic and and how real – Lamott takes the reader through the challenges of sobriety, of balance, of being a parent and being one’s self. This book chronicles a few months in the lives of a North Bay (SF Bay, of COURSE) family. _Imperfect Birds_ tells the story of the deep dive addiction takes the individual, the family,the friends and the impact it has on the community. For those of us who were the teenager – going from “experimentation” through escape to addiction,and for those of us who are or were parent’s of “future fellows” (of the rooms of NA or AA) this book lends its bald, honest and authentic voice to that journey. No one comes out unscathed / unchanged. The annealing process of finding yourself is forged of pain, letting go, and waking up; Lamott guides the reader through the twists and turns, hopes and denials, the false starts and the re-starts that occur along the way. Lamott adds enough sweet humor and tender insights into one’s human-ness as to make the process bearable and in the end – you find your self in each one of the characters, the addict and the co-addict, the healer and the helper. This is one book that really brought me back to the basics. It brought me to the basics of my AA program, my recovery from being a child of an alcoholic and my recovery as an alanon – the disease of over helping. It also brought me to the basics of self care – that sometimes a dose of couch cuddling with a fabulous book is just what the body ordered. Thank you, Anne.