Patty de Llosa has led group classes, daylong workshops, and week-long intensives in the Gurdjieff work, as well as T'ai Chi, and Taoist meditation; she also teaches the Alexander technique both privately and to groups. In this paperback, she shares her spiritual journey which has incorporated what she calls five paths for daily life: Taoism and T'ai Chi, Jung and individuation, the teaching of Gurdjieff, prayer and meditation, and F.M. Alexander's Mind/Body Integration. De Llosa graciously models the spiritual practice of hospitality. She also discusses the connections between these diverse paths that all draw out our receptivity, acceptance, conscience, and mind/body interactions.

Naturally, we were quite impressed with the emphasis here on being present — alive to the moment. De Llosa contends that to do this we must practice every day and learn to develop conscious awareness. Her comments on the inner work taught by Gurdjieff, plus the quotations from him, shed light on his ability to lead people to a fresh appreciation of self-knowledge. We also appreciated De Llosa's explanations of the Alexander technique which helps individuals learn how to take better care of their bodies and the energies which animate them.