Going OM: Real-Life Stories on and off the Yoga Mat
Editor Melissa Carroll, Foreword by Cheryl Strayed
Viva Editions, 2014
That's the reason I admire the essays in this collection so deeply...they seem to be one thing — writers on the subject of yoga — but they're really another: profound examinations of what it means to be human.
— Cheryl Strayed, author of the New York Times' Bestseller WILD,
from the foreword of Going OM
as featured in
REVIEWS for GOING OM
Love this book---I bought it after taking a yoga class and the instructor read from one of the passages---it was funny and thoughtful at the same time, and seemed to perfectly capture the essence of yoga in our modern lives. Each chapter offers a different look at yoga in a different voice---I was literally laughing out loud at parts (the "Broga" essay by Alan Shaw and "The, Um, Sexy Yoga Essay" by Claire Dederer).
Jen K.
An absolute must read for yoga people and non-yogis alike. Great book you can pick up and enjoy, reading a chapter at a time or skipping around---I've been doing yoga for about a year and a half and I love how this book approaches yoga from a "real-world" perspective, so anyone can appreciate it. I'm buying gifts for my yoga friends this Christmas!
Ryan S.
Melissa Carroll's book is wonderful. The essays are beautifully crafted, honest, and courageous explorations of experiences with yoga and spiritual seeking. I identified with all of them in one way or another. The book has inspired me to take another look at the ways that I use yoga and has opened my eyes to it's many benefits. Most importantly, because the writers of these essays shared so openly about their own struggles on and off the mat, I feel less alone with my body issues and less-than-perfect meditation practice. Going Om reminds me of what Ram Dass has said: "We are all just walking each other home."
Anda P.
The Pretty Machine
by Melissa Carroll
ELJ Publications, 2017
The Pretty Machine will quicken your pulse.
The Pretty Machine will hyperventilate you. In a good way.
Everything about The Pretty Machine is urgent and necessary and damn beautiful.
This books traverses eastern philosophy to contemporary ideas of beauty, questioning and challenging what it means to be a 21st century woman in America. The Pretty Machine is a grand debut that will take you to poetic places. Let it.
​
— Ira Sukrungruang, author of In Thailand It Is Night, The Melting Season,
and Talk Thai: Adventures of Buddhist Boy
Body of Starlight
by Melissa Carroll
Sweet Aperitifs Press, 2019