Return to the Garden: A Journey of Discovery

by Shakti Gawain

The bestselling author of Creative Visualization and Living in the Light reveals the most private and initimate details of her extraordinary life and shares experiences and feeling that connect at a profound level with readers everywhere. Line drawings.

Genres: Spirituality, Memoir, Self Help, Nonfiction, Biography

220 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Shakti Gawain is an author and proponent of what she calls "personal development". Her books have sold over 10 million copies, according to her website. Gawain's best known book is "Creative Visualization". She has also written "Living in the Light", "Awakening", "Meditations", "The Path of Transformation", "The Four Levels of Healing", "Creating True Prosperity" and "Developing Intuition". She is the co-founder, with Marc Allen, of New World Library Publishing Company and founder of Nataraj Publishing, a division of New World Library.

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I just finished reading this book for the second time....almost 20 years apart....or at least that's what it feels like. It's amazing how the universe puts books in your hand that you must read. I couldn't even get thru it the first time around. This time I could not put it down. It's a biography written by one of my favorite authors. Its amazing how much I learned about myself by reading her life lessons. Loved it.

[Raven Sky · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is her account of her own personal journey. Written with humble and honest insight, I highly recommend any of her books if you are on a journey of personal transformation.

[Deborah Charnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Shakti's first book, Creative Visualization, immediately prior to reading this one. I preferred Creative Visualization as it is filled with so many self-help tips and techniques. Return to the Garden is also an excellent book, but is a more personalized story, as the sub-title indicates. For that reason, it was also a quick read, because there wasn't as much to "digest."

All in all, I recommend both.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book over 13 years ago. I have been through a lot in my personal life since then including many moves so I had lost my first copy. I was visiting a used bookstore in Northern California and this book seemed to jump right off the shelf at me! Anyway, I remember liking this book the first time around but I felt like I could relate to it much more this time around...maybe age and experience made me relate to her life experiences. I also loved when she talked about dance, leading workshops and living in Hawaii (all which I have done) and definitely enjoyed reading about personal life journeys more than the practical “self help” type advice she gives. Don’t get me wrong, the meditations and practices she gives are great, but I happened to already be doing many of them before and reading about some in other books so that aspect just felt like more of the same...to me anyway. Overall, I’m glad this book found me again!

[Jacob Petrossian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Return to the Garden is an autobiography disguised as a new age-esque self help guide. The book featured a good Balance of Gawain’s life story while highlighting key lessons learned from her experiences.

For those interested in learning more about the author who wrote Creative Visualisation and Living in the Light, I highly recommend this book.

[Kayla Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice read if you don’t mind a biographical type book- great reminders to urge us to trust our intuition. The book gives a feeling of peace while reading. Meditations and guided exercises included in the back of the book
Also the author offers several book recommendations around healing and awareness which I added to my list of “want to read”

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life changing!

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. I would like to read her other books.

[Charles Daube · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic autobiography from one of my favorite authors.

[Tristy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This begins with an incredibly narrow, preachy "re-telling" of the story of Adam & Eve, focusing on "The Garden" and how we are all trying to return it. I do appreciate her feminist approach to the re-telling of this myth - that Eve liberated the human race from ignorance. After that, we go on a journey with the author, through her life and travels, including a long list of men she meets. In fact, her whole spiritual journey is reflected in the stories of all these men she has adventures with. Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Your Life (also by this author) is still one of my favorite books, but I just can't get in to her more autobiographical work. There is a stiffness to her writing that is hard to take when reading about such powerful, spiritual journeys.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an autobiography of metaphysical author Shakti Gawain. Its a wonderful account of the first half of her life and how she became author of the bestselling "Creative Visualization." and subsequent metaphysical teacher. She is a true free-spirit and her life reads like a tale of a magic gypsy.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shakti puts forth her own retelling of the creation story in such a creative and succulent way! While I may not be able to swallow the story completely, it is the message behind her writing that is of great importance!

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this when in 1992. was very good for me then.

[Oma Eagle · Rating 3 out of 5]

have 1889 hardback