48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant and funny, July 9, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: A Big New Free Happy Unusual Life: Self Expression and Spiritual Practice for Those Who Have Time for Neither (Paperback)
Nina Wise subtitles her wonderful book, "Self-expression and spritual practice
for those who have time for neither." And she could have added, for those who
don't habitually shop at the Self-Improvement section of the store. I had my
qualms but I had first heard the author's name from an impeccable source so I
carried on and bought it. I quickly realised this wasn't Buddhism Lite or
Self-Realization in Five Minutes a Day. Nina Wise has spent thirty years
performing and leading workshops in improvisation. She brings decades of
experience in an art whose principal act is a requirement, as she describes it
elsewhere, to "(find) words for the story the body wants to tell" and where
"nothing in the psyche feels prepared, ready, secure-the stroll from backstage
to centerstage is an act of faith." It is a scary description and her courage
and commitment are everywhere evident. In this brilliant book we get the
benefits of that commitment as she offers dozens of ten-minute "practices"
drawn from every area of the arts -- singing, drawing, writing, role-playing,
dancing --- wonderful hints that invite us to play: to play with the senses;
play with our sense of self, with our life-history; play with friends, with
lovers, with strangers; play with pain and sickness and bereavement, with loss
and disappointment, anger and frustration, play with happiness. They remind
us to take ten minutes NOW to play, but to play with attention, as adults, to
wake up. She shows that unlocking creativity and self-expression has the
widest consequences: "We are not who we think we are --- we are not what we
do, we are not our age ... our gender or sexual preference ... where we live
... or what religion we were born into or went on to practice ... not our skin
color .. not our bodies ... not our thoughts." Many people have said this but
not many have offered such creative, witty, down-to-earth help to discovering
it for ourselves. And in between we are treated to illustrations from her own
life as daughter, lover, teacher, performer: at home by her dying mother or
wrapped in a "Tantric embrace" round her suitcase on an overnight train trip
in India, the range is enormous. She is deadly serious, serious but never
solemn. "All the great sages I have had the fortune to meet have had a
twinkle in their eyes ... their lightness of being is contagious. In their
presence I too break into a smile that would glow in the dark." Well, that
smile glows all over the page here. This is anything but a ponderous tome and
the opposite of some self-indulgent, feel-good exercise. It is sad, funny,
tough, moving, uproarious, witty, lyrical, passionately articulate and, yes
(I'm not the first to say it) wise. Go ahead, do yourself a favour: sing to
the cat, make art in the yard, throw a hat party, read this book.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Review from Body & Soul (formerly New Age Magazine), May 02, May 28, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: A Big New Free Happy Unusual Life: Self Expression and Spiritual Practice for Those Who Have Time for Neither (Paperback)
(from an article by Caren Goldman): Nina Wise shows us that we don't need a crowbar to cram creativity--an "inborn aspect of being alive"--into our overbooked lives. Wise, a recipient of National Endowment for the Arts grants and an award-winning performance artist (see NinaWise.com), believes that we find the keys to a creative life when we give ourselves permission to allow whatever arises "to gain expression." Using her brief creativity exercises, we can step into the realm of our spiritual natures and onto playful and profound paths to creative self-expression--in 10 minutes or less. One simple practice that can be done almost anywhere invites us to "doodle" or improvise with our voices, like scat singers...."Solutions to both technical and emotional knots arise when we soften our minds and our hearts, when we relax," Wise adds...Ultimately, readers who follow Wise's advice will develop the freedom to experience a big, new, free, happy and unusual life and feel more alive in the process.--Body & Soul, May 2002
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