The Way of the River: Adventures and Meditations of a Woman Martial Artist [Hardcover]

BK Loren (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"In any sparring match... a person must be utterly in the moment.... The second you jump ahead or fall back in time, you are reminded of the present in a very solid, physical manner." Thus BK Loren, a black belt in shao-lin kung fu, describes the influence of martial arts on her everyday experience in The Way of the River: Adventures and Meditations of a Woman Martial Artist, her first book. In essays about "the magnetism of false leadership" in the person of a violent, controlling martial arts teacher she had as a teenager; fending off her friend's abusive father; seeing beyond the myth of the safety of the suburbs via the stories of her affluent female self-defense students, Loren's careful, direct prose reflects the still gaze of the martial arts expert.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Lyrical and riveting, this series of essays melds the American "gung ho" spirit with the poetry of Asian martial arts like Shao-Lin gong fu, qigong, and others. A child of the '60s in California, Loren donned boxing gloves at age 11 to learn to fight in a neighborhood match. Soon after she observed Shao-Lin master Sifu Liu performing intricate dance steps in his garage. She was hooked and began her training with him shortly thereafter. By the time she was 13, she was able to flatten a gang of teenage boys attempting to molest her and her friends. Her experiences with men during her teen years are often tainted-her close friend is sexually abused by her father, and her new martial-arts master trains her so violently that she suffers a concussion. Simply, and with wonderfully poetic descriptions, Loren draws the picture of her life and the influence of martial arts on shaping the woman she has become. She learns to appreciate the stillness and completeness she feels when her qi, a life force for which there is no adequate word in English, is in balance with her environment. This is a wonderful book by a woman who jumps out of the bounds of society's expectations.

Carol DeAngelo, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 228 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585743011
• ISBN-13: 978-1585743018
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,330,268 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born premature. That was the end of my precociousness. Mostly, I have spent my life trying to find quiet jobs that allow some psychological space where I can write in my head as I work. I've worked on a ranch, in a candy factory (Russell Stover), in retail stores selling shoes. I've built furniture, cooked for a gourmet catering service in NYC, cooked, also, in a weird little cafe run by a reverend healer who cured people's ailments with a pendulum and herbs. I was an aide on a locked psych ward, a tenured college professor, a graphic artist, a UPS driver, and now and again I still work as a professional brainstormer for branding companies. I was extremely grateful for the chance to go to college (it was never a given), but I also feel that these life experiences inform my writing as much as any class ever has. The publishing editor of one of my books told me I wrote like I was raised by wolves. I try to live up to that daily.

Along with the books listed here, you can read my work in many magazines, including, Orion Magazine, Spirituality and Health, Three Coyotes, Yoga International, The Body-Soul Connection, Fourth River, Hawk and Handsaw, and many others.

I'm grateful to these fellowships and Residencies:
Mary Roberts-Rinehart National Fellowship
Ucross Foundation
Colorado Council on the Arts Literature Fellowship
Colorado Art Ranch
Atlantic Center for the Arts
and others.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Way of the River - Enlightening!, July 24, 2001

By 

T. Walker (Verona, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Way of the River: Adventures and Meditations of a Woman Martial Artist (Hardcover)

"The Way of the River" is a compelling, beautifully written book that goes far beyond the subject of enlightenment through the study of martial arts. Ms. Loren has the uncanny ability to draw the reader completely into her autobiographical anecdotes, to the point that I absolutely shared her hopes, fears, triumphs and losses keenly. It is a page turner, and I learned a great deal from reading it.

Martial artists and students will benefit from her insightful perspective on life and perhaps confirm or renew the spirital and philisophical core of their chosen disciplines. Non-martial artists will be equally captured by her flawless prose, lovingly-crafted descriptions, and beatifully-paced chapters. Ms. Loren has a bright future as a writer, and she will definitely join Mark Salzman's company as an author who secures mainstream popularity outside the martial arts genre.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a gift to share., July 13, 2001

By 

John Dziadecki (Louisville, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Way of the River: Adventures and Meditations of a Woman Martial Artist (Hardcover)

I have just finished reading this book. I have not yet read this book. This is a book you will want to read and revisit and cherish.

BK Loren uses words like brushstrokes in painting intimate images quietly charged with feelings, emotions and insights gathered from a life well lived and grounded in the flow of the martial arts. Unpretentious, she directly shares what she has learned and experienced and seen and felt. Her essays -- meditations -- gradually unfold and grow on you with the resonance of life and clarity. They grow like flowers, well rooted in the earth and opening to reveal personal memories and lessons learned. The cumulative effect stays with you.

I don't know that my words do her book justice. At the very, very least this is a great read. But it goes beyond that. This book is a gift to share with others. Read it and you'll know why.

Highly recommended!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Writing that is Qi..., June 17, 2001

By 

Susan Rogers (Tivoli, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Way of the River: Adventures and Meditations of a Woman Martial Artist (Hardcover)

This is an exciting and beautiful collection of essays that does the near-impossible: combine body and spirit into language that is so clear you are there, holding those poses with Loren. Many of the experiences here were scary--for where the body travels, yes, but also for where the mind and spirit go. This book expands, and so will you reading it. It's a book probably every woman should read, to feel strong, to feel elated, to feel alive. Oh, and every man should probably read it too, for all the same reasons. But for women--we don't have enough of these stories, honest in every way.