Isabel Losada

He tells us how to achieve immediate change: by looking at the consequences of not changing and the massive pain that will result. Not too hard to do that. If I don’t get out of my pothole, I’m going to die a mad old lady – why do I find that very easy to visualize?

When Isabel Losada feels as if she is stuck in a pot-hole, she decides to try five methods of digging herself out, starting by hiring 3 different feng shui consultants to analyse her house. She follows this up with a show more four-day Anthony Robbins seminar, a ten-day silent meditation retreat, attending meetings with a guru in Brixton, and finally by taking a hallucinogenic drug administered by a shaman during a trip to the Peruvian rainforest.

Part of me feels like a dog that was promised a special meal and gobbled it down trustingly only to find that it had been horribly poisoned. That’s not so much what I feel like – that’s what happened. But of course I do not allow a vicious snake to crawl out of the tent. Just a battered Isabel. ‘How are you this morning?’ asks Dilwyn, looking full of the joys of spring, as if he’s just heard that he had a large win on the lottery. ‘I’m glad to be alive, Dilwyn,’ I say, quite calmly. He misses, or ignores, the strong undercurrent of hissing.

I like the way the author describes her adventures humorously but without mockery, and manages to take something positive from each experience, even if she did not really enjoy it at the time. show less

I'd like to rip this book up...

No, I don't mean that it is terrible, it is the proverbial 'curate's egg'.

The book is a mixture of awful ideas as to how to be 'green'. Don't use plastic pens, buy all your fruit and veg unwrapped and make your own soap! Don't be too concerned about flying, however!!!

Just as I am about to hurtle this book to the furthest dark corner of my library, Isabel changes tac; her description of the XR gathering in London is the best I have read. She goes to other show more events, meets people, from rational environmentalists to the nuttiest of wackos. She is always polite, kind and gets the most from everyone she interviews.

How can one love - and hate - the same book!!! show less

I'm hopeless at meditation, as I told you. I've only got to close my eyes and take two deep breaths and I'm asleep. The fact that I'm sitting straight-backed with the wind blowing in my face makes no difference. How am I supposed to make any progress in the path of deep meditaton if my subconscious is going to keep seeing opportunities for deep sleep? 'Awareness? Ugh!' It says, and before I know it, I'm snoring.

As a cynic when it comes to all things New Age, I was surprised to find myself show more enjoying Isabel's journey. Some experiences did more for her than others, but she writes about them all with an irreverent touch, while avoiding ridiculing them. show less

Battersea Park Road is Isabel Losada’s wry memoir of the various self help/spiritual programs she undertook in her efforts to become a happier and more peaceful person. Unlike some of the other self-help memoirs that have come out recently, however, Losada is writing about a journey she took as an organic part of her life rather than something that seemed like a good experiment for a book proposal, so right away she gets bonus points for that.

Though Losada considers herself a skeptic, it show more didn’t take long for her to be swept away by the power of the workshop experience. Over the course of the book, she pushes the edge of her "comfort zone" in programs like Insight Seminars, a goddess workshop, Sky-Dancing Tantra, past-life regression, anger release, NLP, and angles.

Like everyone who has ever dropped a lot of cash on a weekend workshop, Losada is pretty motivated to find the positive in her experiences. Though she doesn’t hesitate to criticize the aspects she dislikes, she also loudly sings the praises of many of her programs.

Having traveled much of the same road as Losada in my earlier years, I feel this book is a pretty accurate reflection of what walking the workshop road is like. Each program offers the excitement of new insights and experiences, yet the effects wear off so quickly it’s not long before a person is drawn to the next guru-du-jour who promises to change one’s life in a weekend.

Since it’s been a while since I've been on that path, what was most interesting to me was the opportunity to step back and observe the kind of mindset I used to have. It was fascinating for me to notice how willing Losada was to try to fit herself into whatever particular belief system she was being presented with—though she doesn’t really fit the classic description of a codependant, she spent six weeks attending meetings designed to convince her that she was. In addition, I had never before realized just how masochistic self-help can be. In the chapters on rebirthing and past-life regression, Losada doesn’t seem to question the belief that pushing one’s self to generate the most traumatic emotional experience possible is a good thing. I remember when I used to think that, too, and I’m really glad I no longer do.

There are some genuinely funny moments in this book, and Losada offers enough real insight into her journey to make it worth reading. How much a person enjoys it will likely depend a lot on their relationship to the world she's writing about.

At the end, she talks about what she learned, and speaks about the importance of accepting herself as she is with all her flaws. I’m glad she’s come to a place where she is able to do that, but I can’t help wondering if she realizes that the entire workshop industry is built on people doing exactly the opposite. show less