Arching Backward: The Mystical Initiation of a Contemporary Woman - Paperback

by Janet Adler (Author)

Arching Backward is the story of an American woman who found herself suddenly and violently immersed in a mystical initiation for which she was not consciously prepared. For four years, Janet Adler's life was dominated by the transforming experience of a primal energy and the visions that were created by it. She was not seeking spiritual experience, nor was she a student of any particular mystical tradition. But the visions brought her into the realm of the sacred, transforming her body into a conduit for spiritual energy. The writings collected here record her visions and describe the way this contemporary woman dealt with the impact of this energy on her physical body, her work, and her relationships. Her story offers a guide for others on this journey and provides a powerful affirmation of women's experience of the spirit.

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WOMEN'S STUDIES / SPIRITUALITY "Janet Adler has given us a riveting testimony of a fifteen-year-long process of whole-bodied awakening. I have never read anything to match the honesty, immediacy, and grace of witnessing, and I have no doubt that Arching Backward will become a classic in the literature of the sacred." --Sherry Anderson, coauthor of The Feminine Face of God "These stark and startling visions, fiery emblems of what we have wrought, have been borne forth bravely in a time when, because of human destruction, we hover between life and death." --Susan Griffin, author of A Chorus of Stones and The Eros of Everyday Life "The ancients tell of an eternal song, an eternal fire that silences the mind, cracks open the heart, reveals the mystery of birth and death. Janet sings us this song with the blood and fire of her own experience, beautifully." --Jack Kornfield, author of A Path With Heart "Arching Backward is an eloquent and lyrical prose poem, riveting testimony from a modern mystic. Janet Adler offers this narrative of her extraordinary journey traversing territory both intensely intimate and primordial, luminous and transcendent. This is a heroine's mythic journey, as fascinating as it is mysterious." --Daniel Goleman, author of The Meditative Mind Arching Backward is the story of an American woman who found herself suddenly and violently immersed in a mystical initiation for which she was not consciously prepared. For four years, Janet Adler's life was dominated by the transforming experience of a primal energy and the visions that were created by it. She was not seeking spiritual experience, nor was she a student of any particular mystical tradition. But the visions brought her into the realm of the sacred, transforming her body into a conduit for spiritual energy. The writings collected here record her visions and describe the way this contemporary woman dealt with the impact of this energy on her physical body, her work, and her relationships. Her story offers a guide for others on this journey and provides a powerful affirmation of women's experience of the spirit. JANET ADLER teaches Authentic Movement in retreat settings, universities, and institutes in the United States and in Europe. She has created two films: Looking For Me, documenting her work with autistic children in the 1960's, and Still Looking, a film reflecting the evolution of her work in Authentic Movement.

Author Biography

Janet Adler (1941-2023) held a Ph.D. in Mystical Studies, taught the discipline of Authentic Movement in the United States and Europe and was the founder and director of The Mary Starks Whitehouse Institute, the first school devoted to the study and practice of the discipline. She is the author of Arching Backward and of two films: Looking for Me, documenting her work with autistic children, and Still Looking, reflecting her work in the discipline of Authentic Movement. She was also a hospice chaplain.