It's here! After a year of pouring my heart and soul into it, Time for Awakening is finally available. I can't express just how grateful I am for your support and patience along this journey. Keep reading to learn about the origins and inspiration, as well as what some people have said about the book. But before you do, I invite you to experience a glimpse of the book through our video commercial.
Origins and Inspiration
The origins and inspiration for this work trace back to decades spent in Al-Anon recovery and my involvement with Anne Wilson Schaef's Living in Process network. These formative experiences laid the foundation for my exploration of Buddhist practice. While the first draft was written after I returned from Malaysia in 2008, deeper openings and integration became more important for navigating my daily life as a low-income mother building my own home.
As my meditation practice deepened during the events portrayed in the book and beyond, I became increasingly frustrated by the lack of resources and literature specifically available for women, let alone low-income mothers, undergoing the emotional and psychological challenges of intensive Vipassanā practice, experiences I also personally grappled with.
During a critical encounter with COVID in the hospital last December, I shared with my sons that if I died, I wanted them to find and read the rough manuscript. After my recovery, they retrieved the manuscript, urging me to polish and share it while I'm still alive. To me, this guide and memoir for awakening represent the most meaningful legacy I could leave them.
Amidst the backdrop of a world marked by divisiveness and violence fueled by greed, hatred, and delusion, I want to empower other women and individuals facing hardships to embrace their own unique practice, emphasizing that awakening is attainable in the here and now, without the need to travel halfway across the globe, and to offer an alternative perspective that many can relate to but seldom hear.
Book Description
A remarkable shift alters the course of a midwestern mother's life as she heeds an inner call through the wisdom of Buddhist meditation instructions. Woven intricately with insights cultivated during her recovery journey, this empowering and radically honest blend of memoir and guiding narrative charts her spiritual evolution into abiding awakening.
With faith and resilience, Constance learns to shape her own unique meditative expression, finding balance while navigating the complexities of parenting two teenage sons, the intricacies of close relationships, managing financial constraints, and building a home.
Whether on the cushion or amidst daily chores, Casey's exploration yields profound openings. Through vivid illustration, we are transported into the heart of her practice, feeling the rhythm of her thoughts, serenity of stillness, and revelations born in silence. Beyond a personal tale, it is a guiding light for those considering extended retreat practice.
Driven by a fire for deeper truths, Casey's inner call transports her to a strict Southeast Asian monastery. Within the realm of devotion and tranquility, we are thrust into another world of heightened practice, crystallizing insights to carry back home.
Time for Awakening is a story that will inspire spiritual seekers and those simply curious about human meaning and connection, inviting all to embrace their unique path of awakening.
Praise for Time for Awakening
“Constance Casey is a genuine and accomplished spiritual adept who shows us what is possible in opening to freedom. Propelled by remarkable dedication and compelling honesty, this Midwest mother and carpenter takes us on a profound meditative journey into the depths of insight and awakening.”
—JACK KORNFIELD, co-founding teacher, Spirit Rock Meditation Center and Insight Meditation Society; author of A Path With Heart
“Part memoir, part guide to self-knowing, Time for Awakening is a spiritual coming-of-age story that serves to inspire and accompany those drawn to the path of liberation. Through curiosity and vulnerability, Constance shares her transformative experiences and embodied wisdom, inviting us into a deeper understanding of the human journey.”
—SHARON SALZBERG, co-founding teacher, Insight Meditation Society; author of Real Life and Real Happiness
“In Time for Awakening, the unique, distinct voice of one woman’s realization story weaves seamlessly with the unmistakable voice of Awakened Mind. In the words and between the words, through the story and through the silence under the telling, Constance Casey transmits a knowing that offers encouragement to the reader’s human experience and recognition for what’s always, already awake in us all. This book is a catalyst and companion for anyone on any stage of the awakening journey.”
—BROOKE TEISUI MCNAMARA, Zen teacher at Dragon Lake Zen, and author of Bury the Seed and Feed Your Vow
This is just the beginning.
The launch of this book marks a fresh start for me as an author, and to continue that work I will be using this platform, Substack. I’m thrilled to connect and share with all of you in this new format, so stay tuned for more from me as I continue to share.
With kindness and love,
Constance
Just got your book in today. Can’t wait to dive into it!