Heather Lyn Mann was a battle-weary environmental advocate in Madison, Wisconsin, struggling over what to do about climate change when she and her husband decided to explore the Atlantic on a small sloop. This memoir of six years living afloat is a chronological unfolding of disasters and discoveries — life-threatening storms, the boredom of isolation, societies on the brink of extinction, sinking ships, colorful Caribbean characters, near collisions, a pirate scare, and more. Throughout, the ocean becomes Mann’s teacher, transforming her with uncompromising lessons on how to harmonize with natural order, the exact moments and ways to let in fearlessness, resilience, happiness, impermanence, balance, compassion, skillful action, and beginner’s mind.

Her suspenseful, sometimes hilarious, and always heart-warming journey of body and mind, shaped by ancient Buddhist teachings, entertains as it charts reality’s depths and danger zones so arm-chair adventurers, spiritual seekers, and the climate concerned can navigate tumultuous waters and arrive together on the shore of planetary well-being.
“An authentic and exciting adventure of oceanic and psychological depth that each one of us should venture on at least once in their lifetime. With engaging details of an experienced sailor and of a seasoned meditator, Heather Mann invites us on a human journey of courage, challenge, and spiritual wonder.”

— Bhikshu Thich Chan Phap Dung, Dharma Teacher of the Plum Village Tradition

“Staying mindful amidst the traumas of a rapidly heating world is hard but necessary work, and in this engaging and powerfully-written sea saga, Heather Lyn Mann provides some very useful testimony about how (and why) we should proceed!”

– Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth

Heather Lyn Mann is a spiritual ecologist and practitioner of Buddhism, sailing, and mindful advocacy. Mann founded and led the not for profit Center for Resilient Cities an organization mobilizing inner city residents to restore natural beauty and function in damaged neighborhood landscapes. She was ordained by Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh into the Order of Interbeing and is the Chair of the North American Plum Village Earth Holder Sangha. In 2007, together with her husband and her cat, Dingy, Mann set sail on a 15,000 nautical mile, six year ocean voyage. heatherlynmann.com