My Wheels Gave Me Wings: A Journey Through Fear and Despair... into Love and Healing [Paperback]

This gripping memoir chronicles Willow Koerber Rockwell's heartfelt journey through a life filled with fear and despair... into one imbued with love and healing. She chronicles her difficult childhood-characterized by sexual abuse and isolation-her path to near self-destruction, and the ultimate healing that inspired her to write this book. Willow, 33, a World Cup Champion mountain-bike racer for 17 years, relates details of the intense pressure and fear she has faced throughout her career, and her gradual realization that no amount of winning would ever replace loving or being loved. She recounts dramatic racing experiences and successes, and her equally dramatic falls from grace, and provides agonizing accounts of her self-destructive tendencies and her struggle to love herself and her body unconditionally. Willow's ride has been a spiritual one, full of deep and meaningful lessons, imparted by healers, helpmates, and unexpected guardian angels. She shares the spiritual lessons she has learned along the way; and also reveals to the reader how to train without suffering, and how to accept peace and well-being rather than endlessly striving for perfection. In the last few years of her career, Willow has risen to the top of the sport. She has won two Bronze Medals at the World Championships (2009 and 2010), and she led the World Cup Series for a brief time before eventually finishing second in 2010. In 2011, she was expected to reach the very top of the podium, but life had other plans. She found out that she was six weeks pregnant the day before the first World Cup of 2011, so she didn't race. Circumstances compelled her to rediscover herself, reclaim her identity, and admit that she had never loved or respected herself or her body. It was truly a time to let light in to the dark places she had been repressing since childhood. Willow's book is needed because the energies on this planet are changing. People are being asked to do away with their outdated versions of success and to embrace new ways of living. In striving for perfection, what is important has faded into the background, or has disappeared altogether. Willow dissolves the illusion that if one is the best, that person will be happy. She herself lived that lie for almost 30 years of her life; and it was only when she decided to look long and hard at her life that she realized that all the medals and money and acclaim and magazine covers couldn't give her contentment. It was only when she learned to love herself that the healing could begin. From a place of love and acceptance of the self, a beautiful life can unfold, which is the essence of Willow's story. People can express their passion through any medium they desire; and Willow contends that this is what everyone is seeking. In the end, medals and other material symbols are just dust collectors. The joy of the ride is what matters most.