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The Battersea Park Road to Enlightenment
 
 
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The Battersea Park Road to Enlightenment (Paperback)

by Isabel Losada (Author)
4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
RRP: £6.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 252 pages
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (9 April 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0747553181
  • ISBN-13: 978-0747553182
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 30,400 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #71 in  Books > Mind, Body & Spirit > Thought & Practice > Mental & Spiritual Healing

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Isabel Losada leaves no stone unturned--literally--on her trip down The Battersea Park Road to Enlightenment. Wishing to live her life "completely, abundantly, joyfully and stupidly" she makes an entertaining travelling companion as she describes her efforts to move away from her in-a-rut life where "nothing was changing". And she takes us everywhere with her: a life-skills course in North London; a convent retreat in Oxford; T'ai chi in France; a massage in Bath--even the past as she explores her previous incarnations. The journey is invigorating and exhausting and enriched by the numerous characters she meets en route.

The book is much more than a travelogue, however. Losada describes with considerable skill and sensitivity the breakthroughs in the lives of people around her--the woman who starts to work through childhood abuse, for instance, and another who confronts the bullies from school--and her honesty is refreshing and often surprising (her description of colonic irrigation takes the breath away). Often she picks up useful nuggets of inspiration that the reader can take away and digest and these are sprinkled through the text. Intercut throughout is her life with her daughter in a "shoebox" in Battersea and her burgeoning romance with Mark, the man she meets at a hypnotherapy seminar.

Losada has an entertaining and witty style and comes across as somewhat bossy but likeable all the same. And the stones she doesn't leave unturned?

The first part of this new experience involved sitting up and lying down again on to a row of hot stones that had been laid down to head up the muscles on either side of the spine. Damned clever
. --Christina McLoughlin

Product Description
'You know those people who always radiate cheerful optimism? Nauseating aren't they? I want to become one of those. I want to find out how to live life completely, abundantly, joyfully, stupidly. This is my quest. Enlightenment.' So proclaims Isabel Losada, Starbucks addict, exercise allergic and self-confessed sceptic as she sets out on the road to enlightenment. Beginning with an Insight seminar where hundred people with name badges discuss their 'inner beauty', Isabel journeyed through a gruelling course of 'Rolfing' nude Goddess workshops, a weekend of tantric sex ('Yes! Yes! Yes!') and a reincarnation session, not to mention a spot of colonic irrigation. Irreverent yet open-minded, funny and always honest, "The Battersea Park Road to Enlightenment" is also moving and ultimately illuminating. For anyone who has ever been tempted to dip a toe in the waters of self-discovery, Isabel Losada plunges you straight in.

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Battersea Park Road to Enlightenment
72% buy the item featured on this page:
The Battersea Park Road to Enlightenment 4.9 out of 5 stars (43)
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Customer Reviews

43 Reviews
5 star:
 (37)
4 star:
 (6)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.9 out of 5 stars (43 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A funny, down to earth new age exploration, 6 May 2001
By A Customer
Make no mistake, read this book and , whatever your views on the various routes to enlightenment it espouses, you will laugh a lot. Out loud and, according to my wife, annoyingly. This is the funniest book I have read since, well, Stephen Pile's Book of Heroic Failures (written a long time ago), which, now I come to think of it, has similar themes. I can imagine Mr Pile adding a section on the 'the world's least successful attempt at tantric sex - when a Ms Isabel Losada of Battersea went on a weekend workshop ... without a partner.' Or the world's least successful massage, 'When a Ms Losada of Battersea nearly lost her skin being 'rolfed'.' Indeed a number of these routes to happiness seem spectacularly unsuccessful, but others, surprisingly, appear to actually work - eg. colonic irrigation which left the author with an 'inexplicable feeling of happiness and well-being'. I am definitely going to try it - when I've plucked up the courage.

In addition to finding the book extremely funny and well-written, for me as an anglican Christian,it was also a bit of an eye-opener. I confess to long-harboured, deep suspicions about 'alternative' therapies. For many Christians (and the author appears to be of the 'post-evangelical-sits-lightly-to-actually-going-to-church' variety), there will be lots of questions about some of the 'new-age' practices described, about which the church is usually highly suspicious. But Isabel tackles each of her encounters with a healthy scepticism, and given the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent remarks about the value of new-age insights, this book provides a very accessible cynics guide to a number of well-established 'alternative' therapies. If like me, you too are sceptical then I would heartily recommend this book, at least if you're not easily offended by four letter words....

A great read, a surprisingly useful reference book, very funny (it needs to be placed in at least three sections of your local bookshop - health, humour, religion, books with odd covers, etc) and a book that demands a sequel exploring more roads to happiness - how about pyramids, crystals, yogic flying, thalassotherapy, or astral projection? But, as the book says, take care of yourself out there.

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37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Cool, funny, modern and warm., 5 May 2001
By A Customer
I bought this book slightly suspiciously - I'm very sceptical about a lot of 'new age' stuff.

Into the first chapter I began to really empathise with our narrator as she took her first steps on the road to self-fulfilment (oh god - I'm starting to talk like a hippy :-)

The book is very light-hearted and serves as a funny yet useful introduction to the worl of 'personal development therapies'. It covers a broad range of different therapies, yet in enough detail to allow the reader to draw proper conclusions about these therapies and whether they'd like to pursue them themselves.

The author is frank and honest - she portrays a normal person's view on these courses.

Overall, the book is well-written and thouroughly interesting. Even if you're not into alternative stuff the book is funny, enjoyable and a good read. It was brilliant. I really enjoyed it. I might even check some of this stuff out......

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36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Treat as your New Age Guidebook, 25 Jun 2001
By A Customer
Im really glad Isabel wrote this book, because its the only book I know of (at the moment, no copy-cats yet - but you just wait) which behaves like an experiential guide to all those 'New Age' spiritual activities which we used to either dismiss or make fun of. Now we know, thanks to Isabel trying out everything for us, which ones to go for and which ones arent for us. Ive done the colonic hydrotherapy but it wasnt as 'satisfying' as Isabel's experience! And Im about to try the tantric sex weekend- which I might have been closed to if it werent for Isabel delving into it first. Oh and by the way, everybody must do Insight if theyre looking for a place to start! People who are on a similar 'road' to Isabel, like me, will read & giggle "yes!" at her commentary - people who aren't on it yet will identify with her and giggle anyway. Co-dependancy, past lives, angels and NLP are all dealt with in an open-minded, humourous fashion. Through her bouncy loud confidence one actually warms to the slightly lost softer woman looking for herself. It's an easy, fun book to read and my only issue was the fact that I know she could have gone deeper and 'shared' her inner transformation a bit more explicitly, but obviously she's keeping those bits to herself..... Its a very opportune time to read this book - in ten years time all this 'New Age stuff' (we need a better word for it!) will be mainstream and there wont be anybody who hasn't danced as a Goddess naked in a room full of strangers. (I hope!!)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and real
This is a great real life story of how one woman ventured along her journey to elightenment. With a great sense of humour and humaness she ventures forth and experiements with... Read more
Published 1 month ago by oceanswim

5.0 out of 5 stars Tantric irrigation with tai-chi anyone?
Seeking some personal enlightenment is quite high up on my list of goals. When I engage my brain to the quest of defining my "Major Definite Purpose" (as prescribed by Brian... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Julie Anderson

4.0 out of 5 stars A gloriously amusing read
This book's a playful romp through the world of self development workshops, seminars and treatments. Read more
Published on 9 Jun 2007 by Mary McNeil

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars just isn't enough!!
Wow I love this book! I've read it sooo many times now that I'm gonna need a new copy cos mine's worn out! Read more
Published on 21 April 2007 by Ms. K. L. Palmer

5.0 out of 5 stars Have a go you never know.....
I choose this book after feeling a bit lost in my life and wanting to see what other people were doing with theirs. Read more
Published on 22 Feb 2007 by T. Horton

5.0 out of 5 stars Romping good fun!
A great romp through the alternative therapies many of us have wondered about but not had the guts to try. We sit on Ms. Read more
Published on 23 Aug 2006 by Y. Barlow

5.0 out of 5 stars You name it, Isabel Losada has tried it!
A very funny, acutely observed romp through the wierd and wonderful practices of some of the world's more esoteric inhabitants. Read more
Published on 12 Jul 2006 by William Oliver

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, irreverent, informative!
Very readable ...... and if(like me) you've ever wondered what the hell NLP is all about, Isabel's chapter will tell you more than a dozen books!
Published on 2 Feb 2006

5.0 out of 5 stars Open, honest and funny. Very funny.
To tell the truth, books on enlightenment are not really my scene. I have tried a few but never got much further than the first couple of chapters. Read more
Published on 9 April 2003 by mmc

5.0 out of 5 stars The Battersea Park Road to Enlightenment
I thought this book was one of the most enlightening I've ever read on the subject of personal development.
Why? Because it expressed Isabel's personal struggle. Read more
Published on 21 Mar 2003 by Andrew Gibney

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