I have just finished reading Waves in Deep Still Water: Listening for Mind by Candace Crosby.  I met Candace this summer at the Body-Mind Centering Association conference in Portland, Oregon.  “May I join you,” at lunch opened out into shared stories, including the one that is the heart of her beautiful book.

For over ten years, Candace worked with Christi, a young woman who had suffered a catastrophic traumatic brain injury as a result of a car accident.  With Christi’s  parents and a devoted team of medical and alternative practitioners, Candace brought her empathetic skills, her curiosity and heart to the mystery of helping Christi trace a path back into the world.  This is not a story with a simple ending.

It is Christi’s story, but also Candace’s.  With great vulnerability, she traces her own questions and fears about the direction and shape of her work.  Her process of opening and discovery is a parallel journey to Christi’s.  This book is an important part of the conversation about vulnerability and healing. The title captures beautifully the need for dropping deep to feel the subtle movement that arises from the apparent stillness where all of the usual signs and markers are absent or only faintly felt.