All Our Waves Are Water: Stumbling Toward Enlightenment and the Perfect Ride

by Jaimal Yogis

Overview

In this meditative memoir—a compelling fusion of Barbarian Days and the journals of Thomas Merton—the author of Saltwater Buddha reflects on his "failing toward enlightenment," his continued search to find meaning and a greater understanding of grace in the world’s oceans as well as everyday life.

Born to a family of seekers, Jaimal Yogis left home at sixteen to surf in Hawaii and join a monastery—an adventure he chronicled in Saltwater Buddha. Now, in his early twenties, his heart is broken and he’s lost his way. Hitting the road again, he lands in a monastery in Dharamsala, where he meets Sonam, a displaced Tibetan. 

To help his friend, Jaimal makes a cockamamie attempt to reunite him with his family in Tibet by way of America. Though he does not succeed, witnessing Sonam’s spirit in the face of failure offers Jaimal a deeper understanding of faith. When the two friends part, he cannot fathom the unlikely circumstances that will reunite them. 

All Our Waves Are Water follows Jaimal’s trek from the Himalayas to Indonesia; to a Franciscan Friary in New York City to the dusty streets of Jerusalem; and finally to San Francisco’s Ocean Beach. Along his journey, Jaimal prays and surfs; mourning a lost love and seeking something that keeps eluding him.

The poet Rumi wrote, "We are not a drop in the ocean. We are the ocean in a drop." All Our Waves Are Water is Jaimal’s "attempt to understand the ocean in a drop, to find that one moon shining in the water everywhere"—to find the mystery that unites us.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062405180
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	07/24/2018
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	654,056
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Jaimal Yogis is an award-winning writer, outdoorsman, and frequent teacher. He is the author of the memoir Saltwater Buddha, which has been made into a feature documentary film, and The Fear Project: What Our Most Primal Emotion Taught Me About Survival, Success, Surfing, and Love. A graduate of Columbia Journalism School, he has written for ESPN: The Magazine, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, San Francisco magazine, Surfer’s Journal, and many other publications. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Amy, and their three sons.

Editorial Reviews

[A] disarming memoir [that] seeks the stillness inside the chaos, the union inside duality.” —   BBC (from “Ten Best Beach Reads of 2017”)

“Evocative and unpretentious...wry but engaged...articulate and genuinely funny.” — San Francisco Chronicle

“Captivating.... Yogis finds wisdom everywhere [and] shows that the search for enlightenment, with its storms, lulls, and occasional thrills, is not much different from the search for the perfect wave.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“All Our Waves Are Water seeks profound lessons in the ocean.” — New York Times Book Review

“Engaging... As he draws wisdom from Tibetan monks, fellow surfers, and a beloved journalism professor, Yogis infuses All Our Waves with a rich mix of spiritual quest and down-to-earth adventurism.” — San Jose Mercury News

“Insightful, contemplative, and eloquently written, Yogis leaves us to realize that life isn’t about that elusive end goal of understanding humanity; it’s about the risks we’re willing to take in our journey to get there.” — Reza Aslan, author of No god but God and Zealot

“Jaimal Yogis writes in a fun, engaging style, and the ideas he conveys are timeless, All Our Waves Are Water is a great pleasure.” — Sharon Salzberg, New York Times bestselling author of Lovingkindness and Real Happiness

“I’ll follow Jaimal Yogis into any ocean, walk whichever road with him, and read everything he writes. It always leads to growth.” — Wallace J. Nichols, New York Times bestselling author of Blue Mind

“Spiritual questing, serious surfing, a little hip-hop, and a significant dose of deep, honest humanity—another perfect Jaimal Yogis book!” — Steven Kotler, author of West Of Jesusand The Rise of Superman

“Jamal Yogis has done it again: reminded us that our humanity depends on our connection to nature and how much we are willing to risk. It’s good to know that there is another brother like him out there in the mountains and on the waves.” — Peter Heller, author of Kook: What Surfing Taught Me about Love, Life, and Catching the Perfect Wave and Celine

“Yogis seems to have reached as close to enlightenment as anyone ever gets... He mixes science with faith and has a great sense of humor about everything along the way.” — Surfer Magazine

“Thrust forward by a seeker’s hunger to know the force that animates everything and his place inside it, Yogis takes us on a stoked and transparent ride. His eccentric and irresistible characters’ voices linger like sages. And he does something else astonishing—he brings the holy close.” — Sarah Seidelmann, author of Swimming with Elephants

“Jaimal’s journey speaks to all our sojourns through loss, self-discovery, and earnest attempts to awaken. It’s a privileged view into the life of a true seeker, a contemporary bodhisattva living and loving in the world; it’s an ode to water, to the primal and playful art of surfing.” — Arnie Kozak, author of Mindfulness A to Z and 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness

“Yogis takes us on a humorous, insightful, vulnerable, and ultimately relatable journey to inner peace. This is a spiritual book about a real person dealing with real world issues, one that can benefit us all in understanding how to surf the waves of everyday life with compassion and contentment.” — MeiMei Fox, New York Times bestselling author of Fortytude and Bend, Not Break

“In this deeply wise memoir of an already remarkable life, Jaimal Yogis takes us on a good ride through India, surfing, ancient wisdom and modern physics, and many practical insights about the waves of life. Authentic, direct, and powerful, this is a beautiful book.” — Rick Hanson, Ph.D., author of Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom

“Jaimal takes us on a raw, real and sublime ride through essays of his life journey around the world to understand the ocean in a drop through the story of his teachers in human and wave form to find what unites us.” — Shiva Rea, surfing yogini and author of Tending the Heart Fire: Living in Rhythm with the Pulse of Life

“For fellow seekers, Buddha-nature on a surfboard.” — Kirkus

“With stirring honesty... [Yogis] skillfully chronicles a journey that took him from India and Jerusalem to the sandy beaches of Indonesia and Mexico... Surfers are sure to enjoy the author’s ode to the perfect ride, but it’s the personal reflections that will draw readers.” — Booklist

“With equal doses of humor, self-deprecation and well-rendered storytelling, Yogis does a great job making these heady themes accessible and entertaining through personal experiences.” — North Bay Bohemian

“You don’t have to be a surfer to appreciate Yogis’ description of looking for the light at the end of a curling tunnel of water as a metaphor for his quest for inner peace.” — Honolulu Star Advertiser

From the Publisher

Spiritual questing, serious surfing, a little hip-hop, and a significant dose of deep, honest humanity—another perfect Jaimal Yogis book!

Steven Kotler

[A] disarming memoir [that] seeks the stillness inside the chaos, the union inside duality.

BBC (from “Ten Best Beach Reads of 2017”)

Jamal Yogis has done it again: reminded us that our humanity depends on our connection to nature and how much we are willing to risk. It’s good to know that there is another brother like him out there in the mountains and on the waves.

Peter Heller

Insightful, contemplative, and eloquently written, Yogis leaves us to realize that life isn’t about that elusive end goal of understanding humanity; it’s about the risks we’re willing to take in our journey to get there.

Reza Aslan

Thrust forward by a seeker’s hunger to know the force that animates everything and his place inside it, Yogis takes us on a stoked and transparent ride. His eccentric and irresistible characters’ voices linger like sages. And he does something else astonishing—he brings the holy close.

Sarah Seidelmann

Jaimal takes us on a raw, real and sublime ride through essays of his life journey around the world to understand the ocean in a drop through the story of his teachers in human and wave form to find what unites us.

Shiva Rea

Yogis seems to have reached as close to enlightenment as anyone ever gets... He mixes science with faith and has a great sense of humor about everything along the way.

Surfer Magazine

With equal doses of humor, self-deprecation and well-rendered storytelling, Yogis does a great job making these heady themes accessible and entertaining through personal experiences.

North Bay Bohemian

In this deeply wise memoir of an already remarkable life, Jaimal Yogis takes us on a good ride through India, surfing, ancient wisdom and modern physics, and many practical insights about the waves of life. Authentic, direct, and powerful, this is a beautiful book.

Rick Hanson

★ 04/24/2017
Yogis, a surfer, journalist, and spiritual seeker, revisits and expands on the terrain of his previous memoir (Saltwater Buddha) in a quest that blends his search for surf and enlightenment in captivating ways. Descriptions of surf sessions in Indonesia, Mexico, and San Francisco are beautiful interludes. But the book’s power is in Yogis’s description of the seeking mind caught in its own currents—and occasionally transcending them—in places such as the Himalayas, a Franciscan friary in New York, and the Western Wall in Jerusalem. In this personal study on the elusive nature of mystical experience and its ability to evade the intellect, Yogis weaves together scientific research, the words of religious scholars and poets, and the wisdom of surfers and monks. From a Tibetan monk he learns how to reside in his own sadness and loss. Later, he discovers that even a “tropical beach in Mexico with a beautiful woman, nothing much to do except surf, be creative, meditate, and eat tacos” won’t bring him lasting peace. On Ocean Beach, he seeks balance between life as a journalist and his spiritual path. Yet Yogis finds wisdom everywhere. Yogis shows that the search for enlightenment, with its storms, lulls, and occasional thrills, is not much different from the search for the perfect wave. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Engaging... As he draws wisdom from Tibetan monks, fellow surfers, and a beloved journalism professor, Yogis infuses All Our Waves with a rich mix of spiritual quest and down-to-earth adventurism.

San Jose Mercury News

Evocative and unpretentious...wry but engaged...articulate and genuinely funny.

San Francisco Chronicle

Jaimal Yogis writes in a fun, engaging style, and the ideas he conveys are timeless, All Our Waves Are Water is a great pleasure.

Sharon Salzberg

All Our Waves Are Water seeks profound lessons in the ocean.

New York Times Book Review

I’ll follow Jaimal Yogis into any ocean, walk whichever road with him, and read everything he writes. It always leads to growth.

Wallace J. Nichols

You don’t have to be a surfer to appreciate Yogis’ description of looking for the light at the end of a curling tunnel of water as a metaphor for his quest for inner peace.

Honolulu Star Advertiser

With stirring honesty... [Yogis] skillfully chronicles a journey that took him from India and Jerusalem to the sandy beaches of Indonesia and Mexico... Surfers are sure to enjoy the author’s ode to the perfect ride, but it’s the personal reflections that will draw readers.

Booklist

Jaimal’s journey speaks to all our sojourns through loss, self-discovery, and earnest attempts to awaken. It’s a privileged view into the life of a true seeker, a contemporary bodhisattva living and loving in the world; it’s an ode to water, to the primal and playful art of surfing.

Arnie Kozak

Yogis takes us on a humorous, insightful, vulnerable, and ultimately relatable journey to inner peace. This is a spiritual book about a real person dealing with real world issues, one that can benefit us all in understanding how to surf the waves of everyday life with compassion and contentment.

MeiMei Fox

Evocative and unpretentious...wry but engaged...articulate and genuinely funny.

San Francisco Chronicle

[A] disarming memoir [that] seeks the stillness inside the chaos, the union inside duality.

  BBC (from “Ten Best Beach Reads of 2017”)

With stirring honesty... [Yogis] skillfully chronicles a journey that took him from India and Jerusalem to the sandy beaches of Indonesia and Mexico... Surfers are sure to enjoy the author’s ode to the perfect ride, but it’s the personal reflections that will draw readers.

Booklist

Engaging... As he draws wisdom from Tibetan monks, fellow surfers, and a beloved journalism professor, Yogis infuses All Our Waves with a rich mix of spiritual quest and down-to-earth adventurism.

The Mercury News

Jaimal Yogis’ new memoir will take you on a journey of surfing and spiritual growth...If you’ve been dreaming of the sand and surf ever since finishing Barbarian Days, or if you like books that take on subjects of faith and spirituality, then All Our Waves Are Water will have you thinking ‘Cowabunga!’

Bookish

[A] disarming memoir [that] seeks the stillness inside the chaos, the union inside duality.

BBC

Jaimal Yogis has spent a lot of time traveling the world seeking solitary meditation, and All Our Waves Are Water is his third, charming chronicle of his adventurous discovery of himself. He continues to excel in the areas where he always has as a writer: gorgeous prose on surfing and nature; accessible, insightful interpretations of spiritual texts and teachers; light-hearted self-deprecation where you least expect it. But what sets his newest book apart, and makes it his most rewarding, is the deep focus on relationships, an unexpected twist for a guy who ran away from home in his teens.

Mark Lukach

All Our Waves Are Water is as fine a wave of candid, humble, raw, bare-it-all human wisdom as we have seen in quite some time.... Through all of the roads, waters, and mountains Jaimal has traversed on his heart’s journey, with this work of shimmering prose, he has given us an immeasurably beautiful gift.

Eastern Surf Magazine

Jaimal’s journey speaks to all our sojourns through loss, self-discovery, and earnest attempts to awaken. It’s a privileged view into the life of a true seeker, a contemporary bodhisattva living and loving in the world; it’s an ode to water, to the primal and playful art of surfing.

Dr. Arnie Kozak

2017-04-30
Eastern mysticism and Western rites of passage inform this second volume of memoir from the San Francisco-based journalist.In his latest, Yogis (The Fear Project: What Our Most Primal Emotion Taught Me About Survival, Success, Surfing…and Love, 2013, etc.) picks up where Saltwater Buddha (2009) left off. Toward the end, he writes, "somewhere along the line I realized that this book was Sonam's book—a homage to my old best friend and teacher." He had met the man who would become something of a spiritual mentor when he was in his early 20s, on a trip to India, trying to find himself and recover from the sort of heartbreak common to a young man who is torn between commitment to another and discovering his own true path. A Tibetan in exile, Sonam not only put his young friend's problems in perspective; he imbued him with a new attitude. Yogis and Sonam spent a lot of time singing John Denver's "Country Roads," adapting the verses to their own situation, and Sonam greets the day by saying, "Dis morning, I bery happy," and ends the day with, "Dis night, I bery happy." The book does more than reduce the wisdom of the East to "Don't Worry, Be Happy," but its glibness occasionally veers toward spiritual parody. When the author reunites with the girl who had broken his heart, he realized, "Sati could not glue me back together again. We were two ripples on the sea that had drifted together and crossed through each other. Exchanged molecules and skin and ideas. In a way we'd always be together. But the winds had sent us in other directions now." So Yogis went back to school to study journalism, to learn a trade as well as Eastern religions, and to the beach to surf and reflect on the notion that "God is the sea"—and eventually to a wife and children, otherwise barely mentioned until the end. For fellow seekers, Buddha-nature on a surfboard.

Kirkus Reviews