Recovering My Voice

"Recovering My Voice" follows the story of Aruni Nan Futuronsky from her earliest memories-on the beach with her family as a child-to her current position as a teacher and coach at the Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living. As a young girl, Aruni struggled with a non-traditional sexuality and an incapacitating stutter. The memoir begins in her childhood years, a bittersweet mix of tender memories-moments with her father in his grocery store, a magical morning at Girl Scout camp-and harder times, periods colored by isolation and feelings of helplessness. After Part I, we follow Aruni into her adolescence and early adulthood as she continues to suffer through painful gender confusion and a hollow heterosexual marriage. Finally, Aruni faces her truth and breaks free. At the end of Part II, she moves to New York City and aligns herself with a group of radical Jewish feminist lesbians. But the excitement of her new city life quickly spirals out of control, and in her twenties and thirties, Aruni struggles through drugs, alcohol, and a series of failed relationships. All the while, she continues to teach English at an inner city high school, mitigating her growing discontent by smoking pot during lunch breaks. At the end of Part III, Aruni has hit rock bottom. After coming to while banging her head on the floor without a clue how long she's been there, Aruni decides to face her addiction and attends her first AA meeting-a choice that changes the course of her life. In Part IV, Aruni embraces her new alcohol- and drug-free existence. After taking a workshop at Kripalu in the Berkshires, she makes the decision to leave her city life behind and relocate to the ashram. There her spiritual journey takes off, full of soulful discoveries, growing pains, and a wonderful sense of self-discovery. In Part V, Aruni shifts from itinerant wanderer to guide and teacher, reflecting on the lessons she has learned and sharing with us the invaluable wisdom she has gained from her rich and varied experiences. Aruni's voice is fresh, funny, and heartbreaking, replete with emotional vulnerability and honesty. Recovering My Voice enlightens while it entertains, instructs while it inspires. Like the best of memoirs, is the story of one woman's life told against a backdrop of universal echoes.