Reviewed by Faridah Nassozi for Readers' Favorite

Ramakrishna Michaels was born and raised in a family where expressing emotions was taboo. As a result, he was forced to bottle up many painful emotions, an act that would affect the rest of his life. In his memoir titled Growing Old With Grace: How a Shakti Guru Transformed My Life, Ramakrishna Michaels narrates his life story and how yoga and meditation saved his life. While the task of writing this incredible book begun in 2004 while attending one of his usual Monday sessions with his guru, the journey that led him to this place, as narrated in the book, began from his childhood. It was a long and hard journey heavily tainted by substance abuse and all sorts of destructive behavior. The book tells a tale of the life of a man whose far less than ideal childhood circumstances set him on a dark path and how spiritual practice under the guidance of a wonderful guru saved his life.

Growing Old With Grace: How a Shakti Guru Transformed My Life by Ramakrishna Michaels is an inspiring memoir about life, vices, consequences and healing through spiritual practice. The book gives a wonderful insight into mediation and its miracles. There is a lot to take in from this amazing memoir but three points stood out for me above all else; karma or cause and effect, how divine enlightenment can bring about amazing results to both your spiritual and physical being, and, most importantly, the thought that no matter how dark your current circumstances, there is still hope for you. I admired the fact that Ramakrishna Michaels did not try to give excuses for his behavior during those dark years, but instead used those details to show others that even after you hit rock bottom, you can still get up. Growing Old With Grace: How a Shakti Guru Transformed My Life is a three-part autobiography about a troubled childhood followed by self destruction and then an inspiring spiritual journey, each part in its own right as compelling.