Living on the Spine: A Woman's Life in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains - Paperback

by Christina Nealson (Author)

It's the rare woman who creates the opportunity to discover who she is outside of others' expectations. Facing forty, a spiritual vacuum and a daughter who was college-bound, Nealson moved into the rugged mountains of Colorado in search of a "different kind of learning." Untethered from the roles that defined her - mother, wife and psychotherapist - she endeavored to live one year alone within the movement of the four seasons. She built a small, remote cabin and marked the passage of time with the moon and sun as she melded with landscape and the wild beings who inhabited her terrain. She stared down bears at midnight and dug her own spring as she carved her existence with her horse, dog and two feral cats. Ultimately, her one year pilgrimage turned to five, as savored solitude and sweat delivered her to revelations about women's inextricable tie to survival, nature and Eros. Living on the Spine: a book to behold and be held.

Author Biography

Christina Nealson was born and raised in the Iowa heartland and has lived in the Southwest for over 30 years. She is author of four books - Drive Me Wild: A Western Odyssey; New Mexico's Sanctuaries, Retreats and Sacred Places; Living on the Spine: A Woman's Life in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and At the Edge: Cooperative Teachings for Global Survival. The geo-gypsy and photojournalist has followed her heart and assignments to Africa, Central America and across the back roads of the U.S. West, Canada and Mexico. She teaches, lectures and blogs about the wild as she travels solo with Teak the chocolate lab and Hobo, an orange tabby who climbed onto the undercarriage of her truck in the British Columbia backwoods. Visit her at christinanealson.com and follow her Wildwords Blog at christinanealson.blogspot.com