Local Books: Seduction by the sea

Raised in a community where growing fields carpet the valley floor, warmed by a relentless sun, cooled by Pacific breezes and sheltered by two mountain ranges to the east and west, Maria Best grew up spending her hours in nature, “forest bathing” and seashore soaking.

Today she operates in partnership with nature to enhance the wellbeing of people.

Best is a certified nature and forest therapy guide, board-certified professional organizer, and Feng shui practitioner who specializes in biophilic design — a focus on creating spaces based on connectivity to the natural environment. A self-proclaimed spacial-wellness practitioner, Best says she owns the term but recognizes that it resonates with many people.

“Through the pillars that support my spacial-wellness practices, I offer classes to help people clear out their environment, implement a system and structure that facilitates their daily lives, and get out into the forest to clear their hearts and minds. I, myself, have found intense clarity and creativity since I started offering these classes.”

Best’s voicemail message says she may be helping someone clear out a closet or quiet their mind or find solace and space among the trees.

Based on a desire to reach a wider audience with her messages and to explore the complexities of the writing world, Best has written “Come to Me, Called the Sea.”

“This book showed up in me during a morning walk at Moss Landing,” she said. “It sat with me for a year and a half and would not leave me alone. The process of creating this book was unexpected, unique. I didn’t sit down to write this; it just happened. The seashore whispered to me and said, ‘Please share this.’”

Admittedly, Best felt rather exposed, vulnerable even, as she developed what she considers a very personal and yet simple, rhythmic, shoreline adventure, suitable for any age and audience.

“As I wrote and as I finished the story, and even after it was published,” she said, “I’ve been working hard to not put my own definition on what it’s supposed to be and, instead, trusting what it is and what it will be for those who read it.”

The surface structure of “Come to Me, Called the Sea,” the words on the page and what they say, follows the path taken by a girl who awakens to the sun and feels inspired to spend the morning at the seashore. The deep structure or what it all means as she experiences her adventure, is up to the reader to interpret through their own lens.

“I believe this story, complemented by the beautiful pen-and-ink illustrations by my niece, artist Al Best, is an invitation to connect with beings in an around the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary,” said Best, “and the numerous adventures that await there. It’s also a super vulnerable thing to do, and I was glad to partner with my niece on this special project.”

Indoor & outdoor inspirations

Growing up in Salinas, in an environment that may have felt familiar but not natural to Best, she spent her early years trying to create a sense of order in a disorganized and cluttered home, already understanding she needed to be housed in a more personal and sacred space.

“My childhood also was a time,” she said, “when I subconsciously began my life-long relationship with books and the outdoors. It was in the meadows and among the trees where I could always find stillness and calm. It wasn’t uncommon to find me hiding in a tree, reading Alice in Wonderland while eagerly searching for a rabbit hole to fall into.”

Understanding the chaos of a cluttered environment versus the calm that comes when we have no more than we need, Best launched her business in 2019, at first, to help people consolidate their living spaces. Yet, as she was helping to organize their lives, she identified blockages behind the clutter. She began training in the philosophy and practices of Feng shui — a method of balancing yin and yang, of improving the flow and function of a space—and forest bathing, a mediative ritual that goes beyond hiking or trail walking through the trees, to become more “grounded” as a way to quiet our minds and access the wisdom of the natural world.

Imagine the energy difference between hailing a taxi in Manhattan and hiking through Pfeiffer State Park, the Mitteldorf Preserve, or along the Ribera Beach Coastal Trail, she says.

“There is such simplicity in the beauty of living a life that is meaningful to us and to the people around us,” Best said. “There is something deeply powerful in tending to our family and loved ones and caring for one another. We are so easily disconnected from people; we need to gather ‘round the fire instead of needing to put them out. Part of my book is simply an invitation to slow down and see what is natural and right and beautiful.”

Maria Best wants people to care about our planet, our home, to be in love with it.

“People protect what they love, which needs to be our natural world. Without that,” she said, “we are not respecting its beauty and generosity. It wants to care for us, and this needs to be reciprocal. Imagine if we could begin each day with, ‘How do I care for my planet today’?’

Maria Best’s book, “Come to Me, Called the Sea,” is a poetic invitation to connect with ourselves by experiencing what it feels like to spend time in our natural environment. It is, she says, that simple.

Best and her services are available through lookingforspacesolutions.com. Her book, “Come to Me, Called the Sea,” is available at River House Books and through Amazon.