The Yoga Divas and Other Stories

by Rob Dinsmoor

After one particularly intense Kundalini yoga practice, there was no turning back. My kundalini was awakened, my charkas were all open, and the world would never be the same. Like it or not, I became inextricably connected with the universe. I did not choose teaching yoga as a career-it chose me. I was a professional skeptic adrift in a universe of chanting, auras, guardian angels, Mayan shamans, sex goddesses, lost souls, self-described gurus, and yoga divas. Join me as I room with the world's creepiest human at a yoga retreat, take a session with the Yoga Nazi, adopt a dog under false pretenses, and battle the elements in Central American jungles. Here are my stories.

242 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 2010

About the author

I grew up in a university town called Bloomington, Indiana. It is a pleasant enough place, but I couldn't wait to get away from the small-town small-mindedness. I went to Dartmouth and then moved to New York, where I worked in publishing by day and wrote and performed with the comedy troupe Chucklehead by night.

Chucklehead gained some notoriety in the mid- to late-1980s but never really went anywhere. I moved to Massachusetts with my wife, but we split up. I was so saddened about the comedy writing I had left behind that I wrote a book called Tales of the Troupe. It was published in July. The troupe members are starting to hear about it, and everyone who has read it so far really liked it.

I wrote another collection called The Yoga Divas and Other Stories, about all the wonderful and whacked-out people I have met practicing and teaching yoga. I also co-authored a children's picture book with my friend Helen Kamins, called Does Dixie Like Me? It's about my gaining the trust of her rescued Border Collie Dixie and it includes excellent black-and-white drawings by Helen.

I just published a memoir called You Can Leave Anytime, about my three months in a drug and alcohol rehab facility in Florida. Meanwhile I am amassing other stories to publish yet another collection.

Reviews

[Lisette Brodey]

I’ve never been much of a short story reader and I don’t know much about Yoga, but that had nothing to do with my thoroughly enjoying this book. Rob Dinsmoor has a wonderful dry, witty style that, combined with exceptional writing, makes this book a great read.

The stories in this book are scenes from his life in the yoga universe and all of the eccentric and disparate characters that make for some laugh-out-loud colorful, creepy, scary, otherworldly, sexual, and just plain bizarre experiences. Dinsmoor’s honesty about himself and his predicaments, decisions, thoughts, actions and everything else on his mind are refreshingly funny. From Kundalini Yoga practice in Eastwick, Massachusetts to the Central American jungles, Dinsmoor shares some of his best and worst moments with the reader.

The non-Yoga stories are equally as pleasurable to read. I laughed out loud at “Terror on Werewolf Mountain” about the author at eleven years old, making a one-take werewolf movie with a friend. The story, “Toxic Cookout,” was so creepy that it made for a great opening scene in a horror film. I got the chills just reading it.

Dinsmoor offers wonderful slice-of-life stories. The Yoga Divas and Other Stories was a pleasure to read and I look forward to reading his earlier book, Tales of The Troupe.

[Dorothy Stephens]

The Yoga Divas and Other Stories by Rob Dinsmoor is about some of the eccentric and otherwise entertaining characters Rob has encountered during his years of practicing and teaching yoga. The book is full of humorous incidents and sympathic accounts by a likable, non-judgemental observer of the foibles of human nature. The non-yoga stories are equally absorbing, told with honesty and compassion.

[Marta Moran Bishop]

I found Rob Dinsmoor’s book Yoga’s Divas a thoroughly enchanting book. It captured the essence of the man and how a short story should be told.
Many of the stories I wished would have been longer. The humor and honest portrayal of not only the many characters he meets in and around his travels and life are told not to glorify or make himself better but to show the human in us all.
From his boyhood in Indiana, through his adult years as a divorced man reentering the world of dating, with the joys and disappointments that entails, Yoga’s Divas is sure to make you laugh out loud. Cry for the little boy who had his debut movie Werewolf Mountain slashed to a one take skit and show us the ability to laugh at ourselves and with others.
I don’t know much about Yoga, but that doesn’t make a difference in reading this book. If you are interested in Yoga it will make you, like it did me even more curious. If not the reader will still enjoy the descriptions of both the characters and the scenes in Yoga’s Divas for they are real and quirky.
I am looking forward to reading his earlier book and hope he continues to write.

[Teresa Martin]

Intriguing, knowledgeable yet irreverent, revealing the truth of the human personality when placed in esoteric situations and environments; this is a generally delightful, and sometimes disturbing collection of tales.

The author weaves a charming and open sexuality into nearly all of the stories that take the reader into the world of yoga teaching and practice. The atmosphere of tropical, exotic lands combined with the ancient art of yoga practice, is well conveyed and attractive. His very open motives, mixed with an "in the moment" charm, bring what could have been pretentious scenarios, down to earth.

A few of the stories stay within a more literal, and sometimes gritty reality, but always with the sense of a heightened attention and curiosity about people and the natural world. This collection is a great way to escape into some unexpected adventures during this time when we're unable to travel ourselves.

[Jen Knox]

The Yoga Divas and Other Stories lives up to its name. This book is funny, sweet, carefully-written and it captures, so wonderfully, the ridiculousness that will enter a person's life and remind him not to get too serious, even as he sets out on certain quests for enlightenment.

There were more serious stories, such as "Everything Will Be Revealed to You" that moved me; there were many stories that were wildly funny; some follow an adult yoga teacher, others a young man who is fumbling his way through life. There were a few stories that I thought could be reduced and incorporated into a previous section, or used as supportive scenes to a larger essay, such as, "A Memento of Costa Rica". In fact, my only small gripe with the book is that some of the stories seemed too episodic, but even with this small gripe, none of the stories were boring or flat. Many of them stick to the ribs, even if they're only a few pages long.

I enjoyed this book because it does what I need nonfiction to--it seems to ask more questions than it answers. For someone who's not big on narrative nonfiction, this probably makes no sense. But herein, with self-exploration, is the beauty of the genre. And believe me, it's not easy to pull off. Dinsmoor does, though, and he does so with a unique blend of humor, insight, a little neurosis and a lot of warmth.

[Alisa Hedden]

A book full of charming anecdotes by someone that thoroughly enjoys his life and can even find joy in the rough spots.
A practicing Buddhist, while not a vegetarian, trying to have compassion for all living things. But, instead of trying to present himself as a perfect example and teacher, he does show his failures, too in the "Angel of Death" episode, and some others that show his simply human foibles. Reading this reminds me of the Medicine Woman books by Lynn V Andrews and also brings to mind something Robert Heinlein once said "The more you love, the more you can love and the more intensely you love. Nor is there any limit on how many you can love. If a person had time enough, he could love all of that majority who are decent and just."
Rob reminds me of a favorite uncle who has come to visit, told wonderful stories and made a (very polite) pass at the attractive neighbor lady.

[Stuart]

The Yoga Divas is a delightful combination of short stories written in the authors’ witty and highly entertaining style. Rob Dinsmoors’ detailed illustrations of life from his first encounter with the Kundalini yoga practice and his euphoric experience at the local diner are intoxicating for this reader.

I found myself laughing out loud with the many colourful, entertaining, and unconventional characters he meets along the way. The authors’ descriptive narrative highlights his perceptive nature. Each of the stories is superbly crafted by a skilled and humorous storyteller. I enjoyed the diversity of topics throughout, and have just purchased Rob Dinsmoors’ first collection titled, The Tales of The Troupe. I highly recommend The Yoga Divas’ as fun, light hearted reading entertainment.

[Jnana Hodson]

I'm not sure how much of this is fiction and how much is memoir, but it is funny and acidly on target. The chapters follow a 40s-something divorced man named Rob, just like the author, in his social encounters, mostly with yoga women (the divas) north of Boston, not all that far from where I live, or off in Bloomington, Indiana, profoundly in my past. He knows the variety of name-brand teachings, for sure, as he hops from one yoga studio to the next before running off through a set of wild and often self-deprecating unrelated journeys far from the exercise mat. Somehow, everyone survives.

[Marta Moran Bishop]

I found Rob Dinsmoor’s book Yoga’s Divas a thoroughly enchanting book. It captured the essence of the man and how a short story should be told.
Many of the stories I wished would have been longer. The humor and honest portrayal of not only the many characters he meets in and around his travels and life are told not to glorify or make himself better but to show the human in us all.
From his boyhood in Indiana, through his adult years as a divorced man reentering the world of dating, with the joys and disappointments that entails, Yoga’s Divas is sure to make you laugh out loud. Cry for the little boy who had his debut movie Werewolf Mountain slashed to a one take skit and show us the ability to laugh at ourselves and with others.
I don’t know much about Yoga, but that doesn’t make a difference in reading this book. If you are interested in Yoga it will make you, like it did me even more curious. If not the reader will still enjoy the descriptions of both the characters and the scenes in Yoga’s Divas for they are real and quirky.
I am looking forward to reading his earlier book and hope he continues to write.

[Rob Dinsmoor]

Okay, I think this book is pretty good, but I'm obviously biased. A lot of people have told me how much they love it, though!