Talking Story: One Woman's Quest to Preserve Ancient Spiritual and Healing Traditions

by Marie-Rose Phan-Lê

A fascinating adventure into the world of healing, shamanism, plant medicine, and divination, Talking Story documents author Marie-Rose Phan-Lê's worldwide journey to find healing and truth from authentic mystics and shamans, while recording their disappearing traditions and discovering her own gift as a healer. Facing a crisis of faith after a profound betrayal by her New Age spiritual teacher, Phan-Lê is set on a path toward the exploration of the Old World. Learning that many indigenous cultures were on the verge of losing their medicinal plants, healing traditions, and spiritual knowledge as a result of habitat destruction, cultural assimilation, and globalization, she travels the globe, meeting with healers and shamans and documenting their practices.

Describing each exciting leg of her journey, Phan-Lê embarks on a life-changing odyssey that takes her to remote corners of the globe including Eastern Peru, Hawaii, Nepal, India, Vietnam, and China. In the midst of her exploration, she begins to connect with her own healing roots, following in the footsteps of her aunt who in Vietnam had been a healer. Once back in the U.S., Phan-Lê's spiritual development continues and she decides to use media as medicine and to be a medium for healing. This book is part of a greater cross-platform of spiritual media that includes Phan-Lê's accompanying award-winning feature-length documentary film Talking Story and her nonprofit organization Healing Planet Project that is dedicated to the preservation and presentation of healing and spiritual traditions through media.

Genres: Nonfiction, Spirituality, Travel

232 pages, Paperback

First published December 2, 2014

About the author

Marie-Rose Phan-Lê is an award-winning filmmaker and author. She won the Nautilus Book Award Gold Prize and Bookvana Book Prize for her memoir, Talking Story. She has extensive experience in film, television, and new media production. Marie-Rose has traveled globally for various projects, including her award-winning documentary film, the companion to her memoir. Among her other creative pursuits, she is also a Singer-Songwriter and Interior Design Consultant.

She enjoys applying ancient wisdom to the modern challenges of being a present, whole-hearted leader and conscious producer of impactful media.

Marie-Rose was born in Vietnam, emigrated to France, and later to the United States. Having been a war refugee as a child and growing into someone who now has the privilege to live the American dream, she derives great joy from supporting others to express their greatest potential.

Reviews

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating story of Marie- Rose's quest to record and write about the ancient spiritual and healing traditions, some which are becoming extinct. We follow her and her crew, as they travel to far and sometimes remote areas to film the different types of healing, from Shamans to seers to doctors and teachers, exorcisms and even to witness a medicine potentization ceremony. She travels from Seattle WA, to Peru, Hawaii, Nepal, India, Vietnam, China and New York State.
The author who is Vietnamese by birth, but who came to the United States when she was young, also has a gift for healing but has been unsure of her capacities. Through this journey we see her develop her gift and watch her go through some powerful experiences, some a bit scary as she did not understand what was happening to her. Each of the healers welcomed what she was trying to accomplish, thus allowing her to film, so that their traditions would be preserved for future generations. They also quite often would help her understand her gifts.
I loved in her acknowledgments the one to her mother that says: “I would like to express my love and gratitude to mom for starting me down this path of living the mundane while reaching for the heavens.” and the one to the healers: “I am forever grateful to all the healers who left us with breadcrumbs to follow and signpost to point the way home.”
This story will stick with me for a long time as will the people she encounters on this journey.

[Sandra Holladay · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, let me say that I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

Ms. Phan-Le wrote in an engaging and personal style that pulled me in. Her experiences of traveling to various cultures to film their ancient healing traditions and the effect the incidences and the people she met had on her personally left an impression of consideration, love, and compassion I never expected to find from so many towards strangers. Her struggles to fulfill this quest, the changes that transpired in her as a result of the people she met, and the soul searching she finally allowed herself to do generated a book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading and would recommend to others.

[Anastasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely not your average adventure narrative! The author meets traditional healers from many cultures and goes through an amazing transformation in the process. Wish I can follow in her footsteps someday!

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talking Story is a heartfelt journey into healing traditions across cultures. It is also an intimate reflection of the author’s own path. She writes with such honesty, reverence, and warmth that you feel as if you are travelling alongside her and meeting these wisdom keepers yourself. Marie-Rose takes the reader on a journey across cultures—from S America to Hawaii, Tibet, India, China and Vietnam —offering a rare window into the practices of shamans, healers, and wisdom keepers who often remain hidden from the modern world.

It’s a beautiful blend of memoir, travel, and spiritual insight that left me reflecting on my own roots and connections. A truly special book written by a truly special person. This book has stayed with me long after I turned the last page.

[Sarah Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

A powerful and eye opening journey into the heart of ancient wisdom and healing. Marie Rose Phan Lê beautifully weaves personal discovery with the preservation of traditions that the world is in danger of losing. Both inspiring and deeply moving, Talking Story is a book that lingers in the soul long after the last page.

[Jennifer]

I enjoyed the travels but the mystical content is just not my jam.

[Josephine Ensign · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I really wanted to fall in love with this book, I just couldn't. There were flashes of 'like' however, especially while I was reading the two or so chapters on the author's visits with native Hawaiian 'natural' healers. But the book overall was disjointed and unevenly written in a very informal jargon-ish way that detracted from the narrative. Plus, I couldn't help comparing it (unfavorably) to one of my favorite books, A Fortune-Teller Told Me, by Tiziano Terzani.