Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

His evolution from childhood dreamer to world-class athlete catapults him, over a span of two decades, through mind-expanding experiences with four radically different mentors who prepare him for his calling as a down-to-earth spiritual teacher.įor forty years, through books and seminars, Millman has shown how to live with a peaceful heart and a warrior’s spirit. In this long-awaited true story of a search for the good life, bestselling author Dan Millman describes his quest for meaning in the modern world, including the story behind his writing of the spiritual classic, Way of the Peaceful Warrior. “This story is mine, but the way belongs to us all.” His new book is Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit: The True Story of My Spiritual Quest. His keynotes, seminars, and workshops span the generations to influence men and women from all walks of life. Much of Dan’s time is devoted to speaking. He suffers a debilitating physical injury which forces him to work very hard to get back where he was ability wise earlier, but much wiser for successfully negotiating his transformation to wise old Grasshopper.

There is a lot of jumping around scene wise during which we don’t know what is dream (part of getting his head straight) or reality showing his maturing personality. By chance he meets his “Yoda”/Shaolin priest/Boss Paul who helps him “git his head straight” after which he goes on to be comfortable with his athletic prowess albeit not exactly Olympic caliber. Overall though, I did enjoy it and got many good ideas, inspirations, and butt kicks out of it, so it was all good.The story is about a young gymnast Dan Millman played by Scott Mechlowicz, and his struggle to make sense of his life in which he is successful but still unfulfilled. What I didn't like were the several totally magical/fantastical/shamanistic elements if these were brought down to earth and reality and explained as simple visualizations rather than as special powers of the teacher, I think it would have made the book lose less of its seriousness and value. The book reminded me a lot of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance the fact that the teacher was a gas station attendant and car mechanic must have been an implicit nod to the Motorcycle inspirations. It also demonstrated the hard work it takes to make real change in life and the value of good teachers. The book definitely was inspirational, and I liked many of its Zen-like lessons, such as about paying attention to life, being happy for no reason, and appreciating each moment you have.

I had it on my reading list for a while, and several people recommended it to me. I just finished reading Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman.