Joan Tollifson points to the ever-changing, ever-present aliveness Here / Now—that which is most obvious and impossible to doubt. Her approach is open and direct, nonconceptual, down to earth, and grounded in awareness. Joan is interested in being awake to life as it is, seeing through the imaginary problem that we think is binding us and opening to the vastness and possibility that is Here / Now. She has an affinity with Buddhism, Advaita and radical nonduality, but she belongs to no tradition. In her books and meetings, Joan draws from her own experiences with addiction and other human issues. She is the author of Bare-Bones Meditation: Waking Up from the Story of My Life (1996), Awake in the Heartland: The Ecstasy of What Is (2003), Painting the Sidewalk with Water: Talks and Dialogs about Nonduality (2010), Nothing to Grasp (2012), and (forthcoming) Death: The End of Self-Improvement (slated for publication in 2013). Joan has lived in California, New York and Chicago, and is currently living in southern Oregon.