At sixteen, suicidal and weighing almost 200 lbs., Katherine Jansen-Byrkit was far from feeling or living expansively. The journey of waking up for her began with a suicide attempt and the long, hard passage between despair and hope. After healing from the inside out, she shares her message. Moving from the inner world to the outer, Katherine provides insights, practices and inspirational stories as she explores nine aspects of wakefulness.

This river guide reflects the human voyage of finding our way to an awakened self. As with a river traversing steep mountains and winding valleys, our inner and outer worlds can be encumbered by old beliefs, preoccupation with death, or compromised relationships to others, all of which can interfere with living wakefully. In her work, Katherine suggests another possibility: to wake up through our human life, not in spite of it.