Regular Linda’s Book Bag readers will know I’ve had some tricky times over the last three or four years with my husband having had a mini-stroke and developing cancer, my beloved Dad dying, as well as our full term still-born great-niece, suffering some weird illness that left me hallucinating and passing out at random for most of last summer and my Mum currently frequently ill and in and out of hospital.

I thought I’d had a tough time but Dina Glouberman has had her fair share of difficulty too and I’m thrilled that as part of the launch celebrations for Into the Woods and Out again she is staying in to tell me more today and help me put my own life in perspective!

Into the Woods and Out Again is published today, 1st June 2018, and is available for purchase here.

Into the Woods and Out Again

1971 was the year Dina Glouberman went mad.

Now, for the first time, Dr Dina Glouberman, renowned psychotherapist and author, co-founder of the world-famous Skyros Holidays, creator of Imagework therapy, and author of The Joy of Burnout, writes with candour and humour about a spell in a psychiatric ward. Indeed, she describes it as enlivening and enlightening, a catalyst for her rich and creative life.

This memoir traces the journey from those wild and intense weeks in the Middlesex Hospital through five years of “normal life” and then on to twelve years of extraordinary creativity, when she had two babies, co-founded Skyros Holidays on a Greek island, pioneered her Imagework approach to therapy and personal development, had a life-changing spiritual experience, faced the loss of her father and brother, and wrote her first book.

At the end of this book, a new cycle is just beginning, as she burns out, dismantles her marriage and her life, and discovers what is next. This remarkable memoir is a revealing meditation on the behind-the-scenes world of therapy and psychoanalysis in the 1960s, as well as on marriage, mothering, madness, imagination, aloneness, community and spirituality. Into the Woods and Out Again captures the inner life of a woman who has played a major role in the contemporary holistic and therapeutic world.

Staying in with Dina Glouberman

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Dina. Thank you for agreeing to stay in with me. Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it? 

Into the Woods and Out Again: A memoir of Love, Madness and Transformation (Sphinx 2018). This is my latest book, it’s different from all the others because it’s a memoir that ranges from madness to miracles. It’s very personal and honest and funny, and I’m excited about it, and want everyone to read it!

(I love the concept of madness to miracles!)

What can we expect from an evening in with Into the Woods and Out Again: A memoir of Love, Madness and Transformation? 

This is a memoir about the inside story of about 18 action packed years of my life, ranging from a breakdown and time on a psychiatric ward, to an intensely creative period of setting up Skyros Holistic Holidays on a Greek island, creating an imagery based approach to therapy and self help, and having spiritual breakthroughs. There’s also marriage, mothering, learning to be single but not alone, and an insight a day to help me keep going and keep growing.  The book generally describes the inner path of a woman who wants to listen to her inner voice, and to make her dreams into a reality.

(My goodness. You’ve certainly managed to pack a lot in Dina!)

I’ve always written self help books.  This book shows what I’ve done and how I’ve done it in my own life. And hopefully I’ve been through so much, and learned from every bit of it, that there will be something for everyone who is reading it.

There’s a foreword by the late Sue Townsend, who read an earlier draft of the book, and I’ll quote a bit of it:

Dina has enabled many people, including me, to validate their lives.  She has the gifts of empathy, wisdom, high intelligence and humour, and this book is never less that seriously entertaining (and entertainingly serious) I hope you enjoy this brilliant and funny book and find something in these pages that reminds you that it is still wonderful to be human.

I have lot of other quotes, but I love this especially.

(I’m not surprised. What a lovely endorsement. It certainly entices me to read Into the Woods and Out Again: A memoir of Love, Madness and Transformation.)

What else have you brought along and why?

I’ve brought along a Greek salad, a bottle of Greek wine, and a whole table of ample and wonderful  Greek food right by the sea in Skyros, where we started our holiday centre in 1979.  And the memory of a young girl, daring to do all that she is doing, because she loves community so much, and because she is so excited by the idea of creating a world that gives people loads of happiness and a chance to reboot their lives.

And what could be better than doing it on a Greek island with her handsome Greek husband, Yannis.

What better indeed. Dina. That’s a smashing photo of you both too. Thank you so much for staying in with me. Congratulations on today’s publication of Into the Woods and Out Again: A memoir of Love, Madness and Transformation.

About Dina Glouberman

Dina Glouberman is the visionary co-founder of Skyros Holistic Holidays, in Greece and worldwide, author of the classic books Life Choices, Life Changes, The Joy of Burnout, and You Are What You Imagine, and an international trainer, coach, and psychotherapist. She has been a pioneer for over thirty years in creating, teaching and practising the use of Imagework to tap into the imagination that guides our lives, and make creative life choices and profound life changes.

You can find out more about Dina by visiting her blog and following her on Twitter @dinaglouberman. You will find Dina on Facebook and there’s more with these other bloggers: