About

She grew up running barefoot through Ohio horse farm pastures, experiencing a magical wholeness in nature that most people never know. Then she met a Bosnian war refugee in New York and followed him to the aftermath of genocide—where she witnessed the war-torn streets, the widows of Srebrenica, and a grandmother's unconditional love that shattered every religious belief she'd been taught.

By 33, Alison Storm had traversed continents searching for something she couldn't name. Two marriages. Two divorces. A heart abandoned in Chicago. A vow never to love again. She found her freedom on the turquoise coast of Turkey, discovered ancient spiritual sites in Ephesus, and journeyed to a tiny mountain village in Brazil where healers helped her reclaim her heart.

But it wasn't any of these journeys that changed everything.

It was a stranger on a New York sidewalk who handed her a book.

Thirty-Three: A Love Story is the raw, unflinching story of a spontaneous spiritual awakening that erupted on December 12, 2012—complete with kundalini rising, transcendent visions, and seven months of walking through Manhattan in an altered state while trying to hold down a fashion job and not look insane.

This is what transformation really looks like: messy, ecstatic, terrifying, and ultimately liberating.

From horse farms to war zones. From Turkey's sacred shores to Brazil's healing mountains. From the depths of heartbreak to kundalini awakening. From corporate fashion exec to spiritually awakened woman on a mission to help others remember who they really are.

This is a love story—not between two people, but between a woman and her own soul.

For readers who loved Eat Pray Love, The Untethered Soul, and Wild—this is the spiritual memoir you've been waiting for.

EXCERPTS

On Love and Heartbreak

"Leaving my heart behind me in the streets of Chicago that dark rainy night, the next morning I booked a flight back to New York. I tried with all of my might to persuade my delicate heart to come with me, but she wouldn't.Heart, I said, please come with me. We will start a new life in New York. My heart wasn't willing to join me. No, I moved all the way to Chicago after many painful years. I'm done. Chicago is my home and I'm staying here for good. You'll have to move on with your life without me."

On Kundalini Rising (December 12, 2012)

"A powerful energy arises in my body. This is accompanied by a feeling of vitality. I experience it first in the base of my pelvis. As it creeps upward into my stomach, I begin to pant. My legs shudder, my arms quiver, and my muscles tense. The intense pressure within me generates a sensation that spreads through me like a whole-body orgasm—yet it's unlike any orgasm I have ever experienced. As my legs and arms convulse, the force of the energy shifts my spine into a curved position. I can no longer control my body and it shakes like mad. When the pressure moves into the top of my head, it's like a weight is compressing my skull. It almost feels like my head is about to crack wide open. For a full 40 minutes, I feel like I am being hijacked. Who's in the driver's seat? It's as if I am being swallowed in a sea of transcendence and there's nothing I can do but succumb."

ON HEAVEN ON EARTH

"What is this heaven like? It consists of a nirvana of ecstatic unconditional love that bubbles up within us and flows out to all around us. To enjoy it, we don't need to earn it, don't need to do a single thing. Once we awaken, we realize we just are love—it's that simple."