Named Kirkus Reviews' Best Indie Books of 2024 R.G. Shore is a meditation Master, legal advocate, and the Founder of Northwest Wisdom - a nonprofit dedicated to healing spiritual wounds through embodied awareness and contemplative practice. Incarcerated in an almost all-white prison, R.G. discovered meditation not as an escape, but as a profound act of self-reclamation - learning to inhabit, love, and heal his brown body amidst racism and injustice. He went on to study law and advocate for the very men who had oppressed him. His debut memoir, The Ocean Inside Me, was awarded Kirkus Reviews' Best Indie Books of 2024, Nautilus Book Awards Gold Winner, Firebird Award recipient for Spirituality, Finalist for Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Kirk's Reviews called it, "an insightful, mystic, exploration of spiritual and racial healing." R.G. Continues to teach meditation and healing through Northwest Wisdom, helping others transform their deepest wounds into sources of wisdom, freedom and connection. "Five Stars" - Indies Today "A refreshingly compassionate way of seeing the world." - Indies Today Full Review: "From goat yoga to ASMR, humans have found creative and delightful ways to relax, gain a sense of calm, and find internal harmony. But nothing could prepare R.G. Shore for the level of determination required to find balance and peace while incarcerated for almost a thousand days. The Ocean Inside Me is partly a moving memoir and partly a guided meditation that helps readers connect to themselves in even the most chaotic circumstances. Free from malice yet forthcoming enough to convey the desperation and hopelessness felt by so many who are imprisoned, Shore's autobiographical account hones in on a practice that enabled him to survive and heal, meditation. With a focus less on the circumstances that led to a prison sentence and more on a healthy path forward, the author illustrates how to create positive change. "You can't control anyone else's actions, but your own." Such examples of hard-earned wisdom are delivered earnestly, born from the heavy weight of experience. If you're new to meditation, the author's personal reflections are sketched out like poetry, vivid enough to grant readers a sense of security and release while acting as a beneficial tool. Despite viewpoints shaped by years of racial and religious trauma, the author radiates a refreshingly compassionate way of seeing the world. His ideas on tribalism in the context of incarceration are thought-provoking, offering some insights into what can drive people to hateful words and actions. Without condoning repugnant cruelty, racism, and xenophobia, the author offers an enlightened perspective and paves the way for goodwill by reflecting on the upbringing and history of other inmates. Endless contrasts highlight the author's unrelenting struggles: Finding spiritual space when personal physical space has been almost entirely removed. Anger at war with empathy. Ego versus spirituality. Proximity with men who appear tough on the outside but devastatingly fragile on the inside. And pain that prevents but eventually allows healing. Traumas mold us, but only we can choose to be shaped into something productive and harmonious, and that is the journey readers are invited to take. A story about taking the time to pay attention to everything, Shore's account is moving, and the included meditations serve as a guide that encourages us to get to know ourselves better. When we do, we are reminded of the need to be kind to ourselves and, by extension, to be gentle to others. East collides with West then coalesces into a focused whole in The Ocean Inside Me: A Spiritual Memoir on Healing Racial Trauma." - Indies Today R.G. Shore is an award-winning author and founder of Northwest Wisdom, a nonprofit organization that focuses on helping people heal through spiritual counseling, reiki, energy healing and yoga. R.G. Shore lives with his wife Jess in Oregon.