How did a chubby, sickly little girl from a working-class family overcome her challenging beginnings and evolve into the woman who went on to check off every dream or aspiration — romance, celebrity, adventure?
Kiss Me, Swami: The Spiritual Education of a Beauty Queen by Kathalynn Turner Davis is the story of a woman’s quest for self-actualization…a modern, slightly less fantastical series of Wizard of Oz-like adventures, set against a backdrop of some of the most exciting times in American history.
Pop culture enthusiasts will thrill to hear inside-Hollywood revelations and disclosures, but this is far more than a tell-all. More than anything else, this book speaks to the spiritual seeker in all of us.
Kathalynn’s riveting memoir is about how she found herself in the midst of the zeitgeist, a protagonist swept into a series of cultural movements, including finding herself in Hollywood in the 1960s and ’70s, front-row center in an exploding sexual revolution and a lively scene shifting from Old Hollywood. She recounts her close encounters with Troy Donahue, Elvis, and Frank Sinatra.
Fate would later have her living in the famed Dakota building in New York City, where she counted famed composer Leonard Bernstein, John Lennon and Yoko Ono as neighbors and describes the shock and trauma of being within earshot of the gunfire that killed Lennon.
“I am as susceptible to fear and doubt as the next person,” Kathalynn acknowledges. “My belief in myself and my potential was continually at war with my insecurities, which won their share of battles. But overall, my life has turned out to uncannily reflect those early, persistent wishes.”
Kathalynn divulges how her keen intuition and deep faith, walking the tightrope between destiny and choice, led her to manifest each desire, one after another.
Like Forrest Gump, Kathalynn found herself a protagonist swept into a series of cultural movements. But she’ll be the first to say that while she was there, she never felt truly part of any of it. Hence her unique take. Combining her raw honesty, acute insight, and biting wit, Kathalynn’s Kiss Me, Swami takes readers on an exhilarating ride that reveals how she learned to connect to the deepest spiritual forces and manifest her destiny.
Kathalynn is a life coach, psychotherapist, as well as an actress and writer. She has studied both Eastern and Western philosophies and teachings. In addition to her long psychotherapist and coaching practice, she has a body of work in film, television, and theater. She has a master’s (MSW) from Columbia University.
Kathalynn Turner Davis, author of Kiss Me, Swami: The Spiritual Education of a Beauty Queen, will appear at a free book signing event on Tuesday, Oct. 29, at Books & Books, 3409 Main Hwy. In Coconut Grove.
