I’m delighted to share this blog post with author Tessa Hillman, who agreed to be interviewed for my writing blog all about her new spiritual book release Yoga Stories from Guru Guptananda: How to Be Happy and Healthy – Yoga Wisdom Explained.
A former biology teacher, Tessa Hillman later trained with the British wheel of Yoga and taught yoga for 30 years. She started to write in 1994 and continues to add stories to her collection. Read on to discover more about Tessa, her writing and her new book.
You are a huge yoga enthusiast and your latest book, Yoga Stories from Guru Guptananda, is all about yoga philosophy. Can you explain any more what your book is about, and who it might be for?
This book is the second half of a series of stories that came to me to help me teach aspects of yoga philosophy to my classes. It talks about the 8 limbs of yoga, which are all the stages that one needs to go through on the way to achieving enlightenment. That sounds a bit heavy, and that is why the stories are so useful in that they come in a very light-hearted and gentle way, in the voice of a guru who talks about incidents in his life as a child.
I taught yoga for 30 years, and never relished the idea of ‘talking philosophy’ to my students. These stories made it easy for me. They are suitable for bright middle grade kids, yoga students and teachers who need a bit of help, and second language English speakers.
Your previous book, The Great Little Book of Yoga Stories also features the voice of Guru Guptananda and has been described by readers as ‘a great little introduction to yoga philosophy’. What inspired you to write these books?
My first collection of stories came at a time of great spiritual frustration, in that I wanted to be able to understand and teach about the spiritual aspects of yoga, and I had no experience and no information about these things. I had taught yoga for 15 years and had a very healthy body as a result, but spiritually I felt lost. I threw up a prayer for help to God just in case ‘someone’ might be listening to me. The guru appeared in my head, and after a brief telling off, (when he told me that I shouldn’t be teaching my students about spiritual matters unless they were following the ‘rules of life’), he gave me a little story about himself as a very young child, learning how not to be greedy and selfish.
So it wasn’t a question of deciding to write them, I was not and never had been a writer. It was a matter of listening to and writing down the spiritual dictation that came to me every time I asked for a story. The first stories were rather like the Ten Commandments, they were about the Yoga rules of Life – Non violence, Truth, Non greed, Non stealing, and so on. I loved them, they made me smile and think, and that’s what they do for my students and readers.
What has your writing journey been like?
I wrote for several years once the stories started coming to me. The first 10 stories were from the Guru Guptananda, then another guide, a North American Indian Chief, came to me in his full regalia, in meditation. I asked him if he could tell me something about the laws of life of his culture. He obliged me and over time he dictated 12 stories about the ways and traditions of his people.
Then I asked him to interpret the Energy Centres of the human body in story form, related to his ways. I published them on my Yoga Stories blog. Almost immediately I received a comment from a young man from America, from one of the indigenous tribes. He loved my stories and was most encouraging. That was a great relief to me as I had half expected to be shot down in flames!
I was asked to write for an educational scheme and I produced about 40 stories for them. These stories came from all over the world. I would see the guides who came through when I went into meditation for the purpose of writing the required stories.
Do you have a writing routine? How long does it take you to write your books?
I don’t have a writing routine at all. I have produced a few stories over the last decade when people have asked me to write therapeutic or educational stories for them. In 2008 I set up my stories blog online. My writing work mainly consists of editing the in-between bits to create books that make sense. I have to discipline myself quite fiercely to get my books done, especially in the summer.
We have a large garden and growing flowers and vegetables are a much loved occupation, all too often taking over from the serious work of getting my books out! In other words it has taken over 20 years to edit and publish my first books. However, my memoir took me just a week of solid writing, impelled by an inner drive to get it done!
Are there any other yoga books (or general books!) out there that inspire you?
I enjoyed reading B.K.S. Iyengar’s books as a yoga teacher. They are heavy going, but for me at the time, in the mid 80’s and 90’s they were a great inspiration. There are so many yoga books available these days that I wouldn’t know where to start – but I’m hoping that plenty of people might start with mine. They are much broader than many in their approach to the significance of yoga, and would give younger readers a good start to their yoga life.
Do you have any advice for writers who would like to try their hand at niche subjects?
It’s tricky and I haven’t sussed it completely yet, however I have discovered that there are far more potential readers than I thought possible – finding them through the dreaded and blessed Instagram. I had no idea that so many yoga teachers were teaching kids – not so in my day, (I finished teaching in mid 2000s). They are my target audience.
If you have a niche subject, if you get your search engine optimisation right, people will find you. You need to discover the BISAC codes, British Industry Standard and Communications. These are categorisations for books that go much more deeply into their subject matter and are used to enhance searches online. Look them up.
In the early days after my stories came to me I did offer them to at least half a dozen publishers, and got the usual answer. This time round, I am creating my own publishing company, named after the Cornish name for our house – Pendreven, so we have Top of the Hill Publishing.
Is there anything you wish you’d known before becoming a published author?
Plenty of people say it’s difficult, and it is, but I have discovered that friends of friends are a great boon e.g. my editor, layout designer, publisher and marketing helper were all professionals working for writer friends of mine.
What’s next in the writing pipeline for you?
I’m working on my own memoir, because I’m still quite taken aback by the amazing things that have happened to me, once I decided to embark on a spiritual seeker’s path at the age of 43. Over the years things that could not possibly be explained by ‘rationality’, but appear to be from ‘beyond this realm’ have completely changed my life – and very much for the better, too. I’m hoping to encourage people to reach out to a more spiritual existence. It makes so much more possible in this world, and God knows, we need that right now, with a pandemic and climate change snapping at our heels.
I also have more stories in the pipeline for another new book, that I will take from my blog of over 100 stories.
You can visit Tessa’s blog here, and publishing house website here, as well as keep up to date with her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
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