Pastiloff’s inspirational memoir, On Being Human: A Memoir of Waking Up, Living Real and Listening Hard, recounts how years of waitressing taught her to seek out unexpected beauty; how deafness taught her to listen fiercely; how being vulnerable allowed her to find love; and how imperfections can lead to a life full of wild happiness.

Centered on the touchstone stories told in her popular workshops, On Being Human is the story of how a starved person grew into the exuberant woman she was meant to be all along by battling the demons within and winning. Pastiloff did not intend to become a yoga teacher, but when she was given the opportunity to host her own retreats, she left her thirteen-year waitressing job and said “yes,” despite crippling fears of her inexperience and her own potential. After years of feeling depressed, anxious, and hopeless, in a life that seemed to have no escape, she healed her own heart by caring for others. She has learned to fiercely listen despite being nearly deaf, to banish shame attached to a body mass index, and to rebuild a family after the debilitating loss of her father when she was eight. Through her journey, Pastiloff conveys the experience most of us are missing in our lives: being heard and being told, “I got you.”

Pastiloff has created a massive online following from her personal essays and teachings. She is also the founder of the online magazine The Manifest-Station. Pastiloff leads annual retreats to Italy and France and is a regular guest speaker at Canyon Ranch and Miraval Resorts. She also leads Writing and The Body workshops with author Lidia Yuknavitch, offering scholarships through The Aleksander Fund to women who have lost a child.

When she is not traveling she is based in Los Angeles with her husband and son and a cup of coffee. She is also the creator of @nobullshitmotherhood and @gPowerYouAreEnough on Instagram.

Her motto to live by is “don’t be an asshole”. She evens owns the URL.

PHOTO CREDIT: KT Chick