Mystic Nomad

A Woman’s Wild Journey to True Connection

Annette Knopp

Paperback
9781958972977
US $24.99
eBook available
November 2025

A raw and revelatory spiritual memoir that chronicles a woman’s quest for love, healing, and awakening across multiple continents.

From the emotional barrenness of a postwar German childhood to the false promise of guru culture, the ecstasy of mystical experience, and the crucible of human intimacy, Annette Knopp’s unflinchingly honest account illuminates both the pitfalls and rewards of the spiritual path and her work as a teacher assisting others in navigating the path to wholeness.

Struggling with depression and lack of meaning prompts the author to leave her fiancé and successful career in Spain to travel to the Osho ashram in Pune. Her journey takes her further to the Dalai Lama in Northern India, the nightclubs and Shinto shrines in Japan, facing a female Buddha in New Zealand, working nightshifts in an opal mine in Australia’s outback, diving into somatic therapy and Tibetan Buddhism in Amsterdam, shamanism in Peru, teaching in the US, until the opening of a retreat center with her husband in Costa Rica.

Annette experiences profound shifts of spiritual awakening and the shattering of illusions in her encounters with various teachers and traditions. Her path takes a dark turn when she is sexually assaulted by a trusted spiritual mentor, plunging her into a crisis of faith and a deep descent into unresolved trauma. With unflinching honesty and vulnerability, she illuminates the complexities of the teacher-student relationship, the dangers of spiritual bypassing, and the importance of personal empowerment and discernment on the spiritual path. Sharing her healing and integration process, Knopp weaves insights from Eastern contemplative traditions, Western psychology, earth-based wisdom practices, and somatic approaches to trauma resolution.

Annette Knopp is a meditation teacher, somatic counselor, and nature mystic who favors an integrative approach to living in wakeful and embodied connection. For twenty years she has mentored clients on their unique journeys of healing and awakening. She spent nine years living in India, Japan, Australia, and the Netherlands before moving to the US on a religious worker visa. In 2009 Annette and her husband Stephan opened the Blue Spirit Retreat Center in Nosara, Costa Rica. Today she divides her time between Costa Rica and Woodstock, New York.

In the US, she is often teaching at the Upaya Zen Center and Omega Institute in Rhinebeck.

“This beautifully written and brave spiritual memoir is a powerful exploration of the human heart and mind. It is the rare and raw account of a woman’s liberation from her culture, role, and expectations into a life of purpose, meaning, and great compassion. It is a must-read for anyone on the path of awakening.” —Roshi Joan Halifax, abbot, Upaya Zen Center; author of Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet

“Sharply intelligent, tenacious, and unsparing, this extraordinary account of Knopp’s spiritual awakening proves that the willingness to confront our most menacing shadows—with open eyes and a tender heart—can ignite our greatest illumination. Her wisdom is hard-earned, grounded, and profoundly feminine in its scope and inclusivity, the testament of a thoroughly modern woman determined to penetrate life’s deepest truths and unwilling to settle for easy answers. This is an indispensable book for seekers of all backgrounds, disillusioned by the spiritual marketplace, and drawn to an integrated path of self-knowledge inseparable from nature itself. A remarkable achievement.” —Mark Matousek, author of Sex, Death, Enlightenment: A True Story

“Whether new to the spiritual path or a seasoned practitioner, you will find wisdom and allyship in these pages. Mystic Nomad is an essential offering to the rapidly emergent canon of breakthrough literature on feminine empowerment and spirituality in the twenty-first century. Not to be missed!” —Sarah Drew, author of Gaia Codex