Living an Authentic Life in Daytona area
By Charles Guarria cguarria@hometownnewsmediagroup.com
Apr 4, 2024 Updated Apr 9, 2024
Krista Oakes, author of “Shedding Shame: Finding Freedom to Live an Authentic Life,” recently had a book signing at Copperline Coffee + Cafe on South Beach Street in Daytona Beach.
Photo by Charles Guarria
Krista Oakes of South Daytona spent seven years writing a book that was as much a therapeutic experience as it was a goal to become a published author.
The end result came this January with the release of “Shedding Shame: Finding Freedom to Live an Authentic Life.”
Ms. Oakes described the book as a memoir and self-help book, agreeing with the idea that it can help a reader gain self-actualization and “live more free and more authentic.”
Elaborating on what constitutes an authentic life, Ms. Oakes said, “I think that being authentic does require a choice each and every day that we wake up to show up as ourselves. And showing up as ourselves means loving ourselves just as we are, letting go of the need to, we're going to have it all figured out, and I think it's trusting in what you bring to the world and how you show up and that that is going to be enough.”
The book is organized into three parts: childhood shame, adulthood shame and healing shame. Ms. Oakes relies on personal experiences to illustrate points throughout the book. Those experiences include having parents come out as gay and lesbian, a troubled first marriage, then connecting her childhood to her marriage as part of finding her voice to help the reader attain their authentic life.
She writes about the shame and secrets “we don't want anybody to know.” Explaining that what people hide is “just as important of who we are and just as beautiful and just as wonderful” as the parts we do show the world.
Ms. Oakes understands what it is like to hide certain aspects of life because she lived it. “I knew that my story was something that was important to be shared. But at the time, seven years ago, I wasn't ready to move forward with it in any kind of public way,” she said.
Through the years she would intermittently read what she wrote until January 2023 when “I picked it up and I said now's the time.”
Upon the release of “Shedding Shame: Finding Freedom to Live an Authentic Life,” it was time to begin marketing the book. That process began with a book signing in late March at Copperline Coffee + Café in Daytona Beach.
Attendees enjoyed food and drinks while speaking with Ms. Oakes, listening to her read a passage from the book and getting a copy signed. Gary Hill was one of the 63 to stop in for the book signing. Having read the book, he offered, “I thought it was great. Very authentic, so heartfelt.”
Moments after the book signing concluded Ms. Oakes said the support from everybody was incredible.
In a follow-up email, she wrote, “It was really such a wonderful evening and I have so much gratitude for everyone that came out to support my book.”
This is her first book, but not the first time Ms. Oakes has written. “I write a lot, actually, as a part of my yoga,” she said. “Writing has always been a part of my heart and soul.”
Ms. Oakes was published while in college and currently writes blogs and provides yoga tips in her Mindful Monday Series. The blog and yoga tips can be found at daytonayogawithkrista.com.
Yoga is Ms. Oakes’ day job. She has earned several certifications in yoga and fitness as well as being a student and practitioner of Transcendental Meditation.
She no longer has a brick-and-mortar location, preferring to teach yoga on the beach or conduct yoga walks, “which usually involves walking over one of the bridges that we have here to the beach, and then we come back and we kind of stop along the way and do yoga,” she said.
If you prefer yoga indoors, Ms. Oakes teaches at the Port Orange Presbyterian Church and LA Fitness in Port Orange. Yoga is “really at the heart and soul of who I am. And certainly, it's right in the book.”
Similar to “Shedding Shame: Finding Freedom to Live an Authentic Life,” her yoga instruction is geared towards helping people live better, she noted. “I really feel like my mission in the world is to change the world, one yoga class at a time.”
But that doesn't mean Ms. Oakes is done writing books. She said the next book she would like to publish is “really more connected to yoga in that it is how the journey of a yoga class directly relates to living our life.”
