I just finished reading Noah Levine’s book Dharma Punx, which is an autobiography.

This book especially hit home for me because he writes about losing his best friend to a heroine overdose. I grew up in an East Coast punk rock community collecting tattoos and raging against the system. Like Levine, I lost my best friend to a heroin overdose when I was 18 and I have also taken up spiritual practice as an anchor in a world that often doesn’t make too much sense to me. Now I’m about to finish my Masters degree to become a counselor.

Levine started out a rebellious punk rocker and was sent to prison for drugs and violence at the age of 17. He began practicing Buddhist meditation in 1988 and became a counselor. Now he leads meditation groups in national workshops, juvenile halls and prisons. He advocates for turning outer rebellion and dissatisfaction with injustices and suffering into inner revolution and outer service.

Check out this trailer for Meditate and Destroy, a biographical documentary about punk rock, spirituality, and inner rebellion.