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GO DEEPER THAN SUPERFICIAL SELF-CARE with the RELIGIOUS SECRET SAUCE you didn’t know you were missing.
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ABOUT THE BOOK
In the chaos of today’s world, we’re all searching for meaning. The wellness industry has sold us a promise that we can find it if we just buy the right products, attend the right retreats, and follow the right celebrity gurus. But is this true? Or are we picking and choosing from a self-care salad bar in ways that satisfy our hunger but don’t truly nourish us?
When we approach practices like yoga and ayahuasca as fitness routines and life hacks, we miss out on the sacred wisdom they have to offer us. But by digging into the real and often ancient religious traditions behind these practices, from Buddhism to Christianity and beyond, we can make them more meaningful, ethical, and effective—without the often unpleasant baggage of joining an organized religion.
In this engaging and deeply personal book, award-winning scholar and writer Liz Bucar embarks on a quest to get to the heart of “spiritual but not religious” activities from detox diets to sound baths. As she tries out each practice for herself, she asks how we can get more out of it by tuning out the hype and taking the religious meaning behind it seriously—with emotionally profound and often surprising results. Whether it’s as simple as setting an intention for a yoga asana or as complex as reevaluating what a “higher power” is, it’s time to understand, experience, and simply get more out of our spiritual practices. It’s time to dig deeper with Beyond Wellness.
What people are saying about BEYOND WELLNESS
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Rigorous and fun – just like Bucar’s dispatches on scholarly books she serves on TikTok – BEYOND WELLNESS is a book we sorely need.
Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Author of FIT NATION
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Rather than sending consumers off unsatiated and in search of further quick fixes and life hacks, however, BEYOND WELLNESS just might send them down a path toward a more authentic spirituality and wellness. If it can do this, we all stand to benefit.
Kristin Du Mez, Author of NYT Bestseller JESUS AND JOHN WAYNE
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BEYOND WELLNESS provides an emotionally and intellectually honest alternative for people who are seeking meaning beyond generic spirituality.
Dr. Pooja Lakshmin MD, Psychiatrist & Author of National Bestseller REAL SELF-CARE
OTHER BOOKS BY LIZ
Stealing My Religion
“Bucar’s sharp insights, shot through with humor and self-awareness, are exactly what we need the next time we reach over to borrow from someone else’s religion for our own therapeutic, political, or educational needs.”
—Gene Demby,
cohost for NPR’s Code Switch
Pious Fashion
“A look at contemporary dress and how it can help us see the Muslim community as a vast array of individuals rather than an inscrutable monolith… Bucar disabuses readers of any preconceived ideas that women who adhere to an aesthetic of modesty are unfashionable or frumpy.”
―Robin Givhan, Washington Post
The Islamic Veil
Elizabeth Bucar goes beyond the simplistic question of whether the veil is “good” or “bad” to ask instead why it has become so politically symbolic. It will be invaluable to anyone looking to understand the veil beyond its status as shorthand for Islamic fundamentalism and female oppression.
Creative Conformity
"This comparative study makes a valuable contribution to feminist efforts to shake up binary assumptions about what it means to be empowered or oppressed."
―Kate McCarthy,
Religious Studies Review
