People who spend their days caring for others often appreciate the escape a good book can provide. Getting lost in a captivating story counts as selfcare—it’s a mental vacation, after all. But often the titles we choose have a hidden benefit. They can give us the chance to turn inward and see ourselves on a deeper level.
The folks in my inner sanctuary answered with a resounding “YES!!!” when I asked if they wanted to have a bookclub included as part of their online selfcare membership. They immediately began sharing the names of authors and titles that had been on their list to read “someday,” and we dove in. We started meeting once a month to discuss what we had just read, and it didn’t take long to see that we spent more time talking about our own individual experiences rather than the actual words on the page.
One of the first books we read was Casper ter Kuile’s The Power of Ritual: Turning Everyday Activities into Soulful Practices. That’s where I first learned of the concept of lectio divina, or sacred reading. The idea is to read—then re-read, then read aloud—and contemplate a short piece of text. This type of study can help us bring the words into our lives, welcoming our own experiences, then noting what actions the passage might encourage us to take. No wonder we enjoy bookclub so much—we are practicing lectio divina together, as a group!
Part of the pleasure of this practice has been releasing the preciousness of the words we’re reading. We’ve found the sacred in Katherine May (“We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again.”*) as well as Glennon Doyle (“You are a goddamn cheetah”). What matters is how the author’s words speak to each of us, revealing something we didn’t even realize needed to be spoken aloud.
Reading and sharing in this way is a form of the yogic observance of svadhyaya. Even as we’re finding books entertaining, we’re examining ourselves, reflecting and sharing. It’s a very practical way to bring self-study into our every day life … and you can do it with any book you choose.
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*The entire manuscript of May’s Wintering was a sacred text—there isn’t a page in my copy that’s not dogeared, highlighted or otherwise marked up. It was the first book we read as a group, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that it’s still our favorite.
Photo by Pratiksha Mohanty on Unsplash