Why I dont like the book, "Eat, pray, love."

When sharing my travel journey, a lot of people had told me, I should read the book “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert. For a while, I couldn’t get hold of the book but one day, while travelling, I finally got hold of it. Eventually, I also watched the movie on Netflix. I remember thinking, huh I got a better story to tell. And just hated on the book. But that is not true. I don’t hate that book - I don’t relate to it in any form whatsoever even if I have lived this story. And this is my story.

I went for a backpacking trip around South Asia and Southeast Asia for 16 months. I ate like there was no tomorrow! I went to various ashrams exploring meditation and learning different mindfulness techniques. I found love during that time. None of that was separate from each other. None of the experiences were independent of each other. And mostly what I am stressing on here, is related to the spiritual experience she had - staying in an ashram and learning meditation and discipline.

My journey, as I shared in the previous newsletter started from the ashram. My need to go away on this trip, came from there. I volunteered and stayed in the ashram for a few weeks before going off on the travels. Nothing was planned. I did not brave the ashram life like her - I quit it. But then I later went to another ashram and went through a whole 10 day of silent meditation. Now that I have been to a few, I will tell you this. One retreat, one ashram experience, one meditation practice, one month, is not going to change your life suddenly. Yes, it may become the catapult to use to change your life, but for some, it may mean coming back to exactly the same life again. What changes though, is the tools you learn there. You will then start using those tools to make sense of your life. To help you be mindful about other things and even some realizations of where you are and what needs to change.

But most of the time, it would not happen in the ashram. It would happen much after when you are faced with the most complicated question of your life and you realize you have the answer then. Your ashram experience has probably given you a little more clarity (in what you don’t want!).

Thus, I find the book quite superficial in some ways. Like it doesn’t touch the depth of travelling after a divorce, the difficulties of a relationship, the learnings that come through those difficulties which are embedded in literally all the experiences you go through. You may be traveling and going on an amazing adventure but one stranger asking you a general question may become a trigger for you. And in some way, I feel I have a right to critique this book because I really did eat, pray and love during my trip.

But the best part about staying in the ashram is the communal living, meditating, sharing that happens. And thus, I am extremely excited to try and create that through a yoga retreat here in Tanzania. Do join! I don’t promise it to change your life, but you may learn things that can help you catapult changes.