Walk in a Relaxed Manner: Life Lessons from the Camino
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Walk in a Relaxed Manner: Life Lessons from the Camino Paperback – October 31, 2005
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About the Author
Joyce Rupp is well known for her work as a writer, spiritual midwife and retreat and conference speaker. A member of the Servite community, she has led retreats throughout North America, as well as in Europe, Asia and Africa. Joyce is the author of more than ten bestselling books including, May I Have This Dance?, The Cup of Life, Praying Our Goodbyes, Fresh Bread, Your Sorrow is My Sorrow and The Cosmic Dance.
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110 of 111 people found the following review helpful
By
Erik Olson
VINE VOICE on December 29, 2005
Format: Paperback
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Back in the summer of 2003, I visited a former seminary roommate in Leon, Spain. I showed up a couple of days before his wedding after backpacking through Amsterdam, Paris, London, and Madrid. While strolling together through Leon, my Spanish friend remarked that people thought I was a "Pilgrim" because of my clothing and backpack. I asked him to clarify, and he replied that Leon was on the path of the Camino Pilgrimage. Thus began my interest in the topic.
"Walk in a Relaxed Manner" was the first book I read about the Camino. It's newly published, written by a 60-year-old nun who walked the Pilgrimage around the time I was in Leon. She hit the trail with a retired priest, and this book was born from that experience. The subtitle and theme is "Life Lessons From the Camino," and each chapter is based on a way she grew due to the Pilgrimage. For example, the book's title is shared with a chapter where Sr. Rupp describes how she learned to walk slowly and thoughtfully instead of quickly and competitively. Other chapter titles include "Savor Solitude," "Deal with Disappointments," and "Live in the Now." Such topics may strike some as trite. But I found it impressive that more often than not, it was the walk's difficulties that enabled her to internalize these truths.
The author writes in a clear and readable manner. She rejoices in the high points of the Pilgrimage, and is honest about the lows as well. Each lesson is presented in a thoughtful manner, and all are applicable to everyday life. However, like many spiritual insights perhaps some sort of defining experience is required to truly own them. But reading about these truths may be a way to prepare the heart for their eventual actualization. Although a Catholic nun in the Servite Community, Sr.Read more ›
"Walk in a Relaxed Manner" was the first book I read about the Camino. It's newly published, written by a 60-year-old nun who walked the Pilgrimage around the time I was in Leon. She hit the trail with a retired priest, and this book was born from that experience. The subtitle and theme is "Life Lessons From the Camino," and each chapter is based on a way she grew due to the Pilgrimage. For example, the book's title is shared with a chapter where Sr. Rupp describes how she learned to walk slowly and thoughtfully instead of quickly and competitively. Other chapter titles include "Savor Solitude," "Deal with Disappointments," and "Live in the Now." Such topics may strike some as trite. But I found it impressive that more often than not, it was the walk's difficulties that enabled her to internalize these truths.
The author writes in a clear and readable manner. She rejoices in the high points of the Pilgrimage, and is honest about the lows as well. Each lesson is presented in a thoughtful manner, and all are applicable to everyday life. However, like many spiritual insights perhaps some sort of defining experience is required to truly own them. But reading about these truths may be a way to prepare the heart for their eventual actualization. Although a Catholic nun in the Servite Community, Sr.Read more ›
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52 of 54 people found the following review helpful
By
Carol Blank
on November 16, 2005
Format: Paperback
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As she approached her 60th birthday, spiritual writer and retreat leader Joyce Rupp abandoned her plan to hole up for a six-month sabbatical by the ocean to bask in solitude. Instead, she embarked on a 37-day walking trek across Spain with her friend Tom Pfeffer. The two prepared and trained for a year before making the historical pilgrimage from Roncesvilles on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees to the Cathedral of St. James in the city of Santiago, a journey commonly referred to as "the Camino."
Walking in the "relaxed manner" in the title was one of the first lessons these two self-described productive-oriented people learned. At first, Rupp explains, they believed their goal was to reach Santiago, but they eventually discovered that the walk itself imparted spiritual empowerment. Rupp goes into some detail about her competitive nature as their self-prescribed 12 miles was surpassed regularly by other "pilgrims." For the first few days, the two succumbed to their natural tendency to rush, rush, rush, and push, push, push. In the end, they agreed to take the advice of a friend who had walked the Camino earlier: "drink more water and walk in a relaxed manner."
Rupp laces the story with such insights, always connecting the events and experiences with "routine" life and sharing the positive effects the journey had on her. Her chapter on realizing "a tiny bit" what it is like to be homeless is especially thought-provoking. Following a transaction at a bank, Rupp was convinced the clerk thought, "This smelly pilgrim with her dirty hiking boots dug into this pack of weird things and, whew, the odor that came from that bag, it was enough to gag me...Read more ›
Walking in the "relaxed manner" in the title was one of the first lessons these two self-described productive-oriented people learned. At first, Rupp explains, they believed their goal was to reach Santiago, but they eventually discovered that the walk itself imparted spiritual empowerment. Rupp goes into some detail about her competitive nature as their self-prescribed 12 miles was surpassed regularly by other "pilgrims." For the first few days, the two succumbed to their natural tendency to rush, rush, rush, and push, push, push. In the end, they agreed to take the advice of a friend who had walked the Camino earlier: "drink more water and walk in a relaxed manner."
Rupp laces the story with such insights, always connecting the events and experiences with "routine" life and sharing the positive effects the journey had on her. Her chapter on realizing "a tiny bit" what it is like to be homeless is especially thought-provoking. Following a transaction at a bank, Rupp was convinced the clerk thought, "This smelly pilgrim with her dirty hiking boots dug into this pack of weird things and, whew, the odor that came from that bag, it was enough to gag me...Read more ›
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By
D. Wahlert
on August 8, 2006
Format: Paperback
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This is an amazing book about an amazing experience--walking across Spain--and well after midlife. We share the hardships and blessings of this journey and are able to walk, talk and think in a relaxed manner while reading it. There are lessons subtly given that everyone can shsare.
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30 of 38 people found the following review helpful
By
Thomas B. Heckel
on December 29, 2009
Format: Paperback
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I was extremely disappointed in this book. It almost turned me away from my planned Camino later this year. Ms Rupp (who sort of disguises her true persona as a Catholic nun) complains about everything, not once, but continually. There is the filthy communal bathrooms that digust her. The food is substandard, and in short supply. Fellow pilgrims annoy her due to their physical appearance (she describes one large Spaniard in detail) and mannerisms. Her walking companion gets on her nerves at times. She senses disdain and disapproval frequently due to her appearance. She struggles with the difficulty of having to unpack and repack her things each day. She is constantly anxious about where she will sleep each night.
It is the constant repetition and dwelling on all these difficulties that left me wondering what she was expecting? She contrasts her life in the US, where she has a choice of many outfits to wear each day, her precious privacy, her sumptious meals, her plethora of "material things". Indeed, she succeeded quite well in disguising her true identity as a Catholic nun
She is even suspicious of 3 friendly priests when she finds they are Opus Dei. God forbid. Yet she is able to "suck it up" and realize the lesson that even conservatives can be good people, and we should not judge them. But in her heart, she really wanted them to be Jesuits.
She decides not to let anyone know that she is a "published author" or a nun. She wants no special treatment due to her self-perceived real life status. I found this very strange. When I walk the Camino I pray that God lets me meet Catholic priests and nuns who are not in disguise.
If you want to tread through Oprah-like introversion and self-analysis, this book is OK. Despite her clever chapter titles that suggest wonderful life lessons, this book is laden with negativity.
It is the constant repetition and dwelling on all these difficulties that left me wondering what she was expecting? She contrasts her life in the US, where she has a choice of many outfits to wear each day, her precious privacy, her sumptious meals, her plethora of "material things". Indeed, she succeeded quite well in disguising her true identity as a Catholic nun
She is even suspicious of 3 friendly priests when she finds they are Opus Dei. God forbid. Yet she is able to "suck it up" and realize the lesson that even conservatives can be good people, and we should not judge them. But in her heart, she really wanted them to be Jesuits.
She decides not to let anyone know that she is a "published author" or a nun. She wants no special treatment due to her self-perceived real life status. I found this very strange. When I walk the Camino I pray that God lets me meet Catholic priests and nuns who are not in disguise.
If you want to tread through Oprah-like introversion and self-analysis, this book is OK. Despite her clever chapter titles that suggest wonderful life lessons, this book is laden with negativity.
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