Apr 28, 2026
Liz Bucar is a religious ethicist and professor of religion at Northeastern University, as well as a certified intenSati and Kripalu yoga instructor. Her popular writing has appeared in The Atlantic, the Los Angeles Times, Teen Vogue, and The Wall Street Journal, and she is the author of four books, including the award-winning Stealing My Religion and Pious Fashion. She lives in Brookline, Massachusetts. For more about how religion shapes us all, even if we don’t believe, subscribe to Liz’s newsletter at LizBucar.com.
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.
Order the Book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/774524/beyond-wellness-by-liz-bucar/
Visit: https://www.sacred-writes.org