The Woman's Retreat Book : A Guide to Restoring, Rediscovering, and Reawakening Your True Self in a Moment, an Hour, a Day, or a Weekend (Comfort Book) (Paperback)

by Jennifer Louden (Author) "When I started my research, I thought I knew what a retreat was..." (more)
Key Phrases: retreats with others, retreat space, retreat plans, May Sarton, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Christina Baldwin (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Jennifer Louden, author of The Woman's Comfort Book, gives women a do-it-yourself guide for creating solitude. Because women tend to nurture relationships more than they nurture themselves, it is often a challenge for women to carve out the space and time they need for private renewal and reflection. Louden offers women inspiration and specific advice on how to retreat within their own homes, as well as how to create rejuvenating weekends and vacations. She even devotes a full chapter to the most pivotal stage of any retreat--the successful re-entry into home, family, and community.

From Library Journal
Louden (The Woman's Comfort Book, HarperSanFrancisco, 1992) has written a how-to book for women interested in getting in touch with themselves and working on specific issues by using a retreat format. She points out that a retreat is an attitude, not a specific place, and that it can last from less than an hour to several days. Lots of lists and cross references are provided to carefully plan and select the right ingredients for a successful retreat. This practical guide to an increasingly popular subject will be useful in public libraries where self-help and women's psychology titles are in demand.?Marguerite Mroz, Baltimore Cty. P.L.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco; 1st edition (April 23, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062514660
• ISBN-13: 978-0062514660
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #588,608 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars challenging,inspirational,resourceful, August 26, 1999

By A Customer

Lively and personal, The Women's Retreat Book is challenging, inspirational and above all full of practical ideas for retreating with and to ourselves. The book is definitely not a glib self-help manual on "how to retreat and heal your life in five easy steps." Louden's concept of retreat is different from th historical one of separating oneself from life, going off with a guru to pursue some artistic or spiritual quest. Instead her book focuses on short, inexpensive withdrawls from daily life. What makes a mini-retreat--many she suggests are less than half a day--restorative she says is not where or for how long but rather the quality of the time out/time away. Louden's book is full of encouragement, humor, reality, perspective. The book is full of creative suggestions, nitty gritty lists("Good Supplies to Have on Hand"), many personal examples from her life as well as those of many other women. A delightful and valuable back-of-the-book bonus is a series of resource guides to recent films, books, audio, video and music tapes that could be used in retreat. Although I eventually read all of the book, I don't think it is meant to be read straight through as a text. Rather it is a framework, a transition into the reader's being in retreat. I made many annotations and personal references in the margins and the book which I go to over and over now becomes a kind of collaboration. I would think that Jennifer Louden would feel the book had achieved its purpose. I've made it mine and it becomes part of my retreats.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A thorough guide to retreat, February 7, 2000

By	Lissy Friedman (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

I appreciate the thoroughness of this book, as well as its outline structure. Each chapter addresses various aspects of the retreat, breaking down the how, where, why, what, etc. in an understandable and useful way. Even more importantly, each chapter stands on its own, and you can skip around, looking for specific answers, or read the whole way through, while still gleaning the essence of the book. I am reading the book all the way thru, in order, yet have already been able to do a retreat that was useful even though I haven't gotten to the end. This aids the process of retreating, since it takes the pressure off the retreatant, and doesn't create added pressure that would dissuade one to retreat in the first place. An undaunting, very informative book.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Live in the Moment, November 5, 2000

By	Jill M Long (Steamboat Springs, Colorado) - See all my reviews

Bravo! I applaud this author's message to women everywhere. It's time for us to learn to say "no" and take the time to fill ourselves back up again without feeling guilty. So many times I have asked a fellow mother or career woman, "How are you?" and the typical response is, "I'm so tired...I have 100 things to do..." And you know the rest of the laundry list they spout. For once I would love to hear one of them say, "You know what? I feel great! I just took a nap, or I read a novel I've been meaning to finish, or I'm going home to soak in the tub." Perhaps if more women would receive Jennifer Louden's books as gift they would begin to see how they can make this time for themselves no matter what kind of life they are living. Thank you Jennifer for spreading the word. I'm going out for a walk now for no other reason except to see how many more trees have changed their color this weekend.