Walk in a Relaxed Manner

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. Rupp keeps things fairly ecumenical throughout her tale. In addition, practical advice about the Pilgrimage is sprinkled throughout the book, and a list of helpful Camino resources is included at the end. There's even an authorized website based on Joyce Rupp's name if you want more info about her.Someday I'd like to do the El Camino Pilgrimage. I hope I don't have to wait until my sixties, but sometimes you have to let things happen in their time. If I do walk it, I'll be glad if I learn and grow half as much as Sr. Rupp did. Recommended for all travelers and pilgrims.UPDATE 9/7/07: Well, I only had to wait until I was forty to do the Camino. On 7/14/07 I stepped off in St. Jean Pied-de-Port (France), and on 8/24/07 I walked into Santiago, Spain. After returning home to the US, I went through this book again. It was nice reading about familiar places on the Way, and also to identify with the lessons Ms. Rupp writes about. Recommended even more now that I've actually done the trek.

This book arrived in a timely manner and was in excellent condition. Thank you!

My wife and I earned a compostela walking a portion of the Camino Frances in May of 2004. Since then I've read many books on pilgrimage, including several accounts of other pilgrims' journeys on the same road we traveled. Many are what another reviewer describes: diaries of the interior lives of the author, focusing mainly on their hardships and triumphs, as if to point out how they changed the camino, rather than how they were changed by it. If I felt that this were all to this book, I wouldn't recommend it. Instead, I think this book provides a wonderful balance between soulful reflection and the pragmatism of the all-too-physical journey. Walking the camino does appear to have all the ingredients necessary for earning a 'spiritual experience merit badge', and some seem to walk it just to earn pilgrimage street cred. Even were that Rupp's intention, and I doubt very much that is the case, she's provided a great perspective for potential pilgrims and useful material to aid past walkers. It's true that she does not shy away from describing unpleasantries of the road: dirty accommodations, illness, rude pilgrims, bad food, and bad weather. These are very real likelihoods, and she discusses them very frankly; pilgrims do not float along the road, barely touching the earth, and any idyllic expectations soon come face-to-face with harsh reality. Rupp does not bring up these issues merely to complain, however; the benefit of this book is how she treats these subjects as well as her prayerful introspection as equally engaging points of reflection and provides a useful perspective on integrating even these issues into a larger pilgrimage experience. The subtitle of the book, however, is "Life Lessons from the Camino", and that's the true value of these observations: her effort in showing that much of our day-to-day life is filled with just these sort of experiences and just this sort of potential for reflection, appreciation, and understanding.

I am a Joyce Rupp fan. I'd always dreamt of doing the Camino some day, and when I saw that Joyce had done it, and written a book about it, I quickly bought it and read it.Her book gave me the courage to buy a plane ticket and go. I'm a hiker and camper. I could tell from reading her book that some of the facets of the hike- some of the albergues, some of the pilgrims, some of the food-- etc etc-- were perhaps harder for her to accept than they would be for me. I thought she gave a really honest appraisal of how things were for her, and was touched by how she eventually resolved some of those contretemps. I recently was looking at reviews of the book and was surprised to see some of the negative reviews. What I got from reading Joyce's book was an honest look at the Camino from the eyes of a middle-aged woman used to her own personal space, solitude, food, level of cleanliness, etc. One does necessarily give a lot of that up when on the Camino, if you stay in the albergues! They are fabulous places for meeting people from all over the world- but they can make you cringe if you are not used to hearing snoring at night. What I love about this book is the life lessons, her thoughts on what she found there, and what she got out of it in spite of -- and maybe even because of her discomfort.I recommend this book for mature people thinking of hiking the Camino. In 2011 I accompanied a women's group from my church from Samos to Santiago, and I asked them all to read the book-- they liked it, too.

I liked that they were in excellent condition and delivered in time.

El mejor libro para conocer y entender algunos de los muchos beneficios espirituales que promete el hacer el Camino de Santiago.

Love what I have read so far!

I found this book was an enjoyable read but I felt I wanted more detail about the walk itself. What Joyce wrote was very good and at times very profound may be too deep for me and a bit too spiritually analytical for me I prefer a bit more humour and a more down to earth account. I did enjoy reading this book and I would recommend it to anyone thinking of walking the camino.

great service and goods

Conversationally written and not heavy on either spirituality or religion - even though that would not have been a bad thing. I read it each day I walked the Camino and Joyce Rupp described and expressed everything I felt and experienced. A fabulous introduction to the Camino, its history, it's character and characters. An excellent read