To Love and Let Go

By: Rachel Brathen

Narrated by: Rachel Brathen

Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's Summary

“Rachel beautifully illustrates that loving fiercely and grieving deeply are often two halves of the same whole. Her story will break you down and lift you up.” (Glennon Doyle, author of the number one New York Times best seller Love Warrior and founder of Together Rising)

While on her way to teach a yoga retreat in March 2014, Rachel Brathen collapses at an airport, brought to her knees by excruciating stomach pains. She is rushed to the hospital on the tiny island of Bonaire and hours later forced to undergo surgery. When she wakes up from anesthesia, her boyfriend is weeping at her bedside. While Rachel was struck down with seemingly mysterious pain, her best friend, Andrea, sustained fatal injuries as a result of a car accident. Rachel and Andrea had a magical friendship. Though they looked nothing alike - one girl tall, blond, and Swedish, the other short, brunette, and Colombian - everyone called them gemelas: twins.

Over the three years following Andrea’s death, at what might appear from the outside to be the happiest time - with her engagement to the man she loves and a blossoming career that takes her all over the world - Rachel faces a series of trials that have the potential to define her life. Unresolved grief and trauma from her childhood make the weight of her sadness unbearable. At each turn, she is confronted again and again with a choice: Will she lose it all, succumb to grief, and grasp for control that’s beyond her reach? Or can she move through the loss and let go?

When Rachel and her husband conceive a child, pregnancy becomes a time to heal and an opportunity to be reborn herself. As she recounts this transformative period, Rachel shares her hard-won wisdom about life and death, love and fear, what it means to be a mother and a daughter, and how to become someone who walks through the fire of adversity with the never-ending practice of loving hard and letting go.  

©2019 Rachel Brathen (P)2019 Simon & Schuster

Heartbreakingly Beautiful

From the start this book is so honest and real. Rachel shines the light on her life, and her journey of learning to let go of some things from her past to move forward. It was so beautifully written, and read! I will recommend it to many people, especially if you are on a journey of finding something or letting go of it.

Thank you for helping me come back to me

For the past couple of months, I've slowly lost my enthusiasm for pretty much all of the things that brought me butterflies, which was such a sad realization to come to. Reading this book reminded in certain ways of how I used to be, adventurous and optimistic. It made me realize that we don't need to let our hardships or fear stray us away from who we are and that it's ok to take all the time necessary to heal ourselves and our past and still be able to manifest our dream life!

Beautiful

Perfect story, perfect narration. I felt so much sadness and pain and Love and I feel like I healed parts of me through experiencing this wonderful story.

Everyone needs this

I preordered the hard copy and read it all the day it got here. Cried, laughed, cried some more, reflected on my own life and choices. I’ve read it multiple times in the past few months and finally downloaded the audible to hear Rachel herself tell her story. Such a clear and lively voice. Unbelievable how much I (and everyone) needs to read/ listen to this. I could not emphasize my recommendation any more!!

Refreshing

Grief, shared so beautifully and in a way that doesn’t leave you feeling heavy. Loved every second of it.

amazing story of love, loss and healing! READ IT!!

amazing story of loss, love and healing! Read it!I will read it over and over

great book

loved it! super emotional and raw. it hit home to many things and was a beautiful story.

Just wow.

This book helped me tear my heart open, shattered it to pieces and put it back together in a beautiful mosaic that embodies the messiness of life and the necessity of the darkest times. Thank you Rachel for your raw truthfulness and palpable vulnerability. I will be forever changed by having read this beautiful tribute to the true meaning of life. To love and let go. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

The process of grief and love

I read this book just after loosing my beloved dog, and the book really helped me see my pain and grief in a new way. This is a books that will stay with me in my life. Thank you Rachel for starting my healing process.

Beautiful Memoir

I have been following YogaGirl on Instagram for a few years so I was excited when this book came out. It is raw, honest, and beautiful. I laughed and I cried.