Well-Being

Create Your Own Eat Pray Love Journey on the Cheap

Eat Pray Love takes Elizabeth Gilbert around the world in a quest for spiritual enlightenment. But for those of us without big wallets or time, here's how to stage a spiritual journey on a smaller scale  

By Carellin Brooks /

Credit: Flickr/badjonni

An Eat Pray Love-style journey doesn’t have to cost a lot

If you’re wishing you, too, could stage a journey a la Eat Pray Love, here are some unique ways to do it locally and on the cheap

The runaway bestseller Eat Pray Love, now a movie starring Julia Roberts, describes how Elizabeth Gilbert left her marriage and found herself, chasing her search for meaning all the way around the world until accidentally finding a new mate in Bali.

Gilbert had the brass to take a year off for her journey. But if a new life isn’t exactly in the cards – and you still crave some seriously sensual experiences of your own – here’s how to take your own mini-journey.

Live to Eat and Learn to Cook

A trip to Italy led Gilbert to revel in the textures and tastes of that world. Slow down in your own town by enrolling in a culinary class (like the Dirty Apron Cooking School in Vancouver or take one of chef Heidi Fink’s classes in Victoria).

Whether it’s Italian or Indian or Indonesia cooking, a class won’t just teach you proper chopping technique but how to savour what you’ve made. And eating your efforts is the icing on the cake.

Pray Away for the Weekend

Not everyone can make the time, as Gilbert does, to spend months in India learning to meditate.

But a faith-based vacation at a healing centre, like Bowen Island’s Rivendell Retreat Centre or the Naramata Centre, can recharge your life, teach you to slow down and make you truly thankful for what you already have.

A deeper spiritual connection is a bonus.

Love Mind and Body through Tantra

While Gilbert found love in Bali while continuing her spiritual quest, you can mix flesh and the spirit by enrolling in a class in Tantra.

Although Tantra is associated in the West mostly with sex, it’s actually a far larger belief system which marries mind and body… while producing, devotees claim, ecstatic bliss.

If you meet a like-minded love in the class, well, what better excuse to continue practicing?

Learn how you can Eat Pray and Love your way around British Columbia.