Hold Nothing: An Invitation to Let Go and Come Home to Yourself

by Elena Brower

A distinctive, artful, contemplative guide for self-discovery and self-inquiry, with wisdom, encouragement, and thought exercises by the best-selling author of Practice You. Includes 45 practices and full-color pieces of artwork by the author.

What if the most important work of your life isn’t something you chase—but something you uncover, slowly, in stillness? What if your presence is the greatest offering you can make to the world? This book is an invitation to come home to yourself—gently, honestly, and with great love.

As an evolution of, and a departure from, her best-selling journals, Practice You and Being You, Brower draws on her memories and life experiences, her practice of yoga and Nonviolent Communication, and more recently, her study of Zen, to offer us a road map for living with presence and reverence.

Each chapter offers teachings, contemplations, and prompts on a single theme, such as:

• establishing presence in your daily life
• bearing witness to small moments of reverence
• embracing the art of not knowing
• invoking the wisdom of emptiness and stillness
• and more

She also includes 45 pieces of her full-color artwork to inspire deeper insight and creativity as readers explore each theme. This is not a manual for self-improvement; it is a field guide for self-remembrance, for cultivating tenderness toward your own heart, and for showing up to life completely, with purpose and heartfulness.

Genres: Psychology

296 pages, Paperback

Published November 18, 2025

Reviews

[Suus · Rating 5 out of 5]

A valuable and deeply personal read. Elena shares her wisdom in a vulnerable way. Food for deep thought for everybody that is walking the path of self awareness and deepening of personal work.

[Stephanie Affinito · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book to sit with, to learn from and to take comfort in.

[Miguel J. Rios · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elena Brower’s Hold Nothing is less a book and more an intuition: a quiet invitation to dissolve the rigid banks of self and return to the spacious flow of being.

We all “chop wood and carry water,” and this work reminds us to do just that with presence. In clear, heartfelt language, Elena shares the practices that have guided her toward deeper awareness and service. These pages do not offer quick fixes; they offer a way of seeing, a way of being. When the practice is realized, what remains is the same: chopping wood, carrying water, yet the simplest acts shimmer with new understanding and meaning.

This is a book worth reading slowly, not for answers but for the understanding it awakens.

When the last page turns, what lingers is gratitude for the teaching, an invitation to practice, and nothing left to hold.

Thank you for sharing your practice, Elena.

[Amy Landry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hold Nothing is a poetic yet profoundly practical guide that conjures a delightful yearning to relish in solitude, all while refining the way we are in attentive relationship with the world around us.

Written in Elena’s captivating, reflective, moving, and transformative style, this invitational work is a portal to another realm.

Read from cover to cover, engrossed, I could not put this gem down. Elena’s continued evolution and wisdom shine through on every page. Hold Nothing offers tremendous healing and solace to all.

[Sylvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hold Nothing is not a book you read so much as one you live it.
Elena Brower offers a quiet yet powerful invitation to loosen our grip on certainty, identity, and control, guiding us back to the simple truth of being present.
Personal practice and learning how to love yourself, a caress to your soul.
I was fortunate to listen to the audiobook, so calm and reflexive.
100%recommended.