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

by Elena Brower

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780834846364
Publisher:	Shambhala
Publication date:	11/18/2025
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	47 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

​​ELENA BROWER​ is a mother, mentor, artist, teacher, best-selling author and host of the Practice You podcast. She has taught yoga and meditation since 1999. After graduating Cornell University in 1992, she designed textiles and apparel for almost a decade before focusing on yoga, meditation, art and writing. Her first book, Art of Attention, has been translated into seven languages; her second, Practice You, is a bestseller, and is utilized as a teaching tool in a variety of settings. Elena’s yoga classes and meditations are featured on Glo.

Editorial Reviews

“In a culture of achievement and personality, what a gift it is to be invited to unravel our story, drop our ego, and come home to our true selves. Elena’s vulnerability and her skill as a teacher are awe-inspiring. Her prompts and practices are meaningful rituals—easy to weave into real life yet powerful enough to shift everything.”
—Gwyneth Paltrow, Academy Award–winning actor, best-selling author, and founder of Goop

“Elena is one of my heroes and she has changed my life for the better. The wisdom and calm energy that Elena radiates is felt in these pages. Hold Nothing is the exact guidance all of us need as the world keeps changing. This is a must-read for anyone who wants to take their personal transformation work to a deeper level.”
—Yung Pueblo, New York Times best-selling author

“Elena Brower has once again offered us a radiant portal into inner realms. Hold Nothing is not just a book—it is a transmission of presence, a quiet summons from the soul. With the grace of a mystic and the skill of the true spiritual Renaissance woman that she is (painter, poet, teacher, meditator, healer, mother, friend), Elena weaves together teaching, story, inquiry, and vision—inviting us to enter the liminal spaces where the sacred speaks. This is a book to sit with, to pray with, to dream with. It is both a sanctuary and a compass, whispering us back to the center of what is most essential, most holy, and most alive within us.”
—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love and All the Way to the River

“With life’s most profound inquiries, I turn to sister and dearest friend Elena Brower for her listening and guidance. Hold Nothing drew me in, expanded my mind, and has me considering my work and life anew. Creating a true pause, this book is a gift, offering glimpses into her process but holding no answers, only the questions we need to be asking of ourselves.”
—Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, New York Times best-selling author of Forever Strong

“Hold Nothing is a gift from Elena Brower. Her ability to share profound teachings in a simple and exquisite way makes her one of our most prolific storytellers. This book reminds us of how attentive we can be to the details of this life.”
—Carrie-Anne Moss, mother, actor, founder of Annapurna Living

“Hold Nothing is a soft and steady companion for the soul. With honesty and grace, Elena Brower reminds us that healing isn’t about becoming someone new—it’s about returning home to ourselves, again and again. This book is both mirror and medicine: it invites us to release what no longer serves, to soften into the truth of who we are, and to root ourselves in what’s real. A generous offering for anyone learning to let go with love.”
—Alex Elle, author of How We Heal

“This is a personal and beautiful invitation to become intimate through mindfulness of body, heart, and mind. A guide to true belonging, asking us to face our deepest yearning and our greatest fears. No part left out.”
—Frank Ostaseski, author of The Five Invitations

“In her insightful book, my dear sister Elena Brower shares her journey, her process, and her profound reverence, gently yet irresistibly encouraging us to release and create space for what truly matters. True to Elena's style, her words and stories (which I adore!) are as poetic, inspiring, meaningful and beautiful as a Zen garden. Hold Nothing serves as a reminder to approach and embrace our own lives with the same care, artistry, and love.”
—Deva Premal, Grammy-nominated mantra singer

“Have you ever gotten very quiet and closed your eyes halfway, such that objects lose their edges and the world becomes mere shadow and light? Just playful shimmers. And then slowly turned that same quality of attention around toward yourself? What’s there? I feel the same way inside of Hold Nothing. Light, unadorned, liminal. Neither here nor there. Elena bottles her own essence perfuming us into stillness and peace.”
—Jeff Krasno, author of Good Stress, cofounder and CEO of Commune

“Elena Brower, who—try as you might—cannot be categorized to fit into any one descriptive box, has once again graced us with the preternatural gift that is her voice. Hold Nothing, a loving invitation for us to remember who we are without all the noise, is filled with all the signature honesty and wisdom we’ve come to know from Elena. ‘Preternatural’ can be defined as being suspended between the mundane and the miraculous, and not only is this book exactly that, but it’s a reminder that we are too. This book is the North Star we desperately need right now.”
—Jennifer Pastiloff, best-selling author of On Being Human

From the Publisher