![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Set-Free-196x300.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nSummersdale, 2017\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n ISBN 978-1-84953-960-9<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Reviewed by Peter Quince Banking leaves something missing: \u2018I hadn\u2019t managed to be happy being me yet.<\/em>\u2019\u00a0 So she searches for a more fulfilling, spiritual <\/em>life.\u00a0 She restlessly switches from Cambridge University to Goldsmiths College.<\/p>\n Her father\u2019s death from lung cancer devastates her. Grief-stricken, she takes a job as a carer, then begins a phased return to banking, but soon realises that it does not afford her \u2018a more meaningful life\u2019<\/em>.\u00a0 On the Greek island of Skyros she discovers yoga: \u2018I loved it<\/em>,\u2019 she says.\u00a0 She globetrots, going to Maui and then New Mexico, immersing herself in yoga.\u00a0 She tells us, \u2018my mind was once again beginning to lean towards the philosophy of serenity I had seen as a child\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n She questions herself: \u2018Am I good enough<\/em>?\u2019\u00a0 She suffers from \u2018boom-bust thought patterns<\/em>\u2019.\u00a0 The PTSD keeps resurfacing.\u00a0 She asks herself whether she needs a \u2018soul-mate\u2019.\u00a0 She\u2019s 34, childless, but the simple, spiritual life militates against motherhood.\u00a0 She develops an all-consuming relationship, but complications arise.\u00a0 \u2018I knew I had messed up<\/em>,\u2019 she says.\u00a0 And then Emma discovers the fulfilment afforded by Buddhism.<\/p>\n She visits the Kagyu Samye Ling Tibetan monastery in Scotland and formally becomes a Buddhist.\u00a0 Approaching the age of 39, her body is telling her, \u2018Have a baby now<\/em>\u2019.\u00a0 She leaves her partner, declaring, \u2018No marriage, no baby, no house, no point<\/em>\u2019.<\/p>\n After another return to banking and another failed relationship, she discovers that she is pregnant.\u00a0 In 2006 \u2018Oscar\u2019 is born, his Nordic name meaning \u2018Spear of God\u2019.\u00a0 Now she must juggle professional life with motherhood.\u00a0 She admits, \u2018the first months of caring for Oscar had been like boot camp workouts\u2019<\/em>.\u00a0 She ponders on the incompatibility of motherhood and the spiritual life.<\/p>\n Her first trip to Bhutan becomes life-changing.\u00a0 She becomes aware of the supreme importance of kindness, of service to others, and Bhutan\u2019s unique adoption of \u2018Gross National Happiness\u2019 as the measure of wellbeing.<\/p>\n Emma is asked if she will teach yoga in Bhutan whilst Oscar stays in England with his father.\u00a0 She encounters a charismatic Lama.\u00a0 When she leaves Bhutan she is determined to find him.\u00a0 She goes back, finds him, and tells us, \u2018I felt absolute joy at being near this person<\/em>\u2019, and declares, \u2018He was to be my teacher\u2019.\u00a0 In Set Free she tells us of her unswerving commitment to Buddhism, claiming that \u2018enlightenment\u2019 is \u2018impossible to describe in a book<\/em>!\u2019<\/p>\n Emma shaves her head, telling us that \u2018for a Buddhist a shaven head has great significance<\/em>\u2019.\u00a0 She meets a \u2018rinpoche\u2019 who bestows her with the name \u2018Ana Pema Deki\u2019 (Blissful Lotus).\u00a0 The Lama who teaches Emma baulks at her asking \u2018too many questions\u2019<\/em>, but she desires to know all she can about her chosen path.<\/p>\n All this while she has Oscar to consider, whom she loves deeply and it must have caused her considerable soul-searching whenever she visited Bhutan without him.\u00a0 She writes, \u2018The notion of parenthood as a valid part of a spiritual path remains one for debate<\/em>\u2019, but more positively she tells us, \u2018becoming a nun has enabled me to fully come alive and be a far kinder person<\/em>\u2019.\u00a0 Emma\u2019s life-long vows imply a devotion to \u2018ahimsa\u2019, the practice of non-violence and compassion.<\/p>\n A friend suggests she writes a book, but she considers this an \u2018act of ego\u2019.\u00a0 She consults Lama about producing a book to help fundraising in Bhutan.\u00a0 His positive response is, \u2018It\u2019s good.\u00a0 Inspire others.\u00a0 Do it\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n This book is a great achievement, an example to us all; and anyone who buys their own copy will know that they are contributing to Emma\u2019s vision of a healthier and happier Bhutan.<\/p>\n Whether you wear high heels or go barefoot; whether you wear haute couture or Buddhist robes; whether your head is adorned with golden locks or shaven \u2013 the path of enlightenment and help for those in dire need is open to you, as Emma Slade so movingly demonstrates in Set Free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion","category-spirituality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3687"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3693,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3687\/revisions\/3693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenspirit.org.uk\/bookreviews2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n<\/em><\/strong>This is a brave and inspirational book.\u00a0 Emma Slade lays her life bare, both the pleasures and the pains.\u00a0 She is a successful businesswoman, but following a horrifying confrontation with a gunman, she radically reassesses her life and suffers years of PTSD.<\/p>\n