COBB, Calif. – Local food advocate and spiritual life coach, JoAnn Saccato, MA released her first Kindle book in July of this year.

The book, “Companioning the Sacred Journey: A Guide to Creating a Compassionate Container for Your Spiritual Practice,” is the combined wisdom of self-awareness tools, mindfulness meditation, recovery principles, and energy work as learned and taught by Saccato in her local consulting practice.

Saccato said in a recent interview, “I have learned these incredibly valuable tools that lead to a deepened sense of awareness and a more authentic and meaningful life. I've learned some ways that help provide for healing from past abuses (both self and other inflicted!) and paint a path to a deeply profound way of being and living.”
 
Saccato shares some of this journey in her book. Having lived 10 years off the grid in a “chop wood, carry water” fashion in the oak woodlands of Lake County with her dog and spiritual companion Shyla, she credits this time and experience as giving her the opportunity to delve deeper into her spiritual practices.

“Journaling, mindfulness meditation, affirmations, Xi Gong and Yoga are at the core of my practice, but the book offers a wide array of tools suitable for any religious background and invites the reader to create their own 'container' for a compassionate spiritual practice,” Saccato said.
 
“Compassion towards ourselves is one of the most vital ingredients for our path,” she furthered. “When we come from a culture that asks us to seek life's answers outside ourselves – in the marketplace, or through mind-altering substances – the unknown journey inward can seem scary, especially to go it alone. Creating this 'compassionate container' to help us navigate this journey becomes imperative.”
 
A native of Lake County and a founding member of the Lake County Community Co-op, Saccato traveled part of her spiritual journey with Walter Robinson, the longtime executive director of the Highlands Senior Service Center in Clearlake.

“If there is anyone who taught me how to live through example, it was Walter,” she said. “His presence alone was enough to wake me up out of any mindlessness!”
 
While very little in Saccato's first book reflects on their friendship, she plans to write more about her experiences with Robinson and life on the land where she lived in a voluntary simplicity lifestyle in a single room cabin.

“This first book – not to sound cliché here – really wrote itself,” she said.

She professes that when Shyla, her canine companion of more than 15 years passed this last winter, the writing just poured out.

“There was such a profoundness in our relationship! I had lost my life companion, best friend and spiritual partner in just a few months during a huge transition in my living circumstances,” she said. “The writing was one way to deal with her passing and served as the catalyst for sharing these profundities I'd learned with a wider audience. I found again and again with my clients that the tools I offered in our one-on-one consultations were universally important and I realized through Shyla's passing how most of these came during the time of being with her and Walter on the land.”

Saccato is in conversation with several publishers for the soft-bound production of the book, which she hopes to have available in the very near future.

“While the Kindle book shot to No. 1 in its categories on Amazon during a recent promotion, I have a lot of friends and readers that like holding a book. (Me included!) Given that the book is a guide and not intended as a quick read, this makes sense,” she noted.

There is talk of a companion journal for the book to help the reader establish their own practice and reflect upon the questions peppered throughout “Companioning the Sacred Journey.” “It's really something that can be referred to again and again as a person's practice develops and deepens.”
 
The book begins with the individual journey with ideas for creating a compassionate practice. It then expands to include the journey in relationship and with the larger community.

“The book,” Saccatp said, “is really geared for the beginner who has very little knowledge of where to start with a spiritual practice.

“But,” she added, “it also has practical applications for those already in an established practice who want to deepen their experience or add an element of compassion to it.”
 
Saccato, who holds a master's in co-creating sustainable futures (which was the foundational work for the Lake County Community Co-op) is a Reiki master/teacher and a consultant who works with groups and individuals seeking out a more authentic, deep and meaningful life for themselves, their relationships and their work. She is available for private consultations and group workshops at her office in Cobb.

Saccato also is available for public speaking engagements and interviews on her book, Reiki (a form of energy healing), voluntary simplicity and her life at the cabin.
 
To purchase a Kindle version of “Companioning the Sacred Journey: A Guide to Creating a Compassionate Container for Your Spiritual Practice,” visit www.amazon.com .

For more information on Saccato, the book, her consulting business or to reserve a soft-cover copy, visit her Web site at www.companioningthesacredjourney.com .