The Braided Prescription: Seven Practices for Living Well from the Ancient Ritual of Making Challah

About This Audiobook

For fans of celebrated self-help books The Power of Now and Atomic Habits, an MD's soulful exploration of healing, tradition, and spirituality through the grounding and nourishing habit of baking challah.What if an ancient ritual could transform the way you live today?In her beloved first book, Braided, Dr. Beth Ricanati shared how making sacred bread, challah, every Friday for over a decade transformed her life. Now, in The Braided Prescription, she shares insights from her subsequent challah workshops with groups all over America and even abroad, distilling what she's learned into seven attainable and powerful practices for managing stress in our daily lives.Blending personal stories, scientific research, and timeless wisdom, Ricanati demonstrates how these seven practices can restore presence in a distracted world, strengthen bonds with family and community, and teach resilience through imperfection. With warmth and wisdom, she shows how the weekly ritual of making challah bread can help us mend what feels frayed, anchor what feels uncertain, and create space for what truly matters.For readers from every walk of life—including those who have never made dough or even seen yeast—The Braided Prescription is a powerful reminder that small acts, repeated with care, can lead to profound transformation.

About the Author

Beth Ricanati, MD, is a board-certified internist and author of the multi-award-winning memoir Braided: A Journey of a Thousand Challahs. She has spent her career focused on improving the well-being of her patients' lives in traditional medical clinics and wellness programs, and now also as an author/speaker. She resides in Southern California with her family.

Reviews

What stayed with me after reading The Braided Prescription: Seven Practices for Living Well from the Ancient Ritual of Making Challah is how it treats challah making not as culinary instruction but as a structured ritual for thinking about daily life.The idea of braiding becomes more than technique since it suggests connection repetition and care woven into a practice that is both physical and reflective.The framing of seven practices gives the book a deliberate rhythm, implying that meaning is built through sequence and repetition rather than a single insight.By anchoring the concept in an ancient ritual, the book positions everyday living as something shaped through inherited forms of attention and intention.Readers who are drawn to reflective nonfiction that connects cultural practice with personal wellbeing will likely connect with this approach.What lingers is the sense that ordinary actions can become stabilizing structures when treated with deliberate care.

I am not a baker but I absolutely adored this book! It is not a book about baking but rather one that explains how an ancient ritual can help us all live well in today's often chaotic and rushed times. I found Dr Ricanati's tools very practical and and easy to implement and I look forward to incorporating them into my daily life to relieve stress and help to strengthen my relationship with family, friends and the world around me. Highly recommend!

This book is a gift of kindness to ourselves.I have baked challah several times, but after reading this book, I see the process in a completely new light.All the practices described in the book are wise and insightful. I know I will return to this book again and again.Thank you, Dr. Ricanati.

This is a digital product — no physical shipping required. After purchase, access your audiobook instantly through the LINDIE app.

Due to the digital nature of audiobooks, all sales are final. If you experience any technical issues, please contact us at contact@lanternaudio.com.