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A new book club hosted by the YMCA at the Austin Community Recreation Center is aiming to add another facet to its mission of healthy living.

Over the noon hour on Thursday, a group of just over 20 people met to discuss “The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Hidden Conversation Within Our Bodies Impacts Our Mood, Our Choices, and Our Overall Health.”

The book itself examines the interconnectedness of the body and how it relates to overall health.

“This book in particular goes over your nutrition and health overall,” said YMCA Healthy Living Director Isabelle Reuter. “The Y’s goal is going over the overall health and that’s not just physical, but mental health as well.”

Reuter has been working with Sara Sayles, who leads The Next Chapter, Inc. a 501c dedicated to getting books into the hands of those who need them. The process started with Sayles and her siblings’ parents as they reached the end of their lives.

“Our family went through transition as our parents did,” Sayles said. “That’s kind of where we got into the selling of stuff because they were transitioning and it was during COVID. We had to throw a lot of things away.”

The Next Chapter provided a bridge to meeting book needs by selling items and using the money raised to buy books for institutions and causes.

Working through these book studies, the exercise has added another dimension as people gather at the YMCA, talk about the books and what they’ve learned and prepare for the next read.

Reuter said it can be considered something of a community outreach.

“We reach out to the community and kind of allow our members a part of it as well as the community members to provide a space for discussions and better learning, better understanding,” she said. 

This current study, which will take readers through the month of November, comes on the heels of the book “Being Mortal,” which Sayles said was very positively received.

“We had a lot of positive feedback from ‘Being Mortal’ because it’s such an important book,” Sayles said. “We’re all affected by death and the dying process. At my age, now that my parents are gone, we’re starting to talk about our endings and how we want to navigate those issues.”

Both Sayles and Reuter see the book club as being a good fit into the Y’s existing mission of wellness and say that the discussions coming from the books are complementary to those looking for physical health.

“Especially ‘The Mind-Gut Connection’ because our brains and gut are inner connected,” Sayles said. “Of course the mind and body are related. Exercise and you feel better. If you go out in the sun, you feel better.”

Reuter is hoping that what they are doing now can continue into the future with more book studies and maybe gatherings of a slightly different look. The next gathering of the book club, Reuter said, will resemble more of a workshop circling chronic pain. 

“I think it would be great to continue to offer this program just because it allows for more of an outreach into the community,” Reuter said.

To learn more about The Next Chapter, Inc., visit them on Facebook.