The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma


Bessel van der Kolk - 2014
    Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Such experiences inevitably leave traces on minds, emotions, and even on biology. Sadly, trauma sufferers frequently pass on their stress to their partners and children. Renowned trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he transforms our understanding of traumatic stress, revealing how it literally rearranges the brain’s wiring—specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. He shows how these areas can be reactivated through innovative treatments including neurofeedback, mindfulness techniques, play, yoga, and other therapies. Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score offers proven alternatives to drugs and talk therapy—and a way to reclaim lives.

Unlearning Meditation: What to Do When the Instructions Get In the Way


Jason Siff - 2010
    When that happens repeatedly, we may feel frustrated to the point of abandoning meditation altogether. Jason Siff invites us to approach meditation in a new way, one that honors the part of us that doesn't want to do the instructions. He teaches us how to become more tolerant of intense emotions, sleepiness, compelling thoughts, fantasies—the whole array of inner experiences that are usually considered hindrances to meditation. The meditation practice he presents in Unlearning Meditation is gentle, flexible, permissive, and honest, and it's been wonderfully effective for opening up meditation for people who thought they could never meditate, as well as for injecting a renewed energy for practice into the lives of seasoned practitioners.

Life After Death, Powerful Evidence You Will Never Die


Stephen Hawley Martin - 2015
    He spent two years gathering information that demonstrates this and along the way interviewed more than a hundred experts in a number of different fields. Among them were parapsychologists, medical doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, quantum physicists, and researchers into the true nature of reality. Specific examples are presented that indicate what happens when we die, for example that memories can be formed and retained despite a subject’s brain having been shutdown and the blood drained from it. Questions such as whether or not you will be able to communicate with living loved ones after death are addressed, if it is possible to be reborn, and what might be missing from reproductive theory to explain the various phenomena indicated in the many case histories and scientific investigations presented. All of us will someday cross the border to what Shakespeare called "The undiscovered country." As long as we must make that trip, wouldn’t it be smart to find out where we are going and what to expect when we get there?

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art


James Nestor - 2020
    Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences.Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. The answers aren't found in pulmonology labs, as we might expect, but in the muddy digs of ancient burial sites, secret Soviet facilities, New Jersey choir schools, and the smoggy streets of Sao Paulo. Nestor tracks down men and women exploring the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices like Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, and Tummo and teams up with pulmonary tinkerers to scientifically test long-held beliefs about how we breathe.Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance; rejuvenate internal organs; halt snoring, asthma, and autoimmune disease; and even straighten scoliotic spines. None of this should be possible, and yet it is.Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. You will never breathe the same again.

Perfectly Imperfect: The Art and Soul of Yoga Practice


Baron Baptiste - 2016
    The first of its kind, it introduced the world to Baptiste Yoga, his signature method that marries a lifetime of studying with some of the world’s most renowned yoga masters with his uniquely powerful approach to inner and outer transformation. Since then, yoga has steadily moved into the mainstream in our culture, and Baron’s unique contribution has played a key role. As millions of participants incorporate yoga into their daily lives, Baron’s teachings have evolved to bring them even deeper into their own transformative possibilities.Perfectly Imperfect: The Art and Soul of Yoga Practice takes readers beyond the foundations of the practice by speaking to everything that happens in their bodies and minds after they get into a yoga pose. That is where the true transformation occurs, and where much rich spiritual and emotional growth is available. Readers will learn how to move through their lives with grace and flow, begin again when a situation becomes difficult, “be a yes” for their innermost desires, give up what they must, follow their intuition, and find their truth north. With his signature blend of boldness, insightfulness, humor, and warmth, Baron offers what is destined to be an instant classic in the yoga and meditation world. With Perfectly Imperfect, he proves once again to be a true yoga master for the modern world.

The Little Book of Letting Go: A Revolutionary 30-Day Program to Cleanse Your Mind, Lift Your Spirit and Replenish Your Soul


Hugh Prather - 2000
    And in The Little Book of Letting Go, he offers a simple three-step process for shedding prejudices, preconceptions, and prejudgments and facing each moment with openness and enthusiasm. Prather first explains why it is essential to learn to let go and then outlines a 30-day plan for spiritual renewal. Finally, he offers specific techniques for getting a grip on habitual reactions, the need to control, and the addiction to conflict.

A Few Good Eggs: Two Chicks Dish on Overcoming the Insanity of Infertility


Julie Vargo - 2005
    But 'Hollywood' articles about pregnancy and fertility at middle age gloss over the tremendous amount of financial, emotional, and physical effort faced by couples struggling to conceive.In this warm, funny, empathetic book, journalist Julie Vargo and literary agent Maureen Regan -- women who have experienced personally almost every aspect of infertility -- give readers a glimpse into what to expect when you're not expecting. Hormones, sperm counts -- nothing is too personal for these two outspoken women!Ranges from technical to humorous and everything in between. What are good, snappy comebacks to the question, 'Why aren't you pregnant?' What is the difference between gonadotropin releasing hormone and progesterone?' Should you freeze your eggs? These questions and many more are answered, and in the tone of a couple of good friends. Between them, the authors have gone through hormone treatments, miscarriages and multiple insemination's -- so they know firsthand the roller coaster ride of trying to achieve pregnancy.With wise advice on how to communicate with doctors, husbands, friends, and mothers, this book is an invaluable guide for all women facing infertility.

The Wisdom to Know the Difference: When to Make a Change-and When to Let Go


Eileen Flanagan - 2009
    But how exactly can we know the difference? How can we acknowledge our true limits without negating the possibility for dramatic change? In this inspiring book, Eileen Flanagan draws on her own Quaker faith as well as a range of other religious and spiritual traditions to show readers how they can learn to listen to their own inner voice in determining when a change is needed in their lives or when instead acceptance is the answer. These lessons come to life through the inspiring stories of various individuals, including: · the mother of a fallen soldier in Iraq who talks about the power of forgiveness and her work to end the war; · A Katrina survivor who describes how she learned inner peace the hard way; · a family therapist who shares what he learned about accepting the things he cannot change from the car accident that left him paralyzed. This illuminating book leads readers to discover the serenity that comes when one has gained “the wisdom to know the difference.”

Body Image Remix: Embrace Your Body and Unleash the Fierce, Confident Woman Within


Summer Innanen - 2015
    With her not-so-PG stories and cheeky advice, you’ll learn how to unconditionally love yourself and unleash the radiant, badass woman within. This book will help you to discover, challenge and reset the beliefs that are holding you back from being unapologetically you in today’s perfection-obsessed society. By the end of the book, you’ll be able to get on with the life you’ve been putting on hold and stop letting the scale, your jean size, dietary macros and Fitbit points dictate your self-worth. Whether you’re ready to wholeheartedly abandon the idea that your life will be better 10 pounds from now or if you are simply body-posi-curious, Summer Innanen will help you explore a new way of thinking that bucks everything our body-obsessed culture shoves down our throats.

The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things: Fourteen Natural Steps to Health and Happiness


Larry Dossey - 2006
    Drugs, transplants, and surgery don’t work for 90 percent of our aches and pains and, while we are grateful for life-saving developments, we know that most come with risks that we ignore at our peril.Long hailed as one of the founding fathers of mind-body medicine, Larry Dossey directs our attention to simple sources of healing that have been available for centuries—treasures often hidden in plain sight—from the power of optimism and of tears to speed recovery to the surprising usefulness of dirt and bugs in curing disease and infection to the benefits of doing nothing.Exploring the medical research that validates these simple remedies, Dossey encourages us to align ourselves with the wisdom of nature and allow true healing to take place. The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things can transform our view of what health is all about, whether our concern is cancer or the common cold.From the Hardcover edition.

Total Chi Fitness - Meridian Stretching Exercises for Ultimate Fitness, Performance and Health (Chi Powers for Modern Age Book 2)


William Lee - 2013
    This Performance Enhancing Method is LOVED by Everyone, from Professional Athletes to Ordinary People). This book is complete, practical guide for mastering ancient meridian stretching exercises that can enrich your life in many different ways. Learning curve is very short. From Sifu Lee, you get detailed instructions, images and VIDEO, together with your purchase of this Kindle eBook. All that will surely assist you to master this exercises quickly. You do not need anything else in order to learn complete set of Total Chi Fitness exercises and therefore enjoy full list of the benefits. CAUTION: this book is NOT meant for seekers of the theoretical knowledge and speculative approach to Chi, Energy work etc. - this book is totally practical & YES it's 'too simple' for those that think that only complicated things are "good". Yet this simple meridian stretching exercises provide quick results TO ANYONE who actually put them in practice, regardless of what one thinks, what one believes etc. Simplicity and great power of Total Chi Fitness meridian stretching is shocking to most of the practitioners who reports about these types of benefits: These exercises will boost your energy levels strongly. If you do them correctly they will help you fight the disease, accelerate your mental and physical performance far better then any artificial booster or 'food supplement' and provide you with dozen of additional benefits. If your body is sick or weak: Total Chi Fitness exercise program will help you to heal faster. Relief from modern diseases and health disorders (back pain, headache, feeling of low energy and weakness, inability to concentrate etc.) are only some of the healing benefits people report experiencing with this program. If you're healthy, hard-working, active in sports etc.: Total Chi Fitness exercise program will enhance the result you are achieving. It will catapult you to dimensions packed with fresh energy resources that you currently don't even know of! "Secret" of Total Chi Fitness powers is simple: originating from ancient Chinese medicine and martial arts, it remained unchanged by thousands of years. Meridian stretching and techniques of Total Chi Fitness rapidly 'clean' your energy channels from all the blocks and obstacles that slowdown free and healthy flow of the life energy - Chi. TRY IT TODAY AND FEEL THE DIFFERENCE YOURSELF

The Buddha in Me, The Buddha in You: A Handbook for Happiness


David Hare - 2016
    The Buddha in Me, the Buddha in You combines the tried-and-tested wisdom of Nichiren Buddhism with the best of popular psychology and personal development, making this a brilliant guide to how life works, and how to get the most from it.Nichiren Buddhism differs from other Buddhist schools in its focus on the here-and-now, and places great importance on individual growth as the starting point for a better world. This, combined with powerful techniques such as NLP, mindfulness, journalling and coaching, makes The Buddha in Me, the Buddha in You the quintessential handbook for happiness.'Buddha' simply means someone who is awakened - yet while Nichiren Buddhists will find fascinating insights into their practice, there is no need to follow a spiritual path to benefit from this book. Through his experience as an internationally acclaimed life coach and practising Buddhist, author David Hare shows us how to wake up to our own potential and that of those around us – to discover everyday enlightenment.

Living Well with Migraine Disease and Headaches: What Your Doctor Doesn't Tell You...That You Need to Know


Teri Robert - 2005
    Teri Robert has been there—in fact, she experienced her first Migraine at age six. Now, in this groundbreaking holistic guide to the diagnosis and treatment of headaches and Migraine disease, she brings a patient-empowering message to all headache sufferers: you don't have to live with daily pain. She provides you with all the information you need to know about getting the help you need, including:Understanding side effectsTreatments for long-term reliefRisks and symptomsIdentification of the various types of headachesTraditional and alternative therapiesInformation on finding health care practitioners and supportNumerous case studies and expert advice

Autopilot: The Art & Science of Doing Nothing


Andrew Smart - 2013
    Multitasking is not only a virtue, it’s a necessity. Books such as Getting Things Done, The One Minute Manager, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People regularly top the bestseller lists, and have spawned a considerable industry.But Andrew Smart argues that slackers may have the last laugh. The latest neuroscience shows that the “culture of effectiveness” is not only ineffective, it can be harmful to your well-being. He makes a compelling case – backed by science – that filling life with activity at work and at home actually hurts your brain.A survivor of corporate-mandated “Six Sigma” training to improve efficiency, Smart has channeled a self-described “loathing” of the time-management industry into a witty, informative and wide-ranging book that draws on the most recent research into brain power. Use it to explain to bosses, family, and friends why you need to relax – right now."--OR Books

The Athlete's Way: Sweat and the Biology of Bliss


Christopher Bergland - 2007
     The Athlete's Way program, focusing on cardio, strength, stretching, nutrition and sleep, uses neurobiology and behavioral models to enable you to think, train and behave like an athlete, making you more optimistic, resilient, and intense. You will want to get a glow on every day to increase your daily bliss quotient. Exercise will no longer be something to dread but something to enjoy and experience to the fullest. The Athlete's Way teaches you how to make exercise a source of joy and something you will want to engage in daily. Sweat will become a symbol of your striving for a standard of excellence and a solid work ethic that is synonymous with peak performance. The stamina, tenacity, and drive fortified through athletics--and this program--can be applied to any dream, obstacle, or goal you aspire to achieve. Christopher Bergland is a Manhattan-based world-class endurance athlete. He holds a Guinness World Record for treadmill running (153.76 miles in 24 hours) and has won the longest nonstop triathlon in the world three times. He completed The Triple Ironman, a 7.2-mile swim, 336-mile bike, followed by a 78.6-mile run (done consecutively) in a record breaking time of 38 hours and 46 minutes. He directs the triathlon program at Chelsea Piers and has been sponsored by Kiehl's since 1996. He has been featured in dozens of TV, magazine, and newspaper articles including CNN, PBS, ABC, CBS, Fox, Men's Journal, ESPN magazine, and the L.A. Times.  He currently manages a specialty sporting goods shop in New York City called "JackRabbit Sports." Inspiring Lessons from a World-class Endurance Athlete"I love to sweat.  All told, I have run distance equal to four trips around the world on a treadmill and on the streets of Manhattan where I live.  I have biked to the moon and back, dueling it out with a red, blinking pacer light on a LifeCycle control panel or logging countless laps in Central Park.  I've even crossed the Atlantic a few times - in the pool - and I've swum in almost every ocean around the world competing in Ironman triathlons.  When I am running, biking, or swimming, happiness pours out of me.  I am not alone.  Everyone who exercises regularly experiences this bliss.  And it is available to you, too, anytime you break a sweat.  The Athlete's Way is an individual process but ultimately a universal experience.  We feel good when we sweat.  I have learned how to find Nirvana on the treadmill, and I am going to teach you my secrets."            --Christopher Bergland