Book Recommendations

  • Anchored: Befriending Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory by Deb Dana

    In Anchored, expert teacher Deb Dana shares a down-to-earth presentation of Polyvagal Theory, then brings the science to life with practical, everyday ways to transform your relationship with your body. Using field-tested techniques, Dana helps you master the skills to become more aware of your nervous system moment to moment―and change the way you respond to the great and small challenges of life.

  • Polyvagal Practices: Anchoring the Self in Safety by Deb Dana

    Here, for the first time, is a layperson’s explanation of polyvagal theory, an approach to mental health and well-being that has taken the clinical world by storm. A polyvagal approach to life is based on the knowledge that the autonomic nervous system is shaped by early experience and reshaped with ongoing experience. This short book offers an overview for nonspecialist readers and provides a series of exercises and meditations (practices) that allow readers to tune into their nervous systems, providing calming prompts to build and strengthen ventral vagal connections.

    This book includes a never-before-published comprehensive chapter on polyvagal theory, preceded by exercises that focus on mapping, reflecting, listening, deepening, creating, and connecting. Readers who want to change a pattern and find new rhythm for their nervous systems can use this material to work toward those goals.

  • The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker

    In The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker argues that the gatherings in our lives are lackluster and unproductive--which they don't have to be. We rely too much on routine and the conventions of gatherings when we should focus on distinctiveness and the people involved. At a time when coming together is more important than ever, Parker sets forth a human-centered approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small, for work and for play.

    Drawing on her expertise as a facilitator of high-powered gatherings around the world, Parker takes us inside events of all kinds to show what works, what doesn't, and why. She investigates a wide array of gatherings--conferences, meetings, a courtroom, a flash-mob party, an Arab-Israeli summer camp--and explains how simple, specific changes can invigorate any group experience.

    The result is a book that's both journey and guide, full of exciting ideas with real-world applications. The Art of Gathering will forever alter the way you look at your next meeting, industry conference, dinner party, and backyard barbecue--and how you host and attend them.

  • Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab

    Simple-yet-powerful ways to establish healthy boundaries in all aspects of life. Rooted in the latest research and best practices used in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), these techniques help us identify and express our needs clearly and without apology--and unravel a root problem behind codependency, power struggles, anxiety, depression, burnout, and more.

  • The Set Boundaries Workbook: Practical Exercises for Understanding Your Needs and Setting Healthy Limits by Nedra Glover Tawwab

    We all want to have healthy boundaries. But what does that really mean – and what steps are needed to implement them in our daily lives? Sought-after therapist and relationship expert Nedra Glover Tawwab presents clear explanations and interactive exercises to help you gain insight and then put it into action. Filled with thought-provoking checklists, questions, writing prompts, and more, The Set Boundaries Workbook is a valuable tool for everyone who wants to speak up for what they want and need, and show up more authentically in the world.

  • Necessary Endings by Dr. Henry Cloud

    Learn to embrace endings, both in business and personal life. Endings are vital for growth and improvement, rather than something to be feared or avoided, as they allow us to move forward and make room for something better.  

  • Secure Love: Create a Relationship That Lasts a Lifetime by Julie Menanno

    In this book Julie Menanno tackles:
    -Why you and your partner have the same fight over and over (hint: it’s called a negative cycle, and underlying every fight, argument, silent treatment, or passive-aggressive comment is an unmet attachment need).
    -“Instead of that, say this” suggested scripts of how to approach difficult situations in your relationship more effectively.
    -The four attachment types, with exercises to understand you and your partner’s attachment style.
    -How to improve communication, including staying connected during conflict by prioritizing vulnerability rather than protecting yourself.
    -Why insecure attachment negatively impacts a couple’s sex life and how to ignite that sexual connection.

    Secure Love is a crash course in understanding how you show up in a relationship and guides you on getting out of negative cycles to find safety in one another and establish a secure attachment with your partner to create the bond you’ve been longing for.

  • Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find-and Keep-Love by Dr. Amir Levine and Rachel Heller

    Attached guides readers in determining what attachment style they and their mate (or potential mate) follow, offering a road map for building stronger, more fulfilling connections with the people they love.

  • The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.

    Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments—from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga—that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain’s natural neuroplasticity. Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal—and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.

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