Learn

Presence/ Mindfulness:

Linda Hartley, Wisdom of the Body Moving: An Introduction to Body-Mind Centering, (North Atlantic Books, 1995) This book is a comprehensive guide to Body-Mind Centering. Body-Mind Centering offers a way to access the intuitive wisdom of the body and to nurture our innate capacity to heal through awareness and touch.

David Rome, Your Body Knows the Answer: Using Your Felt Sense to Solve Problems, Effect Change and Liberate Creativity, (Shambhala, 2014) This book is a manual for mindful focusing. By including the felt sense, a physical sensation, exploration of the your inner world is opened.

Suzanne Scurlock-Durana Full Body Presence: Learning to listen to Your Body’s Wisdom (Natural Publishing of New World Library, 2010). We consider this to be an entry level book for those wishing to further their study of Presence in Healing. Though the author uses a different model, the basic premise is the same. A great start to understanding presence, energy and the body.

Spiritual:

Stephen Cope, The Great Work of Your Life, (Bantam Books, 2012) Using the Bhagavad Gita as a guide, the author walks through a process of discovering dharma for oneself.

Kabir Helminski, The Knowing Heart: A Sufi Path of Transformation. (Shambhala, 1999) Practical understanding of the heart- an organ of intuition and perception.

Jack Kornfield, After the Ectasy, the Laundry: “How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path (New York, Bantam Books, 2000). The title says it well — how we do our work every day.

Michael Singer, The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself (Noetic Books and New Harbinger Publications, 2007). This book seeks to walk the reader through habitual thoughts and emotions to explore how in this awareness more may be found.

Lama Surya Das, Buddha Is As Buddha Does: The Ten Original Practices For Enlightened Living, (Harper Collins, 2007) This is a book that affirms that we are all Buddhas by nature. It shares a message of what it means to be a mature human being who brings kindness, restraint, cooperation, self-responsibility, and love to every day life- taking positive action into the world.

Bodywork- General:

Deane Juhan, Job’s Body: A Handbook for Bodywork, (Barrytown/ Station Hill Press, 2003) This book was first published in 1987 and is a classic study of why bodywork works.

David J. Linden, Touch: The Science of Hand, Heart, and Mind, (Penguin Books, 2016) This book explores the science of touch.

Myofascial/ Fascial Release:

Joyce Karnis Patterson, Comprehensive Myofascial Self Treatment: Your path to authentic healing and pain relief, (available through www.mfrselftreat.com, 2009) A useful guide to  Myofascial Release self- treatment.

Craniosacral:

Michael Kern, Wisdom in the Body:The Craniosacral Approach to Essential Health, (North Atlantic Books, 2011) This book describes biodynamic craniosacral therapy and its use to resolve the trapped forces that underlie and drive trauma-based patterns of disease and suffering in body and mind.

Holistic Stress Management: 

Gabor Maté, When the Body Says No: “Exploring the Stress-Distress Connection,” (New Jersey, John Wiley & Sons, 2011). This book documents and reaffirms what we “intuit”, that “stress” manifests itself out into our physicality.

Brian Luke Seaward, Stand Like Mountain, Flow Like Water: Reflections on Stress and Human Spirituality Revised, (Health Communications, 2007) This book is filled with insights and compelling stories regarding the mind-body-spirit connection and healing stress.

Holistic Coaching: 

Henry Kimsey-House, Karen Kimsey-House, Philip Sandahl and Laura Whitworth, Co-active Coaching: Changing Business, Transforming Lives, (Nicholas Brealy Publishing, 2011) A very clear introduction to what coaching is.

Richard Strozzi-Heckler, The Art of Somatic Coaching: Embodying Skillful Action, Wisdom, and Compassion, (North Atlantic Books, 2014)

This book introduces the concepts and principles of coaching with practices that include body awareness, bodywork, and mindfulness for both the coach and the client. By implementing a somatic approach, these patterns can be shifted in order for transformation to occur.

Margaret J. Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science: “Discovering Order in a Chaotic World, (Californis, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 1999). This book explores how to use the principles of quantum physics to invite creativity and change in organizations.

Yoga:

Magdalena Mecweld, Serenity Yin Yoga: Rest Yourself to a Calm Mind and Healthy Body, (2015) This book through pictures and words  explains postures and options, flows and benefits within the practice and practicalities of Yin yoga.

Ganga White, Yoga Beyond Belief: Insights to Awaken and Deepen Your Practice, (North Atlantic Books, 2007) This book highlights integrative body, mind and spirit yoga.

Recovery/Trauma:

Noah Levine, Against the Stream, (Harper Collins, 2007) This book guides the reader along a Buddhist spiritual path that has led to freedom from suffering for 2500 years. Noah tells his personal story in recovery through Buddhist meditation.

Peter Levine, Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma,(North Atlantic Books, 1997) A new and hopeful vision of trauma. This book normalizes the symptoms of trauma and the steps needed to heal them.

Gabor Maté, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Close Encounters with Addiction, (North Atlantic Books, 2010) This book presents a compassionate understanding of drug addiction. Scientific and psychological causes and the societal impact of addiction are explored with alternative holistic approaches presented.

Children/ Family:

Karen Sjostrom Hedger and Sara Pierce, Being With Children As We Are, (Fast Pencil, 2012), A theoretical description of how children actively co-create themselves in pursuit of answering the question, “Who Am I?”

Alfie Kohn, Unconditional Parenting,  (New York, Atria Books, 2005) With a gentle, conversational tone this book challenges most of the conventional approaches to discipline. Kohn makes a case that the messages children receive from rewards, natural consequences and positive reinforcement place these techniques along the continuum of punishment and coercion that ultimately reinforces violence in our culture. This book invites you to think deeply about your parenting values.

Healing- General/ Miscellaneous:

Stephen Harron Buhner, The Secret Teachings of Plants: “The Intellegence of the Heart in Direct Perception of Nature,” (Vermont, Bear & Company, 2004). A beautifully written book about the use of direct perception to communicate and to heal.

Richard Gerber, Vibrational Medicine: “The #1 Handbook of Subtle-Energy Therapies,” (Vermont, Bear & Company, 2001). An MD who is willing to explore energy and bridge current medicine with metaphysical healing.

Louise L Hay, You can heal your life, (Hay House, 2004) This book is a classic in looking at and working through the mental patterns that create dis-ease.

Daniel Keown, The Spark in the Machine: How the Science of Acupuncture Explains the Mysteries of Western Medicine, (Singing Dragon, 2014) This book shows how Western medicine supports the theories of Chinese medicine and how Chinese medicine explains the mysteries of the body that Western medicine largely ignores.

Richard Matthews, The Symbiont Factor: How the Gut Microbiome Redefines Health, Disease and Humanity, (2014) This book presents a clear understanding of gut bacteria.

Carolyn Myss, Defy Gravity, (New York: Hay House, Inc. 2009). This book moves beyond the holistic model of health, inviting us to connect to the sacred and explore our inner truths.

https://yogainyourpark.com/magazine/defeat-mental-blocks-in-meditative-breathing/