I am often asked about the books I recommend for healing trauma and nervous system health. So today’s vlog is a bit different. It’s about the books I love and recommend, over and over again.
Now, please know that books do not replace the practical work that one must do to heal and restore health back to the autonomic nervous system. After all, I think it is pretty safe to say that we can’t learn how to do open heart surgery via a “how to manual” in the same way we might learn how to cook lasagna from an Italian cookbook or fix a leaky faucet from a YouTube video.
But that open heart surgeon? When they would’ve started their medical training, they read and studied A LOT of textbooks (and if they are lifelong learners, they continue to refer to old texts and read new material when it comes out).
The same goes with healing trauma and learning how to restore and regulate our nervous system so it can function better: It is not just a theoretical pursuit. Nor is it solely practical. It’s both.
All this to say, books serve as an important first step and in today’s vlog, I walk you through ten books I love.
Irene's Musings
My social media sources tell me that May is Mental Health Awareness month, and while all the content you’ll find on my many channels directly relates to mental health, I wanted to make sure you knew about this article I wrote earlier last year that talks about some specifics. It’s titled, Mental Health and Illness Explained.
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To end, I’d love to share one of my favourite sayings from the Alchemists:
Ora, lege, relege, labora, et invenis.
That is latin for:
Pray, read, re-read, work, and you shall find.
On that note, here’s to the continued pursuit of knowledge, truth, doing our healing work, and finding that which we are here to find.
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The Books I Mention in the Vlog:
- The Trauma Spectrum. Robert Scaer, MD
- The Body Keeps The Score. Bessel van der Kolk
- Nurturing Resilience. Kathy Kain and Stephen Terrell
- When The Body Says No. Gabor Maté
- Scattered Minds. Gabor Maté
- Spontaneous Healing. Andrew Weil
- Nurture Shock. Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman
- Scared Sick. Robin Karr-Morse and Meredith S. Wiley
- Tribe. Sebastian Junger
- The Brain That Changes Itself. Norman Doidge
- The Brain’s Way of Healing. Norman Doidge
- Waking The Tiger. Peter Levine
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Other Resources I Mention in the Vlog:
VIDEO: Feeling Trapped? Why Waking Up The Tiger Is Essential To Break Free
VIDEOS: Playlist for Sample Neurosensory Exercises
RESEARCH: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Links
VIDEO: Kathy Kain Interview
VIDEO: Stephen Terrell Interview