Find the Right Book For You

Trauma and Your Body

Embracing the Wisdom of the Body: Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma by Peter A. Levine

Waking the Tiger was written with the every-day-person in mind. Although therapists use this book, Levine reminds his readers (individuals who experienced trauma included!) to keep themselves safe and aware of their limitations. We love the main theme: Trauma can be trapped, caught, and frozen within us physically. What a shift from the many self-help books that focus on changing how we think. This is because trauma isn't something that happens solely inside your mind, but also within your body. Waking the Tiger gives you practical ways to connect to your bodily sensations.

• What You Will Find:

  • Understanding Trauma: Trauma is not just an event that happened in the past, but an ongoing physiological experience you can't escape without help.

  • Somatic Awareness: Practical and gentle guide to safely become aware of your body's signals.

  • Empowerment Through Insight: By realising that the body holds the key to healing, you can begin to trust in your natural, physical capacity to recover and restore internal balance.

Building Safety Through Connection: Polyvagal Exercises for Safety and Connection by Deb Dana

This book is geared towards therapists, but I believe the wisdom inside shouldn't stay just with clinicians. The innovative insights of polyvagal theory provides a basic guide to our nervous system. This is especially helpful when you are feeling on edge, alone, or in danger.

• What You’ll Discover:

  • Polyvagal Theory in Action: Learn how your nervous system plays a crucial role in your emotional regulation and how specific exercises can help shift you into a state of calm.

  • Exercise: The book offers a variety of exercises to help you tune into your body’s cues, regulate your responses, and create a sense of internal safety.

  • Building Resilience: If you incorporating these practices into your daily routine, you can slowly rebuild your capacity to handle stress and navigate your emotions.

Trauma and Therapy

Unpacking the Legacy of Trauma: A Deep Dive into Emotional Inheritance: A Therapist, Her Patients, and the Legacy of Trauma by Galit Atlis

I fell in love with Atlis' ability to write simply about a complicated topic — trauma therapy. In Emotional Inheritance: A Therapist, Her Patients, and the Legacy of Trauma, Galit Atlis offers a compelling exploration of how trauma is passed down through generations, shaping our emotional lives in ways that often remain unseen.

Trigger warning: Atlis uses case studies of lived, traumatic experiences (her own and that of her clients).

• What You’ll Learn:

  • Accepting Our Past: It is both liberating and frightening to accept, that sometimes, our internal turmoil is rooted in a history we didn't choose.

  • The Power of Connection: Understanding our emotional inheritance isn't done alone, but rather in collectives. It can be your community, family, or therapist-client relationship.

    Healing: This book is brimming with hope. Disentangling from trauma is entirely possible with the right support.

Hour of the Heart: Connecting in the Here and Now by Irvin D. Yalom

Yalom writes beautifully on his own limitations as a 93-year-old therapist. This book is both a reflection on his own therapeutic journey and a practical manual for engaging with life as it unfolds in the "here and now." Through a series of essays, clinical anecdotes, and reflective exercises, Yalom talks about how embracing the present led to a profound personal change.

• Key Takeaways:

  • Being Present: Yalom emphasises how the only reality we truly inhabit is the present moment. Focusing on the here and now can create a space where genuine connection and healing occurs.

  • Authenticity: Not only are clients asked to be authentic and vulnerable, but so are their therapists.

  • Therapy As Microcosm of Life: Yalom tells us that the dynamic between therapist and client isn't isolated, but mirrors the broader life challenges clients face. Therapy is a living laboratory where relational patterns can be explored in realtime.