Rock and Water

An integrated resource for greater happiness, Rock & Water will keep you moving peacefully through the unpredictable ups and downs of life.

Just as a stream seamlessly wanders through the natural world over, around, or surrounded by rocks, the purpose of Rock and Water is to provide access to basic skills to help us enhance our happiness in the midst of the meanderings of our everyday lives, regardless of the obstacles (in particular the emotional strain of modern living). These skills are based primarily on current research and practice in the fields of cognitive-behavioral psychology and mindfulness/acceptance, two disciplines that have mostly been isolated from each other. Rock and Water is research-based and practical, while also being philosophical and personal; and includes several narratives from the life experiences of a wide variety of prominent people in history (Viktor Frankl, Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela, Audrey Hepburn, Mohandas Gandhi and many others)

The Broken Mirror

In a world obsessed with appearances, it is not surprising that body dysmorphic disorder, or BDD, has manifested itself as a troubling and relatively common problem for many individuals. In The Broken Mirror, the first and most definitive book on BDD, Dr. Katharine Phillips draws on years of clinical practice, scientific research, and professional evaluations of over 700 patients to bring readers her expertise and experience with this often debilitating illness.

BDD causes sufferers to be obsessed by perceived flaws in their appearance and may afflict as much as two percent of the population, or nearly five million people. Many sufferers are able to function well in society, but remain secretly obsessed by their “hideous acne” or “horrible nose,” sneaking constant peeks at a pocket mirror, or spending hours at a time redoing makeup. Others find their lives disintegrate because of their appearance obsessions. It is not an uncommon disorder, simply a hidden one, since sufferers are often embarrassed to tell even their closest friends about their concerns. The author presents the stories and interviews of over 200 individuals to show the many different behaviors and symptoms of BDD, and includes a quick self-assessment questionnaire. Four new chapters provide updated information on treatment of BDD, frequently obtained treatments to be avoided, and more detailed advice for family members and friends on how to cope with the disorder.

Left untreated, the torment of BDD can lead to psychiatric hospitalization and sometimes suicide. With treatment, many sufferers are able to lead normal lives. The Broken Mirror is literally a lifesaving handbook for sufferers, their families, and their doctors.

The Healing Power of the Breath

Here’s a drug-free, side-effect free solution to common stress and mood problems—developed by two physicians. Millions of Americans suffer from mood problems and stress-related issues including anxiety, depression, insomnia, and trauma-induced emotions and behaviors; and most would prefer not to take medication for their conditions due to troublesome side effects, withdrawal symptoms, and disappointing success rates.

Drs. Richard P. Brown and Patricia L. Gerbarg provide a drug-free alternative that works through a range of simple breathing techniques drawn from yoga, Buddhist meditation, the Chinese practice of qigong, Orthodox Christian monks, and other sources. These methods have been scientifically shown to be effective in alleviating specific stress and mood challenges such as anxiety, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and many others. The authors explain how breathing practices activate communication pathways between the mind and the body, positively impacting the brain and calming the stress response. The enclosed audio program guides readers through the techniques and helps make these breathing practices an ongoing part of daily life.

This book and CD set includes breathing techniques to relieve

• anxiety and depression
• trauma-related emotions and behaviors
• post-traumatic stress disorder
• insomnia
• addiction-related behaviors

It also offers breathing techniques to enhance concentration, peak performance, and personal relationships.

The Compassionate-Mind Guide to Overcoming Anxiety

Anxiety is not your fault. There are many factors that contribute to developing a mind that is prone to intense anxiety, and if you have such a mind, there are many things you can do to change the way it works. Research has shown that practicing kindness and compassion soothes experiences of fear, while self-critical thoughts tend to intensify them. If you become frustrated with your anxious reactions or consistently try to talk yourself out of your anxiety, it may be time to try a different approach.

The compassion-focused therapy (CFT) based program in The Compassionate-Mind Guide to Overcoming Anxiety will help you learn to be kinder to yourself while you soothe your anxious impulses. Complete with worksheets, exercises, and meditation practices, this book includes everything you need to learn mindfulness and compassion-focused skills for redirecting your anxious thoughts and allowing yourself to enjoy a more peaceful life.

By learning to be a compassionate witness to your own pain, you will also learn to be fully present in the moment, and develop healthier, more fluid ways of responding to life’s struggles. This resourceful guide aims to help you understand the nature of your anxiety, the best ways of dealing with it, and how your mind can help you cope with it.

Freedom from Anxiety

This book presents hundreds of safe, practical, and effective tools and techniques to alleviate anxiety, an epidemic that affects nearly 20 percent of Americans. Author and seasoned physician Marcey Shapiro, MD, shares how her personal struggle with this widespread syndrome led her to discover that there is not one treatment program that works for everyone and provides a wide range of integrative methods that will help readers find real and transformative relief.

Dr. Shapiro grappled with anxiety on her own path to greater health and wholeness and observed, through her personal experience and that of treating numerous patients who suffer from the heartache and despair that anxiety causes, that finding peace involves a spiritual journey of self-awareness and self-acceptance. She has successfully helped herself and her patients bring ease and peace of mind back into their lives using a diverse assortment of complementary techniques, including dietary changes, visualizations, shifting thoughts, breathing techniques, nutritional supplements, herbs, homeopathy, bodywork, aromatherapy, flower essences, and acupuncture, as well as more commonplace Western techniques such as medication and therapy, when appropriate.

Offering a variety of nondogmatic, empowering tools for enhancing personal growth, Freedom from Anxiety will help anxiety sufferers find ways, many of them free or very low cost, to achieve immediate relief as well as long term care and treatment. It can be read from cover to cover or perused for specific problems or solutions. Readers are able to take advantage of Dr. Shapiro’s vast knowledge and research as well as her engaging personal anecdotes and those from her decades of clinical practice.

Quiet Your Mind

Never before has the psychological whistle been blown so clearly on the detrimental effects of chronic worrying, anxious problem-solving, and the general non-stop mental chatter of our thinking minds. John Selby, researcher, therapist, and educator, points out that we are indeed a nation of unwitting thinkaholics. In his essential new book, Quiet Your Mind, he offers us an easy-to-follow mind-management process through which we can learn to let go of fear-based mental habits and enter a more heart-centered, intuitively-clear, and spiritually-peaceful engagement with everyday life.

With solid scientific grounding, yet written in a heart-to-heart tone, Selby offers a precise exposé of how anxious thoughts focused on mental judgments, beliefs, and attitudes generate emotions such as irritation, worry, guilt, anger, and despair – leaving little room in our lives for positive spontaneous engagement with the world. In this definitive guidebook, Selby teaches how we can transcend such fear-based ideas and attitudes that hold us back in life, through potent yet easily-mastered techniques to quiet over-busy thoughtflows and nurture more present-moment, love-based mindstates.

The Worry Solution

Our brains are hardwired for worry. While our ancient ancestors had a legitimate use for the fight-or-flight instinct, today what was once a matter of survival has become the stuff of sleepless nights and anxiety-filled days. At its best, worry is a way for us to turn over and solve a problem in our minds. But for many, worry becomes a negative cycle of unnecessary suffering. Now, based on cutting-edge brain science, Dr. Martin Rossman has developed a program to help you break the worry cycle—and transform worry into a positive force.

In The Worry Solution, Dr. Rossman gives you an easy-to-follow plan for taking control of your reactions to stress and anxiety. Using proven clinical techniques that harness the very power of imagination that creates worry and stress, you will learn the five basic skills that will help you to clarify your worries, sort them into those you can and cannot do something about, and tap the wisdom buried deep within you to help solve problems creatively. At the heart of the program is the use of guided imagery and creative visualization, techniques that invigorate the emotional and intuitive parts of the brain to add to and enhance logical intelligence.

Not only can you start to see a change in your stress levels immediately, but with regular practice, you may literally alter the worry pathways in your brain—and “hardwire” yourself for calmness and clarity. Grounded in cutting-edge science and wonderfully accessible, The Worry Solution is a powerful and practical guide to living your best life—healthier, happier, and free from unnecessary stress.

Belong

How is it that the internet connects us to a world of people, yet so many of us feel more isolated than ever? That we have hundreds, even thousands of friends on social media, but not a single person to truly confide in? Radha Agrawal calls this “community confusion,” and in Belong she offers every reader a blueprint to find their people and build and nurture community because connectedness—as more and more studies show—is our key to happiness, fulfillment, and success.

A book that’s equal parts inspiring and interactive, and packed with prompts, charts, quizzes, and full-color illustrations, Belong takes readers on a two-part journey. Part one is Going IN—a gentle but intentional process of self-discovery and finding out your true energy levels and VIA (values, interests, and abilities). Part two is Going OUT—building on all that you’ve learned about yourself to find those few special people who feed your soul, and discovering, or creating, the ever-widening groups that align with your aims and desires.

As the Co-founder and CEO of the popular global morning dance community Daybreaker, Radha Agrawal developed an immense offline community with her team of Community Catalysts in 25 cities and on a dozen college campuses around the world by creating a physical space for people to connect, self-express, sweat, and dance. Now, Radha offers life-changing strategies, tips, and tricks for making friends that will light your fire and give you the exhale of  “Ahh, I’m home.”