*Just passing on books that made me think and challenged some of my assumptions.*

Mind Your Body shows the mind body connection regarding chronic pain (like tmj which is what I have) and stress and anxiety. I found the journal speak approach so fascinating as a way of processing emotions that feel stuck or unexpressed. I’ve read about a lot of folks who have gone to physio and other specialists and nothing has worked until they did the journal speak method. I’m excited to implement this in my day to day to try to help heal my tmj.

The Body Keeps the Score helped me understand trauma as something that isn’t just psychological, but deeply stored in the nervous system and body. It offered insight about triggers, shutdowns and why just talking about it isn’t always enough for healing. It made me curious learning about the future of neurofeedback, how it’s about giving the brain a mirror of its own function, and that neurofeedback training can improve so many things like creativity, athletic control and self awareness.

Toxic Superfoods challenges typical ideas of healthy foods and discusses how compounds like oxalates (found in foods like spinach, almonds, chocolate, raspberries, sweet potatoes etc.) are hugely problematic for us and contribute to issues like kidney stones, bladder infections, gallstones, Parkinsons, dementia etc. The messaging is awareness on emphasizing to lower (or remove) the amounts within your diet for better health. I’m going to show this to my FIL as he eats copious amounts of spinach and always ends up with consistently painful bladder infections every few months.

The End of Woman it’s a history lesson exploring cultural and philosophical influences on the feminist movement, including spiritualism(seances) demons, the occult and theosophy. It also touched on how the feminist framework was inspired by communism, showing how those ideas developed and where they led culturally. I found it very interesting to read a historical tracing of a well known movement that is outside the mainstream narrative.