August is National Wellness Month and I've started putting a Bookshop shelf together of BIPOC Wellness and Self-Care titles for us all to check out this month. It's important to explore the intersectionality of the wellness/self care industry and race/culture. Who is represented in wellness/self-care? And who is not? Who seems to DESERVE wellness and self-care? And who does not.
I found these titles super interesting and wanted to share them with you, even as I added them to my personal TBR:
Everyone needs to love and be loved--even men. But to know love, men must be able to look at the ways that patriarchal culture keeps them from knowing themselves, from being in touch with their feelings, from loving.
In The Will to Change, bell hooks gets to the heart of the matter and shows men how to express the emotions that are a fundamental part of who they are--whatever their age, marital status, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. But toxic masculinity punishes those fundamental emotions, and it's so deeply ingrained in our society that it's hard for men to not comply--but hooks wants to help change that.
In The Will to Change, bell hooks gets to the heart of the matter and shows men how to express the emotions that are a fundamental part of who they are--whatever their age, marital status, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. But toxic masculinity punishes those fundamental emotions, and it's so deeply ingrained in our society that it's hard for men to not comply--but hooks wants to help change that.
With trademark candor and fierce intelligence, hooks addresses the most common concerns of men, such as fear of intimacy and loss of their patriarchal place in society, in new and challenging ways. She believes men can find the way to spiritual unity by getting back in touch with the emotionally open part of themselves--and lay claim to the rich and rewarding inner lives that have historically been the exclusive province of women.
End the struggle, speak up for what you need, and experience the freedom of being truly yourself.
Healthy boundaries. We all know we should have them--in order to achieve work/life balance, cope with toxic people, and enjoy rewarding relationships with partners, friends, and family. But what do "healthy boundaries" really mean--and how can we successfully express our needs, say "no," and be assertive without offending others?
Licensed counselor, sought-after relationship expert, and one of the most influential therapists on Instagram Nedra Glover Tawwab demystifies this complex topic for today's world. In a relatable and inclusive tone, Set Boundaries, Find Peace presents simple-yet-powerful ways to establish healthy boundaries in all aspects of life. Rooted in the latest research and best practices used in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), these techniques help us identify and express our needs clearly and without apology--and unravel a root problem behind codependency, power struggles, anxiety, depression, burnout, and more.
If you think finding Joy is "too hard, too much to hope for," or only for people who are "resilient enough," if you've been made to feel broken or that your pain is your fault, here is a radical guide that will open you to the potential of healing, rooted in powerful stories, potent guided exercises and meditations, and neuroscience.
In Joy Is My Justice, Integrative Medicine Physician and activist Tanmeet Sethi shares her methods for shifting your nervous system and biochemistry into Joy at the cellular level. You can reclaim Joy--as you reclaim your personal power, strength, and purpose--despite the burden of living in an unjust world, despite past traumas, and despite what a whitewashed wellness world says about your capacity to do so.
Everyone alive will endure great pain--multiple times and usually beyond your control. An invitation to everyone whom "wellness" has left behind, Joy Is My Justice will help you rediscover your Joy, not as a destination or solution but as a profound practice for healing. Every footstep you take toward Joy is a radical act of Justice.
On any given day, thousands of devoted people clip into their bikes and have their lives changed by Tunde Oyeneyin. From her platform in a Peloton studio, she encourages riders with her trademark blend of positivity, empathy, and motivational "Tunde-isms," to push themselves to their limits both on and off the bike. Now, fans and readers everywhere can learn about her personal journey, and discover how they too can "live a life of purpose, on purpose" with Speak, a memoir-manifesto-guide to life inspired by her immensely popular Instagram Live series of the same name.
Taking us through each step of the SPEAK acronym--Surrender, Power, Empathy, Authenticity, and Knowledge--Oyeneyin shares the lessons she has learned about loss, love, body image, and how she has successfully created an intentional, joyful life for herself, offering an accessible blueprint for anyone looking to make a positive change in their lives.
In a world where addictive technology is designed to buy and sell our attention, and our value is determined by our 24/7 data productivity, it can seem impossible to escape. But in this inspiring field guide to dropping out of the attention economy, artist and critic Jenny Odell shows us how we can still win back our lives.
Odell sees our attention as the most precious--and overdrawn--resource we have. And we must actively and continuously choose how we use it. We might not spend it on things that capitalism has deemed important ... but once we can start paying a new kind of attention, she writes, we can undertake bolder forms of political action, reimagine humankind's role in the environment, and arrive at more meaningful understandings of happiness and progress.
Far from the simple anti-technology screed, or the back-to-nature meditation we read so often, How to do Nothing is an action plan for thinking outside of capitalist narratives of efficiency and techno-determinism. Provocative, timely, and utterly persuasive, this book will change how you see your place in our world.
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You can purchase these titles from our BIPOC Wellness/Self Care shelf on Bookshop, along with other powerful titles.
Which title sounds the most interesting to you?
