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Books to Help Adults Relax



Adults:


My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottesha Moshfegh

From one of our boldest, most celebrated new literary voices, a novel about a young woman’s efforts to duck the ills of the world by embarking on an extended hibernation with the help of one of the worst psychiatrists in the annals of literature and the battery of medicines she prescribes. Our narrator should be happy, shouldn’t she? She’s young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, works an easy job at a hip art gallery, lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it isn’t just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva. It’s the year 2000 in a city a glitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong? My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a powerful answer to that question. Through the story of a year spent under the influence of a truly mad combination of drugs designed to heal our heroine from her alienation from this world, Moshfegh shows us how reasonable, even necessary, alienation can be. Both tender and blackly funny, merciless and compassionate, it is a showcase for the gifts of one of our major writers working at the height of her powers.


Relieve pain, alleviate tension, increase relaxation, and recover and prepare for physical activities. Fun, modern illustrations and intuitive organization combined with the expertise of licensed massage therapist Rachel Beider allow you to quickly implement this powerful wellness tool.


Massage therapy is a great way to connect and engage with your loved ones, applying healing techniques to reduce pain and tension while increasing relaxation and enjoyment. With this guide, learn how to give a deeply enjoyable therapeutic massage to family members, friends, or oneself.


Beautifully illustrated and designed and with easy-to-follow instructions, Massage for Beginners is the perfect guide for learning the fundamentals of giving a really great massage.


The Press Here! series offers contemporary takes on traditional hands-on healing practices for a new generation of practitioners. These introductory guides feature easy-to-access organization, clear instructions, and beautiful illustrations of each technique. Other Press Here! topics include reiki, reflexology, and acupressure.



These days, it seems like everything in our day-to-day lives—from our increasingly unpredictable world, the smart phones we can’t stop using, to the processed foods we eat all day long, to the many hours we spend at our jobs—is setting us up to feel drained. The short-term effects of becoming drained are uncomfortable, but the long-term effects can be life-threatening. Left untreated, it can quadruple your risk of high blood pressure—the #1 cause of preventable death. Finding natural solutions to anxiety and insomnia is becoming increasingly vital as sleeping pills, antianxiety medications, and hospitalizations have seen a dramatic spike recently. More and more people are desperate to heal their drained brains. In his latest book, Dr. Mike Dow offers a 2-week plan designed to help you naturally balance your brain. He explains what drains modern brains, which groups are wired for it, and provides clinically proven tools to help you feel less drained. Dr. Mike offers nutritional tips, recipes, cognitive behavioral tools, supplements, breathing techniques, self-hypnosis, and mindfulness. Stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline go down as feel-good neurotransmitters like GABA and serotonin rise.


Settle your mind, connect with the moment, and unleash your creativity with this unique and mindful art journal.


In our demanding, fast-paced culture, it's increasingly important to find ways to decompress and recuperate from the busyness and stress of life. More and more, mindfulness and creativity are being recognized as antidotes to the speed and overstimulation of modern society. This beautiful book combines the two, offering both creative and meditative practices to provide a guided journey into contemplative art for healing, relaxation, deeper connection, and greater well-being.


Rather than focusing on any one medium or art form, this unique guide offers basic meditation instructions, and a variety of creative prompts and activities--from collage and coloring to meditative mark making and sketching to photography and perceptual exercises--making it perfect for anyone who wants to deepen and cultivate their mindfulness and creativity.


With these artistic and introspective practices, you'll put meditation into action, and learn to view yourself and your own creative process without judgment or aggression. Using Be, Awake, Create, you'll see beyond habitual patterns, discover the richness of your world, and recognize the ordinary magic of your own creativity, with greater freshness of expression and spontaneity.


By cultivating awareness and allowing yourself to play in the open space of artistic creation, you'll come to discover all of the positive impacts mindfulness and creativity can have on every area of your life.



For millennia, the Chinese have been studying the effects of applying pressure to specific points on the body to relieve ailments, from fatigue to illness and pain. Practitioner Bob Doto offers you a thorough understanding of how to use acupressure to improve your standard of life and manage your own well-being. Acupressure for Beginners is your complete guide for learning this ancient art in a beautifully designed and accessible instructional format. The Press Here! series offers contemporary takes on traditional hands-on healing practices for a new generation of practitioners. These introductory guides feature easy-to-access organization, clear instructions, and beautiful illustrations of each technique. Other Press Here! topics include massage, reiki, and reflexology.


Aromahead Institute founder Andrea Butje brings 40 essential oils to life in this guide to safe and effective aromatherapy. From cardamom to lavender to yuzu, each oil’s aroma, uses, and safety tips are clearly defined, while the core physical and emotional supportive properties are captured in expressive personality profiles.


Over 100 recipes are included to support skin care, rest and relaxation, respiratory health, digestion, pain relief, meditation and contemplation, and even natural cleaning. Kid-friendly adjustments accompany each recipe to ensure safe usage and a healthy home environment for all ages.


Take an up-close and personal peek at essential oil distillers around the world as they describe the passion, work, and meticulous care they put into creating their homegrown products. Andrea walks you through what you need to know to select quality essential oils from trustworthy sources.


By the end of this book, you will know which oils you want to turn to for different needs, whether physical or emotional, and you will be able to personalize aromatherapy blends to perfectly complement your mood and spirit. With only the most essential of resources, you can invigorate your mind, body, heart, and home.



Everyone would like to age as heathfully as possible and now numerous studies confirm what many yoga preactitioners have known for a long time: yoga practice has a remarkable impact on physical and mental health--and spiritual well-being--as you grow older. Yoga for Healthy Aging is the most accessible and usable guide available on to how yoga can address concerns realted to strength, flexibility, balance, agility, cardiovascular health, brain health, and stress management, among other issues. The authors--both popular and respected yoga teachers (one of whom is a family physician) provide readers with a yoga toolbox for healthy aging that includes poses, breathing practices, meditation, and yoga philosophy. They then offer you a safe, real-world yoga program to suit your particular needs. These short yoga practices were developed in consultation with scientific and medical experts on aging, and allow you to focus on maintaining overall physical health and/or addressing target problem areas, such as digestion, cardiovascular health, or anxiety. The authors conclude with instructions for practicing several different forms of conscious relaxation and meditation, all of which will set you up for a lifetime of emotional and spiritual well-being. This book includes over 200 instructional photos.


New York Times bestseller and beloved guide, revised and updated with up-to-the minute scientific and spiritual insight, teaches readers how to listen to their bodies and assess all areas of their lives--relational, psychological, creative, environmental, professional--to understand what they need for health.


When Mind Over Medicine was first published, it broke new ground in the fertile region where science and spirituality intersect. Through the process of restoring her own health, Dr. Lissa Rankin discovered that the conventional health care she had been taught to practice was missing something crucial: a recognition of the body's innate ability to self-repair and an appreciation for how we can control these self-healing mechanisms with the power of our own consciousness.


To better understand this phenomenon, she explored peer-reviewed medical literature and found evidence that the medical establishment had been proving that the body can heal itself for over 50 years. She shared her findings and laid out a practical plan for readers to heal themselves in this profoundly wise book--a New York Times bestseller and now a classic guide for people who are on a healing journey from illness, injury, or trauma.


In the years since then, Dr. Rankin has deepened her exploration of the world's healing tradition and her understanding of the healing power we hold within ourselves--if only we can tap into it. This revised edition of Mind Over Medicine reflects her latest research, evolving wisdom, and work with clients and students in her healing community, as well as with doctors and other healers in her Whole Health Medicine Institute.


From tea tree and lavender to eucalyptus and peppermint, essential oils have been praised for their ability to lift moods, treat common health ailments, and enhance one's appearance. Essential Oils for Health shows you how to use the all-natural oils in your daily health and beauty routine, from controlling emotional stress to clearing sinuses to smoothing fine lines and wrinkles. Featuring step-by-step instructions and plenty of helpful tips, this book offers 100 essential oil recipes that help: Promote healthy skin, hair, and nails Boost memory retention and concentration Reduce stress, anxiety, and fatigue Treat unsightly blemishes, itchy insect bites, and sunburns There's really nothing essential oils can't handle--from curing insomnia, to improving digestion, to relieving sore muscles--and all without the need for dangerous chemicals or costly procedures. With Essential Oils for Health, you'll discover all the benefits that a few drops of essential oil can bring.


A Smiling Mind : Mindfulness Made Easy by Jane Martino (Audiobook MP3 CD)

Along with adult colouring, mindfulness is one of the most popular ways for people to find time to relax, breathe and let go of anxiety.


Smiling Mind provides personal insight into the practice of mindfulness meditation, borrowing directly from the authors' own experiences and success with using mindfulness through the trials and tribulations of their everyday lives.


Coming from a firm belief that mindfulness can take people to a more positive, happy and emotionally aware place, the authors demonstrate how this can be achieved in all areas of our lives - our work, relationships, families and parenting. They explain what 'switching on', or being mindful, is and how it works. They bust those myths we tell ourselves that keep us from being truly happy and free.


Smiling Mind is full of ideas, advice, practical tools and inspiration to lead a life that is fulfilling, passionate and emotionally healthy, which in turn means we can build thriving, happy and successful communities.



With her gorgeous, showstopping cheese boards, Marissa Mullen takes cheese to a whole new level. Her simple, step-by-step Cheese by Numbers method breaks the cheese plate down into its basic components—cheese, meat, produce, crunch, dip, garnish—allowing you to create stunning spreads for any occasion. This beautifully designed book goes beyond preparation techniques. According to Mullen, cheese plates can be an important form of artistic self-care, like flower arranging or meditative coloring books—but you can eat the results! That Cheese Plate Will Change Your Life celebrates the ways in which cheese brings people together, and how crafting a cheese plate can be a calming, creativity-bolstering act. With fifty exquisite, easy-to-make cheese plates, this book will teach you how to relax, enjoy, and indulge— to find your cheesy bliss.


Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs

Tiring of playing the hostess as her fiftieth birthday approaches, celebrity chef Augusta Simpson endeavors to distance herself from her overly dependent loved ones and receives assistance from handsome fellow chef Oliver in her efforts to launch an on-air cooking class. By the author of The Friday Night Knitting Club.



In this entertaining, information-packed guide, journalist and "ReadyMade" contributing editor Tina Barseghian invites you to explore 101 thoroughly absorbing diversions, from conventional to downright wacky, that'll satisfy every taste, talent, and timetable. The bonus: Practicing a hobby boosts your all-around mental and physical health, as longtime family practitioner Dr. Miguel Figueroa reveals in the Foreword. Are you an independent, nature-loving, outdoorsy type? Consider beachcombing, caving, or mushroom hunting. Crafty, meticulous, and patient? You might enjoy needlework, knotting, or growing bonsai. Just take the personality quiz to identify those hobbies that best match your aptitude, interests, and even your mood, then it's on to the hobbies. Each hobby entry provides a playful mix of information: overviews, histories, and sample projects to help you get your hobby on, plus profiles of dedicated hobbyists and resources that'll help take you to the next level. "Get a Hobby!" might just be the inspiration you've been looking for.

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