Homeschool moms, do you ever find yourself questioning your decision to teach your children at home instead of sending them off to school? Sometimes you may wonder if you are teaching them enough, or maybe you just need a break. You might be a mother who is contemplating whether or not you want to homeschool. Homeschooling is a blessed undertaking, and the thirty days of devotion found in the pages of this book are sure to be an encouragement to you as you press on in your calling to homeschool.

The classic edition of Rhythms of Recovery sheds light on rhythm, one of the most important components of our survival and well-being. It governs the patterns of our sleep and respiration and is profoundly tied to our relationships with friends and family. But what happens when these rhythms are disrupted by traumatic events? Can balance be restored, and if so, how? What insights do eastern, natural, and modern western healing traditions have to offer, and how can practitioners put these lessons to use? Is it possible to do this in a way that’s culturally sensitive, multidisciplinary, and grounded in research? Rhythms of Recovery examines and answers these questions and provides clinicians with effective, time-tested tools for alleviating the destabilizing effects of traumatic events. It also explores integrative medicine, East/West medicine, herbal medicine, psychedelic medicine, complex trauma, yoga, and somatic and feminist therapies. For practitioners and students interested in integrating the insights of complementary/alternative medicine and 21st-century science, this deeply appealing book is an ideal guide.

Discover the best way to care for yourself--day by day and season by season. Embrace the ancient principles of Ayurveda to become a more integrated, whole, and healthy version of yourself. This detailed guide walks you through the steps of foundational Ayurvedic practices that can be easily integrated into your existing self-care routine--from self-massage, oil pulling, and tongue scraping to breathing practices, meditation exercises, and eating with intention--to uplift your physical health and state of mind. In The Everyday Ayurveda Guide to Self-Care, you will: Get acquainted with the tradition of Ayurveda and better understand your doshas (metabolic tendencies) and basic Ayurvedic anatomy. Discover the art of self-care by exploring daily routines and seasonal practices to prevent imbalances in the body and mind. Find out what foods, spices, and herbs carry medicinal qualities that support cleansing, rejuvenation, and management of common ailments.

"Psychological trauma can be a life-changing experience that affects multiple facets of health and well-being. The nature of trauma is to impact the mind and body in unpredictable and multidimensional ways. It can be a highly subjective that is difficult or even impossible to explain with words. It also can impact the body in highly individualized ways and result in complex symptoms that affect memory, social engagement, and quality of life. While many people overcome trauma with resilience and without long term effects, many do not. Trauma's impact often requires approaches that address the sensory-based experiences many survivors report. The expressive arts therapy-the purposeful application of art, music, dance/movement, dramatic enactment, creative writing and imaginative play-are largely non-verbal ways of self-expression of feelings and perceptions. More importantly, they are action-oriented and tap implicit, embodied experiences of trauma that can defy expression through verbal therapy or logic. Based on current evidence-based and emerging brain-body practices, there are eight key reasons for including expressive arts in trauma intervention, covered in this book: (1) letting the senses tell the story; (2) self-soothing mind and body; (3) engaging the body; (4) enhancing nonverbal communication; (5) recovering self-efficacy; (6) rescripting the trauma story; (7) making meaning; and (8) restoring aliveness"--

The polyvagal theory presented in client-friendly language. This book offers therapists an integrated approach to adding a polyvagal foundation to their work with clients. With clear explanations of the organizing principles of Polyvagal Theory, this complex theory is translated into clinician and client-friendly language. Using a unique autonomic mapping process along with worksheets designed to effectively track autonomic response patterns, this book presents practical ways to work with clients' experiences of connection. Through exercises that have been specifically created to engage the regulating capacities of the ventral vagal system, therapists are given tools to help clients reshape their autonomic nervous systems. Adding a polyvagal perspective to clinical practice draws the autonomic nervous system directly into the work of therapy, helping clients re-pattern their nervous systems, build capacities for regulation, and create autonomic pathways of safety and connection. With chapters that build confidence in understanding Polyvagal Theory, chapters that introduce worksheets for mapping, tracking, and practices for re-patterning, as well as a series of autonomic meditations, this book offers therapists a guide to practicing polyvagal-informed therapy. The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy is essential reading for therapists who work with trauma and those who seek an easy and accessible way of understanding the significance that Polyvagal Theory has to clinical work.

Still today, in South Korea, many people pay for the services of mudang - the intermediaries of Korea's syncretic folk religion. The majority of mudang are called to the profession by gods; their clients are individuals or small groups and they focus on the use of spirit-power ('possession') for diagnosis and problem-solving. There is, however, a tiny minority of mudang who are born or adopted into the ritual life and who have no spirit-power. These ritualists perform in large family groups, conducting rituals for whole communities. They focus far more on the use of music, dance, and song to provide healing experiences. In this book, Simon Mills provides an in-depth analysis of the East Coast hereditary mudang institution and its rhythm-oriented music, focusing particularly on the Kim family of mudang - the government-appointed 'cultural assets' for the genre. It is the first English language book to study this tradition in any depth, using materials from fieldwork (1999-2000) alongside interviews with two key family members, Kim Junghee and Jo Jonghun. Throughout, Mills includes numerous quotes from the ritualists themselves to help reveal their characters, opinions and beliefs. He documents the family's history, the decline of the hereditary mudang institution and its kinship customs, and the family's changing relations towards 'outsiders'. Mills also details ritual procedures, musical structures, playing techniques, instruments, and learning methods both of the past and present; as non-ritual musicians become increasingly aware of the powerful ritual rhythms, the music is finding new life in non-ritual settings. Downloadable audio resources featuring Kim, Jo, and Mills accompanies the book, each track corresponding to the equivalent chapter in the text.

Discover your body’s neural pathways to calmness, safety, and connection. An intense conversation, a spat with a partner, or even an obnoxious tweet—these situations aren’t life-or-death, yet we often react as if they are. That’s because our bodies treat most perceived threats the same way. Yet one approach has proven to be incredibly effective in training our nervous system to stop overreacting and start responding to the world with greater safety and ease: Polyvagal Theory. In Anchored, expert teacher Deb Dana shares a down-to-earth presentation of Polyvagal Theory, then brings the science to life with practical, everyday ways to transform your relationship with your body. Using field-tested techniques, Dana helps you master the skills to become more aware of your nervous system moment to moment—and change the way you respond to the great and small challenges of life. Here, you’ll explore: • Polyvagal Theory—get to know the biology and function of your vagus nerve, the highway of the nervous system • Befriending Your Nervous System—attune to what’s going on in your body by developing your “neuroception” • Using Your Vagal Brake—discover key techniques to consciously regulate the intensity of your emotions • Connection and Protection—learn to recognize and influence your internal cues for safety and danger • Your Social Engagement System—find ways to create nourishing relationships with others and the world around you • Practices and guidance to gently shape your nervous system for greater resilience, intuition, safety, and wonder Through guided imagery, meditation, self-inquiry, and more, Anchored offers a practical user’s manual for moving from a place of fear and panic into a grounded space of balance and confidence. “Once we know how our nervous system works, we can work with it,” teaches Deb Dana. “We can learn to access an embodied, biological resource that is always present, available, and there to guide us toward well-being.”

We carry our own space with us wherever we go. We expand and soften it with meditation and relaxation and we contract and sharpen it with irritability and anger. In the space in front of us we carry our dreams and expectations; behind us we carry our memories, history and old baggage. We live in houses with memories stored in the walls and wonder why we are affected by the atmosphere in certain rooms. But because our senses and intuition become so dulled by our stressful lives, we forget to look beyond what is physically obvious and to stop long enough to notice that which we can often feel instinctively with our whole being. Layers and layers of unwanted memories and negative and stagnant energies can build up within a home and within your very self, but they can all be removed and cleared simply and effectively - both from your home and from your inner spirit. The Healing Home explores the skills needed to do this, looking at both the ancient and modern perspective, and by using simple tools and exercises handed down from a variety of cultures and traditions. Learn the value of using a medicine wheel, crystals, stones and symbols to help you create sacred space; find out how to use a smudging stick, bells and blessed water to refine the energies in your home; learn how to clear and purify the energy in a new home; and experience for yourself the very real benefits of keeping your inner self in balance with chakra cleansing, aura cleansing and grounding exercises.

Originally published by Viking Penguin, 2014.

A collection of groundbreaking research by a leading figure in neuroscience. This book compiles, for the first time, Stephen W. Porges’s decades of research. A leading expert in developmental psychophysiology and developmental behavioral neuroscience, Porges is the mind behind the groundbreaking Polyvagal Theory, which has startling implications for the treatment of anxiety, depression, trauma, and autism. Adopted by clinicians around the world, the Polyvagal Theory has provided exciting new insights into the way our autonomic nervous system unconsciously mediates social engagement, trust, and intimacy.