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Restorative Practices of Wellbeing

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Restorative Practices of Wellbeing

by Natureza Gabriel Kram

Published by: Jaguar Imprints

Imprint: Chelsea Green Publishing

Sales Date: 2022-03-24

Hardcover

CA$65.00

Published: March 2022

Product Details

Imprint: Chelsea Green Publishing

Page Count: 416 Pages

Illustrations: Full-color illustrations throughout

Dimensions: 191.00 x 235.00

416 Pages, 191.00 x 235.00 x 32.00 mm, Full-color illustrations throughout

Hardcover

CA$65.00

ISBN: 9781736280317

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Description
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Contents

Drawing on cutting-edge neurophysiology and ancient awareness practices, a pioneering connection phenomenologist maps a medicine of the ancestral future.

The landmark Adverse Childhood Experiences study, the largest epidemiological study of trauma ever done, suggests that more than two thirds of American adults are carrying trauma from early childhood adversity. Yet the study did not even conceptualize social trauma: the impacts of racism, sexism, and other forms of structural oppression, or ecological trauma: the trauma of being disconnected from the Living World. By this metric, almost all modern people are traumatized.

Trauma activates the toxic stress response, which translates to a wide variety of stress-related adverse health outcomes later in life. It shapes how we feel in our bodies, our emotional landscape, and structures the thoughts we are able to think. It shapes how we see ourselves, how we interpret the world, and the behaviors available to us.

For the two million years that humans have lived on earth, we have sought to nourish thriving in our children by creating a kind of developmental nest for them. For humans, this nest is of culture and its function is to connect us with three things: ourselves, one another, and the Living World. When this is done properly, the human nervous system becomes baselined in safety and connection, turning on the Connection System, the physiological fountain of wellbeing and resilience.

Over the past 10,000 years, humans have deviated from this ancestral nest at an accelerating rate, which has intensified over the past 500 years. Most modern humans therefore do not feel safe, and are therefore not able to reside in the biology of wellbeing. Humans who are disconnected do not care for themselves, one another, or the Living World.

In this pioneering volume, connection phenomenologist Gabriel Kram addresses two fundamental practical questions: how do we address the trauma and disconnection endemic to the modern world, and how do we turn on the Connection System? Marrying cutting-edge neurophysiology with awareness technologies from a wide variety of traditions and lineages, this book maps a novel approach to the creation of wellbeing informed by the most cutting-edge science, and the most ancient of awareness practices.

It teaches over 300 restorative practices of wellbeing to connect with Self, Others, and the Living World. Learn practices for

Assessing your defensive responses
Down-shifting threat responses
Turning on your Connection System
Weaving Mindfulness into daily life
Fine-tuning your senses
Becoming more embodied
Developing non-cognitive Ways of Knowing
Building Healthier relationships
Relating Across difference
Connecting deeply with Nature
Opening to creativity
Using language restoratively

For anyone who has faced a difficult childhood, grown up with a sense that there is something missing in the modern world, or yearns for deeper connection with Self, Others, or the Living World, this book provides a map to a (r)evolutionary approach to wellbeing so ancient it hasn't been invented yet.

Contents

Glimpses of Home 1

Glossary 11

The Origin Story 24

Core Neurobiological Self 34

PRACTICES

Polyvagal Restorative Practices

Healing Neglect 55

Coming out of Shut Down 60

Coming out of Flight 84

Coming out of Fight 97

Learn to Set Boundaries 109

Self-Care

Turning on the Connection System 121

Hacking the Connection System 124

Smile 125

Making Faces 130

Use Your Voice 135

Play an Instrument 136

Find Your True North 139

Tell Your Story 141

Be Yourself 144

Self-Compassion 145

Train Your Attention

Practice Quieting Your Mind 151

Assess, Down-Shift, Connect 156

Learn to Breathe 159

Smile Inside 161

Emotional Yoga 162

Working with Betrayal and Other Emotions

That We Do Not Want to Feel 170

Allow Yourself to Grieve 176

Heartfulness 178

Gratitude Practices 180

Befriend the Stone People 183

Awaken Your Senses

Stare Vacantly into the Distance 185

Make Eye Contact 185

Vista Views 186

Light Therapy 189

Owl Ears 190

Inhale 196

Savor Delicious Aromas 198

Embodiment

Feel Your Feelings 201

Stretch 203

Dance 204

Yoga 206

Move

Smile When You Exercise 211

Ride the Waves 212

Bicycle 214

Lift Weights 216

Use Your Hands

Knit Something 223

Throw a Pot 225

Garden 227

Paint 230

Nourish

Cook for Yourself 239

Eat Seasonally 239

Tea 241

Don’t Drink that Stuff 243

Visit a Farm 244

Tidy Up Your Nest 246

Learn Feng Shui 247

Create a Restorative Ambiance 251

Take a Nap 254

Connect with Others

Restorative Justice 257

Hold Tight to Littles 261

Ancestral Connection 266

Figure out who Lived Here Before You Arrived 270

Make Reparations 275

Talk to Folks You Ordinarily Don’t 278

The Cure for Loneliness 283

Storytelling 293

Build Friendships with People Who

are Different From You 294

The Space Between Us 301

Examine How You Use Language 302

Common Ways of Disconnecting 304

Reflective Listening 305

Strengthen Empathy 307

Understand the Realness of Others 310

Build Multi-Cultural Communities 311

Get to Know Your Neighbors 313

Host Dinner Parties 315

Mentor Someone 317

Learn to Box 319

Visit a Country Where You Don’t

Speak the Language 321

Connect to Nature

Open the Window 328

Campfires 330

Learn to Make Fire 331

Sit Spot 333

Bird Language 337

Tracking 341

Living Water 342

Get to Know Your Local Flora and Fauna 344

Observe Closely 345

That Which Feeds Us 347

Study the Pattern Language of Nature 349

Touch the Ground 350

Forest Bathing 353

Forage 355

Explore Transition Zones 360

Take the Unpaved Road 361

Walk a Field of Flowers 361

Look Up 363

Free Dive 363

Sleep Outside 365

Balance Rocks 370

Nature Faces 371

Stand Outside in a Storm 372

Watch the Sunrise 373

Follow the Phases of the Moon 374

Stargaze 375

The Concept of Enough 379

Patience 380

Epilogue 387

Acknowledgments 401

Restorative Practices of Wellbeing

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