BookShelf
Book Recommendations & Reviews
We love books in all their forms, bring on the audiobooks and the paperbacks tucked in next to the hardcovers. We love them all and can't wait to share what we're all learning with you.
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Keep an eye out here for a Virtual Book Club and
Community Reading Dates
(picture snuggly clothes, warm drinks, and everyone brings a book of their own to read)
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Braiding Sweetgrass
Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
Robin Wall Kimmerer understands the profound power of mixing a story with a lesson and how this brings about understanding and resonance. More than once while listening to this book (she reads it herself in the audiobook) if found tears streaming from the way she tapped into some forgotten understanding, a deep need for connection long ignored. The way she weaves together her immense knowledge of plants as a scientist and carrier of indigenous wisdom to explain why connection is so important will change the way to see everything around you.
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- Sabrina Ortolano
Core Topics
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Understanding the core connectedness of all things
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Connection to and understanding of nature and our place in it's web of connections as a path to wellness, not just for us as people but for the world as a whole
Core Topics
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Actions of stress in the body
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Understanding how popular culture can effect mental health
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Connection, community, and self knowledge as a path to wellness
Burnout
The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
By: Emily Nagoski PhD, Amelia Nagoski DMA
So this book is specifically geared toward AFAB (assigned female at birth) people but the information is helpful no matter where you land on the gender spectrum. The sisters take a science backed approach to many of the main sources of stress in day to day life and then give you actionable steps to help you on your way to a life that is about true wellness wherever you're at in your life.
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- Sabrina Ortolano
Everything is Figureoutable
By: Marie Forleo
Marie's mom once told her, "Nothing in life is that complicated. You can do whatever you set your mind to if you roll up your sleeves. Everything is figureoutable."
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Marie Forleo has done some pretty amazing things with her life but more than anything for me the idea that anything is possible being encapsulated in a way that makes accomplishing the things we want to do in our lives achievable is a stroke of brilliance. She speaks from experience and shares actionable tips to help you move forward today.
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- Sabrina Ortolano
Core Topics
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The habit that makes it 42% more likely you'll achieve your goals.
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How to overcome a lack of time and money.
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How to deal with criticism and imposter syndrome.
Core Topics
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Learning to love our bodies in all stages of life
Joyous Body
Myths and Stories of the Wise Woman Archetype
Episode 3 of the 30 Session Series, The Dangerous Old Woman Spoken Word Series
By: Clarisa Pinkola Estés, PhD
I have had a deep respect and love for everything Dr. Estés does since reading her book "Women Who Run With Wolves" in the late 90s. She is a Jungian analyst who weaves stories and mythologies into understanding. This particular recording is from a series of recordings of her lectures, in honor of the oral traditions she is steeped in it only comes in an audio version.
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I go back to this at least once a year and there is always something new for me to understand. Growing up in a culture that makes it so hard to form a true connection and healthy relationship with our bodies it is extraordinary to have someone share the wisdom gleaned from valuing that connection.
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From her website: "Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés is Mestiza Latina [Native American/ Mexica Spanish], presently in her seventies. She grew up in the now vanished oral tradition of her immigrant, refugee families who could not read nor write, or did so haltingly, and for whom English was their third language overlying their ancient natal languages."
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- Sabrina Ortolano