Read to Restore: Leisure Books for Mental Wellness: Fitness & Mind-Body

When we talk about movement, most of us think "exercise." But the way we move our bodies--how we walk, roll, dance, stretch, connect, and take up space--is about so much more than physical fitness. Our movements impact our mental and emotional health...and when we change the way we move, we can change the way we live.

Jessamyn Stanley, a yogi who breaks all the stereotypes, has built a life as an internationally recognized yoga teacher and award-winning Instagram star by combining a deep understanding for yoga with a willingness to share her personal struggles in a way that touches everyone who comes to know her. Now she brings her body-positive, emotionally uplifting approach to yoga in a book that will help every reader discover the power of yoga and how to weave it seamlessly into his or her life.  

Aging, despite its dismal reputation, is actually one of the great mysteries of the universe. Why don't we just reproduce, then exit fast, like salmon? Could aging just be one big evolutionary accident? Is senescence, the gradual falling apart of our bodies, at least partially avoidable? Canwe extend the healthy lifespan and reduce the lingering, debilitating effects of senescence?In this book, investigative health journalist Judy Foreman suggests that we actually can, and the key element is exercise, through its myriad effects on dozens of molecules in the brain, the muscles, and other organs.

Discover the critical link between your brain and the food you eat and change the way your brain ages, in this cutting-edge, practical guide to eliminating brain fog, optimizing brain health, and achieving peak mental performance from media personality and leading voice in health Max Lugavere. After his mother was diagnosed with a mysterious form of dementia, Max Lugavere put his successful media career on hold to learn everything he could about brain health and performance. For the better half of a decade, he consumed the most up-to-date scientific research, talked to dozens of leading scientists and clinicians around the world, and visited the country's best neurology departments--all in the hopes of understanding his mother's condition.

Eat for your mental health and learn the fascinating science behind nutrition with this "must-read" guide from an expert psychiatrist (Amy Myers, MD). This Is Your Brain on Food is the go-to guide to optimizing your mental health with food.

A beautiful colour, illustrated book of authentic Yoga Meditation techniques that encourage the practice of Yoga in its broadest sense - as a vehicle for calming the mind, enhancing awareness and contentment, and developing deep inner peace. Drawing mainly on the tradition of Kriya Yoga - the goal of which is to attune individual consciousness with the Divine, or Universal, Consciousness - yoga and meditation teacher Stephen Sturgess reveals in this book how to progress beyond the supple body to the vital, contented mind. 

Now in paperback. The bestselling author of The Willpower Instinct introduces a surprising science-based book that doesn't tell us why we should exercise but instead shows us how to fall in love with movement. Exercise is health-enhancing and life-extending, yet many of us feel it's a chore. But, as Kelly McGonigal reveals, it doesn't have to be. Movement can and should be a source of joy. Through her trademark blend of science and storytelling, McGonigal draws on insights from neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, and evolutionary biology, as well as memoirs, ethnographies, and philosophers.

A memoir of addiction, body image, and healing, through the lens of a long-distance runner.   Emily Pifer's debut memoir, The Running Body, wrestles and reckons with power and agency, language and story, body dysphoria and beauty standards, desire and addiction, loss and healing.

Discover why humans were designed for dancing--and learn how to boogie for better health--with two neuroscientists as your guide. Dancing is one of the best things we can do for our health. In this groundbreaking and fun-to-read book, two neuroscientists (who are also competitive dancers) draw on their cutting-edge research to  reveal why humans are hardwired for dance.

Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world's foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers' capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust.