Was really nice read not only learning how to help myself better but also learning about who the author, Hala is and their journey with anxiety and what brought them to write the book! Insightful and comforting because of the use of her personal journey

This is an excellent, helpful guide written by a knowledgeable and approachable woman. I'm likely to recommend it often and found many useful tools myself.

Hala Khouri is a trauma survivor, trauma therapist, and trauma-informed yoga teacher. In Peace from Anxiety, she provides an excellent discussion of trauma and anxiety based on her own personal experience as well as her experience as a practitioner. She writes in a friendly, conversational tone that is easy to understand. She also writes with great sensitivity and inclusive stories and examples.

I thought this book offered a particularly good discussion of trauma and nervous system dysregulation. I was already familiar with most of the concepts discussed, yet I felt like I gained a better understanding of how I have been affected by trauma and why I react the way I do at times. Even more importantly, helpful exercises and questions for reflection are scattered throughout the text so you can actually practice calming your nervous system and healing from trauma.

I loved how the author discusses the potential gifts of trauma, such as post-traumatic growth, building resilience, and developing compassion, as well as the difficulties. I also appreciated how she explores different types of trauma, including shock, developmental, systemic, and inherited trauma. I was intrigued by her argument that healing must happen in connection with others.

The book includes endnotes and a selected bibliography.

These are stressful times, and most people could probably benefit from the tools this book provides. Those with an activist bent may especially appreciate the discussion of staying grounded while working toward social change.

I was provided an unproofed ARC through NetGalley that I volunteered to review.

This is a knowledge book, it’s full of explanations and descriptions. It’s part biography with life examples and easy-to-follow exercises and reflections. It contains reflections, examples, techniques, accounts, and diagrams. The language is simple and easy to understand with no technical terms that may make it difficult to understand where the writer is coming from. The book is laid out with an overall explanation of the chapter before going into different techniques before ending with either an exercise or reflection activity. The author includes a lot of her own life but also the accounts of her clients and students. She even relates some events to her children. It relates to the current problems of the world as it was written during the pandemic. It does need to be read in order and future chapters do refer to the previous chapters in regards to material and techniques. The book does include a small section regarding notes marked in the chapters and the notes section is broken down by chapter, there is also an index and selected bibliography. This book is good for someone wanting to know why but needs real-life examples to relate to the topics.

This book was received as an ARC from Shambhala Publications, Inc. in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I learned a lot from this book especially at the end of each chapter there is a reflection question that executes what you learned into your own personal thoughts. I have read so many peace and anxiety books but none of them in a clear cut manner focused on applying what you learned and that is the whole point of these books. I am really glad Hala Khouri took a clear focus on that which made me want to continue and follow along with her advice and personal stories she had incorporated within the book. I know our patrons are going to find this book very helpful and hopefully create a better life for themselves.

We will consider adding this title to our Self-Help collection at the library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.