This is a very thoughtful approach to being mindful and aware of your own body. This title is better suited for an individual to own rather than using a library book.

McBride writes that we learn to experience ourselves as a body through three pathways:

MENTAL: the stories we think and perpetuate about bodies
SOCIAL: the social landscape around us
PHYSICAL: the physical experiences we have

In Practices for Embodied Living, McBride gives us activities to try with our bodies, stories to open us up to embodiment, ways to help our bodies and minds become better friends.

They are simple things, such us:

"Imagine that your nondominant hand is your thinking self and that your dominant hand is your sensing, bodily self. Try holding them side by side, noticing how the distance feels. When you’re ready, experiment with bringing them closer together, clasping your hands and interweaving your fingers. What do your thoughts long to hear from your sensing body? What does your bodily self long to hear from your thinking self?"

But they are important things.

"Complete the following sentences:
'It makes me feel loved when a friend . . .' (try doing that for yourself)
'I long to hear from those I love that I . . .' (try saying this to yourself)"

I highly recommend this book if you're looking for practices to become more embodied. You'll find lots of exercises to try that are easy for any body to do.

My thanks to Netgalley and Baker Academic & Brazos Press.

Not exactly my type of book, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good book. However, I did agree with some points. We are more than just our thoughts. Our bodies are just as much “us” as our brain. Society has done a number on how we view and treat our bodies. We should be more accepting of ourselves and how we look. 100% on board with all of this.

I do think the exercises could be beneficial to someone who is into that kind of thing and who struggles to accept their appearance. There was just way too much touching and rolling around and dancing for me.

Hillary McBride’s work is a must-read for anyone doing embodiment work, and this companion to Wisdom of Your Body is a great book for people looking for practical steps to take. Highly recommend.

“Your body is a voice worth listening to.”

After learning from the absolute brilliance of Hillary McBride’s The Wisdom of Your Body, I am excited this companion is out in the world!

This serves as a practical guide to help us move through exercises to become more attuned to the wisdom of our bodies. What I love most about it is how clear, direct, & simple it is to read, while offering needed insights about how to come back home to ourselves. McBride concisely explains how we become disembodied, how to heal from stress and trauma, appearance and image, getting to know the emotional body, relating differently to pain, illness, and injury, the body and oppression, pleasure & enjoyment, and reconciling the spirit and body divide. It is visually simple and beautiful, with eye-catching graphics that illustrate the concepts she addresses, and has exercises to put into practice.

I especially appreciated the section about feelings. It seems like we ought to know the simple building blocks that make up our emotional selves, but I found it helpful to read about the 7 core emotions & the purpose of each, as well as how we use defenses and inhibitory emotions (shame, guilt, and anxiety) to avoid being with our feelings. This helped me process my emotional response to a difficult situation in real time! I also appreciated the section in which she discusses the connection between body and spirit, which has been (artificially) in western culture.

In my own work with therapists and my spiritual director, as well as in my work with spiritual direction clients, it has become glaringly obvious that many of us suffer from disembodiment, which comes at a price. In spiritual direction, I often discuss with clients the need to practice turning inward& being with our bodies in a compassionate way. The question that always comes up is, “How??” This book is the perfect guide to help us do just that, whether we are just beginning our journey of embodiment or are experienced travelers who need fresh ideas.

I love this book and Dr. McBride’s work with my whole heart! Thank you Brazos Press for my review copy of this lovely book!

As a therapist who’s been working with clients with eating disorders for 20+ years, I’m always looking for resources that truly help people. This one needs to go on every therapist’s shelf. There is so much packed into this book- wisdom about how to see our bodies and ourselves that will transform you, and practices that invite you immediately into a different, gentle, loving relationship with yourself through your body’s wisdom. The author brilliantly weaves together solid research, personal insight, clinical experience, practicality, and immense depth. My own life has been transformed by her work.

I have loved "The Wisdom of Your Body" by Hillary and use it as a resource for myself and my clients. Having the Practices of Embodied Living as a companion has been and will continue to be impactful. This book allows you to use the embodiment skills as you need and want. You can use it daily, weekly, or pick it up whenever. As a clinician in the mental health field, there aren't a lot of these books available that are also written by a person who has researched them and put them in a digestible form.
There appears to be a typo on pg 55 under "Shutting down". I believe the sentence should be "What does the world around me..."instead of "what does the work around me...". I feel it is "world" as I believe the author is asking to externalize our emotional awareness by observing the world around us. Work vs world changes the meaning of the sentence.

Practices for Embodied Living builds on McBride’s previous work in Wisdom of Your Body. It doesn’t require the prior book having been read or its knowledge to apply the practices to life. This is a down to earth guide for getting the mind back in touch with the body.

Thanks to NetGalley and Brazos Press for an ARC of this book.

Well now I can't wait to read the companion piece, The Wisdom of Your Body! I've long believed that we hold trauma and other feelings in our bodies, but didn't know where to start when it came to accessing and healing those emotions -- until this gem of a book came along! McBride offers practical exercises that allow you to fully experience your body. This is a book I'll keep coming back to, and has helped improved my relationship with my mind, body, and self.

First I have to say that the formatting on this ARC did not work out properly so I didn't get the fully experience of this book as it was intended as the drawings came over the words and didn't look the same as I am sure it will in the final version.

All that aside this was a very practical book about leaning into yourself, learning more about your body and living your whole self. It would be best experienced when doing all of the activities as it is a book that you really need to *do* to get the full benefits of.

This book contains hundreds of great activities, journaling prompts and reflection questions for practicing greater embodiment. It is organized by topic for easy reference, and has a helpful leaders' guide for those practicing in a group. This serves as a perfect accompaniment to McBride's book "The Wisdom of Your Body: Finding Healing, Wholeness, and Connection through Embodied Living" or a standalone resource.

This was such an excellent short resource to follow The Wisdom of Your Body (although it stands well on its own too)! I am such a fan of Hillary McBride's work and research and am so glad to have this incredibly accessible book of practices for myself and to share with others.

In "Practices for Embodied Living," clinical psychologist Hillary McBride builds upon the principles explored in "The Wisdom of Your Body." This experiential guide, enriched with prompts and activities, empowers readers to embody a healthier perspective. Addressing topics like stress, trauma, body image, and more, the book provides practical exercises to restore the mind-body connection and encourages a compassionate understanding of one's own body.

This guide is no ordinary one; it's hands-on with activities and reflection questions woven into the reading experience. There's minimal explanation – just what's essential to aid your understanding of each prompt. While I haven't delved into "The Wisdom of Your Body" yet, it's high on my list now. Considering "Practices for Embodied Living" builds on it, reading them together seems beneficial. I went cover to cover, but the segments allow for a flexible, interchangeable approach.

Thank you @brazospress for the gifted copy of this book 🥰 I’m looking forward to utilizing these practices regularly. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Perfect for you if you like:
Exploring holistic activities on embodied life
Resisting ultra myths about ideal bodies
Integrating psychological principles into daily practices

Similar to:
The Body Revelation by Alisa Keeton
Breaking Free From Body Shame by Jess Connolly
Sacred Self-Care by Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes

Throughout the excellent PRACTICES FOR EMBODIED LIVING, Hillary McBride encourages readers to live from their most grounded, centered, and whole self. Transferring emphasis from only thinking to whole-bodied knowing, the reader is supported in seeing themselves as larger than their brain, words, and culturally imposed ideas of what it is to live a good life. While parts of the book felt repetitive to me, I did enjoy the beautiful visuals and the experience of having my fundamental beliefs about living well challenged. I see this book as being essential reading for counselors, teachers, those who are educators and coaches in all walks of life. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

Thank you to Netgalley and Brazos Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book is a wonderful resource for anyone who is feeling disconnected from the body. The exercises that Dr. McBride outlines in Practices for Embodied Living are thoughtful, accessible, and extremely helpful. I highly recommend this for practitioners who work with individuals who have experienced trauma or body dysmorphia, or those who want to connect deeper with themselves.

This book of reflections and exercises serves as a great follow-up and companion to McBride's, The Wisdom of Your Body. Her clear prose sparkles with warmth and gentleness because she recognizes that some of the questions and prompts she offers can be challenging.

I found it easy to discern which prompts felt most helpful to my current circumstances, and I would love to go through the book with a small group of learners who want to grow.

Many thanks to Baker Academic, NetGalley, and the author for a free e-copy for review.

Much has been said recently about the importance of embodiment, which by definition means moving beyond abstraction to practicality. This books takes an important step toward making embodiment more practical, which also means better understood. At the same time, like always when things get specific, the quality and "fit" of the exercises will depend on the individual who is trying them out. I might have wished for a little more substantive summarizing of the conclusions from the author's previous book.

In the past five years, I've begun to realize how disconnected I am from my body. So, I appreciate books and other resources that help me reconnect with myself. This book helps me achieve this goal. From page one, clinical psychologist and researcher Dr. Hillary McBride offers practical questions I can use to explore my body.
With compassion and a holistic perspective, she invites me to explore various ways my understanding of my body is broken, such as stress, trauma, pain, sexuality, oppression, and spirituality. And she offers prompts, activities, questions, and reflections that help me get in touch with and more fully inhabit my body.
This book is one I would reference regularly as I heal. The resources at the end include a guide for group study facilitators. It's not heavy and includes little research, but readers can find this information in her other book, "The Wisdom of Your Body." I'm grateful this book is a stand-alone because I prefer its practical advice to a textbook-like resource.

This little book is so precious and I'm very happy I got the chance to read it.

I understand this book follows the previous one from the same author, I haven't read that one and I feel this can be perfectly read as a standalone.

It features a very small kind of introduction to certain aspects of our bodies, like how they relate to sexuality, safety, spirituality, pain and then a lot of inquiries and exercises follow. It is a wonderful tool to connect with our emotions and our bodies. It's like our bodies' first exercise book.

It is all written in a compassionate, kind and very attentive tone, trying to encapsulate special needs yet also remaining pretty general. It's the type of book you keep close, you explore from time to time and take what you need from it.

While I was pretty familiar with the approach, this book took embodiment to a new level and understanding for me and, because of this, I feel it's gonna be one of the books I will gift the most in the following years.

If understanding yourself is something you are interested in, this book could be of great help.

I received a copy of this book in order to share my view on it.

What a great follow up to Embodied Living. What my clients want are the tools, the how to of feeling better and this is what they would be looking for. This gives and overview of embodied living, and practices and tools to feel more connected to the body.
I would definitely recommend this to my clients and anyone who is working on feeling safer in their body. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!