We often think the answer to our problems lie outside of us, but many of the answers we’re looking for can only be found within. The inner work means working with your thoughts, beliefs, emotions, body, and breath so you can transform a life of stress into a life of purpose, connection, and joy. Doing the inner work allows you to heal, see different perspectives, and change old patterns.
In this guide to emotional freedom and self-discovery, Susanne shares the life-changing tools she uses with her coaching clients including journaling exercises, visualizations, meditations, mind-body practices, breathing techniques, and more. These tools can help you work through your trauma and heal your wounds in a practical and powerful way.

Throughout this journey, you will glean new insights and strengthen your emotional connection with yourself and the world. Learning about your needs, behaviors, thinking patterns, emotions, and heart-felt desires enables you to reduce stress and fear, infuse more joy and meaning into your life, and deeply transform your inner and outer worlds.
Doing the inner work can help you:

-Set healthy boundaries so you can protect your mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing
-Transform feelings of doubt, fear, and overwhelm by navigating challenging thoughts and processing your emotions
-Change stuck or unhelpful patterns of thinking and behavior that have been holding you back
-Live a life of meaning and purpose that lights up your soul
-Practice powerful meditation and breathing techniques to restore balance and connect to the endless river of peace inside you
-Develop healthy self-love practices so you can thrive and make progress in all areas of life

Ultimately, doing the inner work will help you live a fulfilling life and welcome any challenge, emotion, or experience with an open heart and mind.

I so needed this book when I was younger. Very informative. Does not overwhelm you with details and facts. Will be implementing this in my tool box of knowledge.

Quite an interesting and practical book on personal transformation. I appreciated the exercises included with the book -- those really helped to put the ideas and concepts to work, rather than simply reading and not being sure about how to actually apply the concepts in the book.

Well written and easy to understand and follow - i felt the writing really added to understanding and accepting the ideas in this book.
A good book as part of my journey of inner work and dealing with things that i have been ignoring.

I'm relatively new to reading self-help-type books, but this one caught my eye. And I'm glad it did.

First things first, I liked how this book was relatively short and very easy to follow. So for someone who is new to 'inner work', that suited me well.

I work in business consulting, and I could tell pretty quickly that Susanne Madsen was a leadership coach as she was able to draw on those experiences. As such, many of her examples and solutions were practical and relatable to a working audience. As a scientist, the only thing I would say missing was a more in-depth understanding of the science behind these techniques. But that will always be a bias of mine, and probably more ripe for a more in-depth book! Despite that, it did seem evidence-based.

Overall, the book was easy to follow and I found many of the exercises to be powerful and useful, and I will continue to work on them now that I have finished reading the book.

If you've read any of my other recent book reviews, you'll already know how this first paragraph starts: every book I read and review starts off with the full being of stars and that I'm always hopeful that they will all still be firmly in place by the time I close the back cover.

In comparison to fiction, my non-fiction reviews are very thin on the ground so far but this book is another one to add to the very small pile.

I've always been interested in working on improving the inner me so I hope this book will take me gently by the hand as I take the next shakey step.

Let's get going shall we?

Oooh! The first part of the book before chapter 1 is really talking to me and understanding where I am and what's bugging me... I'm trying to remain cautiously hopeful that this is the start of the first step to self-improvement... will it be that key that fits the lock?

I'm 12% of the way through this awesome book and I think it's time for me to pop my last pills of the day and head off to bed.

It's been a couple of days since I picked it up so let's see if it reminds me of what I've already read lol

The alternative nostril breathing was hard to get the hang of, but it's the first time I've tried it so I'm not gonna give up on it too soon!

I've literally just opened the door to talking to my emotions and they are all rushing to be first through the door. All the emotions I've suppressed now have permission to be seen, felt, heard, seen and supported... I just wish that it was one at a time is all lol OK, so overwhelming sadness is first through the door and it's asking to be heard, supported and loved in all it's naked glory. It wants me to stop gulping back the tears and let them flow freely whenever and wherever I need to, so that's exactly what I'm gonna do... if you see me sat on the pavement in floods of tears, I'm connecting with my sadness and expressing it as it wants me to, like I should have done over the last four and a half decades. Now it's telling me that it needs the comfort of chocolate so I'm gonna crack open the last milkshake and keep reading.

Aaaand it's finished and I'm bawling my eyes out, but it's what my sadness needs so that's OK. I'm gonna put this review up online then dive deep into my supply of hot chocolate for as long as my sadness needs it or I start getting toothache from all the sugar.

This book really makes you think and delve deeper into your initial thoughts and feelings about yourself and life.
I have read lots of books on this topic and this one is substantially better than anything I have previously read. The reason being is it actually has specific and detailed info. Some books are just waffle and journal prompts.
Don't get me wrong, there were certainly some parts of the book that didn't necessarily speak to me or seem relevant to my situation - but the parts that I did find relevance in made up for it!
I think it would take a couple of readings before I truly am able to put things into practice - but it's a great book to make you think and re-evaluate things on a first read.

This book is really easy to read. It has very easily applicable advice and feels like you are personally being coached in the book.

This was a great addition to the healing work I was doing from my traumatic past. It was detailed and comprehensive while not being overwhelming.

I was very much a people pleaser with no boundaries in place. The author takes you through various ways to manage the emotions that come with learning to set boundaries and pushing through that.

She offers various means to work through the limiting beliefs and cognitive distortions that I had been living with my whole life.

It was the perfect array of helping topics to change unhelpful thinking patterns and learning to love yourself without feeling like that was wrong.

"How to Do the Inner Work" by Susanne Madsen offers a compelling approach to personal transformation. Madsen emphasizes the importance of internal change for achieving external goals, highlighting the direct link between our beliefs and our life outcomes.

The book stands out for its practicality, providing a wealth of exercises to help readers uncover and overcome inner obstacles. Madsen's conversational writing style makes the process feel personal and supportive, encouraging readers to actively engage with the material.

This isn't just a read-and-put-down book; it's a self-coaching guide that requires commitment. The exercises are detailed and actionable, designed to be worked through continuously until mastery is achieved.

With Madsen's guidance, readers can navigate the journey of personal growth with clarity and purpose. This book is an excellent resource for anyone dedicated to improving their lives and ready to take meaningful action.

This book is to be read like an instructions manual. DO everything it says and your life will change for the better and you’ll be able to live in harmony with your true self.

I really enjoyed the first few chapters but I didn’t really get to grips with the meditation and breath work aspect. I didn’t feel ready for it so it wasn’t quite what I was looking for.

"How to Do the Inner Work" by Susanne Madsen is an empowering guide to self-discovery and emotional healing. It offers practical tools and insights to help readers navigate their inner journey with confidence and clarity. Madsen's approach is both compassionate and empowering, making this book a valuable resource for anyone seeking personal growth and transformation.

I am so happy I picked this book. It gets directly to the point with so little filler and very little of the author’s personal judgement of which I really feel they have none. I felt so seen and protected.

I loved the sections on meditation particularly. I also really appreciated an entire chapter on living with and befriending your challenging thoughts. The fact that every chapter has practical and solo exercises for dealing with complex emotion both mentally and physically is a game changer.

I’ll be opening up this book for myself, family, and friends, for years to come.