Unstressed: How the Science of Heartfulness Can Transform Your Body's Stress Response and Build Emotional Resilience

(Paperback)

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In the midst of daily stress and turmoil, this book exposes the power of our emotions to heal us--and offers new hope for reclaiming contentment, connection, and a greater sense of well-being. Do you feel stressed out during the day and lie awake at night worrying You're not alone. In today's hectic, fast-paced world, stress and anxiety have become a default way of being--as natural to us as breathing air. And because stress is an inevitable part of life, one of the most important things you can do for yourself is to learn how to manage and heal it. This book offers proven ways to help you counter the negative effects that stress has on the body and mind. You'll also discover practical skills and clinically proven strategies grounded in mindfulness, neurobiology, and positive psychology to help you cultivate deep sense of emotional resilience. Using the author's innovative HEART tools (Heartful Engagement And Re-focusing Training), you'll learn to manage stress by harnessing the power of positive emotions--such as gratitude, compassion, empathy, and hope--leading to a feeling of expansiveness and possibility, and a lived sense of calm, happiness, and vitality.

Reviews

"Unstressed uses the latest science to show readers how to master their emotions to create a fulfilled life. True contentment is attainable, as Alane Daugherty shows in this wonderful book."
--Paul J. Zak, PhD, professor at Claremont Graduate University, and author of Trust Factor--Paul J. Zak, PhD
"Unstressed explains the science and provides the skills for transforming the emotional chaos of stressfulness into resilience and well-being. It describes how mindfulness and heartfulness, working together, cultivate the calm and connection for which we all yearn. When our hearts are erratic with reactivity, this book restores us to the heartbeat of embodied vitality and love."
--Frank Rogers, PhD, Muriel Bernice Roberts Professor of Spiritual Formation and Narrative Pedagogy, and codirector of the Center for Engaged Compassion at Claremont School of Theology; and author of Practicing Compassion (named top five spirituality books in 2016 by USA Best Book Awards)--Frank Rogers, PhD
"Unstressed frames stress as the emotional disequilibrium we can all easily recognize in our lives, with ample discoveries from science to explain why, then skillfully applies practices of mindful awareness to recover our inner equilibrium, and carefully designed heart-based practices to fully recover our ease and vitality. A clear and practical road map for reliably moving into resilience and flourishing. A true and timely gift."
--Linda Graham, MFT, author of Resilience--Linda Graham, MFT
"Unstressed is a skillful guide to managing stress. It is clearly and simply written, and will help the reader develop skills and efficacy. The focus on the body and heart is a unique contribution."
--Frederic Luskin, PhD, senior consultant in wellness at Stanford University School of Medicine, and author of Forgive for Good--Frederic Luskin, PhD
"Having read Alane Daugherty's Unstressed, I am filled with gratitude. For she has shown me that I don't have to live with the anxiety, disease, and stress that ripple (or crash) through my daily existence. She leads me along a clear, precise path to a life of engaged compassion, a life grounded in the strength of abiding 'calm and connection.' I offer her my heartfelt thanks!"
--Andrew Dreitcer, PhD, professor of spirituality, and codirector of the Center for Engaged Compassion at Claremont School of Theology--Andrew Dreitcer, PhD
"Such a wonderfully practical book, full of simple, powerful ways to step out of stress and into wholehearted living. Deeply intelligent and immediately useful."
--Rick Hanson, PhD, author of Resilient--Rick Hanson, PhD
"Those of us on a spiritual path, who have cultivated contemplative practice and engaged in social action and service of Mother Earth, are often baffled and distressed to find ourselves navigating the human condition with far less grace than we would have expected--given all the work we have done on ourselves. This book is both an explanation for and antidote to this dilemma. Alane Daugherty offers lucid, practical tools to restore sanity, soften our hearts and expand our self-compassion, and embolden us to step up as robust and joyous humans in this beautiful, broken world."
--Mirabai Starr, author of Caravan of No Despair and Wild Mercy--Mirabai Starr

Author Bio

Alane K. Daugherty, PhD, is a stress expert who teaches courses in stress management, emotional health, embodied spirituality, and the psychophysiology of contemplative practice. She is co-director of the Mind and Heart Research Lab-a psychophysiology lab, stress management and emotional health facility at California Polytechnic State University, Pomona. She also serves as research consultant for the Center for Engaged Compassion at Claremont School of Theology. She routinely conducts seminars, workshops, and retreats on stress management and cultivating emotional resilience.