A Brain That Breathes: Essential Habits for an Overwhelming World

What habits can we prioritize for mental clarity and creative verve? How can we wind back to care for the basic needs of our biology, while continuing to do what's normal and necessary?

Best-selling author and respected health journalist Jodi Wilson explores the practical and accessible evidence-based habits that can allow us all to live well.

After a lifetime with anxiety, Jodi wanted to better understand herself so she could continue being creative and productive without slipping into the modern maladies of overwhelm and exhaustion. In this fascinating evidence-based exploration of the brain and the body, she discovers that neuroscientists and psychologists as well as artists and sustainable living experts all agree on the one habit that can change how we live. It's something our ancestors had in abundance but what we've essentially eradicated from our lives: free time, spare time, leisure time — breathing space.

Right now our brains are overwhelmed and our schedules too busy; we need to reinstate breathing space regardless of how and where we live. This goes beyond and beneath the self-care paradigm we've been sold: instead of looking ahead for answers, we need to consider our evolutionary biology and what our ancestors would have done 10,000 years ago.

In this gentle, wise and actionable guide, you'll learn the science, simply. Full of evidence-based suggestions to embrace the power of "soft fascination", "enoughness" and intentional "not-doing" so you can declutter your mind, restore your attention, and live a big, beautiful, productive life.