Knitting for Radical Self-Care


Book Description

From knitting expert Brandi Harper, a must-have pattern book for modern knitters, with essays on self-care and sourcing creativity. There is no such thing as being “kind of” a knitter—the wobbly scarves and that oversize sweater you tried to shrink all count, too. Each contribution that you make to the world through knitting is meaningful, but maybe you’ve slowed your commitment to this craft, or you can’t seem to find the time to be creative. There’s a lot to be distracted by, and the path forward isn’t always clear. Brandi Harper aims to bring those challenges to the forefront and help you unearth the immense benefits that knitting has to offer. In her debut book, Knitting for Radical Self-Care, Harper offers tips and suggestions for carving out time for creativity, alongside beautiful patterns to try yourself. The book includes 10 original and diverse style patterns inspired by revolutionary women of color, and Harper will speak to these women and their immense impact on her life and our world. The patterns include detailed instructions, alongside her original prose, all designed to inspire.




‘Everyday health’, embodiment, and selfhood since 1950


Book Description

What is the history of ‘everyday health’ in the postwar world, and where might we find it? This volume moves away from top-down histories of health and medicine that focus on states, medical professionals, and other experts. Instead, it centres the day-to-day lives of people in diverse contexts from 1950 to the present. Chapters explore how gender, class, ‘race’, sexuality, disability, and age mediated experiences of health and wellbeing in historical context. The volume foregrounds methodologies for writing bottom-up histories of health, subjectivity, and embodiment, offering insights applicable to scholars of times and places beyond those represented in the case studies presented here. Drawing together cutting-edge scholarship, the volume establishes and critically interrogates ‘everyday health’ as a crucial concept that will shape future histories of health and medicine.




Prioritising Wellbeing and Self-Care in Higher Education


Book Description

This book illuminates international voices of those who feel empowered to do things differently in higher education, providing inspiration to those who are seeking guidance, reassurance, or a beacon of hope. Doing things differently comes with an awareness and curiosity to explore what can be. Increasingly, more and more professionals in higher education are choosing themselves, happiness, families, relationships, kindness, and compassion over arbitrary notions of institutional prestige, continuous pressure to overwork, and competitiveness with others. The chapters in this book do more than highlight flaws in the system, they call for proactive engagement in interrupting and reimagining what is broken. The authors share their own experiences as a way of encouraging readers to take small steps towards self-care, to notice their surroundings, and to embrace change as an empowering tool. The focus is on becoming the change we aspire to see, with a collective readiness to instigate positive transformations. Sharing ambitious ideas to encourage change, this book is a valuable resource for those seeking to enhance their self-care and wellbeing in the higher education context, and for those seeking to engage with others in support of these efforts.




Creating a Place for Self-care and Wellbeing in Higher Education


Book Description

The workplace has significant influence over our sense of wellbeing. It is a place where many of us spend significant amounts of our time, where we find meaning, and often form a sense of identity. Creating a Place for Self-care and Wellbeing in Higher Education explores the notion of finding meaning across academia as a key part of self-care and wellbeing. In this edited collection, the authors navigate how they find meaning in their work in academia by sharing their own approaches to self-care and wellbeing. In the chapters, visual narratives intersect with lived experience and proactive strategies that reveal the stories, dilemmas, and tensions of those working in higher education. This book illuminates how academics and higher education professionals engage in constant reconstruction of their identity and work practices, placing self-care at the centre of the work they do, as well as revealing new ways of working to disrupt the current climate of dismissing self-care and wellbeing. Designed to inspire, support, and provoke the reader as they navigate a career in higher education, this book will be of great interest to professionals and researchers specifically interested in studies in higher education, wellbeing, and/or identity.




The Diet-Free Revolution


Book Description

A clinical psychologist and eating disorder specialist busts common myths around food, nutrition, and weight loss to set you on a path towards healing and self-love. A 10-step approach to ditching diet culture, healing your relationship with food, and cultivating compassion for your body. Diets don’t work—and it’s not your fault. As a culture, we’re told (and tell ourselves) that if we just lose the weight—try a little harder, have a little more willpower, or deprive ourselves for a little bit longer—we’ll be happier, healthier, and more confident. But it’s not true. Clinical psychologist Alexis Conason debunks the myths we’ve been sold about food, nutrition, health, and weight loss, and offers an antidote to the pain and harmful health consequences that result from yo-yo diets, untenable food regimens, and quick fixes. Conason, who is also an eating disorder specialist, shows readers how radically shifting our relationship to food and our own bodies can be incredibly healing, nourishing, and can help us to better love and care for ourselves. Enriched with case studies, practical meditations, stories, lessons, and activities, her 10-step program will help you: • Challenge your assumptions about weight and health • Understand the ways that our emotions can impact how and why we eat • Embrace your “yum” and tune into taste with mindful eating • Trust your body to be your guide and find real fullness Reframing dieting and diet “failure” as pervasive aspects of our culture—not individual failures—The Diet-Free Revolution offers a roadmap to healing, self-acceptance, and radical new ways of relating to and loving our bodies.




Radical Kinship


Book Description

"Rachel Wheeler offers compelling testimony for the value--and the life-giving power--of "rewilding." Drawing on the Bible, Christian spirituality, and environmental disciplines, Radical Kinship provides theoretical foundations and practical strategies for restoring the life-generating and life-sustaining norms in which we were created to dwell"--




Crafting Tranquility


Book Description

**Crafting Tranquility Your Gateway to Relaxation and Mindfulness through Creativity** Immerse yourself in a world of serenity and mastery with "Crafting Tranquility." This comprehensive guide offers you the perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of daily life, guiding you through the peaceful practice of various crafts including knitting, crochet, embroidery, quilting, and more. Whether you're a novice or a seasoned artisan, you'll find chapters designed to meet your needs and expand your skillset at a comfortable pace. Begin your journey in Chapter 1 with an eye-opening exploration of the science behind why crafting brings relaxation. Discover how knitting, crochet, and other crafts can serve as powerful mindfulness practices. Set realistic goals and gather your essential supplies with confidence in Chapter 2, before diving into basic techniques that will pave the way for your creative journey. Explore the foundational skills of knitting and crochet in Chapters 3 and 4, complete with easy-to-follow instructions on stitches and simple patterns. Elevate your crafting routine by integrating your new skills into everyday life, creating a peaceful crafting space, and weaving crafting into your self-care regime in Chapter 5. For those ready to take their skills to the next level, Chapters 6 and 7 delve into advanced knitting and crochet techniques, featuring complex patterns, texture, dimension, and intricate projects like amigurumi and lace patterns. Discover the calming art of embroidery in Chapter 8 and quilt your way to peace with Chapter 9’s step-by-step guide. Continue to cultivate mindfulness with crafting-specific techniques and breathing exercises in Chapter 10, while Chapter 11 reveals the joys of crafting in social settings and sharing your passion with others. Strike a balance between ambition and relaxation and avoid burnout with practical advice in Chapter 12. Dive into eco-friendly crafting in Chapter 13 and enjoy the seasonal inspirations of Chapter 14. Document your progress and reflect on your growth with tips in Chapter 15, and overcome challenges with resilience by following guidance in Chapter 16. Understand how crafting can support mental balance in Chapter 17, and explore the heartfelt joy of gifting handmade creations in Chapter 18. Finally, enrich your crafting experience with retreats and getaways in Chapter 19, and pass down your new-found wisdom, preserving and innovating traditional crafts for future generations in Chapter 20. "Crafting Tranquility" is not just a guide; it's your ultimate companion for a handcrafted life filled with mindfulness, joy, and artistic expression. Let the pages of this book be your portal to a more peaceful, balanced, and creatively fulfilled existence.




Craft in Art Therapy


Book Description

Craft in Art Therapy is the first book dedicated to illustrating the incorporation of craft materials and methods into art therapy theory and practice. Contributing authors provide examples of how they have used a range of crafts including pottery, glass work, textiles (sewing, knitting, crochet, embroidery, and quilting), paper (artist books, altered books, book binding, origami, and zines), leatherwork, and Indian crafts like mendhi and kolam/rangoli in their own art and self-care, and in individual, group, and community art therapy practice. The book explores the therapeutic benefits of a range of craft materials and media, as well as craft’s potential to build community, to support individuals in caring for themselves and each other, and to play a valuable role in art therapy practice. Craft in Art Therapy demonstrates that when practiced in a culturally sensitive and socially conscious manner, craft practices are more than therapeutic—they also hold transformational potential.




Radical Business


Book Description

This book goes on my "sacred shelf" which holds half a dozen honored books that I use to provoke new thoughts.” –Cynthia M. Adams, founder, GrantStation.com Do you have, work for, or dream of starting a business or organization that positively impacts the world while also turning a profit? Radical Business is a blueprint for business owners and businesses ready to usher in a newer, practical form of doing business. By learning more about what a social enterprise is and how it can apply to any business, employee, activist, consumer, or citizen, we can use the golden rule as a catalyst for a different mindset. Radical business is not a brand new operational system, it's a way of returning to the root or origin. A genuinely radical business goes back to its root purpose: to meet a customer's need, solve a problem, and provide value. David Gaines outlines his Seven Seeds Framework for a truly radical business model, including: Supply Chain: Behind Every Product Is a Story Employees: Successful Brands Are Built By Happy Teams Customers: What is Ethical Marketing? Community: Fostering Healthy Interdependence Competitors: A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats Environment: Rethinking the Costs & Benefits to Going Green Self: True Sustainability Requires Self Care In Radical Business, Gaines provides real-life business insight with case studies of successful companies who have taken action to grow their profitability and positive impact. He provides actionable steps towards making a positive impact with in-depth analysis of supply chain, employee, customer, competitor, communal, and environmental interactions. As the world rapidly changes, and we realize that it needs more businesses that do good, Radical Business can help us leave the world better than we found it. Readers of Measure What Matters by John Doerr and Your Next Five Moves by Patrick Bet-David will enjoy Radical Business.




Female Faith Practices


Book Description

This book explores female faith practices, drawing on qualitative research to consider how women navigate and create spiritual and religious practices. The chapters cover Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist contexts as well as newer spiritual movements. The contributors examine prayer and ritual practices and familial, educational and ritual spaces and relationships in a variety of cultural settings. The volume reflects on the ways in which women subvert traditional or patriarchal religious practices and spaces, both problematising and expanding existing notions of ‘religious practice’. It also touches on research itself as a form of spiritual and academic practice, considering ways in which women challenge androcentric modes of research as well as ways in which the subject of research – in this case, female faith – may challenge the researcher’s convictions and practice. Blending case studies with empirical research, this book will be an outstanding resource to theologians and researchers interested in Practical Theology, Gender Studies, Sociology of Religion and Anthropology.