Balancing body & brain: 3 Essential reads to help you harness your body’s power to lead change
How can you build your intuition, authentic leadership presence and capacity for discomfort as a leader? Don’t go straight for your brain. Your body holds the key.
As anyone with a child or a social media feed knew, it was World Book Week last week.
As I dressed my 3-year-old daughter as Doctorsaurus , I glanced at a precarious pile of books teetering on my workspace.
‘I should really put up more bookshelves,’ I said to myself for the 13th time this week.
When working with clients day to day, I love to find the perfect quote from a book to support the moment they’re in. I dip in and out of volumes, searching across genres and topics for the right insights.
And then there are days when reading is not in service of others, but for my own pleasure and development. I find I need real spaciousness for this. The bed is the best place, closely followed by the sofa. There is a marked difference between reading with a pen and post-its in hand and reading without.
I don’t know if you can relate, but when I find a book that speaks to me, reading becomes a form of Co-conspiratorship with the author (one of my three Pathways to Change). I feel like I’m in dialogue with them in my mind, adding my questions and ideas to theirs. That doesn’t mean reading is always comfortable… but it is a way I know I love to be taught and to grow.
A peek inside my Bespoke Book Boxes for Rebel Leaders
When I work with clients on my 6-month coaching programmes, I curate a Bespoke Book Box for them, specifically to support them with their question or life change at hand.
Given the centrality of justice to my Rebel Leadership Framework, I aim to offer leaders I work with an array of books including authors from marginalised identities, and writing that explicitly addresses systemic oppression and how to heal ourselves from it.
And in every box, there's always at least one book on how to heal and work powerfully with our bodies.
Brought up in paradigms of Western Platonic and Cartesian dualism, we tend to internalise the idea that broadly our brains are good (wise, clever, rational) and our bodies are bad (distracting, irrational, even sinful).
And yet, I see with clients time and again, learning to lead with their bodies helps them to:
Recognise their own needs and boundaries, rather than overriding them
Trust their intuition and ‘gut wisdom’
Discerning which emotions they are feeling, by recognising subtle differences in internal sensations
Take up rightful space, whether that means taking up more physical space or less
Become able to ‘be with’ discomfort in emotionally charged conversations, not shutting them down
Reading the early signs of stress and taking action, so it doesn’t spiral out of control
So to help you start harnessing this power, here are three books from my Bespoke Book Box library about becoming more contactful with our bodies.
I often recommend these to leaders who are seeking to deepen their emotional literacy and authentic leadership presence. I also return to them again and again myself.
I highly recommend that you invest in one or two that take your fancy. If you’re in the UK, go ahead and order from https://uk.bookshop.org/. I aim to buy all my clients’ books from here, as every purchase supports local booksellers.
The Body is Not An Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love - Sonya Renee Taylor
A radical must for anyone who wants to move from hating their body - or parts of it - to develop a more loving, patient, and appreciative relationship with themselves. Sonya Renee Taylor helps us see the way violent systems - white supremacy, sexism, transphobia capitalism - profit from telling us how to relate to our bodies and others.
Bodies, we are told, are dangerous, vulnerable, sinful, flawed, imperfect…but what damage are these stories doing to us, and allowing us to inflict on others?
What if instead, we can catch these harmful systems in the act and (my words, not Taylor’s) click ‘unsubscribe’, and become able to relate to our own and others’ bodies with wisdom, compassion, and awe?
I return to this book every six months or so. A must for anyone struggling with body image, body dysmorphia, trauma, and how to become more actively anti-sexist & anti-racist.
My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies - Resmaa Menakem
We often approach racism and anti-racism from a cognitive angle. But ultimately, racism is about bodies.
Whose bodies are accorded safety, and whose are deemed threatening.
Whose bodies get to belong, and whose are excluded or abused.
The trauma that bodies sustain, and the healing that bodies sorely need.
Therapist Resmaa Menakem has spent decades specialising in trauma, body-centered psychotherapy, and violence prevention - in particular working with the police in the US on dismantling what he calls ‘White Body Supremacy.’ This book is designed to be a practical guide for those seeking to heal the trauma of racism - including those of us who are Black and brown, and those of us who are white or white-passing. He combines expert analysis, personal story-telling from his practice, and practical somatic exercises to compelling and usable effect.
This book has helped me hugely to become a safer co-conspirator and ally for my friends and clients of colour. Highly recommend.
Sweat Your Prayers: Movement as Spiritual Practice - Gabrielle Roth
In 2008, a friend took me to a church in Vauxhall as a birthday surprise. I experienced there my very first dance meditation class, The Five Rhythms, originated by Gabrielle Roth. A chance to move my body to music as I did instinctively as a teenager in my bedroom - to express, to release, to connect and to heal. Movement meditation has been a part of my practice ever since.
In raw, personal, and poetic prose, Gabrielle Roth outlines The Five Rhythms which are found throughout life - Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, Stillness.
Don’t worry if you don’t think you can dance. Gabrielle believes we all can. And the aim is not to look good throwing shapes.
We are invited to embody each of these ways of being in turn - both to find release and self-expression, and to build the adaptability and equanimity to better navigate these states in the world around us.
The Flow in washing the dishes.
The Staccato in a difficult conversation.
The Chaos in a sudden crisis.
The Lyrical in making a new friend.
The Stillness in the quiet before bed.
Which of these books speaks to you the most?
If you’re in the UK, go ahead and order from https://uk.bookshop.org/. I aim to buy all my clients’ books from here, as every purchase supports local booksellers.
And if you have a favourite book to recommend - I’m all ears! Send me your best reco’s. Lack of bookshelf space, be damned.
Are you ready to level up your leadership with Authenticity, Balance & Courage?
Are you embarking on your next life or leadership challenge?
Could you use expert support and practical guidance to put your aspirations into action?
And do you love receiving books chosen just for you in the post?
If this is you, or someone on your team, I’d love to set up a chat.
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