A review by dominiquediane
Narrative Healing: Awaken the Power of Your Story by Lisa Weinert

challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

 I must start by saying I was the perfect audience for this book. As a lifelong writer and someone who has always been deeply interested in mind/body connections through yoga and organic movements, and as someone who went through the trauma of an extremely abusive relationship a year ago, a book that is “intended to accelerate, deepen, and inspire whatever healing journey you are on and uncover the story that needs to be told now. 

The author starts by discussing how the effects of trauma show up in how we experience creativity and storytelling. Depending on how our nervous system responds in traumatic or dangerous situations (fight/flight/freeze/fawn), the stories we tell and the ones we experience are affected accordingly. Rather than focus solely on the holistic aspects of her teachings, the author takes every opportunity to support her thinking and reasoning with science and logic. The author is also extremely intentional about making the activities and practices in the book accessible to all - regardless of age, gender, body ability, and more. 

One of the main points of this book involves the necessity to become more connected to your physical body in order to uncover what story the spiritual body/mind is trying to tell. The point is made very clearly that we live in a Western culture where, historically, the fallacy of a mind-body split is the prevailing idea. Despite that, the way we are with our body impacts how we are on the page. And as we heal and become more self aware, our writing experience likewise improves. The nervous system, the author says, can be thought of as the genre, format, pace, tone, voice, speed, lens, filter, and temp. 

Based on these ideas, the author guides writers through 6 stages: Awaken, Listen, Express, Inspire, Connect, Grow. 

Each stage builds on the last and includes numerous exercises, techniques, and lessons to benefit your writing practice - meeting you wherever you may be on your current healing journey. 

After reading the book through in its entirety, I am so eager to read it again and start trying the exercises. I believe this book could help countless people - writers or otherwise - heal, reclaim their writing practice, and reclaim their story after trauma. 

A special thank you to #NetGalley and #hatchettebookgroup for sending this incredible arc.