The most recommended healing books

Who picked these books? Meet our 26 experts.

26 authors created a book list connected to healing, and here are their favorite healing books.
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Book cover of Insights Into the Consciousness of Snake Remedies

Dawn Baumann Brunke Author Of Awakening the Ancient Power of Snake: Transformation, Healing, and Enlightenment

From my list on the history, mystery, and healing power of snakes.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an animal communicator and author of many books about our deeper connections with the animal world. A powerful dream featuring an archetypal Snake ignited my curiosity about snakes and inspired me to learn more. I immersed myself into the history, biology, and incredible diversity of snakes as well as their role in art, myth, medicine, and dreams. I also lived with two rescue snakes: a shy ball python named Carl and lively corn snake named Chloe. What I found was not only fascinating but life-changing. This book celebrates the mystery of Snake and the undeniable wisdom and healing that it offers our world.  

Dawn's book list on the history, mystery, and healing power of snakes

Dawn Baumann Brunke Why did Dawn love this book?

Homeopath Sadhana Thakkar helps to dispel the negative image of snakes by revealing how profoundly snake remedies can help humans heal and awaken.

The author offers an introduction to the physiology, temperament, lifestyle, and survival strategies of many snakes, and reveals how homeopaths match these patterns to effective venom-based remedies.

Homeopathy itself is a fascinating study, and Thakkar does an excellent job of deepening our understanding of how and why it works through her many stories of humans successfully treated with snake remedies. I found this book super informative and fascinating to read!  

Book cover of Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity

Rebecca E. Williams Author Of The Mindfulness Workbook for Addiction: A Guide to Coping with the Grief, Stress, and Anger That Trigger Addictive Behaviors, 2nd Edition

From my list on ridiculously simple self-care in addiction recovery.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a psychologist, an award-winning author, and a yoga and meditation devotee. Growing up in the Bronx, New York I saw firsthand the devastating impact addiction can have on individuals and families. That is why I have dedicated my professional life to understanding and supporting people recovering from addiction, mental illness, and life's challenges. I’m also the co-author of The Gift of Recovery: 52 Mindful Ways to Live Joyfully Beyond Addiction, which offers lots of strategies to manage daily stressors. I wholeheartedly believe there is a path back to wellness. It takes a foundation of self-compassion and daily focus on your healing. You deserve to be healthy and happy.

Rebecca's book list on ridiculously simple self-care in addiction recovery

Rebecca E. Williams Why did Rebecca love this book?

If you desire to be well this is the first step on the journey. Dr. Saundra is a truly kind and compassionate doctor. She guides us through the tough issues of not taking proper care of ourselves and offers inspiration on how to give us a soft place to rest. She gives us action steps we can do every day to reclaim our emotional, physical, and spiritual health. I was thrilled to be an invited guest on her ground-breaking I Choose My Best Life podcast to talk about resilience and recovery from addiction. I hope you love this book as much as I did!

By Saundra Dalton-Smith,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sacred Rest as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Staying busy is easy. Staying well rested-now there's a challenge.

How can you keep your energy, happiness, creativity, and relationships fresh and thriving in the midst of never-ending family demands, career pressures, and the stress of everyday life? In SACRED REST, Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, a board-certified internal medicine doctor, reveals why rest can no longer remain optional.

Dr. Dalton-Smith shares seven types of rest she has found lacking in the lives of those she encounters in her clinical practice and research-physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, sensory, social, creative-and why a deficiency in any one of these types of rest can have…


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Book cover of Lap Baby

Lap Baby by Amy Q. Barker,

A story you'll never forget about survival, forgiveness, healing, and love.

Twenty years ago. A plane crash. Three women survivors are inexorably connected by fate, destiny, and a cause. 

Julie Geiger, a flight attendant, told five sets of parents to place their babies on the floor of the plane when…

Book cover of Working Cures: Healing, Health, and Power on Southern Slave Plantations

Janet Farrell Brodie Author Of Contraception and Abortion in Nineteenth-Century America

From my list on American women’s lives in the American Revolution.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have loved these five books for many years. I used them often in college history classes and students always loved them, too. We learn much about women’s lives and hearts (and, of course, about men’s) from each book. They bring into vivid detail women’s hard work---domestic labor and paid work---but the books also vividly illuminate the joys, pleasures, and griefs in women’s lives--sickness and healing, children, sexuality, love, and loss. We see deeply into the lives of slaves, into the lives of the working poor, as well as of the middling classes during decades of enormous change. These books cover true events and real people, based on letters and diaries and traceable events.

Janet's book list on American women’s lives in the American Revolution

Janet Farrell Brodie Why did Janet love this book?

Slaves brought deep knowledge of healing cures and medicines from Africa and that knowledge remained and circulated, helping “to heal the body and preserve the soul” as they endured slavery. Slaves held a “relational view” of sickness and health, focusing on the broader slave community and its health rather than the wellness or illness of the individual. This book in no way romanticizes slave healing as aiding an idealized communal harmony. Fett never lets us forget that slaves always faced conflict and struggle, especially since slaveholders intervened constantly in matters of health. Here, though, we gain a deep and powerful—and painful—understanding of certain kinds of relations on plantations, particularly male and female slaves’ work of curing and healing, and the uses of “conjuring,” “working roots,” divination, and “the clandestine practices of antebellum hoodoo.” Interpreting medical beliefs and practices, Fett illuminates broader social struggles over power.

By Sharla M. Fett,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Working Cures as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Exploring the charged topic of black health under slavery, Sharla Fett reveals how herbalism, conjuring, midwifery, and other African American healing practices became arts of resistance in the antebellum South. Fett shows how enslaved men and women drew on African and Caribbean precedents to develop a view of health and healing that was distinctly at odds with slaveholders' property concerns. While white slaveowners narrowly defined slave health in terms of ""soundness"" for labor, slaves embraced a relational view of health that was intimately tied to religion and community. African American healing practices thus not only restored the body but also…


Book cover of Who Switched Off My Brain?: Controlling Toxic Thoughts and Emotions

Roxane Lapa Author Of How I Overcame Panic Disorder Without Drugs

From my list on overcoming anxiety.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve experienced crippling anxiety personally, to the point of nervous breakdown. I’ve researched this topic extensively and have been panic-free for over a decade due to the knowledge and coping skills accrued.

Roxane's book list on overcoming anxiety

Roxane Lapa Why did Roxane love this book?

Caroline Leaf is a brain scientist who has specialized in the science of thoughts for decades. She is also a Christian. In this book, she explains scientifically (though in layman's terms) how our thoughts affect our bodies, and even our genes (epigenetics). She shows how to utilize this knowledge to better our mental and physical health. I really believe this is an important book that should be read by almost everyone at some point in their lives. I see that she has a new book called 101 Ways to Be Less Stressed: Simple Self-Care Strategies to Boost Your Mind, Mood, and Mental Health which may be even more pertinent to the subject, though I haven’t yet read it.

By Caroline Leaf,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Who Switched Off My Brain? as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

We're living in an epidemic of toxic emotions.

Research shows that as much as 87% to 95% of mental and physical illnesses are a direct result of toxic thinking-proof that our thoughts affect us physically and emotionally.

In this best-selling book, Dr. Caroline Leaf clearly communicates 13 ways to detox your thought life and live a life of physical, mental, and emotional wholeness.


Book cover of The Elusive Obvious: The Convergence of Movement, Neuroplasticity, and Health

Sue Knight Author Of NLP at Work: The Difference that Makes the Difference

From my list on supporting you in growing old (dis)gracefully.

Why am I passionate about this?

NLP at Work has led me to many different countries and experiences and, most of all, an ability to choose how I live my life. NLP; Neuro Linguistic Programming is a way of studying how we do what we do, especially when we do things that are outstanding. The difference that makes the difference is the strapline, and that difference is invariably some unconscious, intuitive act – often rooted in how we think and what we believe. I have sought to present both the tools to study in this kind of way and some of the results of that – the techniques that can be discovered with NLP.

Sue's book list on supporting you in growing old (dis)gracefully

Sue Knight Why did Sue love this book?

The opening paragraph contains these words, "Do you feel you have made the best of your genetic endowment?" Most people, in my experience, say ‘no’ to that. What a waste and what a price to pay as you age if you are not taking care of yourself in a way that lets you move and live in a state of freedom. I have studied Feldenkrais for many years and the awareness I have gained allows me to recognise what I am doing to myself both good and bad. The answers to this freedom are simple yet elusive as the title suggests. As Moshe Feldenkrais says, "If you know what you are doing, you can do what you want." This book is a powerful foundation for the practice of Feldenkrais and learning how to overcome difficulties, pain, and anxiety to move and live with grace and freedom in the way you…

By Moshe Feldenkrais,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Elusive Obvious as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Scientist, martial artist, and founder of the method that bears his name, Moshe Feldenkrais wrote several influential books on the relationship between movement, learning, and health. In The Elusive Obvious he presents ideas that are more relevant today than when the book was first published, as current research strongly supports many of the insights on which the Feldenkrais Method is based. This beautiful new edition is ready to be treasured by an emerging generation of somatic practitioners, movement teachers, performing artists, and anyone interested in self-improvement and healing. The two main strands of the Feldenkrais Method—Awareness Through Movement and Functional…


Book cover of Deep Fried Trouble

Danyelle Scroggins Author Of Blame It On My Boots

From my list on for spiritual growth, healing, and hope.

Why am I passionate about this?

In every book that I have recommended, you’ll find the dynamics of family and love. I’ve been a pastor for over fifteen years and now work as an author of both Christian fiction and non-fiction books. I'm a Chaplain for a Trauma One leveled hospital, and I counsel people of all ages. My master's degree in Religious Education is also a much-used tool as I’ve used education to deepen my quest to obtain knowledge. My love of books about family and love began when I lived in Yokosuka, Japan. I was far away from my family, beginning a new chapter with my own family, but right on the verge of learning how friends can truly turn into family.

Danyelle's book list on for spiritual growth, healing, and hope

Danyelle Scroggins Why did Danyelle love this book?

I am the girl who loves old people. I get a kick out of listening to their stories and wisdom on life. If you’re ever looking for me and can’t find me, go to the old person who I consider as my mentor. So, Tyora Moody in this five book series introduces the world to Mrs. Eugeena Patterson, a widow and retired teacher who knows almost everyone in her community and stays in their business. This book series will make you laugh and cry beginning with book one. I call her books my pick-me-up books.

By Tyora Moody,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Deep Fried Trouble as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Widowed and officially retired, EUGEENA PATTERSON throws herself into organizing the neighborhood association. This presents a great opportunity to re-connect with old friends and get to know new neighbors like recently widowed Amos Jones, that is until Eugeena stumbles upon her estranged neighbor’s dead body. Eugeena’s daughter is fingered as a prime suspect, but where is she? Determined to find her missing daughter, Eugeena and Amos sort through a list of neighbors with shady or unknown backgrounds. The more she searches, the more Eugeena becomes unsure about this neighborhood association idea. Someone closer than Eugeena thinks, wants to keep it…


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Book cover of Hatching Love

Hatching Love by Heidi Matonis,

This is a story of how the human-animal bond can heal, connect and redeem us all – even possibly a very jaded ghost!

The story opens with Tom’s wife, Beth, receiving a shipment of duck eggs. She has watched a YouTube video and was charmed by the idea of hatching…

Book cover of How to Do the Work: Recognize Your Patterns, Heal from Your Past, and Create Your Self

Genevieve Hawkins Author Of Mentally at Work: Optimising health and business performance through connection

From Genevieve's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Executive Elephant shrinker Connection discoverer

Genevieve's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Genevieve Hawkins Why did Genevieve love this book?

Despite writing my own book on mental health in the workplace, I got burnt out. I took a break, caught up on sleep, but wasn’t re-energized. I then read How to Do the Work and the supporting workbook How to Meet Yourself.

LePera writes from the perspective of being burnt out herself, not recovering, and trying to work out why. Ultimately recognizing the impact that her past self was having on her current patterns of behaviour. This book is for those wanting to lean in and become aware of how your past has imprinted ways of thinking and behaving and how to influence that. LePera’s book gives practical ways to understand how stories get stuck in your head and what you might learn from them.

An easy, insightful read, which definitely helped me "do the work" and come out the other side stronger and wiser. Love it. She is…

By Nicole LePera,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked How to Do the Work as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'My favourite Instagram account in the world.' Dr Rangan Chatterjee

'If LePera's Instagram feed is full of aha moments illuminating the inner workings of your psyche, the revelations in the book are more like a full firework display.' Red magazine

'This book is a must-read for anyone on a path of personal growth.' GABBY BERNSTEIN, author of number one New York Times bestsellers Super Attractor and The Universe Has Your Back

'The book I wish I had read in my twenties.' ELIZABETH DAY, author of How to Fail

'How to…


Book cover of Ancestral Medicine: Rituals for Personal and Family Healing

Lisa Bonnice Author Of Castle Gate

From my list on exploring ancestral/generational trauma and healing.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a program host with The Shift Network and have interviewed hundreds of experts on the topics of ancestral healing, mediumship, and the “veil between the worlds.” I was drawn to these topics because of my discoveries of ancestral trauma in my family tree, including an ancient curse and a fiery mine disaster. Eventually, I realized we ALL have generational trauma. Just watch the news—we’re all acting out from inherited trauma, and we need to heal our own stuff in order to heal the global condition. I feel like it’s my life’s work to heal my family’s trauma-based dysfunctions and spread the word to others doing the same work.

Lisa's book list on exploring ancestral/generational trauma and healing

Lisa Bonnice Why did Lisa love this book?

Daniel Foor is one of my favorite teachers/authors on this topic. He really knows what he’s talking about, and, in addition, he’s a deeply thoughtful and compassionate man.

Working with Daniel, I’ve been able to dive backward into my lineage and pull forward helpful information and healing energies. I’ve felt empowered to actually do something about the ripple effects of the trauma that my ancestors experienced.

If you have a chance to take a class with Daniel, especially one based on this book, I highly recommend it!

By Daniel Foor,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ancestral Medicine as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Offering a practical guide to understanding and navigating relationships with the spirits of those who have passed, Daniel Foor, PhD, details how to relate safely and effectively with your ancestors for personal, family, and cultural healing. He provides exercises and rituals, grounded in ancient wisdom traditions, to help you initiate contact with your ancestors, find supportive ancestral guides, cultivate forgiveness and gratitude, harmonize your bloodlines, and assist the dead who are not yet at peace. He explains how to safely engage in lineage repair work by connecting with your more ancient ancestors before relating with the recently deceased. He shows…


Book cover of Singing to the Plants: A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon

Andy Letcher Author Of Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom

From my list on the riddle of psychedelics.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've been fascinated by psychedelics since I was a teenager, and along with my book I’ve written a number of academic papers and book chapters on the subject. It intrigues me how subtle changes in the brain’s chemistry leads to such profound changes in perception, cognition, and feeling, including religious feeling. I want to know what those experiences mean, and what they can tell us about the world. For if all they are is some derangement of the senses, why is it that so many writers, thinkers, philosophers and artists return to the experience, again and again? There is a riddle here, a mystery, and I love that I’m able to devote my research time to trying to answer it.

Andy's book list on the riddle of psychedelics

Andy Letcher Why did Andy love this book?

I suspect that many of us now know someone who’s been to the Amazon to take the psychedelic beverage, ayahuasca, returning with wide eyes and tales of profound healing. Here, anthropologist Stephan Beyer cuts through the romanticisation to present an accurate and engaging picture of ayahuasca shamanism in the Upper Amazon. He asks difficult questions, such as how well shamans actually cure sickness and why so many shamans engage in sorcery, but his inquiry is never less than sympathetic. That he peppers the book with his own psychedelic, ayahuasca visions, makes this one of the most accessible and engaging books on the subject.

By Stephan V. Beyer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Singing to the Plants as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In the Upper Amazon, mestizos are the Spanish-speaking descendants of Hispanic colonizers and the indigenous peoples of the jungle. Some mestizos have migrated to Amazon towns and cities, such as Iquitos and Pucallpa; most remain in small villages. They have retained features of a folk Catholicism and traditional Hispanic medicine, and have incorporated much of the religious tradition of the Amazon, especially its healing, sorcery, shamanism, and the use of potent plant hallucinogens, including ayahuasca. The result is a uniquely eclectic shamanist culture that continues to fascinate outsiders with its brilliant visionary art. Ayahuasca shamanism is now part of global…


Book cover of Radiant Rest: Yoga Nidra for Deep Relaxation and Awakened Clarity

Lauren Walker Author Of The Energy to Heal: Find Lasting Freedom From Stress and Trauma Through Energy Medicine Yoga

From my list on understanding what energy is and how to use it.

Why am I passionate about this?

I remember being a kid and wanting to know everything about everything. After I’d been teaching yoga for several years, and finding myself struggling with stress and trauma that the yoga wasn’t helping, I really started to dive into the world of Energy. That world is fascinating, endless, and powerful. And the more I study and learn, the better my life gets. I’ve created my own teaching methodology from all the studies I’ve done and helped thousands of people find their own inner strength and healing. I love learning how other people overcame their struggles and how at the root, we basically all want to help each other! That's the kind of world I aspire to. 

Lauren's book list on understanding what energy is and how to use it

Lauren Walker Why did Lauren love this book?

In our house, we now talk about having a Tracee Stanley day, or hour, or time out. A time to nurture deeply and find peace and rejuvenation. In the busy world we all live in, this is a must-do practice.  Tracee’s book is wonderful, clear and comprehensive, and gives so much valuable information on why it is important to rest, why we resist rest, and what we gain by taking rest. Many people think working harder is the way to go, but Tracee lovingly and convincingly teaches the opposite. The more you nurture yourself, the more you are able to show up in your life with wisdom, calm, and energy.

By Tracee Stanley,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Radiant Rest as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Develop a powerful practice of deep relaxation and transformative self-inquiry with this essential guide to yoga nidra, accompanied by downloadable audio meditations.

Yoga nidra is a practice devoted to allowing your body and mind to rest while your consciousness remains awake and aware, creating the opportunity for you to tap into a deeper understanding of yourself and your true nature. At its heart, yoga nidra is about waking up to the fullness of your life. In Radiant Rest, Tracee Stanley draws on over twenty years of experience as a yoga nidra teacher and practitioner to introduce the history of yoga…


Book cover of Insights Into the Consciousness of Snake Remedies
Book cover of Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity
Book cover of Working Cures: Healing, Health, and Power on Southern Slave Plantations

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