Education

Susan H. Mueller, ND

Nourishing Space Within: Essentials of Self-Care

In her practice, Allegra Hart, ND encourages gentle, loving, incremental changes in her patients. With her book, Nourishing Space Within, Dr Hart has effectively and succinctly given her patients (and ours) a road map for bringing their lives – and subsequently their health – gently back into balance with Nature’s flow.

Dr Hart states that self-care is about more than brushing our teeth and eating healthy; she tells us it’s about extending that intention to encompass our bodies, minds, and spirits. With this book, she highlights tools to accomplish just this.

In each chapter, Dr Hart introduces 1 of 8 essential foundational aspects of self-care. As she does this, she offers simple exercises and recipes to help the reader gently incorporate these aspects of self-care into their everyday life.

Emunctories: Opening the Doors

In this chapter, Dr Hart explains the importance of the emunctories (skin, lungs, lymph, kidneys, colon) for elimination and how to engage and unlock them.

Food: Nourishing our Bodies

In this section, Dr Hart encourages us to go back to our roots and enjoy whole, local, and clean foods.

Sleep: Rejuvenate and Rebuild

This chapter lists basic sleep hygiene strategies and illuminates the importance of not operating on a sleep debt.

Hormones: Cyclic Balance

In this section, Dr Hart alerts us to the hormone-disrupting chemicals we are exposed to in our daily lives. She then offers safe alternatives to toxic products, which we can make at home, along with healthy choices we can make in our shopping habits in order to lower our toxic burden.

Emotions: Root Cultivation

It’s clear that emotions affect our health and well-being. After reading this chapter, the reader will have tools to improve their emotional intelligence and to calm their mind enough to improve awareness of their emotions.

Grounding: Building a Foundation

In this chapter, Dr Hart highlights the need for grounding, and suggests simple ways to accomplish it.

Movement: One Step at a Time

We now know sitting is the new smoking. In this section, we are encouraged to gently add more movement to our daily routine.

Rest: The Art of Inaction

In this section, Dr Hart emphasizes the importance of having nothingness in our lives.

In less than 100 pages, Dr Hart has provided us with a quick and empowering guidebook to better self-care. By offering recipes, personal examples, and exercises, she has made the task accessible and attainable.

JUST THE FACTS

• Title: Nourishing Space Within: Essentials of Self-Care
• Author: Allegra Hart, ND
• Publisher: Naturae Publishing
• Available from: Barnes & Noble; Amazon (widely available)
• Pages: 98
• Style: Trade Paperback, Kindle
• Copyright: 2015
• MSRP: $19.99