From Brené

Meet Prentis Hemphill - My friend Prentis Hemphill launches their new book, What It Takes to Heal, today. I read an early copy of it, and I haven’t... [Four colored mailboxes and a bird at a pinecone shaped bird feeder ] From Brené JUNE 4, 2024 newsletter Meet Prentis Hemphill My friend Prentis Hemphill launches their new book, What It Takes to Heal, today. I read an early copy of it, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it, talking about it, and sharing it. Prentis is a therapist, somatics teacher and facilitator, political organizer, writer, and the founder of [The Embodiment Institute](. Prentis works through an embodied approach — a way of ensuring that our intentions and ideas can be lived out and practiced in our lives and through our bodies. So many of us were raised to think of our bodies as something that moved us around and needed to be controlled by our minds. Left uncontrolled, we worried that our bodies were messy, a potential liability, and even dangerous. As I started the research for Atlas of the Heart, I quickly learned that in the absence of real embodiment — including understanding that our deepest wisdom lives in our bodies — we struggle to know what we’re feeling, what we need, and how to move through emotion in a healthy way. You can’t understand and regulate emotion if you’re not solidly in your body. This was a challenge for me, and Prentis’ work has been a life-saver and -changer for me. And, their work on boundaries — whoa. So important! I’m grateful for Prentis’ work, and I can’t wait for you to read it! [Headshot of Prentis Hemphill and there cover of their book What It Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World ]( [Learn More About Prentis]( Three quotes that speak to me (and these were hard to pick — more of the book is highlighted than not): [“For healing to take place, for it to be felt, for it to root, remake, and rearrange us, it has to happen not only in the realm of our thinking, but in the soil of our bodies. Healing has to be embodied.” - Prentis Hemphill, What It Takes to Heal (June, 2024)] [“Everything that happens happens in our bodies. Everything we feel, say, think, risk, every connection we ever have is experienced there. Our bodies are the expression and container of our lives. The tissues and muscles that can hold on to a trauma can also learn a dance, can live out a vision, can pick up a habit, can grow and age. It’s through our bodies that we experience and engage life, and it’s in our bodies that we heal.” - Prentis Hemphill, What It Takes to Heal (June, 2024)] [“Somewhere along the way we were taught to stop feeling instead of being taught to stop what harms us, as though the feeling were our enemy, as though the feeling were hurting us. To move forward and address the harm, we have to feel.” - Prentis Hemphill, What It Takes to Heal (June, 2024)] These are two quotes about boundaries that have been life-changing and life-affirming for me: “Boundaries are the distance at which I can love you and me simultaneously.” “Boundaries are not about control; they are a way of resetting power dynamics in relationships, of restoring our sense of agency and choice. Maybe most important, boundaries are how we shelter our authenticity, our real selves, and they are essential as we build relationship with one another.” [Get the Book]( What’s New on the Website [Headshot of Bonnie Tsui in front of the High Five handprint background]( HIGH FIVE Bonnie Tsui by Laura Mayes [Photo of Andre Pippins in her studio]( BRENÉ AND HER CREATIVE LOVES Andrea Pippins by Lauren Smith Ford [Headshot of Katherine Center in front of the High Five handprint background]( HIGH FIVE Katherine Center by Laura Mayes Stay awkward, brave, and kind, Follow Brené on social! If this was forwarded to you, [subscribe here.]( [LinkedIn]( [Instagram]( [Facebook]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. © 2024 BBEARG, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Responses to this email are not monitored. Our mailing address is: BBEARG P.O. Box 272124Houston, TX 77277 [Add us to your address book](