Jodi Wilson’s guide to mental clarity in a chaotic world

PSYCHOLOGY
A Breathing Brain
Jodi Wilson
Murdoch Books, $34.99

Every few months, I temporarily delete an addictive yet time-wasting, insecure app from my phone. The time I spend away from him is great: I feel lighter, I spend more time with my children, I spend less money. When people ask why, my answer is always the same: “I feel like my brain is not equipped to process all the information coming to it.”

You don’t need to be on an app to understand the emotion. We all face an onslaught of juggling and expectations. There may be notifications on your phone, a constant stream of emails, too many things to download or log in to stay informed about childcare/health/bills. It’s exhausting, and as Jodi Wilson notes A Breathing BrainOne reason why burnout and mental illness rates are rising.

A Breathing Brain It is the bestselling author, health journalist, and postpartum doula’s fourth book, written in the trademark style that helped her popular newsletter. Simplicity PracticeGet thousands of weekly readers interested in a slower, more purposeful lifestyle. (A caveat: I endorsed the book as a writer because I found it essential reading for my own mental health and creative work). In it, she argues that vague prescriptions for prioritizing self-care (a concept she acknowledges as meaningful in its origins and providing “strength and vitality for Black feminist activists”) and copious theories about how we can better use our time are not the answer to our modern, chaotic predicaments. Instead, we should consider our evolutionary biology and look at what our ancestors did: create space.

The book is divided into two parts. The first looks at the benefits of an organized brain, a calm nervous system, a moving body, and a breathing body. Offering practical advice for creating conditions in which our brains and bodies can rest properly, the second addresses our evolutionary biology, drawing on age-old habits that Wilson says are “biologically necessary”: living with the seasons, seeking sunlight for order, eating for energy and vitality, resting for immune function, and moving to build strength and stability.

This is the part where Wilson does his best: simple and doable, with five actionable points in each chapter that don’t rely on any tools outside of you and your environment, and that don’t require you to (practically) overhaul your life. The benefits of slow breathing, setting a timer, planning a pottery, and walking without headphones (and much more) are explained; So do the benefits of unsubscribing, creating a meal plan, and sticking to a brain-healthy bedtime routine.

She draws on research and advice from psychologists, neuroscientists, and sustainable living experts to discuss imperatives like “befriend your vagus nerve,” “respect the season,” and “recover your attention” without the empty motivational buzzwords sometimes found in wellness content and self-help culture. It reminds us that the most meaningful life practices are not “especially shiny new ideas” but ways of living that still deliver results, just as they did 10,000 years ago.

Those who start this new year with the resolution to live a little more quietly, buy less, move more, and give up their phones will find this useful and reassuring. After all, most of us already know something is wrong and A Breathing Brain Helps determine why and how to fix it.