'A compassionate and helpful approach to true wellbeing'
JULIA SAMUEL

'Expect to fold down every other page'
PANDORA SYKES

'A revolutionary self-care framework that is honest, compassionate and completely actionable'
DR BECKY KENNEDY, Sunday Times bestselling author of Good Inside

What does self-care really mean? From juice cleanses to face rollers, we are sold breezy fixes to long-term social problems that manifest in us as burnout, disillusionment and stress. Yet, more than ever, many of us are feeling the consequences of these empty promises and are looking for a meaningful solution.

Now, psychiatrist and women's mental health specialist Dr. Pooja Lakshmin offers a sustainable practice for real self-care: an ongoing internal process that puts us in the driver's seat of our own lives. Because real self-care isn't something to buy - it's a way to be. This is Pooja's answer to the scores of women who feel let down by our culture and come to her seeking help. Real self-care requires setting boundaries, treating yourself with compassion, making choices aligned with your values and asserting your power. When we practice it, we see changes in our relationships, our families, our workplaces - and our broken systems.

The result - reconnecting with ourself and having ownership over our life - is nothing less than a personal and social revolution.

About the Author
Dr Pooja Lakshmin, MD, is a board-certified psychiatrist, New York Times contributor and a leading voice at the intersection of mental health and gender, focused on helping women and people from marginalized communities escape the tyranny of self-care. In 2020, Lakshmin founded Gemma - a physician led women's mental health education platform centering impact and equity. She maintains an active private practice, where she treats women struggling with burnout, perfectionism, and disillusionment, as well as clinical conditions like depression and anxiety. Having gone down the rabbit hole of extreme wellness herself, Real Self-Care is her answer to the juice cleanses, the gratitude lists, and the bubble baths - not only to care for ourselves for real but, in turn, to transform our broken culture.

Reviews
In Real Self-Care, Pooja explores what it really means to take care of ourselves and provides a revolutionary self-care framework that is honest, compassionate, and completely actionable. * Dr Becky Kennedy, no. 1 New York Times bestselling author of Good Inside *
A compassionate and powerful approach to true wellbeing. Real Self-Care is a helpful and timely book, and one that every modern woman needs. -- Julia Samuel
A bracingly honest, galvanizing and necessarily provocative look at what 'self-care' looks at - through a political and feminist lens. Expect to fold down every other page. -- Pandora Sykes
Invaluable. For anyone mothering, working, simply trying to be their 'best self', this book will offer clarity and a new way forward. -- Katherine Ormerod
This isn't just another self-help book. It gives us a clear-eyed look at the way social systems drain our energy, and a concrete set of principles to rely on as we declare independence from these systems. Pooja is just the kind of wise, compassionate, experienced advisor who can help us claim health and happiness for the long term, despite the near-impossible demands that face us all. Real Self-Care is a much-needed sanctuary for the minds and hearts of its readers. -- Martha Beck



Book Information
ISBN 9781529900095
Author Pooja Lakshmin
Format Hardback
Page Count 288
Imprint Cornerstone Press
Publisher Cornerstone
Weight(grams) 407g
Dimensions(mm) 222mm * 144mm * 28mm