Hala Khouri - Peace from Anxiety Get Grounded, Build Resilience, and Stay Connected Amidst the Chaos.

Shambhala Publications, Inc.

4720 Walnut Street

Boulder, Colorado 80301

www.shambhala.com

2021 by Hala Khouri

Note: This book is not meant to replace the diagnosis or treatment of anxiety by a qualified mental health provider. Please consult a health-care professional if you are unable to manage or feel you need support.

Cover art: Igor Vitkovskiy / Shutterstock

Cover design: Kate E. White

Interior design: Greta D. Sibley

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

For more information please visit www.shambhala.com. Shambhala Publications is distributed worldwide by Penguin Random House, Inc., and its subsidiaries.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Khouri, Hala, author.

Title: Peace from anxiety: get grounded, build resilience, and stay connected amidst the chaos / Hala Khouri.

Description: Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala Publications, Inc., [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020029111 | ISBN 9781611808100 (trade paperback)

eISBN 9780834843431

Subjects: LCSH : Anxiety. | Stress (Psychology) | Stress management.

Classification: LCC BF 575. A 6 K55 2021 | DDC 152.4/6dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020029111

a_prh_5.6.1_c0_r0

PRAISE FOR PEACE FROM ANXIETY

This book is medicine for our time. It reminds us what we seem to have lost or been robbed ofthat we are connected, that we belong, that the peace we hope to cultivate internally and externally have everything to do with each other. Hala artfully explores how embodying our interconnectednessbetween our own physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental bodies, as well as between ourselves and otherscreates the foundation of well-being and intrinsic interdependence that not only enables us to survive anxiety or despair but actually thrive in spite of it. Tessa Hicks Peterson, PhD, Pitzer College

With a deep commitment to compassion and an avoidance of magical thinking, Hala Khouri promotes a culture of care by encouraging a global heart, critical consciousness, and active hope. The book offers a profound prescription for living with more reflection, peace, and connection in a world under threat. Helene Shulman Lorenz, PhD, Pacifica Graduate Institute, author of Toward Psychologies of Liberation

An accessible, engaging, and practical guide to healing from anxiety, both individually and collectively. Drawing on relatable stories from her own life, yoga teaching, and therapeutic experience, Hala Khouri offers practical insight into bringing ourselves back into regulation and living a more grounded life. I have learned so much from Hala and use these practices all the time! This book situates anxiety in the context of structural inequalities and social justice, showing us how inner peace is intimately intertwined with an outer world of justice and peace. It reminds us that we heal in connection with one another and offers us ways of doing so. This book offers much-needed somatic healing tools for our turbulent times. Beth Berila, PhD, St. Cloud State University

I have worked alongside Hala for well over fifteen years and know her to be highly intelligent, powerfully articulate, warm and inviting, and nuanced in her understanding of trauma and its many layered causes. This book is a breath of fresh air and exactly the kind of accessible and effective tool we all need in these times of change and crisis. I am confident that it will welcome, inspire, and support you in your journey to peace. Suzanne Sterling, Voice of Change, cofounder of Off the Mat, Into the World

Hala Khouri, the cofounder of Off the Mat, Into the World, has generously gathered her considerable wisdom in this book, indissolubly linking self-care with collective care. As we uncover how our personal anxieties and fears intermingle with those for our global neighbors and the natural world, Khouri tutors us on how to calm the nervous system and cultivate our relationship with suffering so that we can see and act with greater clarity. Mary Watkins, PhD, author of Mutual Accompaniment and the Creation of the Commons

Hala Khouri generously guides her reader to process their own internalized suffering, provides tools for self-regulation and reflection, invites critical thinking, and carves out a healing pathway toward collective care that can unite this world into peace. Im so grateful for this powerful resource and will use it both in my personal healing practice and my public facilitation as a yoga teacher. Seane Corn, author of Revolution of the Soul, cofounder of Off the Mat, Into the World

Its hard to imagine any better time to have a thoughtful, straightforward book that directs us into deeper relationship with our selves. Peace from Anxiety doesnt bypass what incites us to be anxious personally and collectively, but it also doesnt leave us stuck with information overload. Hala Khouri balances context, examples, and relatable stories with reaffirming, down-to-earth practices that bring us back home to the bodies we all yearn to be comfortable in. Theres something for anyone who wants to learn in this tender guide.Rev. angel Kyodo williams, coauthor of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation

I dedicate this book to my mom,

Dalal Ghorra Khouri

(June 2, 1945February 9, 2020).

You taught me how to love big and include the world in my heart. Thank you. I miss you.