Shelly Tygielski - Sit Down to Rise Up: How Radical Self-Care Can Change the World

Shellys story and her ability to take action will show people how much power they really have. Sit Down to Rise Up is for anyone who is ready to heal themselves and help heal the world.

Yung Pueblo (Diego Perez), New York Times bestselling author, activist, and influencer

Shelly is making mindfulness and self-care more accessible to everyone but specifically for individuals who have experienced trauma. In Sit Down to Rise Up, she makes the important argument that the inner journey for each person must be connected to our actions and words in the outer world for true well-being to emerge.

David Simas, CEO of the Obama Foundation

Few people in the world are actually making the measurable, tangible impact that Shelly is. Thats beautiful all by itself, but what shes taught me in life, and in this brilliant book, is that radical self-care is what makes her productive life of action possible. Shes my peer hero and I hope this book will make her yours.

Shaun King, activist and New York Times bestselling author of Make Change

Kindness can be contagious and [Shelly] proved that.

Kelly Clarkson, Grammy Awardwinning singer, songwriter, and television host of The Kelly Clarkson Show

In this remarkable new book, Shelly illuminates the ways in which love has become her primary motivation, her guiding principle, and a unifying theme for her revolutionary work as a teacher, writer, and activist Her book is a gift to its readers and to those they will touch.

Bryan Welch, CEO of Mindful Communications and Mindful Magazine

From the very first page, Shellys stories blow you away. If the entire world read this book, we would solve all of our problems, fast. Of all the many mindful voices in the world, Shellys is one we should be listening to.

Justin Michael Williams, author of Stay Woke: A Meditation Guide for the Rest of Us

A must-read for anyone interested in living a life of meaning, purpose, and service.

Rich Fernandez, PhD, CEO of Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute

Shelly has the extraordinary ability to turn confusing, frustrating, even demoralizing moments into opportunities for connection and love. Here she teaches us how to do the same. This book draws on her rare combination of wisdom, warmth, and an extraordinarily practical mind.

Jessica Yellin, award-winning journalist, bestselling author, and founder of News Not Noise

This book, and Shellys story, deeply inspired me in the way few self-help books do. Yes, self-care is at its heart, but Sit Down to Rise Up transcends our cultures common focus on individual wellness, demonstrating the greater power and purpose in applying these principles to communal care. In doing so, it helps to answer lifes central question of what are we here for, anyway?

Emily McDowell, writer, illustrator, and founder of Em & Friends

New World Library

14 Pamaron Way

Novato, California 94949

Copyright 2021 by Shelly Tygielski

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

The material in this book is intended for education. It is not meant to take the place of diagnosis and treatment by a qualified medical practitioner or therapist. No expressed or implied guarantee of the effects of the use of the recommendations can be given or liability taken.

Text design by Tona Pearce Myers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Tygielski, Shelly, author. | Handler, Chelsea, writer of foreword. | Salzberg, Sharon, writer of afterword.

Title: Sit down to rise up : how radical self-care can change the world / Shelly Tygielski ; foreword by Chelsea Handler ; afterword by Sharon Salzberg.

Description: Novato, California : New World Library, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: A combination of memoir, manifesto, and how-to guide that shows how mindfulness can be a powerful tool for spurring collective action-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021031347 (print) | LCCN 2021031348 (ebook) | ISBN 9781608687442 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781608687459 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Tygielski, Shelly. | Self-actualization (Psychology) | Self-realization. | Mindfulness (Psychology)

Classification: LCC BF637.S4 T94 2021 (print) | LCC BF637.S4 (ebook) | DDC 155.2--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021031347

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021031348

First printing, October 2021

ISBN 978-1-60868-744-2

Ebook ISBN 978-1-60868-745-9

Printed in the US on 100% postconsumer-waste recycled paper

New World Library is proud to be a Gold Certified Environmentally Responsible Publisher. Publisher certification awarded by Green Press Initiative.

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For the women who came before me, who sacrificed, toiled, and made themselves small, so that I could one day have a voice.

And especially for you, Mom.

I love you.

SCREAM

So that one day

One hundred years from now

Another sister will not have to

Dry her tears wondering

Where in history

She lost her voice.

J ASMINE K AUR

Part One: Sit Down
[The Inner Journey to Me]

Part Two: Show Up
[The Outer Journey to We]

Part Three: Rise Up
[The Movement to Us]

I first met Shelly Tygielski backstage at the Wisdom 2.0 conference in San Francisco. I was waiting to go onstage with my therapist Dan Siegel to discuss the major life transformations I was beginning to experience after two years of psychotherapy with him.

Ill never forget the rainbow-patterned sweatshirt, big long skirt (Shelly loves big long skirts), and matching rainbow high-tops bounce into the backstage area with a titanic smile to match her huge head of thick black hair, the likes of which Id only ever seen on a Barbie doll. In a sea of psychotherapists, neurophysicists, and mindfulness experts, I was relieved to see someone wearing something so vibrant. Shellys energy is vibrance. It grabs your attention.

What I witnessed that day was someone who lives their life in purpose. We made introductions, chitchatted, and ended up having dinner with my sister, Simone which led to after-dinner drinks, which led to my sister and me hearing Shellys story for the first time.

Her story and history are rich; it felt like I was speaking to someone who lives with such purpose, its as if she is carrying the history of her ancestors with her. She spoke about meditation and radical self-care in a practical way as a means to be a better member of society, a stronger member of your community, a lighthouse for compassion. She talked about it in a grounded, nonpatronizing way that felt modern and up-to-date. And Im not going to pretend I didnt like that someone who taught meditation was also knocking back cocktails with me until midnight. Shellys not only a meditation teacher, though shes a gatherer and a provider. She inserts herself time and time again to help people when they need it the most. I remember lying awake in bed that night thinking,