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Dare to Feel: The Transformational Path of the Heart
Explore the language of feeling as a spiritual practice, reclaim your full self, and expand in ways you haven’t known before.
“Most of us weren’t taught how to feel. In fact, we were taught not to feel,” says Alexandra Roxo. Though we have been taught to deny, repress, and lock away our feelings to get by in our emotionally illiterate culture, our bodies and hearts long to be open and free. With Dare to Feel , Alexandra shares a powerful resource for reclaiming the lost parts of yourself and rediscovering the full richness of your human experience in all its breathless passion, tender vulnerability, and boundless love.
Dare to Feel is a guide on the “transformational path of the heart,” a spiritual practice for connecting more deeply with yourself, others, and the world by accessing the power of your emotions, sensations, and intuition. Through personal stories, poems, rituals, and reflective exercises, Alexandra invites you to
• Why we’ve learned not to feel―the social and internal reasons we retreat from emotions
• Courage and curiosity―guidance for navigating intense feelings in a safe and loving way
• The body’s wisdom―how to awaken your heart’s capabilities through somatic exercises
• The openhearted way―daily practices and steps for becoming more open, joyous, and present to your miraculous life
It takes courage to shed our armor―to stop checking out, overthinking, grabbing for phones, or running for the door. Yet the effort is worth it. “It is when you dare to feel, even when it hurts, that you open the heart and soul,” says Alexandra. “You become the sculptor of your reality and free yourself to experience all your life can be.”
“Most of us weren’t taught how to feel. In fact, we were taught not to feel,” says Alexandra Roxo. Though we have been taught to deny, repress, and lock away our feelings to get by in our emotionally illiterate culture, our bodies and hearts long to be open and free. With Dare to Feel , Alexandra shares a powerful resource for reclaiming the lost parts of yourself and rediscovering the full richness of your human experience in all its breathless passion, tender vulnerability, and boundless love.
Dare to Feel is a guide on the “transformational path of the heart,” a spiritual practice for connecting more deeply with yourself, others, and the world by accessing the power of your emotions, sensations, and intuition. Through personal stories, poems, rituals, and reflective exercises, Alexandra invites you to
• Why we’ve learned not to feel―the social and internal reasons we retreat from emotions
• Courage and curiosity―guidance for navigating intense feelings in a safe and loving way
• The body’s wisdom―how to awaken your heart’s capabilities through somatic exercises
• The openhearted way―daily practices and steps for becoming more open, joyous, and present to your miraculous life
It takes courage to shed our armor―to stop checking out, overthinking, grabbing for phones, or running for the door. Yet the effort is worth it. “It is when you dare to feel, even when it hurts, that you open the heart and soul,” says Alexandra. “You become the sculptor of your reality and free yourself to experience all your life can be.”
272 pages, Hardcover
Published January 16, 2024
20 people are currently reading
180 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 12, 2023
An eye-opening guide to understanding and consequently shedding the stigma and shame culturally associated with expressing emotions in order for one to live true to oneself.
Dare to Feel traces the individual yet common path along which many had been conditioned to conceal their emotions; to achieve external rewards like parental approval, to appearing mature and collected, or to escape the long established social stigma associated with emotions particularly negative ones. This book is a call to acknowledge one's own childhood needs that went unmet and to break the cycle of repression by overcoming our fear of vulnerability and rewiring ourselves not to only feel those emotions but also to celebrate positive and negative ones alike as they come, whenever they come.
While I appreciated the author sharing her first-hand experience, I couldn't fully relate because the book was too heavy on the spiritual aspect for my taste. While this is not objectively a bad thing, for me, many of the exercises/rituals were inapplicable to my own experience and interests so I skipped reading them halfway through and considered the book an autobiography: a revolutionary concept with a rather esoterical relevancy. If you are not spiritually inclined, consider that perhaps this may not be for you.
Thank you Netgalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Dare to Feel traces the individual yet common path along which many had been conditioned to conceal their emotions; to achieve external rewards like parental approval, to appearing mature and collected, or to escape the long established social stigma associated with emotions particularly negative ones. This book is a call to acknowledge one's own childhood needs that went unmet and to break the cycle of repression by overcoming our fear of vulnerability and rewiring ourselves not to only feel those emotions but also to celebrate positive and negative ones alike as they come, whenever they come.
While I appreciated the author sharing her first-hand experience, I couldn't fully relate because the book was too heavy on the spiritual aspect for my taste. While this is not objectively a bad thing, for me, many of the exercises/rituals were inapplicable to my own experience and interests so I skipped reading them halfway through and considered the book an autobiography: a revolutionary concept with a rather esoterical relevancy. If you are not spiritually inclined, consider that perhaps this may not be for you.
Thank you Netgalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
October 25, 2023
I liked the title of the book. I had been taught not to feel since very young, that my feelings and needs were a nuisance, a problem for adults, and that it was best if I were invisible until they wanted me to perform in a certain way. This book addressed this by helping readers dare to feel.
The “reflections” at the end of each chapter were a series of questions for the reader to explore each feeling and topics related to it in a deeper manner. I found this a helpful prompt to rediscover my own feelings, whether positive or negative ones, safely, and in detail.
(I received a free review copy from NetGalley.)
The “reflections” at the end of each chapter were a series of questions for the reader to explore each feeling and topics related to it in a deeper manner. I found this a helpful prompt to rediscover my own feelings, whether positive or negative ones, safely, and in detail.
(I received a free review copy from NetGalley.)
June 15, 2024
i enjoyed reading this book a lot :) i read a chapter a day and helped me get into a rhythm of journaling regularly. the information is relatable and helps me put words to past experiences. there was info in this book that my soul have been craving and helped me cry and release a lot. thank you for your vulnerability and fearlessness with your generous offerings of stories that im sure many humans can appreciate and help spark catalysts for growth :) i don't usually finish or enjoy books like this, but something about the balance of experiences, poetry, journaling and textbook like material created a natural flow with consistency that allows it to feel grounded.
April 1, 2024
"(...) I am willing to breathe instead of running away.
I am willing to admit my failings.
I am willing to be the awkward one.
I am willing to look dumb.
I am willing to fall,
to break,
to die,
and be reborn again.
I am willing.”
Alexandra Roxo, “Dare to Feel”
This book is a portal for opening the heart! What a beautiful way to do it ✨
I am willing to admit my failings.
I am willing to be the awkward one.
I am willing to look dumb.
I am willing to fall,
to break,
to die,
and be reborn again.
I am willing.”
Alexandra Roxo, “Dare to Feel”
This book is a portal for opening the heart! What a beautiful way to do it ✨
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews