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Mind & Body
Mental exercises for physical wellbeing; physical exercises for mental wellbeing
We are creatures unhelpfully divided between our minds and our bodies: without us quite noticing, it is easy to pay attention to one more than the other and to overlook the distinctive and wise elements that each has to offer us.
This is a book filled with reflections and exercises designed to help us live more harmoniously and maturely within both mind and body. It gives guidance on how to calm our minds with bodily exercises that work on the real sources of our anxieties. It suggest how to be less rigid in, and timid about, our bodies and how to relax into them in a way we might not have done for far too long. It offers ideas on how to accept the way we look, and how to treat the body in order for it to assist the mind in yielding its very best ideas.
The modern world can present the body as a machine that just needs to be regularly exercised. However, it’s a remarkably sensitive organ in which a lot of our pain and hope is stored and which we need to interpret and handle with subtlety. This is a book, both theoretical and practical, that will improve our relationship between our bodily and mental selves – and allow us a route to a life of greater self-assurance, wisdom and physical ease.
We are creatures unhelpfully divided between our minds and our bodies: without us quite noticing, it is easy to pay attention to one more than the other and to overlook the distinctive and wise elements that each has to offer us.
This is a book filled with reflections and exercises designed to help us live more harmoniously and maturely within both mind and body. It gives guidance on how to calm our minds with bodily exercises that work on the real sources of our anxieties. It suggest how to be less rigid in, and timid about, our bodies and how to relax into them in a way we might not have done for far too long. It offers ideas on how to accept the way we look, and how to treat the body in order for it to assist the mind in yielding its very best ideas.
The modern world can present the body as a machine that just needs to be regularly exercised. However, it’s a remarkably sensitive organ in which a lot of our pain and hope is stored and which we need to interpret and handle with subtlety. This is a book, both theoretical and practical, that will improve our relationship between our bodily and mental selves – and allow us a route to a life of greater self-assurance, wisdom and physical ease.
207 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 6, 2021
107 people are currently reading
647 people want to read
About the author
The School of Life
173 books3,127 followersThe School of Life is a global organisation helping people lead more fulfilled lives.
We believe that the journey to finding fulfilment begins with self-knowledge. It is only when we have a sense of who we really are that we can make reliable decisions, particularly around love and work.
Sadly, tools and techniques for developing self-knowledge and finding fulfilment are hard to find – they’re not taught in schools, in universities, or in workplaces. Too many of us go through life without ever really understanding what’s going on in the recesses of our minds.
That’s why we created The School of Life; a resource for helping us understand ourselves, for improving our relationships, our careers and our social lives - as well as for helping us find calm and get more out of our leisure hours. We do this through films, workshops, books and gifts - as well as through a warm and supportive community.
We believe that the journey to finding fulfilment begins with self-knowledge. It is only when we have a sense of who we really are that we can make reliable decisions, particularly around love and work.
Sadly, tools and techniques for developing self-knowledge and finding fulfilment are hard to find – they’re not taught in schools, in universities, or in workplaces. Too many of us go through life without ever really understanding what’s going on in the recesses of our minds.
That’s why we created The School of Life; a resource for helping us understand ourselves, for improving our relationships, our careers and our social lives - as well as for helping us find calm and get more out of our leisure hours. We do this through films, workshops, books and gifts - as well as through a warm and supportive community.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
June 19, 2021
My fav quotes (not a review):
"We wish to be loved and respected for the subtleties of our minds but are in practice more likely to be judged on the shape of our nose and the suppleness of our skin;"
"Looking like an idiot shouldn’t be a risk: it’s the point."
"For practical (though sometimes slightly sad) reasons, we aren’t able to have sex with very many people in the course of our lives. And yet the quest for greater intimacy and connection that to a significant extent powers our sexual appetites is capable of being deployed elsewhere. It would be tragic if all our longings for warmth would forever have to pass through the narrow gate of sex. Fortunately, through the game of sofa jumping, we have another, far more available, chance to build up the connections we long for. No true encounter should be complete without at least a few rounds."
"Part of the enormous appeal of sex is its power to change the dynamics of a relationship with another person. After we have seen someone naked, perhaps on all fours, writhing in pleasure, after we have caressed the intimate zones of their body and seen them passionately interested in a few parts of ours, we know them in a wholly new way. There will be a complicity between us: smiles will come more readily, as will forgiveness and tenderness."
"Exercise that can allow us to experience cohesion that the members of an orchestra- One person starts by knocking out a steady beat on the table with their hand. The person next to them then strikes a fork (very gently) on a wine glass to a different rhythm. The person beside them uses their plate as a delicate drum, carefully banging their knife against the rim in a complementary beat. The next individual has the job of letting out a ‘hmmm’ sound in time with the knife, and another person joins in with an occasional ‘nananah … nananah’. Gradually, a little social miracle occurs: by an ingrained social instinct, we collectively cohere around a harmonious tone. We’ve started an orchestra; we’re making music; we are almost ‘one’"
"A useful exercise for this is called the blind car. In a largeish room with a number of people in it, everyone should team up with a partner. One of us is the driver, the other the passenger. The passenger is asked to keep their eyes closed throughout the game, and the driver stands behind them and places their hands on either side of their waist. The driver ‘steers’ the passenger by squeezing them once on both sides in order to go, twice in order to stop and once on either side to steer left or right. Many other ‘cars’ are set in motion at the same time. The idea is for a group of cars to circulate around the room as far and as fast as possible but without colliding, despite the evident risks that they might do so and the jeopardy that a collision might be rather painful. A lot of the blind passengers will be going ‘ahhh’ and letting out small ‘yikes’ as the game progresses."
"Freud also came to realise how much his own presence could be responsible for inhibiting his clients from reporting candidly on their dreams and fantasies. Something about seeing his face and feeling his eyes on them meant that patients were inclined to disguise their true selves. While sitting face to face, as one might in a Viennese café or a standard doctor’s surgery. Hence his decision, taken in 1890, to shift his patients onto a couch, which has become a mainstay of psychotherapeutic consulting rooms the world over."
"Perhaps more than we realise, seeing another person’s face can discourage us from a confession: we edit our self-presentation in the light of their reactions; we hold back from accessing the properly interesting,"
"After dessert or between courses, we might suggest that we all go and lie down somewhere on the floor. It might be on blankets or on the carpet; it could happen in the kitchen or the hall. We might find it useful to switch off the lights."
"It’s at times like these that we should remember an exercise of the body with a power to assuage our unhelpful rigidity and restore our mental wellbeing: in response to a sense of dread or crisis, we should, without any embarrassment or compunction, curl ourselves up into a very small ball, as tightly as possible, and, if necessary, pull a blanket or duvet over our head and body. We should remain this way, fairly still and very warm, for an hour or more."
"We all originally came from a very tight, ball-like space. For the first nine months of our existence, we were curled up, with our head on our knees, protected from a more dangerous and cold world beyond by the position of our limbs."
"For all this, we might try a little pillow-fighting exercise. Two or more players should equip themselves with big, soft pillows and aim to thwack each other as energetically as possible for seven minutes on the shoulders, back, buttocks and legs. Hitting hard is important. Your blows should make solid, satisfying contact, for you know that you can’t conceivably hurt anyone with a pillow. You’re being boisterous rather than aggressive and your fellow players are prepared. They don’t resent you for trying to whack them with a pile of feathers; they’re trying to do that to you too. We’re getting a visceral, physical experience that translates into a key psychological idea: you can assert yourself without being a bully; you can express yourself forcefully without in any way wanting to humiliate the other person; you can robustly stand your ground, or press insistently forwards, and be appreciated by those you engage with, without prompting tears."
"We should take care to invest (at the price of a sandwich) in a basic stethoscope and regularly place it on our own hearts as an exercise in humility and patience. Our beat tells us something profound: that we are creatures of natural cycles; that we depend on organs outside of our conscious control; that it is a miracle we are alive and a tragic certainty that we will eventually die."
"As we wipe the frying pan or rinse the bottles, we are doing exactly what Margaret Atwood or Marcel Proust did: we are tidying up."
"We need to know that the child in us has been seen and won’t appal. ‘I love you for being a hero,’ would be an eerie pronouncement. ‘I love you for being a child,’ would be equally alienating. But ‘I love the sad child I occasionally glimpse in you beneath your resourceful, adult day-to-day self’ comes as close as one can imagine to the epicentre of love."
"Some of the best kinds of praise about the body are psychophysical – that is, they praise a physical attribute in a psychological way: "I like the way your smile is slightly different on each side of your mouth. One side is warm and welcoming; the other is thoughtful and melancholy. You’re not merely smiling; it seems as though you’re thinking deeply as you smile."
"We wish to be loved and respected for the subtleties of our minds but are in practice more likely to be judged on the shape of our nose and the suppleness of our skin;"
"Looking like an idiot shouldn’t be a risk: it’s the point."
"For practical (though sometimes slightly sad) reasons, we aren’t able to have sex with very many people in the course of our lives. And yet the quest for greater intimacy and connection that to a significant extent powers our sexual appetites is capable of being deployed elsewhere. It would be tragic if all our longings for warmth would forever have to pass through the narrow gate of sex. Fortunately, through the game of sofa jumping, we have another, far more available, chance to build up the connections we long for. No true encounter should be complete without at least a few rounds."
"Part of the enormous appeal of sex is its power to change the dynamics of a relationship with another person. After we have seen someone naked, perhaps on all fours, writhing in pleasure, after we have caressed the intimate zones of their body and seen them passionately interested in a few parts of ours, we know them in a wholly new way. There will be a complicity between us: smiles will come more readily, as will forgiveness and tenderness."
"Exercise that can allow us to experience cohesion that the members of an orchestra- One person starts by knocking out a steady beat on the table with their hand. The person next to them then strikes a fork (very gently) on a wine glass to a different rhythm. The person beside them uses their plate as a delicate drum, carefully banging their knife against the rim in a complementary beat. The next individual has the job of letting out a ‘hmmm’ sound in time with the knife, and another person joins in with an occasional ‘nananah … nananah’. Gradually, a little social miracle occurs: by an ingrained social instinct, we collectively cohere around a harmonious tone. We’ve started an orchestra; we’re making music; we are almost ‘one’"
"A useful exercise for this is called the blind car. In a largeish room with a number of people in it, everyone should team up with a partner. One of us is the driver, the other the passenger. The passenger is asked to keep their eyes closed throughout the game, and the driver stands behind them and places their hands on either side of their waist. The driver ‘steers’ the passenger by squeezing them once on both sides in order to go, twice in order to stop and once on either side to steer left or right. Many other ‘cars’ are set in motion at the same time. The idea is for a group of cars to circulate around the room as far and as fast as possible but without colliding, despite the evident risks that they might do so and the jeopardy that a collision might be rather painful. A lot of the blind passengers will be going ‘ahhh’ and letting out small ‘yikes’ as the game progresses."
"Freud also came to realise how much his own presence could be responsible for inhibiting his clients from reporting candidly on their dreams and fantasies. Something about seeing his face and feeling his eyes on them meant that patients were inclined to disguise their true selves. While sitting face to face, as one might in a Viennese café or a standard doctor’s surgery. Hence his decision, taken in 1890, to shift his patients onto a couch, which has become a mainstay of psychotherapeutic consulting rooms the world over."
"Perhaps more than we realise, seeing another person’s face can discourage us from a confession: we edit our self-presentation in the light of their reactions; we hold back from accessing the properly interesting,"
"After dessert or between courses, we might suggest that we all go and lie down somewhere on the floor. It might be on blankets or on the carpet; it could happen in the kitchen or the hall. We might find it useful to switch off the lights."
"It’s at times like these that we should remember an exercise of the body with a power to assuage our unhelpful rigidity and restore our mental wellbeing: in response to a sense of dread or crisis, we should, without any embarrassment or compunction, curl ourselves up into a very small ball, as tightly as possible, and, if necessary, pull a blanket or duvet over our head and body. We should remain this way, fairly still and very warm, for an hour or more."
"We all originally came from a very tight, ball-like space. For the first nine months of our existence, we were curled up, with our head on our knees, protected from a more dangerous and cold world beyond by the position of our limbs."
"For all this, we might try a little pillow-fighting exercise. Two or more players should equip themselves with big, soft pillows and aim to thwack each other as energetically as possible for seven minutes on the shoulders, back, buttocks and legs. Hitting hard is important. Your blows should make solid, satisfying contact, for you know that you can’t conceivably hurt anyone with a pillow. You’re being boisterous rather than aggressive and your fellow players are prepared. They don’t resent you for trying to whack them with a pile of feathers; they’re trying to do that to you too. We’re getting a visceral, physical experience that translates into a key psychological idea: you can assert yourself without being a bully; you can express yourself forcefully without in any way wanting to humiliate the other person; you can robustly stand your ground, or press insistently forwards, and be appreciated by those you engage with, without prompting tears."
"We should take care to invest (at the price of a sandwich) in a basic stethoscope and regularly place it on our own hearts as an exercise in humility and patience. Our beat tells us something profound: that we are creatures of natural cycles; that we depend on organs outside of our conscious control; that it is a miracle we are alive and a tragic certainty that we will eventually die."
"As we wipe the frying pan or rinse the bottles, we are doing exactly what Margaret Atwood or Marcel Proust did: we are tidying up."
"We need to know that the child in us has been seen and won’t appal. ‘I love you for being a hero,’ would be an eerie pronouncement. ‘I love you for being a child,’ would be equally alienating. But ‘I love the sad child I occasionally glimpse in you beneath your resourceful, adult day-to-day self’ comes as close as one can imagine to the epicentre of love."
"Some of the best kinds of praise about the body are psychophysical – that is, they praise a physical attribute in a psychological way: "I like the way your smile is slightly different on each side of your mouth. One side is warm and welcoming; the other is thoughtful and melancholy. You’re not merely smiling; it seems as though you’re thinking deeply as you smile."
April 1, 2022
Inspirational and uplifting ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
September 21, 2022
doporucujuu!! skvely propojeni filosofie, dejin umeni, psychologie a opravdu helpful in a lot of ways, ne jak hodne knizek ktery ti jen reknou at meditujes a cvicis
December 16, 2021
This is the first book I've physically picked up in a bit of time, having spent what feels like "several lockdowns" reading from my Kindle (in so much as an iPad with Kindle software is... Kindle). It was really nice to pick up the book; it feels solid, it's got a lovely texture, the pages really do feel good. The illustrations add something to it, and I've been reminded why I like books.. no, I really like books.
Aside from the pleasing physically and well laid out style, what of this book. It's lovely, well written, jocular style ("atomic mulch") and disguises some nice concepts behind some highly accessible writing. I did, with this book, what I've done before with others, which is to head over and buy the whole series whilst I'm still not finished with this one. I'm honestly looking forward to seeing what "good enough parent" can teach me about corralling my small team of humans into some shape resembling civilisation and happiness.
This book is a series of short chapters about physical exercises for mental well being and mental exercises for physical well being (as the title goes a long way to describe). I felt they were all relevant, built on each other nicely and didn't take themselves too seriously. This book is textual equivalent of eating a doughnut on an exercise bike. Sweet, filling but with enough going on to turn your wheels.
Worth a read, no matter what your current state of mind
Aside from the pleasing physically and well laid out style, what of this book. It's lovely, well written, jocular style ("atomic mulch") and disguises some nice concepts behind some highly accessible writing. I did, with this book, what I've done before with others, which is to head over and buy the whole series whilst I'm still not finished with this one. I'm honestly looking forward to seeing what "good enough parent" can teach me about corralling my small team of humans into some shape resembling civilisation and happiness.
This book is a series of short chapters about physical exercises for mental well being and mental exercises for physical well being (as the title goes a long way to describe). I felt they were all relevant, built on each other nicely and didn't take themselves too seriously. This book is textual equivalent of eating a doughnut on an exercise bike. Sweet, filling but with enough going on to turn your wheels.
Worth a read, no matter what your current state of mind
January 14, 2023
A good read before going to bed, and connect within body and mind.
August 3, 2021
Like all School of Life books, this one was thought-provoking and gorgeously laid out. The book is split into six sections addressing mind-body centred challenges in areas of Sociability, Confidence, Modernity, Thinking, Beauty, and Mortality. Following each section are specific exercises to address the challenges.
The sociability and confidence sections really resonated with me. I liked that in sociability, TSOL is addressing isolation and loneliness, and the exercises provided are realistic and easy to put into play. In confidence, exercises include things like singing, pillow fighting, and dressing up. This section addresses embarrassment, and how things we might believe are embarrassing, could actually be perceived as "charming, enticing, and provocative."
This book took me by surprise. I opened it expecting to find a bunch of yoga postures and breathing exercises, and their benefits when it comes to reconnecting the mind & body, but typical of The School of Life, I ended up on an entirely different path. One that kept me engaged and compelled me to keep reading.
I had fun with this book. It's an easy and light read, and the exercises are playful. "Some take very little time and effort and others require greater commitment, but all of them can edge us towards moods that will best help us flourish," the book states.
Avocado Diaries
The sociability and confidence sections really resonated with me. I liked that in sociability, TSOL is addressing isolation and loneliness, and the exercises provided are realistic and easy to put into play. In confidence, exercises include things like singing, pillow fighting, and dressing up. This section addresses embarrassment, and how things we might believe are embarrassing, could actually be perceived as "charming, enticing, and provocative."
This book took me by surprise. I opened it expecting to find a bunch of yoga postures and breathing exercises, and their benefits when it comes to reconnecting the mind & body, but typical of The School of Life, I ended up on an entirely different path. One that kept me engaged and compelled me to keep reading.
I had fun with this book. It's an easy and light read, and the exercises are playful. "Some take very little time and effort and others require greater commitment, but all of them can edge us towards moods that will best help us flourish," the book states.
Avocado Diaries
December 28, 2023
Reading School of Life books is always a meditative, calming and yet inspiring spiritual exercise. One gets soaked into a calm rhythm of the text exploring each and everyone’s of us mortality, non-significance, child-like selves within us, life and death. This little book explores how our minds shape our bodies and how our bodies shape our minds, and does that by taking into account thoughts of stoics and classics, and what we can learn from them. This a great reminder that we all are going to die, we are absolutely minuscule compared to the cosmos we live in and yet, we should all aim for the lives we can be proud of and happy about. This book is a great reminder of the most important things in life. Highly recommended weekend read.
August 20, 2023
"'Why cry over parts of life? The whole of existence calls for tears.' He could, with even greater relevance, have said: 'Why swear at a specific irritant, when it's the whole of life that needs to be told to fuck off?'"
Life is hard and shit sucks. We get swept away by systems that, at best, don't care about us and, at worst (and most often) are actively hostile to our existence.
Personally, I feel like that makes it even more worthwhile to find your own meaning in life.
This book gently offers reminders and insights that we all know but might have forgotten or otherwise become (understandably) jaded and cynical about.
Life is hard and shit sucks. We get swept away by systems that, at best, don't care about us and, at worst (and most often) are actively hostile to our existence.
Personally, I feel like that makes it even more worthwhile to find your own meaning in life.
This book gently offers reminders and insights that we all know but might have forgotten or otherwise become (understandably) jaded and cynical about.
June 12, 2021
I got this book in hardcover copy. It is beautifully printed on fine quality paper and has many interesting paintings, pictures and graphs. So it was quite a pleasure to hold and read.
Mind & Body illustrates various reflections and exercises that help to connect our mental and physical selves. As usual with the School of Life books, it helps me to cultivate a sense of calm.
Mind & Body illustrates various reflections and exercises that help to connect our mental and physical selves. As usual with the School of Life books, it helps me to cultivate a sense of calm.
July 31, 2021
Ga mudah baca buku ini, dengan approach yang logical; ditulis dengan bahasa yang semi ilmiah (untungnya narasinya ga repetitif seperti buku nonfiction umumnya) dan menggunakan banyak referensi history dan ilmiah. But this one is so good (so rich!) once I got the hang of it.
Maklum ya, otak saya kurang cemerlang xD
Maklum ya, otak saya kurang cemerlang xD
January 9, 2024
So…I shouldn’t be afraid of mortality by realizing that I could end my own life at any point? 👀
Overall a leisurely read. I know for a fact I will be making time this summer to just lay on the grass and stare up at the sky to get some perspective on how little my problems really are.
Maybe I’ll re-read in the future and draw on some other tips.
Overall a leisurely read. I know for a fact I will be making time this summer to just lay on the grass and stare up at the sky to get some perspective on how little my problems really are.
Maybe I’ll re-read in the future and draw on some other tips.
May 21, 2025
It is a light read, with lot of history proofs about how people tried to balance their body and mind.
simple activities that they have described here are actually those that we all know, used to do when we were kids, sadly that we have forgotten as grown ups.
POV: Read it when you are in self doubt about what next you wish to read other than fiction/nonfiction..etc.
simple activities that they have described here are actually those that we all know, used to do when we were kids, sadly that we have forgotten as grown ups.
POV: Read it when you are in self doubt about what next you wish to read other than fiction/nonfiction..etc.
August 14, 2023
lovely, little snippets of mental exercises for physical wellbeing and physical exercises for mental wellbeing! eye-opening, already practiced several of the ways described and they feel good. it felt good to read and I wanted to keep reading more.
May 11, 2024
I love School of Life Books. I like the humor and the approach to body and mind and to life in general. Inspiring exercises like earth acting, dancing, pillow fighting and shower thinking. Nice illustrations.
July 16, 2021
A thought-provoking one. Somehow similar like Sapiens, more or less.
October 26, 2021
interesting read
one of those that you read over time, not something i’d say is a must read.
when on sale pick it up
one of those that you read over time, not something i’d say is a must read.
when on sale pick it up
May 10, 2022
Another brilliant volume from my favourite school of philosophy. Blunt and soothing, stark and simple, another wonderful addition to the library.
June 9, 2022
God so good Corking
July 20, 2023
Nothing groundbreaking, but a generally lighthearted book with quirky tips and tricks to exercise mind and body alike.
July 25, 2023
Was a good quick read. I enjoyed the first half of the book a bit more. It gave useful coping skills and ways to connect to your inner child. As well as abstract ways to think about beauty.
February 9, 2025
Unexpectedly philosophical and engaging. Awesome book.
May 16, 2022
Interesting and entertaining. Not gonna save any lives but it had thought provoking points & nice illustrations.
January 13, 2024
If you heard Alain de Botton before, you will easily recognize his British humor and unceremonious profoundness.
It’s one of those books that one can pick up on any slow evening and, can both, take your mind far away for a spin of wonder and weird excitement, or, make you look out the window for a long few minutes trying to conclude how much that particular chapter applies to your life…
The table of contents proved catchy enough for me, and I don’t regret the impulse purchase.
It’s one of those books that one can pick up on any slow evening and, can both, take your mind far away for a spin of wonder and weird excitement, or, make you look out the window for a long few minutes trying to conclude how much that particular chapter applies to your life…
The table of contents proved catchy enough for me, and I don’t regret the impulse purchase.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews