I had wanted to write a book for some time and had written, but never published, a few children’s books. Since childhood, I had enjoyed writing poems and stories, and I won a young authors’ contest in third grade for a poetry book. In high school, I discovered journalism while writing for the school newspaper.

After earning a Bachelor’s degree in journalism, I began writing for trade publications in New York. I soon moved to Los Angeles, and fell in love with running and yoga. As a natural add-on to yoga, I began practicing meditation and became a reiki master and I learned about and studied the chakras. While teaching yoga and barre classes, I did some freelance health writing.

My dream job was to combine my two loves—fitness and writing—hence the idea for Increase Your Peace was born. The title came first, Increase Your Peace from A to Z: Simple Steps to Find Calm Amid Chaos. One chapter for each letter of the alphabet: A: Affirmations, B: Breathe, C: Call a Friend, etc.

Increase Your Peace is a compilation of the daily practices I use to keep anxiety at bay. My ideal reader is someone who, like me, experiences anxiety and wants to change their life by using natural lifestyle tools to help. It can also help people who react to the daily stress which is a byproduct of life today.

In the years between college graduation and today, I got married and had two baby boys who are now teenagers. It was during this time when I realized that I experience anxiety, sometimes debilitating, and sometimes merely annoying.

Twice in my life, anxiety caused by insomnia has become so bad that I could not cope without pharmaceutical help, and that was a truly frightening place to be. I wrote this book in the hope that it gives people lifestyle tools to use before it gets to that point where they can no longer handle it on their own. I do not judge anyone for their mental health choices about taking medication, as each case and each person is different.

While I am not against mainstream medicine, I lean towards natural remedies before turning to drugs and surgery, and believe that many of our modern illnesses and ailments can be controlled and alleviated by lifestyle changes such as exercise (X), diet (D), and quiet meditation (Q).

Increase Your Peace is written in an easy-to-read style so anyone can open to any chapter to find some relief from the stress of life today. It is light on text because anxious people cannot always find the focus to read large blocks of text and, quite frankly, in our Instagram world, I believe many people prefer their information in easily digestible sections.

The book can be easily tucked easily into a purse, pocket, or backpack, and it is available as an e-book as well. Each chapter begins with a quote, and ends with a suggestion for further reading and sometimes an action plan. If the reader wants it, more information is available. Even for people who don’t normally have anxiety, the tips are helpful in an increasingly stressful world.

ABOUT THE BOOK

The world today moves faster than ever. We are time poor, many juggling the roles of wife, mother, father, friend, employee, cook, and housekeeper. With all of these responsibilities, time for you is a scarce commodity. Increase Your Peace from A to Z: Simple Steps to Find Calm Amid Chaos, aims to give readers easy 30-second to 30-minute breaks in their busy days to increase their personal serenity, and decrease anxiety.

The average person doesn’t have time for a daily 90-minute yoga practice—I get it. Turn to B – Breathe! Take a nice, long, deep breath, filling your lungs with oxygen. Exhale. Empty your lungs. Even five minutes of deep breathing will help to calm frazzled nerves. Each of the 26 chapters from A to Z outlines a simple technique to add calm to every day.

Lea Grimaldi has been teaching yoga and meditation for 19 years. Lea’s yoga and fitness classes are a mix of perspiration and inspiration, and she makes sure each person feels included. She has a BA degree in English with a journalism concentration from the University of Delaware.