Straightforward, easy-to-comprehend, informative. Integration exercises that really synthesize the reading/learning b/c we know that shame is somatic, so experiential integration is key. Recommend!

Lyon/Rubin clearly have a lifetime of experience in working with their own and helping others with theirs. In this book they have, with the tenderness of a caring friend and with the wisdom and insight of a trusted expert, explored and explained shame with clarity and depth that can be accessible for all. For anyone working on understanding their own shame, or even what shame truly is, for anyone working with others and their shame, and for therapists/helping professionals working on their own shame to better work with shame in others - this book is an essential resource.

Reading and doing the exercises in Embracing Shame feels like an internal massage where everything relaxes. Though it's not an easy subject to address, the authors are so compassionate and have such a deep understanding of shame and how to help others, that the book is extremely effective in healing it. As a licensed marriage and family therapist, I highly recommend Embracing Shame.

A Highly Effective, Gentle Way To Heal Shame

While most still shy away from even saying the word shame, Bret Lyon and Sheila Rubin have found a gentle and highly effective way to name it, embrace it, and bring light to this primary emotion that otherwise keeps so many stuck in less adaptive behaviors, beliefs, cycles, and emotional states. By sharing their expertise, personal stories, and anecdotes from clients, along with helpful exercises, even the uninitiated can gain a greater ability to consciously shift their shame and responses to it. Unconscious shame affects all of our decisions, relationships, and even our health. Embracing Shame is a well-thought-out and proven roadmap to changing our relationship to and the effects of shame on our lives.

I've got to say this is a powerful book! I appreciate the level of understanding from Sheila and Bret and all of their experience coming together to create this book. It's an incredible read from beginning to end and makes a lot of sense in an area that often doesn't make a lot of sense. Shame is a real tricky emotion and imagine that therapists and clients alike will really benefit from this book!