“You can’t meditate your way out of a 40-hour workweek with no childcare”

-Dr. Pooja Lakshmin

NPR's "Books We Love for 2023"

"Realistic and trustworthy"—InStyle

Boundaries, Burnout, and the “Goopification” of Self-Care —

Listen to Pooja in conversation with Tressie McMillan Cottom on the Ezra Klein Show, discussing her philosophy for pursuing real self-care in a society where commodified wellness fails us personally and collectively.

An NPR Best Book of 2023

A National Bestseller featured by The New York Times, The Ezra Klein Show, Code Switch, Vox, The Guardian and Good Morning America and translated into 10 languages.

You can’t meditate your way out of a 40-hour work week with no childcare. Faux self-care keep us looking outward—comparing ourselves with others or striving for a certain type of perfection. Worse, it exonerates an oppressive social system that has betrayed women and minorities.

Real self-care, in contrast, is an internal, self-reflective process that involves making difficult decisions in line with our values, and when we practice it, we shift our relationships, our workplaces, and even our broken systems.

The result—having ownership over your own life— is nothing less than a personal and social revolution.

REAL SELF-CARE is available in

  • Audiobook narrated by Dr. Pooja Lakshmin

  • E-book

  • Hardcover

Buy your copy wherever books are sold

Good Morning America

Pooja shares her Real Self-Care framework on Good Morning America

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More Praise for Real Self-Care

  • “A practical and helpful guide for anyone who has done all the things the listicles have outlined and is still feeling overrun and worn out. Pooja provides a real path forward paved with compassion and encouragement.”

    Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, Licensed Psychologist & Founder of Therapy for Black Girls

  • “This isn’t just another self-help book. It gives us a clear-eyed look at the way social systems drain our energy, and a concrete set of principles to rely on as we declare independence from these systems.”

    Martha Beck, New York Times bestselling author of The Way of Integrity

  • “A revolutionary self-care framework that is honest, compassionate, and completely actionable”

    Dr. Becky Kennedy, clinical psychologist, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Good Inside, and CEO and founder of Good Inside

  • “Expect to fold down every other page.”

    Pandora Sykes, Sunday Times bestselling author and former host of the #1 women’s culture podcast in Britain

  • “Through her lucid, wise, hilariously honest advice, Pooja Lakshmin will transform your thinking about what it means to feel worthy, precious, and powerful. To protect your time, to burn bright, not burn out.”

    Lauren Smith Brody, author and founder of The Fifth Trimester, co-founder Chamber of Mothers

  • “Pooja is the voice of an entire generation of people who have been left out and even harmed by the superficial "wellness" game."

    Kaz J. Nelson, MD, DFAPA, Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of Minnesota Medical School

  • “In her heartfelt and empathetic REAL SELF-CARE, she shares how she moved beyond shame and regret to a happier, more true-to-herself life, something she believes readers can do, too."

    Bookpage

  • “A comforting and necessary book in times of individual and collective upheaval.”

    Ruby Warrington, author of Sober Curious and Women Without Kids

  • "Real Self-Care is a revelation!"

    Eve Rodsky, New York Times bestselling author of Fair Play

Real Self-Care on the Road

  • Recording the audiobook produced by Penguin Audio

  • Holding my book-baby and my baby-baby

  • A towering Billboard on 7th Ave and 34th!

  • Good Morning America!

  • Austin Launch at Book People

  • Speaking to an audience of 400 in Minneapolis