(To be Edited so it includes Sam and Sarah; and it should include blurbs of books to come, including Vol. 1 Essays + Vol. 1 Fiction)
SARAH
I’ve written four books. Here’s a bit about each. (Some of the articles and book chapters I’ve written can be found here.)
Good Nonsense: A Body in Motion and A Mind at Play
A philosophical book on what it means to play in a world on fire—of how we move our bodies and brains through the thorny problems life can throw at us.
Book Blurb
A book on what it means to play in a world on fire--of how we move our bodies and brains through the thorny problems life can throw at us. Author Sarah Austin Casson brings us on her adventures around the world and in her backyard, from the high Himalayas of Nepal and the deep seas of Thailand to her backyard dirt trails in Los Angeles and many other places, to explore how we can all play with life’s hard questions.
Plenty of us are anxious right now. In 2019, Casson found herself covered in stress eczema, working too many hours as a wilderness conservationist, and sinking under the weight of the world’s hard questions. The hard questions asked: what should we do about our world’s problems, and what is my individual and collective role in these problems?
Casson looked around and realized that these questions haunt most of us--and that they always seem to pop up when you’re trying to do something else. They showed up asking about deforestation while she enjoyed a to-go cup of coffee with a friend. Pestered her about lithium mining’s ecological impacts as she opened her laptop to watch a romantic comedy. These challenging questions kept showing up, reminding her of very reasonable things to panic about at inconvenient times. They wouldn’t disappear no matter how hard she pushed them away.
Somehow, though, Casson found that these tough problems always seemed more manageable when she moved her body in nature. As she ran, hiked, and dived, she found she had the mental space to move beyond repetitious panic and start playing with these questions. The key to these thorny problems seemed to be not just in her mind, but in her body itself.
Casson realized that these questions don’t go away but that we can handle them better. We can play with them. The best way to play with them is outdoors, while sweating — physically and mentally.
Making A Life: Things That Matter and How We Create Them
An environmental anthropologist travels the world to knit, sew, and forage, exploring how creativity, community, and womanhood shape the way we make our lives. Her adventures deepen when her body begins making something of its own: a baby.
Back of Book Blurb
“After all, what does it mean to create something—be it a human or a sweater?”
How do we define creativity? Is creativity about what we make? Is it our approach to life? Or is it about where we go to find the necessary spark within ourselves to build something new in the world?
In this intimate account of one woman’s search to understand the art of making, Sarah Austin Casson embarks on a journey around the world to explore how creativity shapes the way we live and how we connect with one another.
From sashiko stitching workshops in snowy Kyoto and sea foraging with the ama in coastal Japan to evening knitting circles in Denmark and seaweed harvesting and sewing workshops in California, Sarah’s adventures through the world’s many creative practices take on new depth when her body begins making something of its own: a baby.
Through her firsthand experiences of the power of community, womanhood, and motherhood, Sarah reveals the joys and frustrations to be found in creativity everywhere.
Making a Life: Things That Matter and How We Create Them is a triumphant celebration of the human need to make and how essential that making is along every life path.
How to Start Running (And Enjoy It)
Running can and should be fun. As a runner of over twenty years (and a deep-diving nerd on the subject), author Sarah Austin Casson shares her best tricks and tips on how to get started running—and enjoy yourself. In this gentle 3-month training plan, Casson takes you from walking thirty minutes to running three miles. The goal here isn’t no pain, no gain, fast mile paces, or marathon completions, but instead, developing a new way to play and move your body: Running.
How to Do Breathwork (And Enjoy It)
We breathe more than 20,000 times a day, yet we rarely stop to notice a single breath.
Whether to relieve stress, restore your sense of self, or energize your body and mind, the ancient art of breathwork can bring more intention to your life and remind you what it means, and how it feels, to be human.
In this comprehensive collection of breathwork practices, you’ll find twenty-four exercises across five categories to help you handle panic and stress, tolerate pain and discomfort, strengthen your respiratory system, improve your lung capacity, relax faster, and boost your energy so you feel more invigorated and fulfilled.
Packed with how-to instructions, fascinating insights, tips and breathwork plans that range from four weeks to six months, this is the ultimate introduction for beginners and offers practices experienced breathworkers will want to explore.
