Space to Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life - Hardcover

by Lisa Hurley (Author)

Say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist and founder of The Great Exhale, provides you with an inspiring and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft, fulfilling life.

Part memoir, part manifesto, part meditation manual, Space To Exhale is a self-help book that empowers you to put your mask on first, remove your superhero cape, and create lasting life-work balance.

Lisa draws on her experience as a Reiki Master, community builder, and burnout survivor, sharing anecdotes about her trials and triumphs--as well as the tools that have helped her transform. Through healing modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework, Lisa guides you on a life-changing journey to help you:

• Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
• Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
• Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.

Filled with soft-life strategies and written with Lisa's warmth, wit, and well-earned wisdom, Space To Exhale invites you to curate a life filled with joy, peace, and glimmers of delight. This transformative handbook is for anyone who is tired of feeling tired and is ready to get some rest; for Black women who are done with being the "Strong Black Woman," and are ready to step into their Soft Black Woman era; and for everyone who is ready to live a life that truly serves their highest good.

Space To Exhale is a balm for the spirit. It earns a well-deserved spot on the bookshelves of anyone seeking to curate a life filled with love, alignment, and peace--so they can move from merely surviving to vibrantly thriving.

Front Jacket

Say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. From Lisa Hurley, founder of The Great Exhale, comes an inspiring guide to help you beat burnout, choose rest, and live a soft, fulfilling life.

Part memoir, part manifesto, part meditation manual, Space To Exhale is a motivational handbook that empowers you to remove your superhero cape, take a breath, and create lasting life-work balance. Grounded in Lisa's well-earned wisdom; sprinkled with the warmth and wit she's known for, this valuable resource invites you to curate a life filled with peace, joy, and love -- and shows you exactly how to achieve it. Based on her belief that "Rest Is the New Success," she encourages us all -- especially Black women -- to get off the treadmill of constant busyness: avoiding overdrive, and instead embracing under drive.

Lisa draws on her experience as a burnout survivor, community builder, and Reiki Master, recounting personal anecdotes about her trials -- and her triumphs. With transparency, vulnerability, and a healthy dose of humor, she shares the tools that have helped her transform -- and that can help you transform too.

Divided into three uplifting, insightful, and relatable sections, this book is filled with actionable advice, as well as affirmations, meditations, and (of course) breathing exercises. Lisa guides you on a life-changing journey to:

• KNOW YOURSELF: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
• LOVE YOURSELF: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
• BE YOURSELF: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.

Space To Exhale is a balm for the spirit. It brings solace to your soul. It's the kind of book you can keep returning to as you manifest your ideal life, and move from merely surviving to vibrantly thriving.

Back Jacket

PRAISE FOR Space to Exhale

"Lisa Hurley's Space To Exhale is more than a book -- it's the breath Black women didn't know we'd been holding and the release we didn't know we needed. Lisa creates what bell hooks described as a 'homeplace' -- a space where we can lay down our armor, unburden our spirits, and reclaim our peace. This book is both balm and battle cry, calling us to choose softness over struggle, ease over exhaustion, and stillness over survival."
--KIMBERLY BRYANT, founder of Black Girls CODE and Black Innovation Lab

"In a world that demands constant hustle and relentless output, Space To Exhale proposes a much-needed alternative: rest, stillness, and sanctuary. Lisa Hurley shares her wisdom to help you cultivate a deeper connection with your authentic self, shed the weight of societal expectations, and curate the life you truly desire."
--MINDA HARTS, bestselling author of The Memo, Right Within, and You Are More Than Magic

"Space To Exhale is so relevant for such a time as this. Hurley provides a soul-nourishing guide for Black women seeking to create a more serene, centered, balanced life. With deep wisdom and practical advice, Hurley invites us to pause, breathe, and curate a life of intentional rest, connection, and alignment. Space To Exhale is truly a gift."
--MARY-FRANCES WINTERS, CEO, The Winters Group, Inc. and author of Black Fatigue: How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body, and Spirit

"With Lisa Hurley's distinctive blend of lyrically luscious prose and poetry that makes one feel embraced by the healing of ancestral music -- AND -- her always-actionable, authoritative guidance, reading Space To Exhale felt like embarking on and returning from a retreat as a changed woman. Hurley's evocative words taught me that soft living is about curating a life in which your movements and decisions are grounded in kindness to yourself."
--LOLA BAKARE, CMO Advisor, and author of Responsible Marketing

"Lisa's words found me as I was grappling with how to make room for much-needed rest while feeling the weight of external demands and internalized overwork. Through humor and her embodiment of brunch energy, I felt the embrace of another Black woman who has rejected the lies that we must earn rest; that we must acclimate to exhaustion. There is a better way, and in Space To Exhale Lisa, breath by breath, leads us to the soft life we more than deserve."
--DR. JOY BUOLAMWINI, author of Unmasking AI and founder of the Algorithmic Justice League

Author Biography

LISA HURLEY is an Anthem Award-winning activist, writer, and community builder. She is the founder of The Great Exhale, a virtual sanctuary for Black women. Her advocacy operates at the nexus of self-care, community care, joy, and rest. She has been quoted in Forbes and Adweek, and hosts the Space To Exhale podcast.