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  • Published: 1 July 2025
  • ISBN: 9781529924701
  • Imprint: Ebury Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 304

The Relaxed Woman

Reclaim Rest and Live an Empowered, Joy-filled Life

  • Nicola Jane Hobbs




Soft, scientific and soulful, The Relaxed Woman offers a powerful new vision for how relaxed women can change the world – and provides us with the tools and practices so that each of us can become one.

Have you ever met a relaxed woman? Would you like to become one?

Drawing on years of therapeutic experience and pioneering research, psychologist Nicola Jane Hobbs dispels the cultural myth that relaxing is lazy and shows us how it is, in truth, a path to healing, freedom and joy.

We have become a society of rushing women, overburdened women, exhausted women. Stress, guilt and burnout ripple through our lives. We try so hard to do it all – to be the perfect partners, mothers, daughters, colleagues, friends – only to end up feeling not good enough, unappreciated, lonely and exhausted.

In The Relaxed Woman, Nicola Jane Hobbs explores how the stress of societal pressures, unrealistic expectations and traumatic experiences impact our minds, bodies and relationships and illuminates a path towards healing. Weaving together neuroscience and psychology with inspirational stories from women who are discovering the transformational power of relaxation for themselves, Nicola guides us on a journey to becoming relaxed women – women who have untangled their sense of worth from their productivity, who can rest without guilt and anxiety, who trust their intuitions, honour their needs and live by their deepest values.

Filled with simple rest rituals we can weave into our busy lives, healing practices to help regulate our nervous systems and practical strategies to support us in navigating the unavoidable stressors of life, this book is for all of us who long to live more restful, joyful and authentic lives.

  • Published: 1 July 2025
  • ISBN: 9781529924701
  • Imprint: Ebury Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 304

Praise for The Relaxed Woman

This book is a balm for the woman who feels she has to earn her rest. It’s wise, soulful, and quietly transformative.

Anna Mathur, psychotherapist and bestselling author of The Uncomfortable Truth

Nicola Jane Hobbs is the compassionate voice you want in your ear, helping you feel safe to rest, to relax into joy, to be authentically you. Like a healing sanctuary, a portal to connection, this book will expand the possibilities for your life. I love that this book does not proclaim to be an antidote to exhaustion, stress, anxiety or guilt; it’s a roadmap to help you navigate these normal, human experiences without fear.

Suzy Reading, psychologist and author of The Self-Care Revolution

In a world where we are required to be constantly ‘on’, this book shows us how to confidently learn how to switch off, and surrender to what we truly need.

Emma Reed Turrell, Psychotherapist and bestselling author of What Am I Missing?

I have always adored Nicola's words. I’m absolutely delighted that her beautiful writing is now gathered in a book - something we can hold in our hands and return to whenever we need comfort, reassurance, or permission to become the more relaxed version of ourselves that we so often crave.

Helen Marie, psychotherapist and author of Coose You

A radical permission slip for every woman who has ever felt trapped by exhaustion, guilt, or pressure to do it all.

Abby Rawlinson, Psychotherapist and author of Reclaiming You