Inner Work

The most practical introduction to active imagination available. Johnson strips the method down to something anyone can actually do — without losing the depth. 

The Red Book

Not a how-to. The living example. Jung’s own active imagination practice, documented over years. Read it slowly, or just look at the images.

Dreams

Active imagination runs through everything von Franz wrote. This is one of the most accessible entry points into her work.

Encounters with the Soul

A quieter, more intimate book. Hannah shows how active imagination arises naturally in the therapeutic relationship — and how to meet it when it does.

The Personal Totem Pole Process

A somatic and imaginal approach to the chakras through animal imagery. Each energy centre holds its own inner figure — and each can speak.

Jung on Active Imagination

For those who want to go to the source. Chodorow has gathered Jung’s own writings on the method into one place. The most academically grounded entry point.

Re-Visioning Psychology

Not active imagination exactly — but the same territory from a different angle. Hillman asks what it means to take the psyche’s images seriously on their own terms.

Memories, Dreams, Reflections

The closest thing to an autobiography Jung ever wrote. The best starting point for understanding the man behind the theory — and how his own inner life shaped everything he built.

The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious

The core theoretical text on archetypes, the collective unconscious and how the psyche organizes itself through symbols and images.

Projection and Re-Collection in Jungian Psychology

One of her clearest books. Maps how we project unconscious content onto others — and how to reclaim it. Quietly transformative.

Psychotherapy

Transcribed lectures, which means it reads like she is speaking directly to you. One of the best introductions to Jungian clinical thinking.

He, She, We

Three short, elegant books on masculine and feminine psychology in the Jungian tradition. Johnson has a rare gift for making depth psychology feel immediately personal.

Ego and Archetype

The relationship between the personal ego and the deeper archetypal layer of the psyche. Dense but enormously rewarding. A book people return to for years.

The Middle Passage

On the psychological crisis of midlife — when the life we built no longer fits who we are becoming. Hollis writes Jungian psychology with unusual clarity and warmth.

What Matters Most

Broader than The Middle Passage. A meditation on living a meaningful life guided by the deeper self rather than the ego’s agendas.

Care of the Soul

Not strictly Jungian but deeply rooted in the same tradition. Moore argues for tending the soul’s needs — beauty, depth, darkness — rather than fixing or optimizing the self. One of the most quietly influential books in this territory.

No Bad Parts

The most accessible introduction to IFS. Written for general readers, not therapists. The one people actually finish and recommend to others.

Introduction to the Internal Family Systems Model

More technical and structured. For those who want to understand the model in depth.

Self-Therapy

A practical guide to doing IFS work on your own. Widely loved for making the method genuinely usable without a therapist.

You Are the One You’ve Been Waiting For

IFS applied specifically to relationships and how our parts show up with the people closest to us.

In an Unspoken Voice

The foundational text on how trauma lives in the body and how the nervous system finds its way back to safety. Somatic experiencing at its clearest.

Waking the Tiger

More accessible than In an Unspoken Voice. A good starting point for those new to somatic approaches.

Somatic Internal Family Systems Therapy

The bridge between IFS and somatic work. McConnell shows how the body’s sensations, movements and gestures carry parts — and how to work with them directly.

Somatics

An older, quieter book that maps the body’s intelligence with unusual precision. Underread and worth discovering.

The Body Keeps the Score

The book that brought trauma into mainstream conversation. Dense, research-based, and still the most comprehensive single volume on how trauma reshapes body and mind.

The Myth of Normal

Trauma, illness and healing in a culture that produces both. Maté is a rare writer — rigorous and deeply humane at the same time.

When the Body Says No

The connection between suppressed emotion and physical illness. One of those books that changes how you read your own body.

The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy

Polyvagal theory made practical. Dana translates Stephen Porges’ neuroscience into something a therapist — or anyone doing inner work — can actually use.

Anchored

Written for general readers. The most accessible entry point into polyvagal theory and what it means for everyday life and relationships.

The Polyvagal Theory

The original academic text. Dense but worth it for those who want the science behind the nervous system’s three states.

Trauma and Memory

How traumatic memory differs from ordinary memory — and what that means for healing. Bridges neuroscience and somatic practice.

Holotropic Breathwork

The foundational text on holotropic breathwork — the method Grof developed after LSD research was shut down. Consciousness, the psyche and non-ordinary states through breath alone.

The Adventure of Self-Discovery

Broader than breathwork alone but maps the territory holotropic states open up. Essential for understanding what breathwork can actually reach.

Breath

The best general introduction to the science of breathing. Nestor spent years researching how modern humans breathe wrong — and what it costs us. Accessible, well-researched, and genuinely surprising.

Just Breathe

A practical, accessible guide to conscious breathing from one of the most experienced breathwork teachers working today. Less clinical than Nestor, more practice-oriented.

The Healing Power of the Breath

Quieter and more meditative than the others. Focuses on breath as a tool for nervous system regulation and inner listening.