Beginning to Live

Name: Beginning to Live
Price: 65 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9780241526101

The Art of Existential Freedom

Emmy van Deurzen

$65

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Allen Lane
14 May 2026

Phenomenology & Existentialism; Psychological theory & schools of thought; Psychotherapy; Popular psychology

A user's guide to the everyday challenges of living, which looks to philosophy to reframe the way we understand ourselves and our relationships

How can we find our own direction and purpose? When life feels too much, is it possible to free ourselves from the concerns that weigh us down? Whether you're in therapy or prefer to find your own way through life's struggles, pioneering therapist Emmy van Deurzen offers a lifeline for rebuilding trust in the world.

Beginning to Live is a practical invitation to step back and discover what really matters by considering each of the four key aspects of our experience in turn- physical, social, personal and spiritual.

Harnessing over fifty years' experience, this book is filled with wisdom and moving stories that show how to deal with dilemmas and difficulties of every kind, so that even when survival takes all you have, you can rekindle confidence in your own abilities and revitalize your capacity to relate to others. It is not about a quality of personality or character, which you either have or don't have, van Deurzen shows. It is about a way of being, which is available to each of us - enabling us all to find a more engaged way of living that is purposeful, deliberate and buoyant.

Your future is a work of art in progress. And it starts here.

By: Emmy van Deurzen
Imprint: Allen Lane
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 243mm, Width: 164mm, Spine: 39mm
Weight: 658g
ISBN: 9780241526101
ISBN 10: 0241526108
Pages: 432
Publication Date: 14 May 2026
Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , ELT Advanced , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Emmy van Deurzen is a world-renowned existential psychotherapist and counselling psychologist who directs her private practice, Dilemma Consultancy, in London. She was the inaugural Chair of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy and the founding director of the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, as well as the Existential Academy in London. She is a Visiting Professor with Middlesex University. She has published twenty books on existential therapy and the challenges of the human condition and she has lectured in more than thirty-five countries around the world.

Reviews for Beginning to Live: The Art of Existential Freedom

Speaks powerfully to the lived experience of being in a body – its freedom, fragility, and change – offering profound insight into ageing, identity, and transformation -- Kriss Akabusi