Rediscover Love and Desire after Sexual Assault

Readers of The Body Keeps the Score, The Deepest Well and Trauma Stewardship should read Want: Recovering Desire after Sexual Assault.

Have the courage to heal. We know, increasingly, how common and devastating sexual violence is for women, but we don't always talk about how survivors can recover from the trauma and return to desire, sexuality, trust, and pleasure. Want is the story of how Julie Peters did just that--and how you can, too.

Move past the fog of trauma. In the years after the assault, Julie was in what she calls the fog of trauma: the colorless, tasteless experience of barely getting through the day. No one--not counsellors, support groups, or other survivors--could give her any advice about how to find the desire that could bring her back to joy, intimacy, and connection. She had to make it up on her own. In Want, Julie tells the story of getting from the devastation of trauma to living a full life in eight sometimes challenging, often bumbling, and occasionally delightful steps.

Experience hope, healing and recovery. We have plenty of stories about the helplessness, frustration, and vengeful feelings that can follow trauma. Culturally, we have started a conversation about these experiences, and we're all confused about what this all means for our relationships with each other. We need stories of hope, healing, and recovery. Survivors of assault, if you've been thinking to yourself, "I thought it was just me," Julie is here to show you that you are not alone. Your loved ones may not know how to support you, but they can learn more about your experiences and how to walk alongside you through this book, just as you can learn how to recover from the trauma you've experienced. Want offers a window into one person's experience of recovery--plus the happy ending we all need to know is possible after trauma.

Julie Peters is a yoga teacher, writer, and yoga studio owner in Vancouver, BC. She has been practicing yoga and other forms of movement and mindfulness for over 20 years. Her first book, Secrets of the Eternal Moon Phase Goddesses: Meditations on Desire, Relationships, and the Art of Being Broken (SkyLight Paths 2016) explored a set of Tantric moon goddesses who invite us to think about the messier aspects of life, including desire, anger, loneliness, and heartbreak. Julie has an MA in English Literature from McGill University. Her essay, “Why Lying Broken in a Pile on Your Bedroom Floor is a Good Idea,” went viral, with 504,641 views and 25,033 shares on Facebook in 2017 alone and counting.. Also a spoken word poet, Julie has twice represented Vancouver in the Women of the World Poetry Slam and was a part of the Vancouver Poetry Slam Team. She frequently collaborates with dance artist Olivia C. Davies on poetry and dance projects exploring themes of love, connection, heartbreak, and the stories that live in our bodies.

Julie Peters' profile page