Drawing on her own experiences with abuse and addiction, Valerie Mason-John presents a well-grounded series of meditations that transform anger, hatred, and fear to heal emotional trauma.

Valerie Mason-John knows what it is like to be filled with toxic emotions—and how to release them. After years of abuse and struggles with addiction, she was mired in anger, resentment, and fear. But through meditation and willingness to forge a new path, she learned how to disarm such toxins and find peace.

In Detox Your Heart Mason-John helps us recognize our emotions, good and bad, and to develop the self-care to heal ourselves. Chapters that explore and clearly define negative emotions are paired with chapters on how to transform them. Meditation exercises based on the Buddhist principles of mindfulness, loving-kindness, and compassion provide tools to help us heal our own hurts and to close the gap that toxic emotions create between heart and mind.

Valerie Mason-John is a former journalist and currently a trainer in anger management who speaks openly from her personal experience of conflict, anger, and fear. Mason-John spent most of her childhood in foster homes and childcare facilities in Great Britain. After studying philosophy and politics at Leeds University during the 1980s, Mason-John earned degrees in creative writing and theatrical performance. By 2003, her interest in counseling and her ordination into the Western Buddhist Order led her into writing and performing, and on training herself and others in anger management and conflict resolution. In December, 2007, Mason-John was named Honorary Doctor of Letters by The University of East London. Mason John continues to write, work as a self-awareness trainer; she performs and lectures internationally. Mason-John lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.