Last year I told everyone who would listen about a book I was reading—Breath by James Nestor—and how radically it had impacted my thinking. Most of us breathe poorly, and it’s a real problem. Another excellent, easy-to-browse resource to get your breathing back on track is Jean Hall’s Breathe: Simple Breathing Techniques for a Calmer, Happier Life. You might think of it as the “now do this” counterpart to Nestor’s researched narrative. The breathing exercises offered here, many of which are adapted from yogic philosophy, are designed “to return the breath to its natural optimum pattern of slow, soft, steady spaciousness,” Hall writes. The outcome? Better mental and physical health (and yes, science backs this up). Some breath patterns are designed to enable sleep, others to energize or focus the mind, some to prep for meditation. If a class-based yoga practice isn’t the right fit for you, this book offers some of the basic teachings in a clear, succinct format.

As I’ve become interested in observing pagan holidays, or sabbats, such as Yule and Mabon, Raechel Henderson’s The Natural Home Wheel of the Year: Crafting, Cooking, Decorating & Magic for Every Sabbat feels right on time. “The sabbats give us a new station roughly every 45 days, at which we can pause and notice the world around us,” she writes. Rituals, special meals and craft projects give meaningful shape and heft to that attention, and can be as simple as a dinner table place setting for a departed loved one, or as ambitious as a homemade oil lamp. As the holiday Imbolc hints at the coming spring, making a bird feeder or a batch of oatcakes with honey butter could brighten the last weeks of winter. In late summer, Lammas marks an ideal moment to forage for berries or bake bread. Henderson also provides journal prompts for a check-in with our internal selves in accordance with the cycle of nature, a way to connect the inner and outer worlds. Decked out in color photos and including helpful templates for some of the crafts, this book is a beautiful year-round resource.

Scandi words for better living have been floating around the zeitgeist for a while now, and I’m not mad about it. First there was one of my all-time favorite concepts, hygge, the Scandinavian take on cozy comfort. Then came lykke (happiness) and fika (coffee break). Now meet njuter, the Swedish verb that means “to savor the moment.” Njuta: Enjoy, Delight In: The Swedish Art of Savoring the Moment by Niki Brantmark explores njuta, the art of cherishing the small delights in life, from several angles—at work, in nature, in food and drink, in hobbies and more. Embrace the concept and you might be deemed a livsnjutare, a person who thoroughly enjoys the finer things. (Like a hedonist, perhaps, but without any negative connotation.) There’s much herein about the positives of Swedish culture. Proverbs such as “Hard bread makes the cheek red” dot the book. Brantmark offers recipes for pinnbröd (bread on a stick), gröt (porridge) and kokkafe (a “slow” coffee); she boosts the benefits of spending time in the great outdoors and adding a fulsnygg (“ugly pretty”) piece of decor to your home. While not all of the ideas here will feel new, you’ll definitely learn a lot of fun Swedish terms and customs along the way.