This book focuses on the lived experiences of higher education professionals working in the face of stress, pressure and the threat of burn out, and how acts of self-care and wellbeing can support, develop and maintain a sense of self.

Narelle Lemon is an interdisciplinary researcher in the fi elds of education, positive psychology and arts, holding the positions of associate professor in education and associate dean (education) for the School of Social Sciences, Media, Film and Education at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia.

1. Reforming our acts of self-care in higher education: Developing a sense of self individually and collectively Section 1: Being present and non-judgmentally aware of self-care 2. Yoga and the Contemplative Path: Placing Meaning at the Centre of Self-Care and Wellbeing in University Life 3. Finding the Spaces In Between 4. Wellbeing through self-reflexivity: Understanding our underlying motivations, gratitude, strength identification and support. 5. Self-care and environmentalism: Finding a socially-just balance as an early career social work researcher 6. Tales from the soft play fifth shift: mother, teacher, mentor, academic and student 7. A community of practice-educators as self-care: a sustainable strategy for both academic and practitioners alike Section 2: Awareness in caring for self and others 8. A systems pathway to self-care in academia: Me, We, and Us as avenues to integrated long-term self-care 9. Cultivating whole-heartedness in the academy during a time of COVID: Insights from/within an inter-collegial friendship 10. Peer reviewing journal articles: A duoethnographic exploration of emotion in the digitalised space 11. Finding an audience who care: Examining research crowdfunding through a lens of self-care 12. "Ding!" Co-creating wellbeing in a Friday online research writing group