Common Says His New Wellness Book Can 'Change Lives' with 'Good Energy and Joy and Love' (Exclusive)

Common is ready to share his secret to self-care success.

The award-winning rapper, actor and activist has written a new health and wellness book, AND THEN WE RISE, which will be released January 2024, PEOPLE exclusively reveals. The 51-year-old admits that the book was inspired by moments in recent years when health was the main focus across the globe.

“During the pandemic I was really focusing on just putting out good energy because the world was experiencing so much and health was in the forefront of a lot of people's thoughts and in their hearts,” he shares.

At the time, Common posted on Instagram often, sharing videos working out with his personal trainer Yancy Berry, cooking healthy meals with his personal chef Lauren Von Der Pool, and more. His public dedication to health quickly gained the attention of those closest to him and inspired him to share what he’s learned over the years.

“I had friends who knew my practices and lifestyle call me like, ‘What should I be doing during this time?’ It was an amazement that the desire to be healthy was really in the front of our minds. Obviously, it should be,” he tells PEOPLE. “So with this book, I felt like whatever way I could provide some good energy and joy and love on the planet to people — especially to the communities that I come from — I was like, man, I want to do that.”

“Through the best of times, the worst of times, deal with the things that happen outside our bodies and inside our bodies,” he says. “I felt that this was my way of giving back to people.” 

While touching on his own journey, the book — published by HarperOne — will be a guide for addressing personal wellbeing, including physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.

“I can actually get some people to really help themselves if they just read some of this or even practice some of it. It could change lives. I know it changed mine,” Common admits. 

After growing up in Chicago with a love of food, the star’s wellness journey started with his diet, which he’s now mastered after adopting both a pescatarian and vegan lifestyle over the years.

“For the past decade until 2020, I was eating fish and no dairy. I ate pretty clean overall but I like to eat good so it's good food,” he says. “And I worked out four to five days a week. Even 45-minute workouts, just keeping a lot of movement.”

“But throughout these recent years I have definitely used therapy as part of my healing and mindfulness and taking care of my mental, emotional and spiritual health,” he continues. “Taking some time for myself. That has been very important.” 

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Common explains that it’s the small changes that make a long-term difference in staying healthy overall and keeping him “on my grind.” Today, the rapper stresses how valuable his health had become.

“When you’re not feeling healthy or 100 percent, it disturbs the way you can function and it affects you mentally too,” he explains. “So you have to fight to overcome those things. So I value being able to get up and just feel well and healthy.” 

“And I'm not saying that I'm perfect, but I'm saying I cherish and value my health,” he adds. “I got to appreciate the fact that any day when I get up and I'm feeling good, no illnesses, that's a blessing.”

Common tells PEOPLE that he hopes people read his book and recognize that “health and wellness is not anything too distant.” 

“It's just making a choice to say, OK, I might drink a little water or I'm going to add some vegetables to this plate or I'm going to go get this 20-minute workout in, even though I don't feel like it,” he notes. 

“I just want them to feel that you don't have to go zero to 100 on that path. If you take steps and find the things that's right for your lifestyle, undoubtedly you will be better overall as a person,” Common says, adding that people often forget the “beauty that being healthier brings.” 

AND THEN WE RISE: A Guide to Loving and Taking Care of Self By Common will go on sale January 23, 2024.