Complementary-Therapy Books

I found this book to be a nice read on the energy centers in the body and the means for promoting healing and wellness. Nice combination granting one the opportunity to expand their conciousness and delight in the elixers that heal each aspect.

Chakra Tonics is a multifunctional book. This book starts off noting the basic foundational beliefs about chakras, explaining that there are numerous philosophies and interpretations and the reader should explore these variations in order to come up with his or her own theories in this regard. I really found this aspect refreshing as many such books never admit that there are alternative thoughts on the subject let alone encourage the reader to make up his or her own mind.

The rest of the book explores each of the chakras describing the location, purpose, color, sound, and various problems often associated with energy blockages. Included for each section are recipes that the reader can replicate. The intended purpose of these recipes is to balance out the energy in particular chakras.

All of the recipes provided are either fresh juicing recipes or smoothie recipes made with fresh fruits, vegetables, and nuts. In my mind, these recipes simply provide new and creative ways to provide healthy energy building nutrition into the body rather than opting for caffeinated, carbonated drinks that reduce natural energy. If they also help balance chakra energy that's just an added bonus.

Whimsical little book which artfully combines healthy juice/smoothie/tea recipes in relation to the corresponding chakra. Such a creative idea, i think this book would make an interesting gift or excellent conversation starter for someones coffee table. Thank-you Elise Marie Collins.

CHAKRA TONICS: ESSENTIAL ELIXIRS FOR THE MIND, BODY AND SPIRIT could also have been featured in our Spirituality section but is reviewed here for its broader appeal to audiences interested in juices, shakes, smoothies and drinks which have healing and beneficial properties as well as taste appeal. From a Fig Shake with cinnamon believed to help diabetics to a high vitamin C Hibiscus Shake, drinks are very easy to make up with a minimum of specialty ingredients and CHAKRA TONICS organizes recipes by health benefit for easy consultation.

I'd been to Alan Finger's seminar in NYC years ago and wanted to have that information again to try to recreate the miraculous results I got there. The book in combination with the excellent meditation CD were everything I'd hoped they would be. If you're looking to open up your meditation practice and take it to a new level, I strongly recommend this program. If you've never worked with your chakras, you will find a new discipline you never knew existed.

I have been doing yoga for many years before it became well known and supposedly popular. (Although every other commercial these days has some woman doing yoga in order to attach their product to this symbol of a healthy lifestyle (even a house paint commercial!), I wonder how many folks actually practice for more than a little while...) At any rate, the feature that made this book better than all the rest was the CD which introduced me to the chakra mantras which allowed me to actually feel the chakras in my body on my very first attempt using the mantras! And this author is offering his wisdom at a very reasonable price! Buy this one new!

I found this book to be really helpful in understanding the relationship between yoga and the chakras. It is written so well and I could put it into practice immediately. A must have for those looking to deepen their yoga practice

Alan Finger truly sounds like a yoga guru.

In this book, he provides guidance and direction in performing basic yoga poses and reveals their relation to the human chakras. This, in my opinion, is very important in getting your foundation straight & solid, so it can safely be built upon.

The book is written well, without bogging you down with excess theory or pages of boring information, yet neatly introducing useful concepts. The author goes into great detail in explaining how to correctly do a certain pose, and points out common mistakes. I have found it very helpful. The brief real-life examples of balances and imbalances in chakras are also quite interesting.

Lastly, the spiritual part of the book: meditation. I was quite a novice to the whole practice of meditation prior to reading this book. So no surprise, as I tried, I did not always feel like I was entering "the state of oneness, yoga", and at times I couldn't even let go of restless thoughts. But it improves with time and practice. And Alan Finger emphasizes it - practice consistently, in order to get results. I would probably also play some quiet meditation music while listening to the book's audio, as it comes without background music.

I do recommend this book to all who are seeking another dimension in their lives. It will not only help you become better at your yoga practice, but may as well help you make a shift towards a better life and being a better person.

I've met and studied with the author, Wen Mei Yu, and she is the real thing. We are lucky to have this book, especially in English. She teaches here in Los Angeles and also does healing work for cancer patients at UCLA.

The first half of the book gives a concise review of the basics of chinese energy work and esoteric Taoism. It is laid out in a matter of fact way without any fantasizing or superstitious sillyness.

The second half of the book is a methodical training manual for a powerful chi gung form. Regular practice, even without a teacher, yields results to the capacity of the student. This may be the best way to really learn to experience the flow and feeling of "chi" if you don't have access to a master guide to help.

Highly recommended.

This is not, thankfully, another generic book on "chi practice". Author Wen Mei Yu Introduces us to and instructs us in a very specific form of Chi Kung: Wild Goose Chi Kung. Yu was a student of Madam Yan Mei Jun, the legendary grandmaster of this popular and complex school of energy cultivation.

Every necessary topic is covered in this volume, including history (photos of Grandmaster Yan Mei Jun are included), philosophy (this is a Taoist school), Theory (very detailed, many diagrams with explanations), and of course the COMPLETE 64 movement Wild Goose form.

A note on the instructional photographs in this volume: every technique is illustrated by several photographs. The pictures do an excellent job of communicating direction, movement, posture, et cetera. Yu also takes the time with more complex techniques to show common mistakes practitioners should avoid. This is probably one of the best books on physical chi practice out there. I found it to be thorough but not cluttered. Every piece of information fit, and the author's descriptions and explanations were easlily understood in the context of traditional belief and practice.

Let's be short and to the point: To date, this is the best available book on Wild Goose Qigong. Wen Mei Yu's set of three accompanying videos, sold through her website, are also of the highest standard and all I wish is that other "masters" flaunting videos put forth the same production quality.

This book describes the philosophy and the practice of Wild Goose Chi Gung in a very clear and specific way that lay people can understand. She clearly describes the hand and other movements, the points of the meridians and the positions of Wild Goose Chi Gung. I highly recommend this book.

this was a really good book. It gave herbal remedies for illnesses, and also gave the symptoms for those illnesses. This book acted as two books; it gave info on illnesses, AND the herbal formulas to correct those illnesses. my only problem with this book is that in the index, it gives an illness, and then says: see so and so. This is good, but then it gives you a page number. You turn to that page, and there is no info on the illness there, except a little thing saying, illness-see another illness. while this is a little annoying, you have to put up with it, because this book is worth it. Great job!

I borrowed this book from the library and liked it so much that I'm planning to buy it for myself. This book is very well-written. The author wrote this book in a very easy to understand manner (in the layperson's language) so as not to do "analysis paralysis". Usually authors like to use fancy words and write out alot of unnecessary words to pad the pages, but this book was not that type of work, making it easier for me to read and enjoy. From reading this book, I was able to understand and learn not just how to make Chinese herbal medicine, but I received a lesson on the history and background of Chinese medicine as well. The author also gave 10 suggestions to improve one's health. Of course, the main juice of this book are the recipes for healing different types of illnesses, and these illnesses were sorted alphabetically so you can find them easily like a dictionary. I seriously recommend this book to those people who are learning about Chinese herbal medicine or who would like to have some Chinese herbal medicine formulas handy like a cookbook. Save money and get the paperback version instead.

Hey! This was a great book. Not only because it gives lots of chinese herbal cures to the ilnesses talked about in it, but because it gives symptoms for all those diseases. This book was a relly good guide to staying aware of health. I had never even considered Chinese herbs as effective medicine before i red this book, but now i know better. good job Richard.

this book is great and should be read by all who want an alternative to Western Medicine!

Being a retired boxer/kickboxer and now in my 40's, I was looking for ways of keeping fit internally and seeking relief from the numerous aches and pains aquired while participating in extreame sports for so many years. This book not only provides many remedies for sports injuries, but for ailments of all kinds. I especially like the way he translates the chinese herbs into botanical language as many of the herbs can be found in our own health food stores.
The only slight complaint is that he doesn't say much about our own american ginseng as it is highly valued by the chinese.
Otherwise I find it to be highly informative for both the novice and advanced student of the ways of herbal healing.
Deep bow.

As a beginner level student of TCM, I have found this book to be invaluable. The teaching style is very clear and makes complex and, for me, foreign concepts fairly easy to understand. I am sure I will be referring to this book frequently through the course of my studies and beyond.

This and the companion book, the Materia Medica, are excellent books, for the students of Chinese medicine. This book is understandable to the beginner, as well as an excellent resource for students who are well into their studies.

I am very impressed by the amount of information contained in this book. This book presents a working picture of TCM, set in a straight foreward manner, giving the student a very useful module for diagnosis and treatment of imbalances in the body. TCM is a complete and self contained system set along far different lines than western medicine. It is very logical and practical. TCM works complimentary to western medicine, often time filling in the large gaps ignored by westen thought.

Westen medicine tends to be very heroic, producing miraculous feats with very acute and traumatic cases. Where as allopathic, or western medicine tends to see health as the lack of disease, Chinese medicine tends to look at health as a delicate balance of the functions between the multibple systems of the body. Systems are classified in TCM by function rather than physiological location. Where as allopathic medicine seems to be concerned with eliminating syptoms, Chinese medicine is concerned with eleminating the problem by its root, and restoring the delicate and harmonious blance of the body. Dr. Tierra's book addresses in quite some detail the recognition of patterns of symptoms, which when applied properly give a very advanced system of diagnosis within the frame work of Chinese medicine.

One of the greatest obsticals facing the practitioners of natural medicine is treading on the delicate toes of allopathic doctors by claiming to be able to treat diseases that they have named, without the use of their expensive chemical drugs. Traditional Chinese Medicine, because it is a complete and comprehensive system of balance restoration within the body, and because the approach and terminology is unique to itself, and often times much more specific has its own complete and unique method for the classification of imbalances. On its most basic level, the function of TCM is the restoration of balance betewwn yin and yang. This is broken down further into excess or deficient, heat or cold, on the external or internal. External, excess, and heat are classified as, "Yang," or hyper-metabolic; and internal, deficient, and cold are classified as, "yin," or hypo-metabolic. For example, when one is treating a fever one is clearing wind heat, or wind cold. This is an external condition but by examining accompaning patterns there may be internal causes.

Dr. Tierra gives very clear and useful explanations and modules for every principle he explains, as well as summaries for quick reference and easy memorization. My suggestion for digesting the material is to read book one all the way through. Then with a note pad go back over the material making notes for yourself sumerizing the principles presented in each chapter. Go through the chapters one by one making sure you have a grasp of the information before moving to the next. The picture will unfold in more and more detail as you progress giving an amazing and powerful tool in the prevention and treatment of disease and the maintaining of the balance of health.

This is a good, thorough introduction to diagnosis and treatment based on TCM. It is clear and detailed. Some color plates or illustrations in such sections as tongue diagnosis would have made this more useful for the beginner. Also includes a nice section on nutrition.

Julie presents scientific and historical research on chocolate in a clever, funny, and entertaining way. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and learned far more than I expected to about the health properties of chocolate. Antioxidents, blood sugar control, neurotransmitters, amino acids, -- all this and more. I had heard chocolate was good for me and this entertaining book explained why and how, while I laughed along the way.

As an admitted chocoholic I found The Chocolate Therapist to be a fun and practical guide to "proper chocolate consumption". My chocolate guilt was lifted as I read with enthusiasm all of the wonderful benefits that dark chocolate has to offer. Ms. Pech really did her research and uses a light hearted approach to pass it on. I especially enjoyed her section entitled "Going to the Dark Side". It definitely eased my transition from milk to dark chocolate.

I loved the information, and how easy it was to understand the science behind why good chocolate is good for us. Julie's writing style is very warm and friendly, and she has a great sense of humour and down-to-earth approach about her subject. This book plus some good quality dark chocolate makes a great, inexpensive but wickedly indulgent gift for almost anyone. Her research helped me understand why a little good chocolate every day IS good for us, and now I don't crave the sugar-filled cheap stuff.

Julie Pech has compiled an informative, enjoyable and useful book on the history of dark chocolate and its medicinal purposes. Prescriptions for ailments from anemia to stress all have chocolate as their base. What a way to get well without side effects! Don't skip the sections on how to buy and eat chocolate. I was amazed at what I didn't know and what I've been missing out on. Recipes, resources and recommendations all make The Chocolate Therapist: Chocolate Remedies for a World of Ailments the perfect gift to include with each and every box of the dark delectable fruit (yes, chocolate is in the fruit family) you give from now on.

Dr. Moramarco's book clears much of the confusion surrounding modern urban myths about the benefits of ginseng, and tells the reader how to use the different forms of ginseng in a safe and effective manner. As a practicing physician, I highly recommend this book as the best in its field. If you were to own one book on ginseng, this is the one.

I have been using ginseng for many years, and this book is a must have for the ginseng user. Definitely an A+++++ book.

There is much mystery and too much fantasy over ginseng. This book presents the facts of this remarkable plant without loosing sight of the truth while keeping the strength of ginseng's mythological potency intact.

Ive been an avid ginseng enthusiast for years. This book is the most complete, comprehensive reference available on ginseng. It takes the information in most other ginseng books and compliments it with the most up-to-date information available. A must for anybody into health, fitness, herbs, well-being.

This is a fine intro to the Aryuveda view of health and wellness. The visual material (photos,drawings,etc) gives an excellent overview of Aryuveda philosophy.

Attractive and concise, the book supplies the reader with profiles of of subjects to enhance the understanding of how Aryuveda can be utilized in understanding personality and behavior. I also appreciate the cautions noted, i.e., consulting a trained Aryuveda physician for correct evalution and treatment. Hopefully, the book will encourage safe exploration of alternative health options.

If you know nothing about Ayurveda but are curious and want to know more, this is the place to start. Beautiful layout, art work and easy to read text, charts and photographs. This is not a how to manual but a layman's manual of concepts.

At last what many people have been looking for: a well produced , highly artistic illustrated guide to the often difficult and arcane world of Ayurveda! While there are a number of excellent introductory books on this subject, until this one none have been presented in such an accessible visual format. If you have trouble getting into Ayurveda or introducing Ayurveda to your friends, family, students, or clients, this book may be exactly what you need. The Complete Illustrated Guide to Ayurveda makes the study of Ayurveda not so much an intellectual excercise as an enjoyable adventure. It uses traditional Indian art as well as contemporary illustrations and examples, to make the subject relevant to people today. Yet the book does not sacrifice anything by way of content. Anyone interested in Ayurvedic medicine or natural healing will want to have this book, not merely on the shelf, but out in the open for everyone to look at and benefit from. The END

This book was interesting in that it explored regions of Ayurveda I had not encountered before. What I didn't care for was its lack of a doshic assessment test, lists of yes and no foods, and some common recipes. In that respect it was not specific enough to be used as a resource book. Then it was terribly specific in its case studies. At least in terms of herbs. It might use half a page to list ingredients in an herbal medicine then say nothing about dietary changes. I probably will not use this as a sourcebook. If you are looking for that (especially as a beginner) get Judith Morrisons THE BOOK OF AYURVEDA.

CONSCIOUSNESS & HEALING is a remarkable collection of papers, articles and personal accounts of the current state of healing in the United States of America today. Sixty seven leading experts on health and healing share their most intimate, heartfelt, and analytical assessments of exactly what's going on in the field of mind-body medicine. Included inside this book is a companion DVD that features interviews with health professionals who share their vision for where the field of healing is headed.

CONSCIOUSNESS & HEALING is the brain and love child of the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), whose goal is to explore the frontiers of human consciousness. While the breadth and depth of this book defies description, it's safe to say that CONSCIOUSNESS & HEALING is currently the most comprehensive and up-to-date reference book on the subjects of complementary and alternative medicine, integral medicine, and mind-body medicine.

Some of my favorite ideas from this book are the notion of what it really means to grow old gracefully, the return of prayer, and the idea of the patient as being inextricably intertwined in society and the environment. Now that increasing numbers of patients seek complementary and alternative forms of healing to the more traditional chemical and surgical procedures, there is a need for the healing community to establish a better vision of how to treat patients as people who matter, and whose thoughts and feelings affect their health.

CONSCIOUSNESS & HEALING is a marvelous reference book that will stimulate discussion between healing professionals and people seeking healing, and help us all figure out what new model of health care we can best create.

"If I only had a heart," the tin man moans in "The Wizard of Oz" - all the while unaware of the compassion infusing his behavior. This is a book of over 60 healing experts who not only speak their science from compassionate hearts, but remind us that mainstream physicians also have hearts, yet are all too often prevented from practicing from that place by a system gone mad. Opening with Ken Wilber's brilliant introduction and Marilyn Schlitz's eloquent statement of the old/new concept of "integral medicine," my adrenaline was pumping within the first few pages. The spirit of the book models connection and cooperation with all health providers which oils the mechanism of courageous change. This compassionate attitude (careful observation of what works and what does not, as opposed to attacks) beautifully paves the new paradigm path with openness, humility and, yes, love. One is encouraged to step up to the uncertain experince of "a transformation of consciousness," a concept less daunting and decreasingly esoteric as explicated here with the variety of multi-cultural essays covering heartfelt personal experience, simple daily exercises and visionary goals - all carefully supported by mounds of empirical data. The powerful paradigm of "Integral Medicine" seems to suggest the need for an updated Hippocratic Oath. (Somehow, I believe Hoppocrates is cheering us on here.) Rather than "First, do no harm," how about "First, nurture the spirit"?

Now this is a good book. It consists of over 60 essays as well as a DVD with interviews. The book is partially directed at Ken Wilber's concept of integral medicine. Wilber is not a medical authority but an integral philosopher with many novel and important views. He considers integral medicine as a perspective that includes the patient's subjective world space (one's meaning, values, and world view), the patient's social relationships (shared meaning, values and aspirations) as well as the patient's physical condition (the focus of most Western medicine). Those of us who work in the field (mine clinical trials) will appreciate this expanded view. Ironically, each of the essayists to a large degree focus on only one of these three areas of existence. But then this is not a bad thing for each of these authors has something to contribute. It would probably be best to view Wilber's contribution, the Foreward, as a theoretical attempt to expand the concept of medicine. There are other contributors who are transpersonal and humanistic psychologists and provide a theoretical orientation adding much visionary value to this book. There are also a number of practicing clinicians who anchor the book with suggestions grounded in evidence based medicine. These include Michael Samuels, Dean Ornish, Rachel Remen, Deepak Chopra, and Larry Dosey, all both experienced clinicians and visionaries. Other outstanding researchers' essays included in this book are by Candace Pert, Jon Kabat-Zinn, David Levin, and Stephanie Simonton-Atchley. This book offers the researcher, the clinician, and the patient much material to take and from it, synthesize their own view in the crucible of life.

Daryl S Paulson Ph. D.
BioScience Laboratories Inc.

This book is a marvelously rich sampler of writings by clinicians and theorists in mind-body healing, some of them in original offerings, many as excerpts from previous articles.

An unusual feature of this book is its accompanying Video CD, in which several of the authors are featured in spoken presentations, which add to these authors' written presentations. That is the good news. The bad news is that this CD plays only on CD players attached to TV sets, not on computers (PC or Mac). All of the references from the articles in this book are on that CD - making them very difficult and frustrating to access. You would have to sit with the book in hand and search the CD on a TV set in order to identify any of the footnoted references or comments from the book you want to find. As a frequent reader of footnotes and references, I found this discouragingly unmanageable.

A few of the many chapters that this reviewer found interesting:

The essay by Candace B Pert, Henry E Dreher and Michael R. Ruff, "The Psychosomatic Network: Foundations of Mind-Body Medicine:"

The essay by Eskenazi, Loren. "Transformational Surgery: Symbol, Ritual, and Initiation in Contemporary Cosmetic Surgery:"

David Michael Levin's refreshing chapter, "Meaning and the history of the body: toward a postmodern medicine,"

Discussions on spiritual dimensions of health extend our awareness of this end of the wholistic spectrum. Dean Ornish, "Opening Your Heart: Anatomically, Emotionally, and Spiritually:"

This volume is a good introduction to mind-body interactions, particularly for anyone who is new to this field. Those with considerable experience are also likely to find much of interest and value in the rich variety of presentations. This would be a more useful reference book were the references for further readings actually usable.

what an awesome book as it has many many many techniques that i use myself and for my anxious patients. it also helps with high blood pressure, anger, headaches, pain, etc. it is very simple to read and follow and has many different types of techniques to help one relax.

I have an anxiety problem. Dispite all of the help that I'm receiving, this little book, and the practice of its' content, is helping me. How many of us are troubled by things, read, perhaps, what we need to do, and keep on doing what has proven not to work for us? Do we keep doing something the same way time and time again and wonder why we keep getting the very same results? Buy this little book. Read a chapter or two and actually begin to practice what we've just read. I keep this little book in a very special place with a few other books that have actually helped me when I practice what the author's are saying. Buy this book. Read a couple of chapters and then practice what the authors' have said. Do that all of the way through the book. To all of those who suffer (and it IS suffering)with anxiety, I wish you well.

This little book is perfect for me. Even the cover says "aah". In fact, it's one of about six I have on a little shelf reserved for favorites. McKay and Fanning do an outstanding job of calming you on every page. Every chapter spoke directly to me in easily identifiable subjects and simple language. Who ever thought there was a trick to breathing? After all, I've been doing it all my life. Thanks, guys.

What a great idea! I loved this book! The suggestions are easy and the stories are interesting. It really helps in my everyday life to remember how to take a few seconds to relax.