Change the Story of Your Health: Using Shamanic and Jungian Techniques for Healing

by Carl Greer

The story of our health is more in our control than we might think, according to clinical psychologist, Jungian analyst, and shamanic practitioner Carl Greer, PhD, PsyD. We can not only reframe our experiences but actually experience less stress, greater well-being, and even better physical health than it might appear if we are willing to identify our health story and begin rewriting it. Through journaling exercises and expanded-awareness practices, many of which involve working with and in nature, and which are influenced by Jungian and shamanic traditions, anyone can tap into hidden resources for healing and work with them effectively. Whether gaining insights and balancing energies outdoors, dialoguing and interacting with the earth or a river or lake, or working with dreams, an inner healer, or a symbol encountered on a shamanic journey, readers will find they are able to learn why they have struggled to change their habits and will be empowered to experience greater wellness within a satisfying health story. "Change the Story of Your Health" focuses on four key chapters of a person's health Eating and drinking, and weight* Movement/exercise, flexibility, balance, stamina, and strength* Sexuality, body image and acceptance, and changes due to midlife hormonal shifts (commonly known as menopause and andropause)* Management of an acute ailment or symptoms of a chronic condition It also helps readers revise their health stories as their health changes as a result of aging or unexpected challenges. Gaining insights into their health, letting go of what is standing in the way of optimal health and well-being, and bringing in what is needed to make a preferred new health story a reality--all are possible when readers take on the challenge of "Change the Story of Your Health" and begin using the practices regularly.Winner of an American Bookfest Best Book Awards best book in alternative medicine in 2017Winner of a Nautilus Book Award for the Best of Small Press as well as a Nautilus Book Award Gold Award in 2017

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Health, Psychology, Mental Health, Counselling

226 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 24, 2017

About the author

Carl Greer, PhD, PsyD, is a retired clinical psychologist and Jungian analyst, a businessman, and a shamanic practitioner, author, and philanthropist, funding over 60 charities and more than 2,000 Greer Scholars. He has taught at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago and been on staff at the Replogle Center for Counseling and Well-Being, and is the best-selling author of Change Your Story, Change Your Life. His newest book is Go Within to Change Your Life: A Hidden Wisdom Workbook for Personal Transformation. To learn more, visit www.CarlGreer.com

Reviews

[Sarah B · Rating 1 out of 5]

I went into this book knowing it would include some non traditional methods and I was willing to be open minded about it, but in the end this book only made be upset. And very frustrated! And a book should not do that, especially if you already have health issues you are trying to fix somehow.

The first thing I didn't like is this: the book states that what you believe in your subconscious can affect your health. I don't know if that is true or not. I cannot attest to that (but I can say that for at least ten years I had truly believed that I was allergic to soy but in reality my problem had turned out to be wheat & corn & other grains: celiac) but there is a possibility it is not true. Still, just in case it IS true - the author should not be constantly writing statements like "You have Cancer", "You have Diabetes" or "You cannot lose weight"... I mean I must have read the "You have cancer" statement at least twenty times in the first third of the book! Is he TRYING to put the idea into your subconscious?? I think that is pretty strange for a book that is supposedly trying to CURE you of stuff!!

Second is none of the categories actually fit my health issues! It is very possible to have chronic conditions but yet none of the statements in here even remotely come close..so that just leaves you in the dark.

Then I really hit a dead end when I came to the shaman part of the book. This part involves visualizing. Well what do you do if you can't visualize at all? It said to visualize a golden tunnel. But I have aphantasia. I only see blackness. Ask me to visualize a simple red square and I can't. The author gives no other workaround to this so the book is pretty useless.

But him constantly repeating that phrase of "You have cancer" or "You can't lose weight" really made me upset. I am actually trying to gain weight and struggling with that at the moment due to a very limited diet.

And as for the believing part, he doesn't exactly explain how you get yourself to BELIEVE the thing you need to believe. I mean its not that easy. I have a very logical mind so I cannot just simply believe stuff. If you really need to believe stuff in your subconscious to fix some health issue, well...I really don't think it would be that easy. Because facts are facts. Right? A person could tell themselves all day the sky is bright pink but they won't actually believe it. Because they know its blue. If a person is diabetic and their leg is in bad condition, would they really be able to believe their leg is healthy when they can see its not? I am not really able to wrap my mind around these things. And like I stated up above, I had actually believed for years that soy was my enemy but it wasn't. I had to actually do a food trial with it before I truly believed it! Ok, I certainly don't want to eat it but it wasn't the cause of my problems at all: gluten and grains were! So if actually believing a thing makes it true than why didn't I actually become allergic to soy as I had certainly believed that for years!

Just something for you to think about before you get this book...

[Diane Fordham · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've rated this book at just two stars. But this is because the book is just not for me. I'm sure that many others will enjoy it and get a lot out of it. I like the ethos of the book, the idea that we do have control over our reactions to the past and the present. The whole 'you are what you think' idea makes a lot of sense to me. But I'm not into guides and spirits and found the whole thing a bit too hippy dippy for me. To be fair I gave up very early on as I realised that I was way off course for this book. For those of you who are more comfortable with this approach I wish you success on your journey. Bit this one is not for me.

[T Love · Rating 5 out of 5]

Empowering, Insightful and it WORKS!

At only 200 pages, this insightful book is an easy to understand and simple to do practical guide book that gives you the tools you need transform your life for better health and well-being. It is empowering. As you read the pages and go through the exercises you find you receive validation along the way that what you are doing is effective and beneficial. Reading this book and using the tools is healing, builds confidence and it truly shifts the perspective from what you thought you believed to what you know to be true for yourself and your life’s journey. I had to laugh in a few places where I saw exactly what I was doing, that was not serving me well, yet, I still do those things. WHY? I know better, but the human being in me falters. When I utilize the tools provided, I do well. When I don’t, not so much. While I aim to be mindful and aware all the time, well, no one is perfect, nor should we aim to be so. We are all perfect in our own imperfections – we just want to feel good and be at our best. You won’t be perfect, that’s too much pressure. BUT, you will be so much better. Take note of where you feel, or see, the positive changes. More than likely, you will find it is not only in the area you were focusing on but seems to infuse all aspects of your life. This book is a gift for yourself but would make a great gift for another. Working with someone is effective as you feel accountable for what you do and you have someone with whom you can work the practices and discuss the concepts. Highly recommended.

[Baroness · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting.

[Jessica]

DNF. It’s been a while since I added a book to the DNF and probably never will shelf, but I can’t do this. I skimmed the whole book but I can’t let myself waste my time reading this whole thing. This is so ridiculous, I am not the audience for this one. Not at all. Idk what I thought it would be or why I thought I’d like this book, but thankfully it was free because I won it in a goodreads giveaway. I’d never pay for this nonsense. I’ll be giving this book away to a little free library or my local indie bookstore. Maybe someone else out there will enjoy it. It’s not for me, though.

[Kimberly Budrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a thoughtful and informative read, especially for anyone facing illness, or any health challenge. It contains things you can actually DO to help yourself, and take control of your health. The only thing needed is a willingness to try the exercises in the book. This book helped me immeasurably as I changed the story of my health!

[Linda Schuler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to the author and publisher for sending this book to me (from goodreads giveaways). I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the subject of alternative ways to embrace their mind-body-soul connections, especially anyone who is unfamiliar with the ideas and techniques, and for those who wish to recharge their innate functions. I plan to reread small sections of the book from time to time although I do not connect with some of it (for example, I have no body self-consciousness, no sexual self-consciousness, do not complain about or misunderstand pain or tragedy). My use for this book is to continue relating to the universe, to myself and others, to not lose sight of who I am and what I have for choices.

The ideas in this book are both complicated and simplistic (especially depending on your understandings of animals/nature). I found myself reading small portions (two to six pages), then putting down the book for the remainder of the day or for a few days in order to absorb it and hash it over in my mind. The first third of the book was least interesting to me because it merely renewed much of what I feel I know about alternative healing methods and about physical health and with how I have lived my life. I have believed in much of what Greer wrote since I was very young, written journals of every sort, logged, researched, and interpreted dreams... and now at 77, I find that I cannot quite connect with people who cannot accept their problems and who have wandered too far from their natural animal instincts. I have come to realize that most humans do not understand that they are animals, and soon after birth most humans quickly lose touch with their innate abilities and resources. Therefore, books like this are always welcome in my world and certainly needed in our world of computers and AI robots, in a world that is barely living life as we are naturally programed to do: via nature, not machines.

[Abby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book as a Goodreads giveaway and was interested to learn more. As a medical provider, I think it’s maybe possible that this book will resonate with some people, but for most of my patients, I think it would come across as dismissive or like illness is in your head.

I can support the concept of visualizing yourself with improved health and striving to achieve that through the methods in this book. I do think there are positive recommendations to consider here and I did like reading about them. I can even support the idea that nature is healing to the mind, body, and soul, but being healing and being a cure, in my opinion, don’t align. I don’t actually think the author intends for this to be the message, it’s just how it came across to me.

The contents of the book live up to the title: “Change the story of your health.” But where I think the information struggles is that it doesn’t clearly indicate who would benefit, suggesting that everyone can. And sure, anyone with a terminal illness can reframe their thoughts about the illness by using this book, it needs to be partnered with additional medical care, and that piece seems to be missing.

[Paulo O'Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book in the mail from the publisher with a press kit to promote the idea having Dr. Greer as a guest on my Pathways podcast and radio show. The subject was captivating, so I asked my producer to book the interview and began reading Dr. Greer’s book (and taped an interview shortly after).

I’ve read a lot of books and done a lot of shows on healing, but none quite so creative as this. Dr. Greer’s intersection between Jungian psychology and shamanic healing is unique … and captivating.

An engaging and readable book, the book emphasizes the power of the stories we tell ourselves – specifically, in this case, the stories about our health, but I was taken by the applicability of Dr. Greer’s story-making approach to every area of life. Accessible, useful, powerful stuff!

I highly recommend this book (as well as my Pathways podcast about it -- free download at divination.com).

[Melon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this book just wasn't for me. I was interested in reading it because I try to work holistically with my therapy patients especially since I work in a medical setting. I was just unable to connect with a lot of the concepts and I don't think my general population of patients will either. I had some gripes with things but I'm sure there are pieces of wisdom I can hold on to. And it's something I can keep with me for if I do work with someone who is more spiritual/open to the concepts.

[Jennifer Barnes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book boring and not for me. I am sure many people will find it helpful, but, I couldn’t finish it.

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have looked forward to reading this book, but the editor should have made more recommendations for popular tools. For me, the best self-help books use lists, charts, and more importantly how-tos. This author has an amazing array of experiences and influences. I wish he had delved into those specific practices in more detail. Instead, he mostly constructs a series of meditative exercises. Those exercises sound extremely helpful, but I longed for the backstories. To better understand the premise of this book, because I did not care for the writing style, which ran on and on, I pulled up a few videos, which were even less helpful. Since I was familiar with some of the concepts the author mentioned, the most this book did for me was to reinforce my desire to institute them in my daily life. My number one complaint of the premise of this book is that the patient can heal themself. That advice is a little condescending and also inaccurate, however helpful meditation and positivity can be. Thankfully, the author gave references in the back for further study. I do not recommend this book.

[Jaz Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book from Goodreads. This book was okay if shamanism is something you're interested in but it isn't my thing. The book is well written and full of great information. As a book itself it is worthy of 4/5 stars however it didn't keep my interest since the topic and I didn't vibe for lack of better words.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 I found the concepts of this book very interesting but also found that I did not have enough time or headspace to dedicate to it and really be able to try our some of the practices and connect with them. I am excited to circle back to this and see how the concepts actually work when practiced and studied a bit more.

[Liane Buck · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Impressive book, especially because it brings to us a certain degree of freedom, as we bring back to ourselves a possibility to practice Self-healing, Carl Greer is a seasoned author with a keen outlook on the kaleidoscope made
of the small parts of our reality.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is very helpful for me to change my health
I never get sick, I do have structure issues,
pain in my neck down my left arm, lower back pain, hips that hurt when I walk which I will stop in place for a couple minutes then start walking again.
I'm learning to get better health.

[Mary]

Goodreads: I cannot review this book that I won in a GR giveaway, because literally: our dog ate it! She tore into the package and shredded most of the book! So please STOP reminding me to review it!

[Betsy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just too weird. I expected it to be out there but was curious so I checked it out. Nothing helpful, lots of mumbo-jumbo.

[Joan Porte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just read this book! Great empowering perspectives

[Tammey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my genre

[Britt Loves Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is full of interesting ideas. That we can change or even control our own health. Ideas are all fine and dandy but realistically I don't know that they can be successfully implemented.

[Nadine]

Couldn't finish after 3 hours in. Lots of questions and things to think about.

[Richard]

Can't I just go to the doctor? You know, a trained medical professional? It seems the more prudent option.....

[Alicia Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read to help improve yourself! It took me some time to get through, but only because this isn't my typical read. Carl Greer hits on important techniques to make you a better you!

[Emily]

This book makes you think. I found myself wanting to journal as I loved through the book. I am grateful for how much self-reflection it has inspired.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audio version provides excellent shamanic-based easy-to-follow guidance in meditation, visualization and journaling for individual healing journeys.

[Amanda johnson]

Great read interesting for sure

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those just starting out on the spiritual journey this book is for you. For those that have been traversing the path for many years, there are other books calling your name.

[Justin]

This didn't speak to me. i was hoping for something more similar to his most popular book, but neither the structure or content really resonated with me

[Mary Griggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative and interesting