Discovering the Body's Wisdom: A Comprehensive Guide to More than Fifty Mind-Body Practices That Can Relieve Pain, Reduce Stress, and Foster Health, Spiritual Growth, and Inner Peace

by Mirka Knaster

In an attractive, oversized format, enlivened with illustrations, sidebar quotes, personal accounts, techniques to try, and profiles of leaders in the field, Discovering the Body's Wisdom is a basic resource for well-being and natural health.

Body disciplines and therapies have enjoyed phenomenal growth in the past decade, becoming a major alternative to mainstream medicine and traditional psychotherapy. But with more than 100,000 practitioners and dozens of methods available in the United States alone, how can consumers choose the right one for themselves?

Mirka Knaster's richly informative guide provides an overview of the principles and theories underlying the major Eastern and Western body therapies, or "bodyways." It shows readers how to befriend their own bodies, getting back in touch with their internal sources of health and wisdom. It also describes more than 75 individual approaches, answering such questions How does each therapy work? What can we expect from one session or a series? What are the reasons for selecting this method? How do we find a qualified practitioner? What, if any, are the "consumer-bewares"?

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Reference

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've had this book for ages, poked around it int and found it very valuable. Sadly, I'm not the best of students and get distracted easily. However it is a really good reference book and I recommend it highly!

[Debra Brunk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent, well-researched book covering the myriad of ways one can go about trying to heal the body/mind and feel better. The author does a pretty good job of organizing so much information - although he last section on combining body/mind read like it was added at the last minute and tended to be redundant, particularly following her discussion of eastern body movement practices. She provides a good description of each body way with a little information about training/certification and what to expect when/if you show up for an appointment/class. References are good (although perhaps a bit dated) if the reader wants to get more detail on a particular practice. I read cover-to-cover, and it's a long read, but straightforward and well-written. I have only two complaints. The first is that the text was poorly edited - there were numerous typos, particularly toward the end. The second is that the layout, with all the quotes, sidebars, etc., doesn't really lend itself to an electronic book. Using a Kindle, it was terrible - using Kindle on my iPad was somewhat better - but the multiple quotes, etc. distracted from the text and they seemed to randomly be inserted. If you decide to read this book, I would suggest getting a physical copy of the book.

[Marci Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book many, many years ago and have read it here and there over the years. It's filled with information about the body, how we use it, and how we can fix it if it's broken. It's a fascinating understanding of the greatest instrument we will ever own.