Summary of the book as written on the back cover:
is the bestselling classic book on the body-mind connection. In this expanded and updated edition, renowned teacher and bestselling author Deb Shapiro explains how understanding your body’s ‘language and symptoms’ can increase your potential for healing. She examines the interconnetedness between your physical state and your emotional, psychological and spiritual health, and reveals:
- How unresolved emotional and psychological issues can affect your physical health
- How your feelings and thoughts are linked to specific part of the body
- How to heal your body with your mind, and heal your mind with your body.
How this book has benefited me
To me, this is one of the groundbreaking and very comprehensive book that is written on body-mind relationship. The book contained 347 pages (including indexes) whereby a lot of health ailments are being covered in detail.
The first time I read the book, I did not take the book seriously because the concept of mind contributing towards illness did not make much sense to me. I was trying to look at physical causes, element imbalance, meridian, food, exercise, muscle imbalance for the causes of muscoskeletal complaints. But as I learned to slow down in my life and focus more on inward, I am beginning to see that indeed, there is an interconnection between our personality, emotions as well as problems that we are facing connecting to our health. I have seen people suffering from health ailments had their health improve when they view of life and/or life conditions change.
I then took her book and reread with my heart instead of just my brain. And with much gratitude, her book has provided a huge missing link to the answers that I am searching for in healing—-the mind-body connection. Some of what she mentioned also matched the ailments that I was having and with new understanding, the condition, some which had plague me for decades, just went off.
From her work that I knew the direction of my own path towards researching into healing. Yes, there are many aspects of healing, and mind-body connection is one of them. But to heal an illness, we must also learn to heal our mind, or to be more specific, the ‘heart’. I try to fit in time between my full time job and family to write more of these articles in my Health Blog.
If you want to explore further into the role of mind in manifesting illness in the body and its role in healing, this book is an excellent resource. The book is sold for RM80.50 in Kinokuniya bookstore, KLCC.
About Deb Shapiro:
Deb Shapiro has trained extensively in various schools of body-mind, Buddhist meditation, and Jungian psychology in both England and America. She has been teaching both bodymind therapy and meditation with her husband, Ed Shapiro, for the past 20 years (as off year 2006). Their books include The Bodymind Workbook, Meditation: Four Steps to Calmess and Clarity, Voices from the Heart, and Unconditional Love.
In her book, Auras And How To Read Them, Sarah Bartlett
The book is a complete, practical self-help guide to knowing, understanding and most importantly, loving one’s aura. First, the defnition of aura and the historical aspect are being explained. Then, she moved on to teaching the readers further on how to develop sense of light, sound, touch and intuition to enable them to read someone’s aura. Chakra energy is briefly mentioned and the role of each colour is explained in the book. With the aura camera, examples of aura pictures using real people are being shown in the book and how to interpret the readings are being taught.
I bought the book years ago because of my interest in exploring colours- and I was instantly attracted to the book because it is presented using a lot of colours- it’s definitely not your usual dull black and white book. To illustrate the colour, the page itself is printed on that colour. The book is suitable for those who want to learn more about auras and learn best visually.
Introduction as written on the book:
Auras And How To Read Them is one of the first practical guides to discovering our personal ‘colours’, or energy fields. Beginning with the halo, and the scientific evidence of Kirlian photography, practical sections then focus on each of the five senses, showing you simple ways to heighten your responses and ‘know’ your aura and those of people around you.
With this awareness, you will want to interpret the characteristics, moods, and expectations that are revealed by the key aura colours. Included are personality profiles for the colour spectrum, together with a gallery of real-life case studies. The author also explains how we can use this knowledge as a basis for personal development, such as understanding how aura colours determine compatibility in love and relationships.
About the author (as written in the book):
Sarah Bartlett is an astrologer and writer working specifically in the mind, body and spirit field. She is resident astrologer for Cosmopolitan magazine and the Evening Standard newspaper. Sarah’s previous books include Love Signs, The Love Tarrot, Feng Shui for Lovers, The World of Myths and Mythology and Women, Sex, and Astrology
Many people have fear of public speaking. When coming face to face with a huge group of strangers, even the best rehearsed scripts can be totally forgotten. The speaker is then left to stand in agony and cold sweat, trying to figure out the best way of exit.
During my initial venture into public speaking, I found the book How to Make a Great Presentation in 2 Hours by Frank Paolo to be invaluable. The book was originally written by him in 1993.
I’ve implemented some of his advice and found that they worked for me, such as:
- you don’t need to use props to give a good presentation. Usually, I use my hands and speech but not props because hey, if the props does not set up properly, it will be a cause of panic
- not using boring opening liners
- never memorise your speech- only memorise the opening and closing that should not be more than 90 minutes long
But over time, I’ve adapted my own style- speaking with sincerity and from the heart whenever I speak in the public. Learning to acknowledge feedback, good or bad. And to speak from the heart, the ego must get out of the way as much as possible.
Still, I think it is one of the best practical books that I’ve read on how to make a presentation. It will benefit any beginners who are trying to make a presentation.
Do you hate Mondays? If so, what’s keeping you from your job?
If you said a steady paycheck and the promise of a secure retirement, then you’re in for a big disappointment. In today’s volatile economy, there’s nothing safe about punching the block for the job you hate.
In his book, No More Mondays, Dan Miller first shared on his own experience – that he had failed and made mistakes and bounced back up. He described methods that can be used to achieve that life where there’s no more Mondays.
About Dan Miller
Dan Miller is the author of the best-selling 48 days to the Work You Love book, workbook and audio program. As a life coach, he has guided people through the anguish of unexpected change to the exhilaration of meaningful work and increased time and financial freedom. Dan has appeared on CBS’s The Early Show and MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews. He lives the life he describes, combining work and play, with his wife Joanne, on their nine-acre sanctuary near Franklin, Tennessee.
His blog is http://48daysblog.wordpress.com/
There are 2 versions of this book- the bigger one with more text, and the smaller one with less text and more pictures.
Personally, I am really a fan of Andrew Matthews. Growing up reading so many self-help and self-improvement books written by best selling authors, I find the books by Andrew Matthews simple, straight to the point, practical and can be implemented.
What’s more, there are cartoons enclosed with the book- and cartoon sends the message home- especially if you are a visual learner, ie you learn more by seeing pictures.
The book is divided into different sections:
- Your philosophy
- One day at a time- examples kick the worry habit, happiness myths, laughter, patience, etc.
- Laws of life- examples why set goals, your mind is a magnet, enjoying your work (where he told a story of a person who spent 25 years cleaning the dirty inner parts of the subway and loving his job because he felt he made the world better for the homeless and at the same time managed to put his 2 daughters through college), and peace of mind.
- Friends and family- examples forgiving others, friends & money, presents, etc
- Success strategies
His writing is simple but is profound. If you can appreciate the deeper meanings and adopt some of his down-to-earth advice, you can really become a much better person.
You don’t find happiness in the absence of problems.
You find happiness in spite of problems!
– Andrew Matthews
His books has been translated into 33 languages and are bestsellers in 60 countries.
His website s www.seashell.com.au
Many people spend hours stuck in jobs that they do not like- but hang on to just because the salary and benefits are good.
Pamela Skillings, a career expert and corporate escapee wrote the book Escape from Corporate America: A Practical Guide to Creating the Career of Your Dreams to provide inspiration for those who are stuck in a rut and wanted to escape but do not know how. The book is written with a good dose of humor and a lot of scenarios that would have you saying “ahh….yess….I have experienced that too!” Told perfectly from the insider’s point of view.
It is practical, not a book about dreams and building castles in the air, neither it is a negative bitching the company/boss kinda book. Seriously, you need not be working in America to be able to relate to the universal problems that we all seemed to face- stuck in a job we do not like and wishing for more. Worldwide, corporate workers can really relate to what she is telling.
Her book will show you how to:
- access your job’s “suck” factor.
- identify your true calling
- develop your Escape Plan
- find jobs that don’t bite
- be your own boss
- follow your creative dreams
- overcome any obstacle.
When you read her book, you will feel that you are not alone when you feel that you can’t seemed to fit in.
For instance, in the chapter, “True Callings and Wrong Number” (really humor in the title), she said that many people have the notion that a perfect career exists for each of us- equivalent of a job’s soul mate. But in fact, we may not have one true calling because we are all complex.
How to Start a Home-Based Gift Basket Business, 4th (Home-Based Business Series) by Shirley George Frazier provides information on a gift basket startup. The book is written by a successful gift basket entrepreneur- and so, a lot of the tips are down to earth.
Some of the main points of the book:
- what it takes to be a gift basket professional
- ways you can introduce your products to friends, family and prospects
- how to set a price to your gift baskets
- where to look for prospects and how to outshine your competition
- develop a web site to generate traffic
- home office and workspace setup
- getting paid for your work
- workbook pages such as customer profile form, sample business plan, buying charts, sample purchase order, sales invoice sheet, delivery schedule, expense analysis.
I bought the third edition from Borders for RM71.90 a few years ago- during the time when I was still stuck in my corporate job and was desparate to get out and explore my creativity. That was also doing that time that I read in the newspaper on how a housewife is making a comfortable income from wrapping hampers and gift baskets- what started as making for her friends and family soon ran into good demand from others.
No doubt in this book, all the business startup fundamentals such as business plan, pricing, websites, setting up office are taught. But in general business startup books, it will usually cover just on starting a business. In this book, it is specifically written for those who wants to start their own home based gift basket business- so a lot of elements unique to gift basket making are included. There is also a section where she had provided explanation on how to wrap gift baskets- with diagrams provided.
About the author:
Shirley George Frazier has run her own successful home based gift basket business, Sweet Survival since 1989. A gift and gourmet consultant, Frazier also trains industry professionals and others who need guidance to start and grow their business into full potential.
The book “Strength Training” is published under NSCA (National Strength & Conditioning Association). NSCA is the one of the authority of strength training and a lot of syllabus are drawn worldwide based on guidelines by NSCA. And all the findings, similar to ACE, are based on solid and well researched findings by qualified fitness professionals.
The book is well writen, with sound explanation about strength workouts, clear pictures of exercises and how to do it correctly. It also discusses about pro and cons of each type of workouts.
At the back flap of the book, the main highlights are mentioned:
- increasing metabolic rate to burn more calories more effectively
- improving bone density to help combat osteoporosis
- increasing muscle mass as well as strength, power and endurance
- preventing injuries
- improving balance, flexibility, mobility and stability
- reducing back and arthritic pain
- decreasing cholesterol and blood pressure to lessen the risk of coronary disease.
It gives details on the type of muscles that each set of exercise worked on and cover free weights and using weight machines. For personal trainers, the book is also useful as it teaches you the correct way to ’spot’ your clients.
I bought the book from Kinokuniya and it cost me RM81.88. If you buy via Amazon below, the price is cheaper.
About NSCA:
NSCA is the worldwide authority in the field of strength and conditioning, serving 3000 members from the sports science, athletic, allied health, and fitness industries.
As in all Complete’s Idiot’s series, the book provides guidance to beginners who wants to work on their core conditioning.
Our core consists mainly of our muscles in our trunk (not only at the abs but includes chest, back and hips) and keep us together. A lot of the daily functions that we tend to take for granted such as balancing ourselves as we stepped on a banana peel, juggling a child and the groceries require core strength. The core is important to help perform these functions and if our core is weak, we will be more prone to injuries.
Benefits of having a strong core :
- look good in clothes
- cure /minimize lower back pain (but for those with injuries such as slipped disk, please consult help of certified trainers to rehabilitate the function of the body- don’t attempt to do it on your own)
- have better posture- slouching indicates there are weakness with the back muscles which can be corrected with core conditioning exercises
- better body stability and balance
- contributes to increased performance and results in our fitness/exercise plans.
What’s more, the book contained a lot of pictures to guide a beginner to core exercises with or without exercise balls.
This is truly an excellent book. As a medical student and later as a qualified doctor, Vernon Coleman discovered so many strange cases of patients who:
- was supposed to die but did not die- for example, xrays and scans show that the cancer cells was eating into the organs and the radiologist said that it was impossible for the patient to be still alive. Yet, the patient, survived on willpower because of worrying about the kids
- healthy people just develop illness or die because there was nothing much to live for
Initially he was a sceptic but after seeing case after case, the evidence can no longer be denied. So he defied the medical community by coming up with books that spoke of mind body connection. He was critized but it never detered him- because he received a steady stream of letters and feedback by those whose life has been transformed by his book. To him, those meant more to him that positive reviews.
At the preface, he mentioned:
“One woman who was suffering from breast cancer- and had been told by her doctors that she had a matter of weeks to live- used the visualisation techniques I describe in the book and waved the text at her doctors when she turned up for an appointment they did not think she would keep. (She is still alive and very healthy”.
Vernon Coleman is truly a visionary. The mind can cause us illness but at the same time, it can also heal us of illness and diseases. In the book, he gave:
- a consize history of modern medicine (and Western medicine is the only form of medicine that disregard the role of the mind and spirit),
- the role of the healer and patient,
- links between mind and body
- knowing your mind
He gave description of common ailments like cancer, high blood pressure, arthritis, heart diseases, colds, cough, headaches, depression, – and offered clues on how these disease usually arise and what is the effective way of dealing with them.
Of course, the patient still have to undergo conventional treatment but when the mind is geared towards healing, the patient stands a much better chance.
About Vernon Coleman:
Vernon Coleman has written over 90 books which are sold in more than 50 countries and have been translated into 22 languages. He has received a number of awards for his work. One in ten British household have used his Telephone Doctor advice lines and countless millions around the world read his weekly columns. Vernon Coleman has a medical degree and an honorary DSc.
