Your mind is a strong tool that often is under utilized. I know personally I have this problem which is one reason why I wanted to check out this new book. I am famous for negative self talk, even knowing how dangerous it can be. I under value myself in so many ways and I think a lot of it is due to my image of myself. I love parts of me, but not everything and strengthening my mind and some additional self love is one of my goals this year. I am taking ME back and I am excited. This book is a great introduction to how your negative thinking and talk can affect your body and mind and I want to share it with you.
Body/Mind Therapies for the Bodyworker
Dr. Kathy Gruver
List $15.95
Trade paperback 184 pages
ISBN 978-0-7414-8142-9
Infinity Publishing January 2013
Change Your Mind to Change Your Body
“We don’t realize that the power lies within us to make huge changes in our lives, just by adjusting our thoughts and words.”
Dr. Kathy Gruver, author of the new book Body/Mind Therapies for the Bodyworker says, “We have the innate ability to change our bodies, simply by changing our language.”
Most people think of health as something having to do with our physical bodies, they want a low BMI, they eat organic, do their yoga. But very few people think of the ramifications of their thoughts and how strongly they affect the body. And how paying attention to that connection can lead to total healing.
“It’s estimated that we have 60,000 thoughts a day and that 50,000 of those are negative, guess how you feel that makes you feel? Significant progress can be made even if we just change a portion of those thoughts.”
Dr. Gruver’s fascinating book explores the mind/body connection and explains how the placebo effect, positive thought, affirmations, hypnosis, meditation, and other things that were thought to be airy/fairy hippy stuff, are now making headway in mainstream medicine and research.
My thoughts:
This book is actually written toward the health professional that may give massage or works in some type of therapy so in many areas the chapter and teaching are backed up by research data. I found that to be not important to me personally, however the case studies and the basic theme of the book was very interesting to me.
Dr. Gruver is of the belief that since your mind is such a powerful tool, it has the capability to heal and completely change your life around. The book is loaded with examples, therapies and practices that you can learn to effectively control your thoughts and change the way you look at life and think thereby changing your health outlook.
I am sure you have heard of positive affirmations, where you repeat to yourself positive thoughts and beliefs that things will change. There are so many different methods of affirmations such as prayer, meditation, hypnosis and so many more. In fact, quite a bit of this book is dedicated to different positive ways that you can proactively change your thoughts and create a better, healthy life for yourself.
This book was very interesting to read. I skipped over a lot of the theory and research but much of the book is loaded with examples of positive results that have been made by others and it is inspiring to read that. Putting the lessons into practice does take practice and that is still something I am working on. I have found myself going back to this book several times to get tips and tricks for staying on track and re-reading many sections in hope that this sticks in my stubborn brain.
My favorite part of this book is the list in the back on How To Stay Sick. It is full of negative actions we may do to keep us down. I recognized so many of them that I unconsciously do and this one I am working on changing now –
“Try to live up to what others think you should be – ignoring your own dreams and desires” I know that one! But I also know many on the How to Stay Healthy List.
So, I am pleased to say that I will be working towards knocking more off of the negative list and adding more onto the positive list starting last week. Watch out world. You may not like the new me, but I sure will!
Disclaimer: Chris has personally reviewed the product listed above. She has not received any monetary compensation for her review but did receive a free product to try out so she could evaluate and use it for her review. Her thoughts & opinions in this review are unbiased & honest and your opinions may differ.
This sounds like a great book – pointing out both the negative and positive thoughts we have and the things upon which I shall have to do more work.