These books are included here because our health often facilitates major changes in our lives when we come face-to-face with our own mortality and frailty, but our health can also be determined by our general spiritual and psychological sense of well-being. The spirit cannot be separated from the mind or body, they are intricately linked and interdependent on each other. The books included here are both spiritual and holistic in nature. Think of disease as dis-ease and the connections begin to seem straightforward. (The links to books and other materials to purchase are via Amazon and I receive a commission payment from any purchases made via the links as an affiliate. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.)
Caroline Myss, Ph.D
Caroline is a medical intuitive so works by assessing our energy levels and the associated physical and medical conditions this creates. She works alongside a fully-qualified, traditional Western doctor, Dr Norman Shealy, who is based in a US hospital.
Anatomy Of The Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing
Anatomy of the Spirit introduces the concepts of chakras and internal energy and shows how they determine our level of physical well-being. We tend to view negative aspects of our health as something external to us, e.g. we ‘catch’ a disease or cold, but many of the great spiritual and holistic healers have known that the real secret to health lies within us. Anatomy of the Spirit introduces us to the concepts surrounding this internal view and helps to illustrate where many of our ailments may have originated.
The Creation of Health is co-authored with Dr Shealy and takes these concepts further, showing us the way to optimal holistic health, including the causes of common diseases and ailments, large and small, from the common cold to cancer and Alzheimer’s.
Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra was originally a scientist but expanded his expertise to include the holistic and spiritual aspects of health, which is now his main focus. He has written over 50 books and I am familiar with two – Superbrain (co-authored with Rudolph Tanzi) and Perfect Health.
Superbrain introduces recognised brain chemistry concepts such as neurons and synapses to provide a scientific footing to what the holistic healers have known for millennia – that our physical health rests in the mind and the way we think and feel. It provides solutions as well as explanations.
Perfect Health discusses the ancient Indian principles of Ayurvedic medicine which first of all identifies the correct balance for our body (preferences for hot or cold food, ideal sleeping patterns, natural build and body shape, etc) and then creates a way of living which is in harmony with this personal natural balance. Modern medicine and health advice tends to have a ‘one-size fits all’ approach, which is actually very unhealthy, unrealistic and often downright wrong for our specific body type and composition.
Others
Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life
Dr Lilian Cheung and Thich Nhat Hanh. Eating ‘disorders’ represent one of the great scourges of our age. We eat too much of the wrong things, and in an inappropriate way. We create emotional connections with food and body image that wouldn’t exist if we viewed food as fuel, as our ancestors did. Using the principles of mindfulness applied to our eating habits, we can become more aware of what we are putting into ourselves, why, and the resultant consequences. This awareness naturally results in a change to our eating habits, leading us into healthier habits. But this isn’t a negative, diet-focused book. It’s about developing a healthier relationship with what we eat so that we learn to savour it more and appreciate what it does for us. It brings the pleasure back.
Patrick Holford is not a spiritual writer, he is a nutritionist that focuses on the holistic, natural health benefits that come from eating effectively. He promises to be able to reduce or remove diabetes, for example, by following his points. It works, it really can alter diabetes without the need for traditional Western medicine. I know this from personal experience so am happy to recommend his website and books as a source of healthy, holistic, food and nutrition advice.
Natural Pain Relief: How to Soothe and Dissolve Physical Pain with Mindfulness
Shinzen Young. Our usual reaction to pain is that it is something ‘bad’ which we need to get rid of. Unfortunately this creates resistance to the pain which only reinforces it. We then take drugs which reinforces the notion of using an external substance to resolve our internal feelings. Neither of these approaches are helpful but by using mindfulness we can, in effect, ‘make friends’ with the pain so that we relate to it in a completely different way. This more friendly way reduces the suffering we feel and aids the physical healing process. The book also comes with an accompanying CD to help with the mindfulness and meditation exercises which form the basis of the practise.
Bodies and Souls: A Down-to-earth Guide for the Human Experience
Sue Minns. If you are interested in exploring the fields of holistic healing techniques such as energy healing, Reiki, crystals, chakras, angels, shamanism or spiritual healing then this book will serve as a useful primer to the different techniques available. Different techniques are given their own chapters so that the author can go into more detail on them but it also explores some of the general principles of spirituality so that they can be viewed in context.