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BOOK REVIEW
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Dr. Andrew Weil’s Mind-Body Tool Kit
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Review by Katie Elliott
Just like the toolbox we need for those little chores around the house, equally important is a toolbox filled with supplies that can help us use our minds to improve our physical health and well-being.
Dr. Weil’s Mind Body Tool Kit shows us how to jump-start the communication between the mind and body for an overall healthier, happier life. It outlines the basic mind-body philosophy ( “Studies have shown that the brain and mind can have an important impact on physiology, including the immune system, hormonal control, the nervous system, and various internal organs and functions of the body,” writes Weil). It also explains various techniques and their special attributes for mind-body wellness. There is a section for notes about your experiences with each of the exercises. There are 25 mind-training cards, each with a different exercise, which can be kept anywhere and referred to whenever needed as coaching devices.
For example, sometimes it’s hard to remember the importance of taking a break and finding a moment of peace. This is essential for our health, but it can be difficult to quiet down for 15 minutes of meditation or to stop your mind from racing and just breathe, and by that I mean, breathe the right way.
Yes, there is a right way to breathe and it’s not those shallow little huffs we take when we’re stressed or anxious. The toolkit takes us through the basics and then moves on.
Exercise 2 on the Guided Imagery card demonstrates how the imagination causes actual physiological change
You close your eyes and imagine a lemon. You imagine every aspect of this lemon, the color, smell, feel of it as you cut into it. Then imagine bringing a slice of it to your mouth and sinking your teeth into it. As the card says, “chances are, simply imagining that you are eating the lemon will make you start to salivate.”
Now I know what you’re wondering … how is imagining eating a lemon going to help you find peace and well-being? Well, this exercise shows us how our thoughts affect our bodies. If you can make your mouth water simply by thinking about eating a lemon, imagine what is going on in your body when you’re thinking you’d like to drive right over the car in front of you poking along in the fast lane!
Each technique on the CD is lead by a specialist in the corresponding field. Dr. Andrew Weil leads the breathwork exercises. Jon Kabat-Zinn, guides the meditation practices. Dr. Martin Rossman, who says, “Imagery is a natural language of the unconscious that brings us closer to our feelings, emotions, relationships, and our physiologic being,” directs a guided journey towards well-being. Kimba Arem is the talented artist behind the beautiful sound therapy. And all you need to learn these techniques is a quiet place to sit and a CD player.
Once you learn each simple but very powerful technique, you can use the tools whenever, wherever. You can scatter the cards around your house or office.
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You can listen to the sound therapy while you commute to work in the morning. You can import the breath techniques to your iTunes for your next plane trip. (As an anxious flyer, I can say from experience that this is quite helpful!)
The toolkit REALLY comes in handy during those inevitable moments in life when you just can’t seem to coach yourself into doing healthy practices. Yes, I like to think of myself as an ever-evolving, healthy life-style kind of girl. But there are times I’d rather forgo veggies for dinner and have a giant milkshake in front of the TV. Or I find it difficult to make myself sit down and meditate - or even just relax for that matter. When you need a little help over the hump at times like these, you can always revert back to using your mind-training cards or CD’s.
After all, it’s more than worth it. As Weil points out, “Researchers found that regular practice of mindful meditation (which involves remaining aware of bodily sensations and thoughts, without passing judgement on them) significantly increased activity in the left side of the brain’s frontal area. Activity in this region of the brain is associated with lower anxiety and better mood, and the meditators did report feeling more positive emotions in their daily life.”
So grab a mind-body tool kit, find a peaceful place, and start cultivating a healthier and happier way of life. Oh yeah – and once you’ve practiced each technique and made it a part of you, hand your toolkit to that guy at work who is always sweating with stress. The world will be a better place for the loan!
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PAVEL'S PICK
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What Babies Want:
An Exploration of the Consciousness of Infants
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by Pavel Mikoloski
Debby Takikawa’s “What Babies Want” is a documentary based in scientific discoveries that reveal what some people already know: babies are smarter than we think. Frankly this film should be seen by everyone who is going to have a baby - or anyone who ever was a baby for that matter.
As Takikawa points out, recent studies in the fields of neurobiology and psychology suggest that the brain of an infant imprints patterns through its senses even in the uterine environment; that the brain, and in fact the entire body of the infant forms, develops and grows in response to its prenatal environment.
The central thesis of the film is that a loving, warm, nurturing environment will positively affect the mind and personality of the baby, and enable the fetus to develop a more flexible and creative nervous system. A hostile environment does just the opposite: The baby develops in a defensive manner, forming a defensive, hyper-vigilant nervous system and an endocrine system designed to meet the demands of that hostile environment. To quote Joseph Chilton Pearce, an interviewee in the film, “At every developmental point, the infant asks, ‘Can we go for more intelligence, or do we have to defend ourselves again?’"
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