Book Reviews

New Book Reviews
(These reviews appeared in Innerchange Magazine, August/September 2006)

• Soul, Mind, Body Medicine: A Complete Soul Healing System for Optimum Health and Vitality by Dr. Zhi Gang Sha

• A Message from Jakie: A Spiritual Journey of Love, Death, and Hope by Michael Weinberger

• Creative Visualization: 50 Inspiration Cards by Shakti Gawain

• Awakening: A Daily Guide to Conscious Living by Shakti Gawain

• Why Did This Happen to Me Again? Your Keys to Lasting Transformation
  by Dr. Janette Marie Freeman

New Online Exclusive Reviews

Previous Reviews

Soul, Mind, Body Medicine: A Complete Soul Healing System for Optimum Health and Vitality Dr. Zhi Gang Sha, 2006 New World Library, Novato, CA There has been much discussion over the last couple of decades about the inability of Western and Eastern medicine to join in the facilitation of health rather than the treatment of symptoms. Both systems have in common the fact that clients often do not seek out the practitioners until symptoms of disease arise. Dr. Zhi Gang Sha has degrees in traditional medicine and allopathic medicine as well as being a master of many of the martial arts. His education is the perfect blend to open the world of mind, body, soul healing for us! The Four Power Technique is simple utilizing body power, soul power, sound power and mind power. Sometimes I find it frustrating to read a healing book because I really cannot envision how I am supposed to do the healing exercises. Sha has included 200 photographs and 26 illustrations to lead you through learning about the essence of the body and the correct positions of the body and hands during foundational and healing work. The first half of the book instructs you in the how and why of the Four Power Technique including meditations. The second half addresses specific disease issues and health building exercises. I consider this a truly revolutionary guide from a wonderful, gentle soul for anyone wanting to thrive and develop tremendous vitality for themselves, their loved ones and the earth. Other Reviews
A Message from Jakie: A Spiritual Journey of Love, Death, and Hope Michael Weinberger, 2006 Sentient Publications, Boulder, CO Reading books is part of my job. I usually manage to partition my reading time into work reading time and pleasure reading time. Pleasure reading time is scheduled for evenings. Rarely do I allow a book to keep me up all night. Even more rarely, after decades of time and thousands of books, does an author bring me to tears. Michael Weinberger managed both! Sometimes, when we are truly blessed and very lucky, we meet someone destined to be the great love of our life. And sometimes it is messy. And sometimes it is not destined to last our lifetime. And sometimes, sometimes, it makes a believer out of you. Michael and Jakie met when they were both involved in other relationships, other lives. With a visceral response to each other and in full knowledge of hurting the others in their lives, they simply could not resist being together. To say that Michael Weinberger was/is besotted with his beautiful Jakie is a criminally ridiculous understatement! I say “is” because Jakie's final gift to Michael was not in the way she lived — not even in the way she died — it is in the way she managed to communicate with him after she left. Michael Weinberger wrote many of the television shows that are icons of our time… Growing Pains, Three's Company, Happy Days, and Laverne and Shirley, among many others. He was a Hollywood guy who never could have imagined being happy working from home in the burbs with three kids running through the house all day. Jakie made it happen. As his writing partner, she tried going the nanny route but witnessed her children becoming more restless and out of control. So she convinced Michael that they could do the “work from home/be available for the children” game. And they did it beautifully. Then Jakie got cancer. And lived, striving for recovery in the face of insurmountable odds, for her family. Until Michael broke down and heard himself telling her that she did not have to do that anymore. Michael's grief was not stoic and staid. It was gut wrenching, debilitating, whiny in his words. Until Jakie told him to suck it up and reminded him that she would be living him always. Not in a lovely little note left behind, not in a video will, but from beyond the veil. If you never believed that we could communicate for a while after our transition, Jakie will make a believer out of you. Frankly, I did not know Michael Weinberger's name before I read A Message from Jakie. But I can assure you that I will never forget him and Jakie. I will remember him because he loved/loves Jakie and because this vivacious, beautiful woman loves him for always. Read this one. Other Reviews
Creative Visualization: 50 Inspiration Cards Shakti Gawain, 2006 New World Library, Novato, CA Taken from her well-known book, Reflections in the Light , Gawain shares fifty affirmations that are as clear and lovely as the pink lotus that illustrates each card. The box that holds the card is designed so that a frame holds the affirmation you want to have in front of you for the day, week, month. The frame, integrated into the whole, can be alternately propped for easy viewing or collapsed to become the box closure. Gawain acknowledges that the resistance of the ego, the desire to change, the shear will to believe is not easy. It is simple, but not easy. Therefore, some of the affirmations remind us to acknowledge our resistance and not give it power by fighting it, to remember that we create our lives from scratch every morning, and to keep our hearts in and heads out as we assert our creative power. One of my personal favorites is “I patiently trust in the power of the universe.” The explanation on the back of this card reminds me that struggle is not necessary; the flow of the universe will provide the opportunities to obtain my heart's desire. This is a lovely, quality set whose calming, neutral colors will fit into any décor whether placed on the bedside table, the desk or the kitchen windowsill! Other Reviews
Awakening: A Daily Guide to Conscious Living Shakti Gawain, 2006 Nataraj Pub./New World Library, CA First published in 1991, this 15 th anniversary revised edition is simply lovely. Each day has three elements: a topic, a thought provoking paragraph, and an affirmation or question. Some topics last a few days or weeks or even a month. The book is divided into the seasons, reminding us that our focus is very different during the phases of the light and dark. Gawain invites you to read each day's entry and decide whether you agree with what she has written or not. Come to the entries consciously and think about them throughout the day. If an affirmation doesn't resonate with you, she invites you to ask yourself what would ring true for you. Other Reviews
Why Did This Happen to Me Again? Your Keys to Lasting Transformation Dr. Janette Marie Freeman, 2005 First World Library, Austin, TX Janette Freeman is a confident, joyful, loving person and it flows through the chapters of Why Did This Happen to Me Again? She may seem to have life to the fullest but she is also humble and has not forgotten how it felt to be a single mother, stressed about finances, and confused about how she kept attracting the same fellow…with different pants and a new name! This is not your run of the mill affirmational book. Freeman teaches you why you should develop your positive affirmations, she teaches you how to best utilize affirmations, and she goes one-step further in teaching you how to help your children learn about the power of positive affirmations. One of my favorites in her list of how to have a positive day is what you say when going through traffic lights or stop signs – “I stop doing what no longer serves me. I move forward in life with success and joy.” Sure beats an expletive! One of the main thrusts of Freeman's book is the use of repetitive, affirmational tapes or CDs as you sleep. If you are sick and tired of asking the question, pick up this book for the answers! Other Reviews