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Book Review
The Heart of
Healing: Inspired Ideas, Wisdom and Comfort from Today's Leading Voices
edited by Dawson Church.
The Heart of Healing is a compilation of writings by 30 different healers. Some, such as Drs. Andrew Weil and Deepak Chopra, are very well known, and the book provides us with their reflections on healing. The greatest treasure in the book, however, is the opportunity to hear from lesser known healers such as Native American healer, Lorin Smith (Pomo tribe), whose wisdom we would otherwise have missed.
The Heart of Healing contains something for everyone interested in healing. There is a remarkable diversity of the writings, including many conceptual models of healing systems as well as down-to-earth examples of various healing methods, and compelling personal accounts of healers' experiences with their own and their clients' healing. A wide variety of healing traditions are represented, including energy healing, shamanism, somatic psychotherapy and many other new and ancient methodologies.
Although many of the healers represented are physicians or have had other extensive training such as chiropractic, all include alternative approaches in their work. The topics they discuss are wide ranging, but they all represent holistic approaches, often with a focus on the mind-body connection and the cultural context of healing issues.
Many of the essays talk about how we have ignored our bodies and need to uncover and process emotional traumas from the past. In "Prescription for Truth", Deborah King presents a wonderfully clear and compelling article about healing from sexual abuse, which includes a very honest and detailed portrayal of her own history, and excellent case examples to illustrate her points. In "Dorothy and the Disowned Very Bad Feelings", Lion Goodman tells us that "we can go home again--to our bodies, to our aliveness, and to the full range of our experience--recognizing finally that there is really no place like home."
The overall tone of The Heart of Healing is very inspirational and uplifting, giving the reader a multi-faceted vision of the real possibilities of individual and planetary healing that are unfolding today.
