Discovering the Body's Wisdom: A Comprehensive Guide to More than Fifty Mind-Body Practices That Can Relieve Pain, Reduce Stress, and Foster Health, Spiritual Growth, and Inner Peace

by Mirka Knaster

Book Overview

In an attractive, oversized format, enlivened with illustrations, sidebar quotes, personal accounts, techniques to try, and profiles of leaders in the field, Discovering the Body's Wisdom is a basic... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553373277
• Release Date: June 1996
• Publisher: Bantam
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.2" x 1.0" x 7.4"

Customer Reviews

Body Wisdom makes choosing Body Work better!

This product is a must read for practitioner and client. It is filled with information to ask a practitioner before getting any type of bodywork. Information such as education, years experience, licensing, and so on. It also provides hints to receiving the best massage, reflexology, and other treatment for stress relief and health. For the practitoner it educates on ambience, dress, professionalism, and safety to insure a good experinece for the client. As a reflexologist, I found the scenarios presented humorous and helpful. I wanted to know how to enhance my practice through brochures, definitions of various types of body work for my position as a Delaware Board Massage/Bodywork member to use as we review law and make changes. It has great descriptions as to what each body wisdom/work is which helps all concerned. I highly recommend this book even though it has been around for a while, it is very informative.

Great for Self-Treatment or for Professionals

This book has been crucial in my career as a Mind-Body specialist. I began using some of the techniques on my own back pain before I had even finished the book. At over 400 pages it packs quite a bit of information on a wide variety of mind-body healing processes. I highly recommend it as a reference book for anyone in the fields of massage, physical therapy, reiki, and the like. I wish medical programs would make this book (or Human Kinetics) part of their teaching.

Informative and inspiring guide to body oriented approaches

I'm often asked by my patients for recommended reading on natural medicine. Below I suggest some excellent reference books for consumers, listed by topic.... Bodywork . "Discovering the Body's Wisdom" by Mirka Knaster. This is an informative and inspiring guide to more than 60 body-oriented approaches--from traditional Eastern disciplines, such as tai chi and yoga, to modern Western techniques, such as Rolding and the Feldenkrais Method. The author--a massage therapist and writer--includes many illustrated exercises to try at home. --Andrew Weil, M.D., "Self Healing" (August 1999)

The first real road map into the world of alternative health

Discovering the Body's Wisdom - A Book Review By Monica Roseberry When America was a "new" territory being explored by the Europeans, there were the trailblazers, trackers, pioneers, and others who opened the continent up to eventually millions of new residents. Of those original forerunners, the pathfinders and mapmakers were crucial, for without their vision, expertise and labors, new arrivals would have never found their way into the future and promise of uncharted frontiers. In the world of holistic health, healing, touch therapies and alternative medicine, a vast terrain has been opened, new ground has been taken and diverse grassroots efforts have grown and flourished. However, for others to find or follow the trails blazed by the ancient and modern pioneers in the healing arts, a guide, a map, was needed. Like Lewis and Clark exploring and charting the new frontier of America, Mirka Knaster, author of the book, Discovering the Body's Wisdom, traveled around the world, studying, researching and cataloging many methods of healing, observing and recording how people view, take care of and heal their bodies. Ms. Knaster's 20 years of experience in the alternative health field culminate in one of the most comprehensive, useful and powerful beacons to help pilot newcomers onto the shores and across the plains to the "new world" of wellness. For Massage Therapists, Discovering the Body's Wisdom offers many valuable tools, resources and perspectives on our growing and thriving industry. Covering 75 Body/Mind practices that can "relieve pain, reduce stress, and foster health, spiritual growth, and inner peace," this book has something for just about everyone in the massage profession. Three sections comprise the book, beginning with an overview of "Bodyways," a term Ms. Knaster coined to incorporate the many diverse and distinct modalities and processes by which the body is healed. Part I covers "causes of body difficulties and what advantages you can derive from working with your body." It also discusses critical and often unaddressed issues such as body alienation, how we lost connection with the body, and how we can befriend the body and learn from its wisdom. As Massage Therapists, this section can give you words and ideas to educate your current clients on a deeper level about how to approach their own healing process, as well as to market to prospective clients by educating them on the value of touch and bodyways. Part II describes "ways of choosing and interacting with a practitioner as well as deciding on which bodyway approach to work with." While this section is designed more for the general public on how to choose a practitioner, we as Massage Therapists can deepen our understanding of the needs of our clients, the benefits of our work, and measure ourselves by standards befitting professionals. Part III serves as a guide to the individual bodyways, categorizing them according to modalities or approaches that emphasi