« She's Come Undone | Main | Cold Mountain »
Spontaneous HealingPart of the problem with this book is the cover. It's embarassing to walk around with a book called Spontaneous Healing with a huge picture of a bearded man on the cover. You automatically look like you would smell like patchouli. However, the book is quite serious and, for being on the best-seller list, is pleasantly devoid of fru-fru bullshit so common to books on natural healing and health.
The book is written by Dr Andrew Weil - a Harvard-educated doctor who is interested in natural health and alternative medicine. The overall premis of the book: your body has the potential to heal itself. Try to plug into that.
I like that premis. I also like that Dr Weil seems to remain realistic in thinking that both traditional and non-traditional medical techniques have their limits, and one should know when to make the most of either form of health care.
Dr Weil is quick to say that our bodies are healing constantly, and we don't think twice about it. Examples: cuts, bruises, colds. Our bodies have the natural ability to defend themselves, and sometimes tuning into that aspect of our health can be more beneficial than taking prescription drugs.
I appreciated the book. To be honest, I didn't learn much that I didn't already know, but I can imagine for someone who doesn't maniacally read books on this sort of subject, there can be some pretty new ideas in there. Dr Weil writes very clearly, and maintains a sort of "high road" persepective. Often, alternative health is considered a sub-science to traditional Western medicine, but Dr Weil keeps his writings on the topic admirably well-researched and he maintains a serious tone throughout the book.
I would recommend this book to anybody looking to find out about different health options available beyond taking antibiotics. I have always been one of those weirdos who prefers not to take an aspirin with a headache, and, more generally, I don't like taking antibiotics. I will use parts of this book as reference (particularly the chapter on tonics) in the future, and think it could be useful to people looking for an overall discussion of ways to tune into the body. I agreed with almost 90% of the book, which is rare when reading health books. It was also great that Dr Weil - who is obviously a bigger fan of natural health than of traditional medicine - mentioned that there are limits to natural health care and that people need to know when the situation needs immediate (Western) medical attention.
Something revealing: I started reading this book during a break at work on a Saturday. I had the following conversation with a co-worker (French):
Him: What are you reading?
Me: Oh, it's a book on alternative medicine.
Him: Ah. I try to stear clear of that sort of thing.
Me: Lots of people think that way, but in the case of this book, it's a medical doctor - in the Western sense - who writes about the value of various alternative methods in place of drugs or invasive surgery. It's pretty well-researched.
Him: Yeeeeaahhh. I don't know. I try to stear clear of that sort of thing, like I said.
Me: Well, reading about it can't hurt you.
Him: Yeah. But in general, I try to stay clear.
This attitude - from somebody who has obviously never studied the benefits of various alternative health practices - is common and is part of what lowers its status on the health scale. This is just a result of upbringing, but it frustrates me when people see these forms of taking care of one's body as somehow sub-par. (To be fair, this guy is a smoker, with a generally haggard look, and is obviously in reasonably poor health, so I'm not surprised by his opinion on the matter)
Someone once told me that the difference between Eastern and Western medicine is that in the West, you go to the doctor when you are sick, and in the East, you go when you are healthy. Much of this corresponds to Dr Weil's book, but he also discusses using guided visualization, hypnotherapy, and other techniques to help solve what lots of Western doctors have diagnosed as chronic or incurable illnesses. If you are interested in finding about optimizing your health, you might find the stories of other people's spontaneous healing enough incentive to look into different types of treatment. Dr Weil also discusses dietary changes, lifestyle changes and so on.
It is a worthwhile book as an intro, but maybe a bit too simple for those who are already well-versed in the subject.
Sponteanous Healing by Dr Andrew Weil MD
