Joan BorysenkoRecensioni

One recognizes immediately that the insights and truth contained here have come through a soul that has experienced a great deal in life in order to give so much to others.

"In this enlightening book, renowned author and mind – body therapist Joan Borysenko reveals the power of spiritual optimism: a philosophy that sees life crises as opportunities for personal growth and spiritual transformation. Drawing a hunter own experiences – and those of her therapy patients – she shows how meditation, prayer, and heightened awareness can aluminate the ' dark night of the soul.'" from book cover

A live lecture on three forms of meditation: concentration, mindfulness, and centering prayer.

This was a recording of a seminar. It was interesting and fun to listen to.

This was a recording of a seminar. It was interesting and fun to listen to.

"Remember that letting people help you gives them an opportunity to be kind. Refusing help is a subtle kind of selfishness, you know."

In this simple and approachable book, Borysenko sets out weekly strategies for bringing a little more serenity into fraught daily lives.

I did not expect to get on with this one, but at no point was I bored reading it (and on one occasion I had a panic on the Tube, thinking I’d missed my stop!). Borysenko doesn’t talk down the way I had expected; instead I think her aim is that if a reader can implement 3 or 4 of the 52 weeks’ worth of strategies, she will have done some good.

The strategies are simple but memorable and crucially, varied – this is not 200 pages on why one should take up meditation.

I read it straight through as an ebook, bookmarking lots of passages (including the names of other books the author cites) but am tempted to buy a dead-tree copy to keep on the shelf and flick through.

Although I gain a tremendous amount of insight from personal growth books, I also often come away feeling guilty. Yes, I should eat less sugar, and sleep more, and meditate, and stretch after running. I am always stymied - how to I fit all that in? I could wake up earlier, but then I should sleep more... And that is why I loved this book. Inner Peace for Busy People gives practical advice and exercises for reducing stress without adding a tremendous amount to that already growing 'To Do' list.

I'm not much of a fan of self-help books. I find myself reading them, but I criticize them the entire time I'm reading. In this one, though, I found little to criticize. It's one of the best introductions to meditation I've read. It's practical and applicable to most situations. I also found that it helped me be patient with myself while learning the art of meditation, which I think is key for me to keep practicing.

One of my only complaints is about some minor inconsistencies within the text (eg, Borysenko says at one point that there are no negative emotions, then a little while later explains an exercise based on exploring "negative emotions" and "positive emotions."). There were also more typos than I would like to see in a printed text, but I recognize that that's fairly nit-picky.

One of my favorite lines from the book is a paraphrase of Bernie Siegel: "coincidence is merely God's way of remaining anonymous."

Your Soul's Compass
What is Spiritual Guidance?
by Joan Borysenko, Ph.D. and Gordon Dveirin, Ed.D.

This 245 page book was very interesting and enlightening to review because the authors interviewed 27 Sages of different spiritual disciplines asking them about their beliefs on where we are going, how we get there, and much more. I liked the way they showcased each Sage and their experience with them, focusing on the spiritual points that were raised during the sessions.

Done in a mix of styles I was able to follow along quite easily and was amazed to learn the way each one approached the subject from their own experience, all insightful and rich with wisdom and knowledge. I enjoyed the personal stories and the relaxed feeling this special teacher brings and I would recommend it to anyone on their journey. Thanks Joan and Gordon, for this diverse and majestically perfect collection.

Love & Light,

Riki Frahmann

Short on science and facts, but filled with plenty of feel-good fluff, this book is pure pop psychology with a capital POP. People who look to Oprah for guidance on how to live their lives might find it useful; others should skip.½

Interesting

Women have always known that we are cyclical creatures, strongly influenced by our daily, monthly, and yearly rhythms. Finally, we have a book that examines these natural cycles as gifts rather than weaknesses or curses. Dividing the female life span by the mystical number of seven years, Joan Borysenko reveals the biological forces that drive our physical, emotional, and spiritual development. This is a pragmatic book filled with groundbreaking medical research; it is also a book that dares to explore the link between female biology and female mystery.

Borysenko, co-founder and director of the Mind/Body Clinic at New England Deaconess Hospital/Harvard Medical School, describes the clinic's ten-week program for learning to "mind the body" through a medical synthesis of neurology, immunology, and psychology. She provides step-by-step instructions to the clinic's techniques while suggesting how they can be adapted for individual use. Combining meditation, breath control and stretching exercises, and mindfulness, and drawn from work with patients aged 17 to 93, these techniques help ease the stress of illnessparticularly illness caused by stressby exploiting the body's natural capacity for healing. Readers who master them can achieve an admirable balance between inner self and environment. Jodith Janes,

signed by author