3 out of 4 stars
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I strongly believe that chronic pain is connected to emotions. I have seen it time and again in my line of work. This is what led me to read Happy Healing: 8 Magic Steps to Relieve Physical Pain and Discomfort by Dominique Bourlet. I was intrigued to see what the 8 steps were for relieving pain.
The book is heavily influenced by Buddhist teachings. The author’s experience in Eastern therapies contributes greatly to the steps that he outlined in this book. Without giving away the 8 steps, I’d summarize the book like this…the author proposes that by shifting one’s view of pain from a negative feeling to positive the reader can experience lower levels of pain. He walks you through how to identify your pain and then gradually shift the way you think about and view that pain eventually leading to pain’s elimination.
I was not expecting this book to be a “self-healing” book which is a concept I personally disagree with. While I do believe there are things that people can do to reduce their pain experiences and there are natural treatments for some diseases like high blood pressure and Type II Diabetes, I believe these conditions (and others) still require medical intervention and/or monitoring. That being said, while this book was not quite what I expected it to be, it does have some practical applications for reducing the amount of pain one experiences. The steps are very clear and easy to follow. The author gives you all the tools you need if you wish to follow his approach.
What I liked most about this book was the strong link between physical and emotional health. I have seen the toll that pain has taken on my family members and know that it does directly impact their emotional well-being. The author does an excellent job showing this in the book. What I disliked most about the book was that I felt the author took some of his ideas too far. I am not in favor of him telling people not to see doctors when they are in pain. I understand trying to relieve that pain with alternative therapies, but that is taking a lot of liability on someone who is not a doctor. I would have preferred to see him making a recommendation to work with a holistic doctor who is open to Eastern approaches to pain management but is still monitoring the patient for physical safety and well-being.
This book would be an excellent read for those who are interested in exploring a holistic view of treating their symptoms. It requires an open mind and a willingness to try alternative therapies to relieve pain.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. The book appeared to be professionally edited. It was very easy to read and follow along to the steps presented. It was a debate between rating this book four stars or three. I settled on three because I personally had some issues with some of the things said, specifically those already mentioned about encouraging readers not to seek help from doctors when in pain. I feel like this can be misleading to those who have life threatening problems and any use of alternative therapies needs to be done with the monitoring of a doctor. Otherwise, it was very well written and easy to follow. I would recommend it for those who are exploring alternative therapies for chronic pain.
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Happy Healing
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