The Bodymind Workbook: Exploring How the Mind and Body Work Together

"Well this book certainly raised my levels of salivary cortisol - a marker for stress.

As a complementary practitioner the underlying thesis that body, mind and spirit are exquisitely interfaced, and not separate entities, is one I absolutely adhere to; nevertheless 'pop psychology' and rigid assumptions that if you have A wrong with you it means B, are as wrong and unhelpful as Cartesian assumptions that bodymind and spirit are disconnects.

There may be much that is gold hidden within these pages, however i will never discover it as by page 18 I had discovered so much that was FACTUALLY wrong - i.e. anatomical assumptions, never mind the suppositions on which Shapiro then confidently asserts based on those initial errors, that I ended up scribbling 'rubbish' - 'check your anatomy!' etc across every page. I have better things to do than pick apart all the errors which I'm sure are scattered within, from the number of them within the first 18 pages, but will ditch this book.

Just for the record 'the vegus (sic) nerve from the hypothalamus' - VAGUS originates from the medulla; 'after conception the spine is the first part of the body to develop' - actually the circulatory structures come first, so the somatospiritual conclusions Shapiro draws from the bones BECAUSE 'the spine is the first part of the body to develop' are themselves based on a premise which is flawed.

Does this matter, or am I just a hair splitter? Well actually, I think it DOES matter. Shapiro draws some pretty rigid and inflexible meanings from dis-ease, and she does this by citing hard and fast facts which are at times lacking in accuracy. If her FACTS are erroneous, should we trust the conclusions?

I absolutely concur with the idea that there can be energetic and emotional impact and meaning to all our 'dis-ease', but I'm afraid that a doctrinaire, rigid analysis of why YOU have this disease because THIS is the meaning of that disease is deeply flawed and suspect. The day that I give rigid interpretations and explanations of the psychospiritual nature of dis-eases to my individual clients will be the day I know it is time to hang up my therapist's hat (not that i wear one!) I would not presume to be so crass - and, frankly, I have had clients who from too much reading of doctrinaire 'new age' analyses of illness compound their own discomfort by feeling guilty for having 'brought disease upon myself through my ......' whatever the pop analysis was - and incidentally, each writer of such doctrinaire this means that analysis draws different conclusions! Which self appointed guru is the 'right' one?

A writer whom I have much more empathy with in this field, Caroline Myss, who originally seemed to espouse some of the same conclusions as Shapiro, Hay etc, has moved beyond the doctrinaire into a much deeper understanding of our relationship with dis-ease, and rejects a simplistic psychospiritual analysis.

Not every broken bone, Ms Shapiro, represents 'a cry for help, for affection and attention a cry that begs to be dependent on others' nor does every bruise to the leg mean 'we are mentally resisting the direction we are taking' - that must mean the entire cricketing and hockey fraternity are receiving their sporting injuries through mental resistance every time they get thwacked on the leg by a ball!

As for 'problems with the heart indicate a self-centredness and conflict with expressing or feeling love' deeply compassionate and loving individuals also die of heart attacks!

This book represents unattractive new age fundamentalism, as blinkered and closed minded as those on the other side who view the body as just a machine, and the 'soul' as a delusion"
~ Written on 2008-08-17