Creating Health: How to Wake Up the Body's Intelligence

"When I first began hearing of Deepak Chopra, I did not think to much of him. A very good friend of mine recommended The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams (based on Creating Affluence) a long time ago but I've yet to read it. So recently I picked up this book on sale from Exclusive Books, a big book store chain in South Africa, like Borders or Barnes & Noble in the USA. Anyway this book has made a tremendous impact on how I view healthy living. Firstly I now see how I can live a healthier life and enjoy more of life. This sounds stupid and simple but I always imagined living healthy to be some kind of effort. And in fact it should be or could be effortless - it all starts with your mind and how you think, and how you feel about yourself. Much of what Deepak Chopra says resonates so much with what is the The Secret (Extended Edition)I am very surprised they did not interview him.

The way this book is written makes it a really quick and easy read. The chapters are short and the whole book is divided into four sections: Health and Disease, Laying the Foundation, Strategies for Creating Health and Toward a Higher Reality: Mediation and Metamorphosis.

Now one of my own internal guides is when I see references to other people I already respect. For example Deepak Chopra quotes Napoleon Hill, several times in the later half the book, and it fits. He also references his friend Dr Wayne Dyer, which I think is the leading light in the West when it comes to manifesting your reality. All this can be bit much to believe for someone who is not familiar with the law of attraction, and changing your physiology by changing your thoughts but give this one a try. It's short, direct, simple to understand and yet it encompasses a vast body of knowledge. And I really enjoyed the fact that he ended off focussing on the new physics as he calls it that was started with Einstein. There is a link between quantum physics and the old paradigms of the East. And you don't even have to read the The Tao of Physics to see it. As they see in these circles believing is seeing not the other way around."
~ Written on 2007-07-04

"I was very excited reading the first of four sections. It dealt with the mind-body connection and how we, by our very thoughts, influence our own health. For example, if we worry we cause ourselves stress; hormones are produced that can be damaging to the body and can cause disease. If a person can control or relieve the stress, then they are going to be a healthier person. I was so excited by this. I couldn't wait to read the rest of the book to learn what I could do to improve my health.

The fun stopped at the end of the first section.

The second section dealt with "intelligence," which seemed to me like a scientific way of saying "God."

The third section was supposed to give strategies for creating health. Instead, it was filled with vague statements and generalities. One sloppy persuasive technique Dr. Chopra used on multiple occasions to bolster his philosophy was to define a word in a common instance then use the same word in a completely different context but the reader is supposed to infer that the two are equivalent. For example, "Compassion is the quality shown by people who can freely express kindness." Sounds good to me. But then, "All living organisms display behavior patterns that favor the whole over the interests of the individual part. Cells work not for themselves, but for the integrity of the tissue of which they are a part." Then, "I am calling this process the beginning of compassion because each cell 'sympathetically' senses the need of all other cells and automatically responds to it." Then, "No healing can occur without compassion." (Really?) Finally, "[Compassion] heals the healer."

Also, Dr. Chopra repeatedly makes statements as facts without proving them. A perfect example is the above, "No healing can occur without compassion." The reader is just supposed to take Dr. Chopra's word for it.

The last section was the biggest disappointment of all. It was a 50-page advertisement for Transcendental Meditation and Ayurveda. It doesn't give any instruction on TM or Ayurveda, but you will read about how great they both are.

In the book, Dr. Chopra states, "I have been proposing here that perfect health is a reality for anyone, that everyone can expand his share of infinite intelligence." The problem arises when a person, believing this, does everything Dr. Chopra recommends to correct a disease state but fails to effect a cure. Dr. Chopra's philosophy of health cannot fail, but the patient can."
~ Written on 2005-06-08

"This little book is full of helpful insights for anyone wondering how to restore or preserve good health. Instead of dwelling on sickness, Chopra shows us how our health is really in our own hands. It is wonderfully refreshing to find a doctor who is not in the business of pushing pills for every ill and ache. Instead of giving us the five-minute look-over and writing a prescription, Dr. Chopra shows us the way to influence our body so it can cure itself. He tell us what we already know, but always wanted to hear from a doctor: That all drugs have side effects and most are expensive. Don't we all want an alternative?

Chopra provides beginning chapters on common illnesses and at times gives typical doctor instructions on what to eat and what to avoid ("don't drink alcohol, even in moderation"). But he moves beyond that, looking inside the sick person and inviting us to look inside ourselves. Our emotions and attitudes affect our bodies, and if we learn to control emotions we can improve our health. Chopra recommends meditation as a means of marshalling our inner resources.

While there must be some limit to this approach to health, there nevertheless is much evidence for its effectiveness. I particularly enjoyed his case histories and anecdotes. In one case, he admits lying to a patient. She had cancer, but he told her he removed gall stones. She believed him and the cancer went away! He attributes her recovery to her belief that she was well, a manifestation of the placebo effect that no one can explain, other than "mind over matter." Doctors dismiss diseases that go away by themselves by saying the patient is "in remission." But that is not an explanation. Chopra looks at these spontaneous healings as the body's ability to heal itself through the power inside the person, the body's natural intelligence. Intelligence, says Dr. Chopra, is in everything that's alive. I think of Chopra's nature intelligence when I see my cat make a graceful leap from porch to pillar. His body is using its built-in intelligence to make a perfect landing! Perhaps if we can become aware that our bodies use built-in intelligence, we can, as Dr. Chopra suggests, create health."
~ Written on 2003-09-12

"Hey folks, I really recommend this book to you. Although you might get bored by the disease descriptions in first chapter, don't let that get you down. Continue and you will find the treasure of life secrets. I have experienced it and I am sure any one can. Go get it now!"
~ Written on 2002-09-25

"The basic idea of Deepak Chopra's work is that your attitude to the world, the way you think and interpret the reality creates different chemicals and hormones which have an enormous impact on your body and your health. This is how mind connects to the body. But the best part is, that your attitude and your thinking is in your hands, which means that your health is also in your hands. Chopra is a big promotor of alternative health care methods and an opponent of the traditional medicine.

Chopra builds on old tradition from India and introduces his own advances including a breath-focused meditation. The book is easy to follow since Chopra uses very logical sequence of ideas and has a very clear syntax.

If you like this book then I would recommend to you also Deepak Chopra's most famous Ageless Body, Timeless Mind."
~ Written on 2001-01-28