Written by Ann Todhunter Brode
Reviewed by Nancy Eichhorn
Ann Todhunter Brode has focused on the body, mind, spirit relationship as it shapes our physical relationship for more than 40 years. “Your history determines your shape and eventually your shape determines your history,” she writes (pg. 105). Brode is a teacher, therapist, healer, and writer—her articles have been published in Health Source Magazine, Santa Barbara Independent, Huffington Post and our own SPT magazine. We like her voice, her style, her presence on the page. She offers her new book as both an instructional and a therapeutic experience to teach readers how to live consciously in their body.
Brode’s intention is to help readers find their way back to their essential body by giving them tools to learn about themselves (body, mind, spirit) and then take care of themselves. She notes that once readers awaken their body’s innate wisdom, they’ll be “impressed by what it has to offer” (pg. 11).
She wants to help readers cultivate a baseline for relaxation and develop body-oriented strategies for diverting the intensity of stressful times (pg. 12) and teach them how to be more emotionally aware and emotionally intelligent (pg. 13). As readers systematically release restrictions, they can integrate new information and find comfort living in the present moment (pg. 15)
Capturing the overall interaction between the reader and her book, Brode writes that the ‘mind’ is the seeker, the ‘book’ is your personal trainer and your ‘body’ is the master guide.
From the Introduction, readers begin their explorations into mind, body, spirit in 9 chapters (there’s also a bibliography and resources and a troubleshooting section).
Each chapter has specific components. Data—science. Experientials are noted as Try This and Explore. ‘Try This’ offers short experiential exercises to illustrate the concepts being introduced and developed, an on-the-spot check-in. Explore offers in-depth invitations to participate in more extensive processes to learn more. There is science, psychology and short clinical vignettes woven into each chapter. Brode’s personal story is not woven in, this isn’t about her journey but rather her professional work and people who have benefited from her protocols.
Chapter 1 sets the book’s foundation in terms of Waking Up.
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