Books & Resources on the Mind-Body Connection,
Healing & Spirituality

Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis
James L. Oschman, Ph.D.
foreword by Candace Pert, Ph.D.

Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine
Candace Pert, Ph.D.

The Presence of the Past: Morphic Resonance & the Habits of Nature
Rubert Sheldrake, Ph.D.

Energy Psychology: Explorations at the Interface of Energy, Cognition, Behavior, & Health
Fred P. Gallo, Ph.D.

Subtle Energy: Awakening to the Unseen Forces in Our Lives
William Collinge, Ph.D.

Biologist James Oschmann's Energy Medicine provides fascinating groundwork for scientifically understanding the phenomena of subtle energy, "energy healing," and how various forms of bodywork and energy healing can affect both mind and body.

Neuroscientist Candance Pert discovered the opiate receptor. Molecules of Emotion describes how politics and gender discrimination cheated her out of all the accolades she was due, and her journey to acceptance and promotion of holistic and "alternative" perspectives on health and wellness. Her book also discusses the chemical molecules that influence emotion and their receptor sites throughout the body.

Biologist Rupert Sheldrake's The Presence of the Past presents fascinating evidence for and discussion of the presence of "morphogenetic fields" uniting and shaping the form and behavior of species—including human beings.

In Energy Psychology, psychologist Fred Gallo describes the origins and therapeutic applications of energy psychology, a new (and somewhat controversial) field of psychology utilizing the body's subtle energy systems. [Energy psychology approaches include Thought Field Therapy (TFT), developed by Roger Callahan, Ph.D., and its offshoot Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), developed by Gary Craig, who studied TFT with Callahan. Go to the EFT website to read more about such techniques, which involve mentally "tuning into" a distressing feeling or problem and gently tapping on some of the body's acupressure points—that is, points along the subtle energy channels referred to as acupuncture meridians in traditional Chinese medicine.

Psychologist William Collinge provides an excellent overview of subtle energies, energy medicine, and associated techniques and practices in Subtle Energy.

Infinite Mind: Science of the Human Vibrations of Consciousness
Valerie Hunt, Ed.D.

The Heart's Code: Tapping the Wisdom and Power of Our Heart Energy
Paul Pearsall, Ph.D.

Energy Medicine: Balance Your Body's Energies for Optimum Health, Joy & Vitality
Donna Eden

Wheels of Light: Chakras, Auras, & the Healing Energy of the Body
Rosalyn Bruyere

In Infinite Mind, Dr. Valerie Hunt describes research into the human energy field conducted at her UCLA Energy Fields Laboratory that attempted to scientifically validate ancient wisdoms. Noted healer Rosalyn Bruyere (author of Wheels of Light, listed below) participated in some of this research. Hunt provides a scientific framework for documenting phenomena usually considered mystical, paranormal, or just plain impossible.

In The Heart's Code psychologist and psychoneuroimmunologist Paul Pearsall discusses how the heart is truly the center of our being, and how putting the brain's (or mind's) desires above the heart's can harm us. He presents evidence of apparent cellular memory (including experiences of heart transplant patients) and the power of subtle energies.

Donna Eden's Energy Medicine is less academic and scientifically informed than James Oschmann's book by the same name, but it's still a useful (and perhaps more anecdotal and reader-friendly) overview of subtle energy. Essentially a self-help book, it includes techniques and exercises the reader can try him/herself.

Healer, teacher, and minister Rosalyn Bruyere integrates the wisdom and traditions of many cultures (including the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, Native Americans, and Hindu philosophies) in Wheels of Light. The book discusses the chakra system and its healing potential, as well as Bruyere's participation in the research into the human electromagnetic field conducted at UCLA by Dr. Valerie Hunt (described in Infinite Mind, above).

Afterwards, You're A Genius: Faith, Medicine, & the Metaphysics of Healing
Chip Brown

Infinite Grace: Where the Worlds of Science & Spiritual Healing Meet
Diane Goldner

Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power & Healing
Carolyn Myss, Ph.D.

Reinventing Medicine: Beyond Mind-Body to a New Era of Healing
Larry Dossey, M.D.

Healing Words: The Power of Prayer & the Practice of Medicine
Larry Dossey, M.D.

Journalist Chip Brown's Afterwards, You're a Genius is a provocative account of his exploration of and participation in the American healing culture, in which physical and emotional ills are addressed through spiritual means or the manipulation of the body's subtle energies (auras, chakras, etc.). Brown starts out skeptically, but gradually engages in such healing as both giver and recipient. He describes his encounters with prominent healers such as Barbara Brennan and Rosalyn Bruyere (and covers much of the same ground as does Diane Goldner in Infinite Grace, which was published in 1999, a year before Brown's book). The title of Afterwards, You're a Genius refers to a comment made by the director or the University of Nevada's Consciousness Research Lab: "You're wacky before you succeed. Afterwards, you're a genius."

Infinite Grace, journalist Diane Goldner's account of her own investigation of and immersion into healing, traverses much of the same territory as does Chip Brown's Afterwards, You're a Genius, but hers seems a kinder and gentler journey. Goldner's book also contains an interesting depiction of Kabbalistic (the mystical branch of Judaism) healing.

Medical intuitive Carolyn Myss, Ph.D.'s Anatomy of the Spirit provides an overview of the body's seven main energy centers (called "chakras"—Sanskrit for "wheels"—in Eastern traditions), associating each chakra with specific psychological and spiritual issues. Myss also links the chakras to Catholicism's seven sacraments and Kabbalistic Judaism's Tree of Life.

Physician Larry Dossey's Reinventing Medicine provides a fascinating review of healing research and discusses how 21st century medicine may change to integrate our growing awareness of the effects of what he calls "nonlocal mind," Some of the research he presents was conducted on bacteria, neatly sidestepping common skepticism that healing is merely a placebo effect. (Can you imagine bacteria trying to please the researcher?)

Larry Dossey's Healing Words discusses the evidence for the power of intercessory prayer and other kinds of healing.

Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection
John Sarno, M.D.

Getting in Touch: The Guide to the New Body-Centered Therapies
Christine Caldwell, Ph.D.

Your Body Is Your Subconscious Mind
Candace Pert, Ph.D.

In Healing Back Pain John Sarno discusses the role stress and other psychological factors (including anxiety and repressed anger) can play in back pain, or what he calls Tension Myositis Syndrome. He offers ways for patients to address the mind-body connection to reduce chronic muscle tension and heal from such back pain without drugs or surgery.

Christine Caldwell, Ph.D. (founder of the Somatic Psychology Department of the Naropa Insitute) edited Getting In Touch, a volume of introductory essays on therapeutic approaches that address the links between mind and body. Contributors include Ron Kurtz and Kekuni Minton on Hakomi, the body-centered psychotherapy whose name comes from a Native American word meaning "who am I in relation to these many realms?," Amy and Arny Mindell ("Dreams and the Dreaming Body"), Ilana Rubenfeld (developer of the Rubenfeld Synergy Method), and Albert Pesso (Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor therapy). Caldwell herself contributes a chapter on "Ethics and Techniques for Touch in Somatic Psychotherapy" and provides information in the appendix on how to choose a somatic psychologist and recommended books. If you have bodily miseries that don't respond to traditional medicine or "talk" therapy, you might consider finding a therapist who works more closely with the body and its nonverbal language. This book could be a good introduction to the concepts.

Your Body Is Your Subconscious Mind is an audio recording of neuroscientist Candace Pert (author of Molecules of Emotion, above) presenting a talk on the mind-body connection, followed by a one-on-one interview.

No Word for Time: The Way of the Algonquin People
Evan T. Pritchard

Grace Unfolding: Psychotherapy in the Spirit of the Tao-te Ching
Greg Johanson & Ron Kurtz

Welcome Home: Life After Healing: Following Your Soul's Journey Home
Sandra Ingerman

The Dark Side of the Light Chasers: Reclaiming Your Power, Creativity,
Brilliance, & Dreams
Debbie Ford

An interview with author Evan T. Pritchard in the premiere issue of Spirituality & Health led me to grab No Word for Time when I found it on the shelf in the bookstore of the museum at Old Stone Fort State Park in Manchester, TN. Pritchard, who is on Micmac descent, apprenticed with a Micmac elder to learn the language and ways of his ancestors, including the sweat lodge, vision quest, and ceremonial dances. He discusses the parallels between Algonquin beliefs and those of Taoism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity. (To read an article inspired by this book, click here.)

Greg Johanson & Ron Kurtz blend Eastern spirituality and Western psychotherapy in Grace Unfolding, a gentle guide to the roles and responsibilities of both clients and therapists. They place special emphasis on the awareness and integration of bodily manifestations of psychological processes.

Welcome Home, shamanic healer Sandra Ingerman's sequel to Soul Retrieval, provides a guide to moving forward from a seemingly endless focus on the past.

In The Dark Side of the Light Chasers Debbie Ford provides an excellent guide to identifying and reclaiming what Carl Jung called our "shadow," those disowned thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that we most dislike about ourselves (and others). These aspects of our true nature often hold great gifts, and accepting their existence can free us to live authenically. My one quibble with this book is that Ford doesn't seem to be particularly enlightened about fat prejudice and size acceptance, and at one point seems to unnecessarily pathologize fatness. (See the Health At Every Size section for more on size acceptance.)

Beyond Religion: A Personal Program for Building A Spiritual Life Outside the Walls
of Traditional Religion
David Elkins, Ph.D.

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
Anne Lamott

Bird By Bird: Some Instructions Writing & Life
Anne Lamott

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within
Natalie Goldberg

The Courage To Write: How Writers Transcend Fear
Ralph Keyes
 

Psychologist David Elkins' Beyond Religion discusses eight nontraditional spiritual paths, including counseling and psychotherapy, friendship and community, and creative expression.

In Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott (author of Bird by Bird) wryly describes her journey from alcoholism and drug addiction to single motherhood and a life infused by Christian faith. It's by no means a dull trip—Lamott's flair for the personal essay shines through, and her critical eye rarely blinks when focused on herself. My favorite part of the book may be the chapter in which she describes her Enemy, a soccer mom whom Lamott sees as an obsessive control freak. When visiting at her Enemy's home, Lamott admitsher thoughts about the woman would "make Jesus drink gin out of the cat dish." (Lamott's perceptions of her Enemy—and herself—change dramatically by the chapter's end. Many of the chapters in the book ran as columns in the online magazine Salon.

Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird presents a funny and thoughtful approach to creative writing and life. The title comes from a childhood memory of Lamott's father's advice to her then 10-year-old brother, who was struggling to write a report on birds that was due the next day. Her father "put his arm around my brother's shoulder and said,'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'" Advice that can extend beyond grammar school into the stresses and struggles of contemporary adult life.

Natalie Goldberg provides a Zen approach to creative writing in Writing Down the Bones.

Ralph Keyes' The Courage to Write is a guide to overcoming—and even utilizing—anxiety and writer's block. Good for any writer (or aspiring writer) who feels creatively constipated.