THE ALCHEMY OF SELF HEALING - Review

The Alchemy of Self Healing – A Revolutionary 30-Day Plan to Change How You Relate to Your Body and Health, Jeannine Wiest, CMT, CST, New Page Books, Pompton Plains, NJ, 2015, 218 pp, $15.99.

There are a lot of things you can do in 30 days, and healing yourself is probably the best and most beneficial. 

        The Alchemy of Self Healing is broken down into weeks. In Week One you’ll learn how to become an Inner Alchemist. How do you connect with your body? Do you see only your flaws? Do you listen to your body? Are you willing to change habits and reconnect with your creative resources? Let me tell you – the Alchemy Quiz is a real eye (and mind) opener. After the 30 days, I did the quiz again and was amazed at the change in my score.

       In Week Two I learned that my body was following a script I’d written long ago. I was limiting myself with thoughts like, “I’m too weak for this” or “I can’t do this”. I had to change that script, and in changing my own script, I found it extending to the way I related to other people so I didn’t inadvertently “help” them write their own limiting script.

        In Week Three I learned to “listen to my gut”. What is my body telling me? Am I listening? Really listening?

        I looked back on relationships I’ve had and examined whether they were styled by social conditioning or by my authentic preferences. 

        I learned to let go of attachment to outcomes. Could I learn to benefit from (as the book says) “shifting perception and remaining energetically available to respond to situations”?

        During Week Four I worked with music and sound, which was incredibly interesting.

        I’d love to tell you all about my experiences with The Alchemy of Self Healing, but it’s a journey you must take on your own to fully appreciate it. The exercises are easy; the explanations are clear. And the journey is different for each of us.

        Think of what you do in a month. How much time do you waste surfing the internet or watching mindless TV shows? How about putting that time to changing how you relate to your body and health?

- Carrie Nixon