Category Archives: Health and wellbeing
‘The Handbook of Bach Flower Remedies for Animals’ by Enric Homedes
This is a most welcome book as in my experience animals respond extraordinarily well to Flower Remedies and it will give confidence to many people who would like to use them on their pets. Continue reading
Posted in Health and wellbeing, Practical
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‘Nature’s Due: Healing Our Fragmented Culture’ by Brian Goodwin
For Brian Goodwin, intelligence, meaning and subjectivity are inherent in nature, not restricted to the human realm. As a scientist, Goodwin is well equipped to show us how this can be so, though he calls on folk stories as well as scientific studies to help him convey the message. His argument equally implies that all our stories, arts and other cultural creations also arise from the endlessly inventive, emergent, unpredictable reality which is Nature. Continue reading
Posted in Gaia, Health and wellbeing, Philosophy, Science
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‘Sweat Your Prayers: Movement As Spiritual Practice’ by Gabrielle Roth
Gabrielle Roth’s dance system or ‘the five rhythms’ isn’t about definite steps, but about responding directly to music and moving however you feel. The five rhythms are supposed to be the five basic types of process which underlie all music, even though they are often found mixed together. Continue reading
Posted in Creation Spirituality, Health and wellbeing, Practical, Psychology, Spirituality
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‘The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World’ by Iain McGilchrist
This is one of the most important books that I’ve read. I heard Iain McGilchrist talking about it on the radio when it was first published and just knew I had to read it. It’s a weighty tome (both in size and content), covering both the structure of the brain and how the brain’s structure and function has shaped Western culture. McGilchrist is eminently suited for the task, as he taught English at Oxford University before training as a psychiatrist and is therefore able to express complex ideas in simple, attractive ways. Continue reading
Posted in Health and wellbeing, History, Psychology, Science
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‘Breathe into Being: Awakening to Who You Really Are’ by Dennis Lewis
This book is a good introduction to that most fundamental constituent of our life, breathing. It is short, with 75 brief chapters, most of which contain practical advice and a breathing exercise, plus many wise words on embodied spirituality.
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Posted in Health and wellbeing, Practical, Spirituality
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‘Becoming Animal: An Earthy Cosmology’ by David Abram
An essential first step in repairing the damage we have done to the planet and to ourselves may be to go back to basics and, literally, to come to our senses.
Not only must we fully re-inhabit our animal bodies but we must also become aware of our vital interconnectedness with all other creatures. And for tutoring us and inspiring us in these twin tasks I have never met a better teacher than David Abram. Continue reading
Posted in Cosmology, Gaia, Health and wellbeing, Important Titles, Philosophy, Practical, Psychology, Spirituality
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‘Come Down to the Wood’ by Judith Bromley
Judith Bromley’s book is unlike anything I have ever read. I would say that I have experienced it rather than read it. As she led me through the seasons of a single year, I found myself wanting it not to be autumn but to continue to be summer. I found myself engaged in the process of gauging the height of the sun, and the point in the valley where the sun never shines. I felt really glad that the populace don’t have access to ‘our’ wood, and that it remains undisturbed and sacred. Continue reading
Posted in Gaia, Health and wellbeing, Philosophy, Practical, Spirituality
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‘The Spell of the Sensuous’ by David Abram
Part personal story, this book begins among the bright green terraced rice paddies of Bali as the author sets out on a study tour through Asia to document the relationship between magic and medicine. Rather than travelling as an academic, he goes simply as a magician, using his own well-developed magic skills to make a collegial connection with the various sorcerers and shamans he meets along the way. Soon, however, he begins to discover the deeper truths of the shamanic role in community, which is to be the knowing, sensing bridge between the community and the greater reality, both psychic and organic, in which all our human communities are embedded. Continue reading
Posted in Education, Gaia, Health and wellbeing, Important Titles, Philosophy, Practical, Psychology, Spirituality
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‘The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder’ by Richard Louv
Whereas Louv’s earlier book Last Child in the Woods pointed out the problem of Nature- Deficiency Disorder in children, Louv’s new book The Nature Principle points out that adults themselves can suffer from the same disorder—and many already are. Though we tend to forget it, we too are animals; we co-evolved with the natural world and we need it as much as ever. Being isolated from green and growing things predisposes us to a range of conditions such as obesity, diabetes, asthma, behaviour disorders, depression and a lack of connection with community and place. We ignore these warnings at our peril. Continue reading
Posted in Education, Gaia, Health and wellbeing, Philosophy, Politics, Practical, Psychology
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‘Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in without Going Crazy’ by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone
It is so easy to become fearful, isolated and despondent about the enormity of the environmental and social challenges that we, as a human race, are currently facing. This book tells us how we can sustain ourselves through these challenges and live positive, compassionate and hope filled lives Continue reading
Posted in Creation Spirituality, Gaia, Health and wellbeing, Philosophy, Politics, Practical, Psychology, Spirituality
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‘Climb up to the Moor: Moorland Life through the Seasons of the Year.’ Words and pictures by Judith Bromley with selected paintings by Robert Nicholls
This book about the moorland of the North Yorkshire National Park is a feast for the senses. Everyone reading it will certainly want to experience the moorland as Judith has. She walks there in every season: observing, watching, writing and painting. Each month she describes the impact on all of her senses of what is above her head, below her feet and within her field of vision. By itself the language that she uses paints glorious pictures in our minds, but the written words are accompanied by stunning paintings of the places she describes. Continue reading
Posted in Gaia, Health and wellbeing, Life Cycles, Nature Study, Practical, Spirituality
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‘Healing this Wounded Earth: with Compassion, Spirit and the Power of Hope’ by Eleanor Stoneham
The book is a call to action – to heal our wounds and our fractured society, and most importantly halt the violence we are inflicting on this planet before it’s too late. The author points out that, through increasing urbanisation, most of us have lost contact with the land and the soil and as a result part of our soul has died. She writes from a Christian perspective but draws on the wisdom of other religious traditions as well. She assures readers that her message is for those of all faiths or none: what matters is that they possess ‘the honesty of intention’ She tackles big questions such as how we move into a new era of social responsibility, lay the foundations of a just society and reform our economic system so that we value people and not money.
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Posted in Gaia, Health and wellbeing, History, Religion, Spirituality
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‘Farming to Create Heaven on Earth’ by Lisa Hamilton
American writer and photographer Lisa Hamilton had been investigating global food production for many years when in 2003 she was invited by Shumei, a Japanese spiritual organisation (shumei.org), to interrogate their approach to farming, Natural Agriculture. Continue reading
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