After reading the post, The Universe Is All of Us,                                                               Licensed Acupuncturist and author David Mercier asked me if I would be interested in writing a book review for him since this post and his book presented similar ideas. I happily obliged.

David’s book A Beautiful Medicine: A Radical Look at the Essence of Health and Healing is “the integration of all that we know of love, healing, and health in a blended singularity.” Through his own journey of healing from a hippie teenager to a Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka to a family man and healer, David has learned and understands health and healing as an integrated process and transformative journey of growth for body, mind, and soul.

The healing process has many layers – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. All these aspects of ourselves must be addressed and cared for for healing to be complete. To do this, David explains that our symptoms, our aches and pains, are signs and messages from our bodies that healing is in order. Instead of just ignoring or numbing these signs, we should listen to them. Our symptoms urge us to look at ourselves – body, mind, and soul – and to give our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health the self-care and self-love it deserves. Our bodies are Alchemists. They know how to heal when given the chance.

David also wonderfully addresses the power of our minds on our health. Our beliefs and expectations, whether distorted by our fears or driven by love, can greatly determine our health. Negative beliefs and expectations change our blood and brain chemistry, creating physical challenges for healing. Old emotional pains and wounds that have been stuffed away can also cause ill health, or inhibit healing. Addressing these pains and releasing them will clear the way for healing to take place.

The integrated process of healing goes beyond the individual physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects and becomes even more complete when we see that we are all interconnected beings, not just between humans, but between all beings and all things in the Universe. Our bodies and our planet are made of ancient stardust. The cells in our bodies are like the galaxies in the Universe. When we begin to see that the Universe is one great being, of which we are a part of, we begin to understand how taking care of our own health also means caring for the health of the planet and the Universe.

Taking care of and loving ourselves and all others makes us beautiful from the inside out. Health radiates beauty, and the beauty of the interconnectedness of all is what is truth. A Beautiful Medicine is a key that opens us up to radiate health, beauty, love, and truth.

To order David Mercier’s book, or to receive the free Beautiful Medicine Discovery Guide in PDF form sign up for David’s newsletter at www.abeautifulmedicine.com. The Discovery Guide is a workbook that includes reflections and exercises exploring the ideas in the book in greater depth.

Related Articles:

Having Faith in the Body’s Messages and Its Ability to Heal

Healing From the Inside Out

Creating the Space to Heal