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The Relaxation Response
by Herbert Benson, M.D.
When you consider that physicians estimate that up to 90 percent of their patients have a stress-related condition, it’s hard to understand why more people aren’t actively managing their stress. It’s ridiculous how many of us would rather turn to something outside our bodies to regulate what’s occurring on the inside. But if you don’t happen to fall into that category, then I may have a book for you.
The Relaxation Response is a classic on learning meditation. I discovered it in 1990 and its latest edition still speaks to me. Back then its message was revolutionary – even though it had first been published some 15 years earlier. Conventional wisdom at the time considered self-healing foolish at best and quackery at worse.
But with a medical doctor, from Harvard no less, people started to listen. The way that he gets his message across, however, won’t appeal to everyone. As a cardiologist and someone who understandably wants to write only what he knows from first-hand experience, he concentrates on the benefits of mediation in relation to the heart and blood pressure, which can get a bit dry in places if not directly applicable to your own situation. My advice? Skip those bits and move on to the good stuff.
And the good stuff in The Relaxation Response is very good indeed. Besides a very detailed, yet easy to understand explanation of stress – what it is, what causes it and what it does to the body – there’s a fascinating look back at how Christian mystics used and achieved altered states of consciousness, which is what meditation is all about.
The method that Benson teaches is the essence of Transcendental Meditation. You can learn it in a matter of minutes. If you were so inclined, you could even turn to page 129 (of the newest edition) and simply get on with it. I seem to recall that’s what I did all those years ago. But do go back and read it properly. It really could change your life! The Relaxation Response is available at Amazon.
You can find more of my book reviews at PsychicBridges.
IntuitiveBridges Rating: 
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Life-changing |
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Can't live without |
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Put the kettle on and settle down |
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Worth a quick flick |
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Leave it on the shelf |
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