A Beautiful Medicine - A Radical Look at the Essence of Health and Healing

In this poetic and inspirational look at the essence of health and healing, David Mercier offers a way of redefining, and often upending, many conventional notions that shape our model of healthcare. Using threads of memoir, he illustrates key ideas with stories from his life, including his years as a hippie and as a Buddhist monk practicing mindfulness meditation in Sri Lanka. After becoming ill and depressed, he returned to the US and used alternative medicine to regain his health. With poignant descriptions of his patients' successes and failures, of his childhood struggles with his father, he illustrates the underlying principles of healing. Drawing upon the teachings of mystics, philosophers, and poets, he deepens and expands the very definition of health itself. His message includes the idea that the spiritual and psychological elements of our lives must be included if we are to better understand the meaning of our symptoms. If we reveal the human narrative underlying our malaise and our illnesses, we often find the true diagnosis lying in unfinished emotional business or in the values, priorities, and choices that shape dysfunctional lifestyles. By listening carefully, we can hear the voice of a profound evolutionary drive speaking to us through our symptoms. It encourages us to transform into the best human beings possible, to continue in our spiritual growth. In the end, the experience of love, meaning, and beauty moves us toward optimal wellness. A Beautiful Medicine helps show the way.