Energy Medicine

This alternative-medicine self-help guide promises to teach you to help heal yourself and others using the body's own natural energies. Building on such diverse concepts as acupuncture and therapeutic touch, Donna Eden lays out a practical framework in Energy Medicine for flushing out and recharging the body's systems.

"This book will show you how to work with the electromagnetic and more subtle energies that give your body life," Eden writes, along with her husband, psychologist David Feinstein. "These energies form the foundation of your health."

For instance, if your head aches or feels clouded, energy may be stagnating there, so do the "crown pull" to release it. The book gives a detailed description of how to do this and other energy-fixing exercises, and provides time estimates and illustrations for doing the maneuvers.

Eden, who has practiced energy medicine for more than 20 years and has given classes around the world, also relates stories about some of her clients, including those with cancer and chronic pain. While Eden says people can help themselves and others with the techniques in the book, she urges them to seek professional care as well.

Energy Medicine includes chapters on various energy systems, ranging from the meridians to the chakras, the basic grid to the strange flows, and chapters on how such systems relate to pain and illness. It also includes an appendix listing organizations and Internet sites for other forms of alternative medicine, like naturopathy and qigong. The book is a useful guide for people interested in this form of alternative healing.