Energy: A Practical Guide to Personal Achievement, Health, and Transformation

This is a book dedicated to helping individuals achieve their potential. It does so by presenting the general background that we are operating from as physical, emotional, and spiritual beings. With this as a foundation, the authors draw from their many years as teachers in the field of mind/body disciplines to lay the means for us to make changes in our lives. We are brought face to face with the ways our physical use of ourselves, our indulgence in negative emotions, our rigid belief systems, our habitual or addictive tendencies, and our preoccupation with the past and future impede the flow of energy. Practical exercises are given at the end of each chapter to give us an experiential knowledge of each subject area. A variety of potential energy tools such as yoga, meditation, martial arts (both internal arts such as tai chi chuan and external arts such as karate), chi kung, and the Alexander Technique are described, allowing us to choose a path that feels suited to our individual needs. We are told of the importance of and given methods for relaxation, proper breathing, creative visualization, and living in the present moment. There is hardly any area left untouched that has to do with increasing personal energy and the resultant benefits. The approach here is a unifying one. It treats the mind/body dichotomy as an artificial one that is responsible for much of our dis-ease. Too often, different aspects of our personalities are seeking different goals, causing internal conflict and stress. This takes its toll on our health, and blocks the attainment of whatever goals have been set. Becoming more aware, more conscious of our own internal and external mechanisms, is shown to be a necessary ingredient in making lasting and meaningful changes. With each step taken in this process more energy becomes available, giving us a greater potential in our lives for both happiness and love. This can lead to a positive spiral of energy that opens a universe of possibilities.