A provocative but unevenly executed wellness approach.
Christian presents an alternative perspective to healing gastroesophageal acid reflux disease in this self-help book.
Using a nondualistic “MindBody” or “meaning-based story” approach, the author asserts that GERD is “a messenger for personal meaning that enables us to experience ourselves in a different way.” Instead of focusing on physical symptoms, he urges readers to examine the underlying emotional issues that cause them. He discusses a concept called “somatic metaphor,” in which the body expresses what a person can’t verbalize. Stomach-related metaphors, he says, such as “Stomach tied in knots,” “Swallowing your pride,” and “Fed up with life” can be clues about how GERD patients can find meaning in their condition. A technique called the “smorgasbord question” invites readers to consider all the life circumstances around symptom onset. Christian notes that those who struggle with this question may default to positivity, fear difficult things, resist connections between symptoms and events, or are “Looking for catastrophes when mishaps will suffice.” He discusses the hermeneutic circle, a cyclical process of interpreting one’s personal narrative to uncover deeper meanings. Other practices he recommends include describing emotions, recognizing attachment styles and childhood traumas, and recalling positive experiences. The book concludes with tips on finding the right therapist and a reflection on the author’s own “awakening.” Christian’s psychological and emotional approach to GERD offers an unusual and intriguing discussion of the disease. Readers will find plenty of practical exercises for self-reflection and helpful tools, such as the “feelings wheel.” However, readers may not be convinced by some of his observations. For instance, regarding a client with testicular cancer, the author determines that the man had “unconsciously embodied his masculine identity in his testes,” and, throughout, the book prioritizes environmental over genetic factors in disease origination, including such childhood “microtraumas” as a mother’s absence. Concepts like “relational mirrors” and “sacred geometry” may be too esoteric for some readers, and suggestions such as journaling, symptom tracking, mindfulness, meditation, breathwork, and tapping are very familiar self-help standbys.
A provocative but unevenly executed wellness approach.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2025
ISBN: 9780992253608
Page Count: 257
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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