A Book Review

Borysenko, J., (2007). Minding the Body, Mending the Mind. City: Da Capo Lifelong Books. Find it a Amazon.com

This book is based on Dr. Borysenko's experiences at the Mind/Body Clinic in Boston. It includes tips on how to take control of your physical and emotional wellbeing. The clinic's success in treating patients–with conditions ranging from allergies to cancer–offers provocative evidence in the effectiveness of a mind/body approach to health. Exercises in the book are designed to elicit the mind's relaxation response to boost the immune system, cope with chronic pain, and alleviate symptoms of many stress-related illnesses.

Joan Borysenko, Ph.D. received her doctorate in cancer cell biology from Harvard Medical School as-well-as completing two postdoctoral fellowships in behavioral psychology and psychoneuroimmunology. Most noteworthy in relationship to this book, Dr. Borysenko is the cofounder and former director of the Mind/Body Clinic at New England Deaconess Hospital where she works as a practicing psychologist and yoga/mediation instructor. Her other books include Fire in the Soul; Guilt is the Teacher, Love is the Lesson; and On Wings of Light.

REVIEW

Reading this book reminded me of my initial desire to practice medicine. I’ve long used my own mind-body practice to enhance my athletic training, avoid injuries, and manage stress and seasonal depression. In my medical practice I strive to cultivate a mind-body clinic that offers a variety of treatment modalities coupled with the creation of a wellness community. This community focuses on mitigating the sources of illness rather than the treatment of illness through meditation, yoga, outdoor activities and mutual support groups. I envision an environment where people can learn to be well rather that be treated for illness. A place to practice harmony with life’s unpredictable stresses and challenges while attaining a greater understanding of one’s self. I believe as Dr. Borysenko illustrates in this book that through realization of our own divine nature we can learn to make choices in our mental processes that allow us to be well under any circumstance.

The book is specifically about meditation and can be used as a how-to for self-instruction in the practice. It provides a compelling case for a physiological benefit of meditation and teaches the reader how this controlled relaxation can have a positive impact on general health and specific illnesses.

Borysenko explains how our bodies become conditioned to stress and respond accordingly with anxiety symptoms and that, through meditation practice, individuals can recondition themselves to ease the physical manifestations of stress. It also reinforces the physiological connection between or minds and bodies. An important consideration as we are culturally conditioned to keep these two separate and devalue our ability to impact our health through our mental reactions and proactiveness.

Even if one doesn't use the book to learn to meditate, Dr. Borysenko has a great deal to offer in terms of quality of life to her readers. The book can help the reader to recognize harmful mental patterns and exercise cognitive control to diffused stress before it advances to anxiety and other physical illness.

Dr. Borysenko provides evidence on how positive thought processes can be achieved and how they can make a difference.

HELPFUL CONCEPTS

This book is particularly helpful in it’s clinical explanations of how a meditation practice affects the body. An example of this would be: When experiencing a period of prolonged stress, it is easy for negative or obsessive thoughts to overwhelm our consciousness. These thoughts stimulate the sympathetic nervous system producing high levels of cortisol and epinephrine while it suppresses the immune system. Muscle tension, rapid heart beat, anxiety and propensity for illness are often the physiological result.