Body Brilliance: Mastering Your Five Vital Intelligences [Paperback]

Alan Davidson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2010

Body Brilliance is a compassionate and deeply personal guide to waking the spirit within the body. It seeks to engage what author Alan Davidson calls the "five essential intelligences"-Physical, Mental, Emotional, Moral, and Spiritual. Body Brilliance tells the inspiring stories of people who have exemplified peak development in each of these essential areas: Olympians Jesse Owens and Wilma Rudolph for physical intelligence; Albert Einstein for mental intelligence; and Rumi and his teacher Shams for spiritual intelligence. It provides powerful yet simple ways to fully engage each level and pay attention to our bodies' unique patterns, achieving the benefits of expressing our full potential. Body Brilliance is full of practical exercises to awaken each level, and to encourage us to find our personal peak expression in that domain. Davidson demonstrates that when we wake up fully in our bodies and harmonize all five layers, we discover a result that is more than the sum of the parts: We fall deeply in love with being alive and fully present.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alan Davidson, RMT, owner/director of Essential Touch Therapies in Houston, Texas, works at the intersection of bodywork, psychology, ritual, and spiritual practice. He has taught massage, meditation, yoga, aromatherapy, and human transformation since 1990. A co-author of the award-winning Healing the Heart of the World (Elite, 2006), Alan also teaches at Source Vital College of Holistic Studies and NiaMoves Studio.

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Elite Books (January 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1600700268
• ISBN-13: 978-1600700262
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,827,938 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'A testament to love and healing', December 18, 2007

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Body Brilliance: Mastering Your Five Vital Intelligences (Paperback)

Alan Davidson is an inspirational writer as well as a keenly tuned guide to better health (physical and mental) through his detailed and well-illustrated exercises and modes of meditation. What sets Davidson apart starts in his introduction: he shares a moment from 1987 when he sat in a waiting room for the results of his HIV test. His thoughts and observations of the others in that frightening room set the stage for his discovery that, even though he had every reason to believe that he would be 'positive', his test results were negative - a moment of reality testing that forged his path to work with himself and with others through discipline and training to celebrate the body and the joy of being completely alive. What followed is culminated in this very fine book BODY BRILLIANCE.

Combining philosophy with physical dexterity Davidson leads the reader through all manner of exercises and positions. As the subtitle of the book suggests, these contemplations or attitudes are based on the FIVE VITAL INTELLIGENCES: The Physical, The Emotional, The Mental, The Moral and The Spiritual. Accompanying Davidson's path to wellness are excerpts from famous minds, drawing upon ancient as well as contemporary wisdom. In this setting he invites the reader to participate in a series of exercises that when combined have as a goal to wed all five Intelligences, the result being a state of Harmony.

Davidson even makes this an art book by using photographer Victoria Davis to demonstrate each of the verbally described positions and movements. Davis has selected extraordinarily beautiful male and female models, placed them in near negative space so that the 'brilliance' of each body is celebrated. The combination of caring, intelligent thinking and writing, sound physical judgment in approaching exercise, and beautiful photography make this book far more than just a another self help book (though it certainly is that!). This is a book that treats the body and mind and soul and life as art. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, December 07

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I've read, December 5, 2007

By 

R. Arnold (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Body Brilliance: Mastering Your Five Vital Intelligences (Hardcover)

This book is very motivating and down to earth. The author, Alan Davidson is thoughtful and a great teacher. If you're wanting to improve your life, and feel good about your body--this book will certainly do it.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!!!, March 4, 2007

By 

Frances Denys "Patti Denys" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Body Brilliance: Mastering Your Five Vital Intelligences (Paperback)

Well-written, well-researched! I find it both inspirational and motivational. A great read for anyone interested in self-improvement and self-realization.