Consciously Female: How to Listen to Your Body and Your Soul for a Lifetime of Healthier Living [Paperback]

Tracy Gaudet (Author), Paula Spencer (Author), Andrew Weil M.D. (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 28, 2004

In this revolutionary new book, Dr. Tracy Gaudet, director of the Duke Center for Integrative Medicine, shares her remarkable vision of a new way of looking at self and wellness, which will change the way women think about their bodies, their health, and their lives.

Through her own personal journey as well as her work with thousands of women as an Ob-Gyn, Dr. Gaudet knows that being able to tap into the spiritual, emotional, and cyclical realities of female life has a powerful effect on health and well-being. Yet she has found that many women are “unconscious” of the intimate connections between these realms. Now Dr. Gaudet explains to women how to reconnect their bodies and their souls, in order to become “consciously female.” Using her experience in integrative medicine, which draws on the best of both alternative and conventional Western practices, she offers mind-body techniques that will give you a deeper understanding of the inner workings of your body, and access to your unique feminine wisdom.

By helping you make the best possible choices to support your health and wellness, the process of becoming “consciously female” will enrich and empower your life, day to day, week to week, year to year.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This excellent compendium on women’s health is based on the integrative model of medicine popularized by Weil (8 Weeks to Optimum Health, etc.), emphasizing a combination of Western treatments with alternative therapies in a patient-centered approach. Gudet, director of the Duke Center for Integrative Medicine, and Spencer (The V Book), provide a guide to individualizing women’s health decisions relating to fertility, menstruation and menopause. Drawing on numerous case histories, Gaudet highlights the importance of understanding one’s personal health as a developing narrative and of creating the time and space to learn about oneself through conscious and unconscious methods. Among other tools, she recommends "dreamimagery," a technique that involves breathing and muscle relaxation and may spark images and bring unconscious thoughts to light. Through this technique, for example, "Paula" came to understand that she did not want to become pregnant again and "Kim" came to terms with her emotional ability to be a mother. Well organized and clearly written, Gaudet’s volume covers every aspect of female health from a person-centered point of view.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Tracy Gaudet has written a fabulous book about what it means to be Consciously Female. It’s loaded with consciousness-enhancing information guaranteed to make the experience of being female healthier and happier than ever before."
—Christiane Northrup, M.D., bestselling author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom, and The Wisdom of Menopause

"Dr.Tracy Gaudet is the sort of doctor that every woman wants. Her unique approach to women's medicine blends the wide expertise of an integrative medicine physician with the deep insight and personal understanding only one woman can offer another. In Consciously Female, she shows us how to untangle the net of mind, body, emotions and spirit and weave it into a fabric far stronger than we have ever dreamed. If you are a woman, you owe it to yourself to read this one."
—Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., bestselling author of Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather's Blessings

"This book is about waking up, becoming conscious of not only our body but our mind and spirit as well. It is about using deep intuition along with rational discernment to make smart choices about our health. Let us be grateful for the blessings of scientific medicine, but let us also honor the holistic approach to health and healing that lie at the heart of Dr. Gaudet's elegant medical vision."
—Larry Dossey, MD, Healing Beyond the Body, Reinventing Medicine, and Healing Words



From the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (December 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553381865
• ISBN-13: 978-0553381863
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 0.9 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #688,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's about time!, April 23, 2004

By 

Christy Mack (Rye, New York United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Consciously Female: How to Listen to Your Body and Your Soul for a Lifetime of Healthier Living (Hardcover)

This incredibly thorough and insightful interpretation of what it means to be consciously female in today's tumultuous times is a must read, not only for every woman, but also for any man who has a woman in his life. Dr. Gaudet's clear grasp of the interconnectedness of the mind, body, spirit, and community to health and wellness is right on target and it demands serious consideration when one is determining what course of action to take with regard to health matters. Her innovative approaches, which help us focus on how we think of our bodies and how we treat our bodies, are easy to understand and incorporate into our lives. Her sensitivity to the issues and her understanding of the impacts on our health are the foundations for the wisdom every reader will discover in this book. I highly recommend it for women of all ages!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Doctor to Remember, December 8, 2005

By 

Tavalon (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Consciously Female: How to Listen to Your Body and Your Soul for a Lifetime of Healthier Living (Hardcover)

I worked at University Hospital Labor and Delivery in San Antonio for the first eight years of my nursing career. Every year 7-8 new doctors would begin their residency. Most were competent or became so over their tenure but a handful were truly fabulous, so much so that I remember them to this day (I've been a nurse 17 years now). I would have chosen any one of them to be my personal OB/Gyn had they been in private practice. One of those physicians was Tracy Gaudet. I was so pleased when I heard she had joined with Dr. Weil to form an integrative medicine practice in Arizona after her residency. I finally got this book and I'm not surprised at how good it is. The book reflects the kind of physician she was then and the even better physician she is now. She is more than just a doctor, she is a healer.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jon kabat-Zinn reviews this book, April 29, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Consciously Female: How to Listen to Your Body and Your Soul for a Lifetime of Healthier Living (Hardcover)

A veritable cornucopia of wise and practical information and compassionate guidance from a physician who practices what she
preaches and is a highly respected advocate of a truly integrative medicine. Consciously Female may be the ally, friend, and expert you so sorely need and miss in today's rapidly changing medicine. It is a specific and scientifically-based prescription for optimizing health and well-being, a true gift to women of all ages, and a source of comfort and reassurance that honors the universe of the feminine in matters of soma, psyche, and relationship, including, importantly, with yourself...consciously."