Customer Reviews

Getting Our Bodies Back

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I don't know if it's simply because I read it at the right moment in my life, but this book had and is still having a profound effect on me. A magical effect on me. Reading it feels like being home and every discovery it leads me to is so intense that I cannot read more than a few pages at a time.

An alternative title for this book could be "Recovering our Aliveness". Recovering our desire to expand our chest and welcome every single oxygen molecules that keep us alive. Recovering our ability to feel. Happiness isn't in the content of our life, but in the very process of being alive. Why are we so afraid of it ? Why do we distract ourselves with addictive thoughts and body movements? Christine Caldwell guides you in your search for an answer, and offers concrete tools to finally walk hand-in-hand with your life force.

I send her my gratefulness.

R. D. Laing's recognition of a "schizoid personality," or a disembodied self, in his seminal work "The Divided Self," promised a new approach to the integration of body and mind in the whole and healthy human being. Caldwell builds on this idea, using the body as a starting point for diagnosing addictions and suggesting treatments. But the book soon becomes predictable. The addictions are frequently the result of an abusive parent (isn't this theme getting a bit threadworn by now?) and the treatments are more commonsensical than insightful (meditation, exercise, re-prioritizing life's demands). Moreover, the material echoes much similar popular wisdom on the subject. Readers of John Bradshaw, Sam Keene, Deepak Chopra are likely to find this book somewhat repetitious and familiar. And though user-friendly, the writing style rarely attains the sustained rhetorical power of the former works.

This is worth studying deeply. The author frames issues of addiction in a way that speaks to those of us who are don't appear to have deep addictions but who are always feeling something isn't right. She deconstructs the drives we have and helps put in perspective the ways we create addictions to cope with stress in our lives. Only she digs deeper, and helps me understand how profound this coping mechanism is and why we do it.

This book is a intriguing read for anyone wanting to become more present and comfortable in their skin.

As a survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence, I have a great deal of physical PTSD symptoms as well as psychological sypmtoms. I am also a recovering alcoholic and addict, as many survivors of sexual assault are. I bought this book at the urging of my therapist, in hopes that I would learn more about managing the physical sensations, dissociation, etc.

After reading this book, I have a lot more insight into the body-mind-spirit connection. I was impressed with the detail in explaining how our habits, behaviors, posture, etc. indicate the roots of our trauma and how that can lead to, and perpetuate, addictive behaviors. I was also impressed with the information about addressing the behaviors and actually stopping the cycle.

This book has given me a fresh viewpoint on two major challenges in my life. I will be putting more of the suggestions into practice, to see how well the theories actually work, but the information rings true on many levels.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone with addictive behavior problems, whether they be alcohol or drug abuse, eating disorders, etc.

An excellent example of how body psychotherapy has develloped during the 1990's. The book is agreable to read, full of interesting ideas and examples, and the author obviously knows what is happening, not only in her field but in neighbouring disciplines.

This book by Dr. Caldwell is one of greatest books I have ever read. Although easy for any reader this book is a page turner that captivates the mind as well as the imagination. I can honnestly say that this book is among the very few that I have pulled off the shelf and read more than once, and would recomend it to anyone.