Heal Thy Self: Lessons on Mindfulness in Medicine [Paperback]

Saki Santorelli (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 7, 2000

Today we are experiencing extraordinary technological advances in the diagnosis and treatment of illness while at the same time learning to take more responsibility for our own health and well-being. In this book, Saki Santorelli, director of the nationally acclaimed Stress Reduction Clinic, explores the ancient roots of medicine, and shows us how to introduce mindfulness into the crucible of the healing relationship. His approach revolutionizes the dynamics between the patient and the practitioner. In describing the classes at the clinic and the transformation that takes place in this alchemical process, he offers insights and effective methods for cultivating mindfulness in our everyday lives. As he reveals the inner landscape of his own life as a health care professional and we join him and those with whom he works on this journey of human suffering and courage, we become aware of and honor what is darkest and brightest within each one of us.        

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Santorelli, director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, offers a collection of inspirational essays and the meditations he uses in his eight-week course at the clinic for both healing professionals and patients. The key to improving the relationship between the two, he believes, is mindful awareness, a spiritual concept borrowed from Eastern mysticism. To achieve mindfulness, he recommends a series of breathing exercises. Santorelli suggests that within every health care practitioner is a Wounded One, in every patient an Inner Healer. Patient and doctor are bound together, and may embrace "an indelible opportunity to drink from the deep well of [their lives]." Interspersed throughout the essays are a series of eight chapters describing the weekly sessions of one of Santorelli's courses, with anecdotes relating to the students' gradual awakening to the possibilities of better healing relationships as "they share the essence of life with one another." Class activities include yoga exercise, silent meditation and an all-day retreat. Santorelli's approach to the relationship between caregivers and patients will surely provide food for thought for anyone interested in exploring the personal dynamics of health care.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"In prose, poetry, and poignant case examples, Saki evokes for us the mutuality of the healing relationship and reclaims for medicine and all who work within it the wisdom and power of its lineage. Heal Thy Self is a clear mirror in which we can find that freedom which is at the heart of all authentic healing and through it reconsecrate ourselves to our work and to our lives."
--Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., author of Kitchen Table Wisdom

"Saki Santorelli's words have the gentle strength of a bird's wings, beating softly as they gradually bear us aloft. Brave, beautiful, and disturbing, his book reminds us of the healing that conventional Western medicine has all but forgotten. I wish it had been available when I was in medical school."
--Mark Epstein, M. D., author of Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart

"Rarely does a book speak so eloquently to those of us who struggle with illness in our own lives, as well as to those who join with us in the project of healing. In sharing his involvement in the lives of patients and his own personal journey of mindfulness, Saki Santorelli gives us startling insights into what it means to heal and be healed. This book is a gift that will change your life."
--S. Kay Toombs, Ph.D., author of The Meaning of Illness, associate professor of philosophy, Baylor University

"A simply beautiful book. A full body/mind/heart contact between that which is healing within and that, a bit further in, which promotes that healing. A most necessary book for any medical student or healing library."
--Stephen Levine, author of A Year to Live

"Saki Santorelli shows the fruit of his dedicated effort in presenting mindfulness as not just the stuff of meditation retreats and stress reduction seminars. His accounts of everything from counseling a depressed woman to watching his six-year-old daughter encounter a homeless person bring the reader up against basic truths of our lives. It is honest, clear, and very helpful."
--Sharon Salzberg, author of A Heart as Wide as the World

"This is a remarkable, helpful book. Its genuine and warmhearted teaching gives us a real glimpse of the path of healing. Recommended to everyone, new or old, on the path of life."
--Charlotte Joko Beck, author of Everyday Zen --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; Reprint edition (March 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609805045
• ISBN-13: 978-0609805046
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #46,795 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is an intimate view of MBSR work by a trusted guide., February 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Heal Thy Self: Lessons on Mindfulness in Medicine (Hardcover)

From the beginning it is clear that this isn't business as usual; this is personal, deeply personal. Saki weaves a fine tapestry with rich imagery, familiar poetry and robust recollection. With great depth of heart the reader can see into the core of MBSR work.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A poetics of meditation, October 29, 2003

By 

Weary Grad Student (Lincoln, NE) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heal Thy Self: Lessons on Mindfulness in Medicine (Hardcover)

I am just beginning graduate study in psychology, but I already consider this to be one of the truly indispensable books in the field. Saki is a brutally honest reporter of his own perceptions and feelings as he engages in the "healing relationship" as he teaches the MBSR program at UMassMed, and takes the reader deep into his view of what it means to "practice the healing arts", and invites us to consider the depth and meaning of our own journey into the field, as well as to begin our own journey into mindfulness.

See also "Full Catastrophe Living" by Jon Kabat-Zinn for a more practical, informational view of the MBSR program, and for the finest practical guide to mindfulness meditation yet written.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetic Science, December 12, 2009

By 

Rebecca Coleman - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Heal Thy Self: Lessons on Mindfulness in Medicine (Paperback)

This book is simple, profound and poetic. "Heal Thyself" gently touches the 'bandaged places' with insight, compassion, warmth & humour. I hightly recommend this book for those interested in the process of working within mindfulness based therapeutic interventions.