Heal Your Body A-Z: The Mental Causes for Physical Illness and the Way to Overcome Them (Hay House Lifestyles) [Hardcover]

Louise L. Hay (Author)

Book Description

Series: Hay House Lifestyles | Publication Date: June 1998

Louise Hay aims to show in this text how with mental work, almost anything can be healed. It is designed so that the reader looks-up a particular health challenge to find the probable cause and the information needed to overcome it by creating a new thought pattern.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Louise L. Hay, bestselling author, is an internationally known leader in the self-help field. Her key message: "If we are willing to do the mental work, almost anything can be healed." The author has a great deal of experience and firsthand information to share about healing—including how she cured herself after having been diagnosed with cancer.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From AudioFile

For people determined to improve their health through knowledge of their bodies and discipline of their minds, Hay narrates from her book, Heal Your Body. With a deep, soothing voice she puts one in the proper frame of mind to absorb her ideas. She addresses the problems of each body part in alphabetical order, giving each a mental cause and then a healing affirmation. P.A.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Hay House Inc (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561704903
• ISBN-13: 978-1561704903
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (155 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #258,755 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Louise L. Hay, the author of the international bestseller You Can Heal Your Life, is a metaphysical lecturer and teacher with more than 40 million books sold worldwide. For more than 25 years, Louise has helped people throughout the world discover and implement the full potential of their own creative powers for personal growth and self-healing. She has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and many other TV and radio programs both in the U.S. and abroad. Louise is the founder and chairman of Hay House, Inc., which disseminates books, CDs, DVDs, and other products that contribute to the healing of the planet.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

402 of 409 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars She Healed Herself of Vaginal Cancer, October 7, 2003

By 

Janet Boyer "Author, Blogger, Radio Host" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heal Your Body (Paperback)

Author Louise Hay is a teacher, lecturer, and founder of Hay House Publishing. She contends that disease is caused by mental thought patterns, especially patterns of criticism, anger, resentment, and guilt. Festering resentments eat away at the self and can ultimately lead to tumors and cancers. Anger turns into things that burn, boil, or infect the body. A pattern of criticism can turn into diseases like arthritis, and guilt seeks punishment and leads to pain. In this book, Ms. Hay outlines hundreds of diseases and conditions, alphabetically, and the mental patterns that are associated with them, including each vertebrae of the spine. She has discovered these patterns through many years of study, her own work with clients, and her lectures and workshops.

She knows the power of healing by changing mental thought patterns firsthand: she was diagnosed as having cancer of the vagina several years ago. She was already a teacher of healing for several years, and saw it as an opportunity to practice what she preached. Despite knowing the power of replacing negative thought patterns with positive and affirming beliefs, she felt panic like most would at this kind of diagnosis. However, she felt that if she allowed the doctor to operate without changing the mental pattern that created it, the cancer would just come back. In fact, she believes that when cancer comes back, it's not because the doctor "didn't get it all", but because the individual never addressed the mental patterns that created the dis-ease in the first place.

In Ms. Hay's case, she had never acknowledged the deep resentment she carried for being raped when she was 5 years old and being battered as a child. As she says, we are often blind to our own patterns--even if we're healers or teachers.

Ms. Hay bargained with her doctor and asked for 3 months to work on the deep resentments and thought patterns that created her cancer. He grudgingly agreed, warning her that she was putting her life in danger. She began working immediately with a teacher to clear up her patterns of resentment, as well as working with a nutritionist to detoxify her body. Six months later, the medical profession agreed with what she already knew: she was completely free from any form of cancer.

She still keeps the original lab report as a reminder of how negatively creative she could be.

I have to admit, I never thought I would recommend this book to anyone. My first husband was a Charismatic minister who believed that words were powerful and creative, and taught this concept to his congregation. However, he contracted leukemia at age 28, and despite a lot of positive thinking and affirmations, he suffered physically and died. Entertaining the theory that he created his suffering, especially after believing in God, healing, and the power of words, made me mad. Very mad. I scorned Ms. Hay and her theories of blame.

So what changed my mind? I had a series of physical symptoms that I knew were connected to my beliefs and thought patterns. As a former Charismatic minister, I used to teach the same thing as my deceased husband. However, deep down, I don't think I really believed in co-creation, but just wished it were true--especially in the area of prosperity and "name it and claim it." After following a different spiritual path from the one in which I was raised and upon further metaphysical study and reading while working on my own thought patterns, I began to realize, deep down, that my thoughts were powerful and that there were mental and emotional correlations to my physical symptoms. It was then that I felt to give Louise Hay another try.

First off, let me say that Ms. Hay believes in taking full responsibility for your health without self-reproach of feeling guilty. The means NO BLAME. But if you're anything like me, especially one that struggles with guilt from being brought up in a fear-based religion, it's hard not to feel blame when exploring the ideas of metaphysical causation. Some people blame God or an evil entity for dis-ease, and others blame it on the environment, poor lifestyle choices or genetics. Ms. Hay doesn't believe in participating in self-loathing and self-blame when you get ill; this is yet another destructive thought pattern.

I bought Heal Your Body a few months ago, and I have to tell you, it's really helped me pinpoint issues I needed to acknowledge and work though. I was suffering sinus trouble, and sinus trouble supposedly correlates to being irritated by one person--someone close. I began to look at the fact that I held unacknowledged resentment towards my Autistic son because of the arduousness of dealing with his behaviors, as well as wishing my situation was other than it was. What mother wants to acknowledge she may resent her son on some level--especially a precious 4 year old with Autism? Yet, this is what becoming responsible for myself and my health entails: ruthless self-examination without self-judgment and self-blame. Then, it's possible to actually work on the root of the resentment, see where I was resisting reality and wishing it to be other than it is, and changing my mind and negative thought processes.

Needless to say, after a few months of working on it, the sinus trouble disappeared. (And it was plaguing me for many months.) I've had this work for me with other ailments, as well.

If anything, this book is a great starting point for examining our beliefs and thought patterns and observe if there is truth to Ms. Hay's correlations. If it doesn't seem to fit, sit with it awhile. Be honest with yourself. Allow yourself to explore the idea that it's possible. You may find some surprising insights into your health and your life, and begin on a path to a level of health that you never imagined possible.

175 of 177 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Look at your illness in a metaphysical light!, March 11, 1999

By 

Joanna Benz "Joanna Benz" (Henderson, NV USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heal Your Body A-Z: The Mental Causes for Physical Illness and the Way to Overcome Them (Hay House Lifestyles) (Hardcover)

So often, patients have no idea why they have brought a certain illness into their lives. Heal Your Body A-Z is a small, easy to use reference book which explains our physical illnesses in a brand new spiritual or metaphysical light.

Each entry shows a problem, its probable mental or psychological cause, and a helpful affirmation for correction. We can then reflect or meditate in the suggested direction and eventually change our thought patterns or heal our faulty beliefs.

The book covers many specific symptoms (like anxiety, constipation, overweight, fainting); some illnesses (like AIDS, lupus, diabetes, cataracts, ulcers, arthritis); and parts of the body (like face, lower back, joints, wrists, and sinuses). Some of the more modern illnesses like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome are missing -- but their components are there, i.e. fatigue, pain, skin rashes or appetite problems.

Louise Hay touches us with her true story about overcoming cancer, concisely discusses how we manifest illness, and gives us a truly wonderful meditation exercise for overall healing.

Excellent "hint book" for solving those incredibly difficult personal health mysteries.

170 of 176 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dog-eared volume held together with tape!, April 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Heal Your Body (Paperback)

This little blue book has been a constant companion over the past several years. This is apparent when you see the dog-eared, scotch taped book that might be laying around anywhere in my house. It never seems to stay on the shelf where I could easily locate it! Someone is always touting it here and there as they check up on the little "chronic ailments" that crop up from time to time. "Why do you supposed I broke the fingernail on THAT finger?" "You know that is the same vertebra that keeps going out - let's look it up and see what your body is telling you" or "You know our whole family seems to favor heart disease....we're always fighting melancholy and depression." I used to get calls from family and friends to "look up" what's happening with their various ailments. Now most of them have their own volumes. The more you understand from this book, the more you can see the patterns of communication your body is using to get you to "wake up" and change your thoughts and expectations. Louise Hay is truly a great pioneer in this effort to enlighten us about how it is really true - "As a man thinketh, so is he". I highly recommend this book and the doorway it opens into understanding how each of us can become increasingly accountable for the level of health we choose to enjoy. Most importantly, I'm grateful for the understanding that you will receive MORE of what you FOCUS on. When you think about the aches and pains - you receive an abundance of those very things! It's important to remember, as you get older, to refrain from "scuffing your feet along" and pick 'em up and put 'em down with vigor and intention! I love feeling like a powerful contributor to my own good health by seeing myself well and whole and then aligning my behavior to that deeply held vision! I am grateful for Louise sharing her insights and experiences. The affirmations are great and "cut through the confusion" about "how do I change this thought!"