Healing Essence: A Cancer Doctor's Practical Program for Hope and Recovery [Hardcover]

Mitchell L. Gaynor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1995

In this remarkable book, one of the nation's top oncologists presents sixteen powerfully inspirational stories of his patients, whose battles with cancer, AIDS and other devastating illnesses formed the basis for a unique 28-day meditation program that has helped hundreds face their doubts, find strength and regain inner peace. Through a "guided imagery process" called ESSENCE, an acronym for "Experience, See, Surrender, Empower, Nurture, Create and Embody", the program focuses on healing the mind as well as the body, and is designed to work alongside regular clinical treatments. The complexion of medicine today has changed: -- According to a Harvard Medical School study, 69% of Americans used some form of alternative or complementary medicine in the previous year. -- They spend close to $30 billion annually on alternative therapies. -- Prominent hospitals are incorporating alternative medicine into their clinical practice, or establishing alternative medicine divisions. -- Insurance companies now reimburse customers for such alternative therapies as acupuncture and herbal treatments.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Here are two books on coping with cancer in the long term. Written by the director of the largest cancer program devoted to providing free psychological/social support to patients and their families, The Wellness Community Guide to Fighting for Recovery from Cancer aims to reach some of the more than one million Americans diagnosed with cancer each year. In this revised version of From Victim to Victor (LJ 10/15/87), Benjamin takes a relentlessly cheerful, upbeat, and positive approach, emphasizing stress reduction, visualization techniques, immune system maximization, improved diet, exercise, and use of the Patient Active concept, which blends psychology and psychoneuroimmunology in an effort to convince patients that they can counter their disease. He argues that in fighting to recover, patients will improve the quality of their lives and, by following specific suggestions, will gain hope, control, and the ability to take advantage of partnerships with their healthcare providers, support groups, family, and friends. This energizing book has valuable appendixes to aid in this process and is enthusiastically recommended. Gaynor is associate director at New York's Strang-Cornell Cancer Prevention Center and a professor at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. His Healing Essence, which addresses many of the same concerns as Benjamin's book, offers a seven-step technique called ESSENCE that stresses mind/body connections. An acronym for experience, see, surrender, empower, nurture, create, and embody, ESSENCE is recommended as a means of handling fear, going beyond suffering, ending melancholy, and creating hope. While both these books focus on empowerment and self-work, Benjamin's book has the edge with its energetic message and gentle yet firm guidance through the processes of taking control while working within a medical framework. Recommended for consumer health and patient education collections.?Janet M. Coggan, Univ. of Florida Libs., Gainesville
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 226 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha America (August 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568360797
• ISBN-13: 978-1568360799
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,988,734 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Powerful Healing Process, May 18, 1999

By 

Nina Atwood "The Singlescoach®" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Healing Essence: A Cancer Doctor's Practical Program for Hope and Recovery (Hardcover)

This book offers immediately usable healing processes that even those who are not familiar with meditation can use. I found Dr. Gaynor's approach of healing from deep within the spiritual core to be immensely moving and transformational. I have used the processes myself with astonishing results, and I highly recommend this book to anyone with issues that need healing, whether physical, emotional, spiritual, or all three.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Gaynor rehashes old alternative med news, May 11, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Healing Essence: A Cancer Doctor's Practical Program for Hope and Recovery (Hardcover)

Gaynor is now sounding just like Depak Chopra, Bernie Segal and Andrew Weil. There is not much new in this volume and it reads as if a ghost writer cranked it out according to a Gaynor "formula". If this is the first time you've ever heard the empowered patient/you deserve a better doctor argument then this is not a bad quick fix. Gaynor's earlier books have greater nutritional value and actual content. This is a beginner's feel-better guide to a better cancer patient experience. It reminds me of Andrew Weil's trick of repackaging the same stuff ten ways to create new selling "opportunities".