Job's Body: A Handbook for Bodywork [Paperback]

Deane Juhan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1998

Possibly the most famous and widely used single resource in the field of bodywork (required for national certification in massage therapy), this beautifully written book gives a richly detailed picture of how and why the body responds to therapeutic touch. A reader-friendly yet scientifically reliable and detailed introduction to the human body, this updated edition (including new introductory and supplemental material) surveys "bodywork," showing how its practices alter deep-seated patterns of body and mind. For general reader as much as professional and student interested in the body-mind and not wanting a dry, clinical presentation, this is the book.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Juhan examines the physiology and psychology of our response to touch, combining excellent illustrations with a detailed but readable technical discussion. Individual sections conclude with his position that through body work, "heightened self-awareness and improved control over conditioned responses" will improve our health and reduce our Job-like suffering. Although Juhan is a professional body worker at Esalen Institute, he does not describe the techniques used and readers will have to test his claims themselves. Recommended for comprehensive collections on human physiology. Michael D. Cramer, Virginia Polytechnic Inst. & State Univ. Lib., Blacksburg
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

This fascinating text offers everything a health practitioner, massage therapist, exercise instructor, or student of human potential could hope for: an information-packed reference on the workings of the body and mind; a broad assortment of strategies for releasing tension, freeing energy, and enhancing health through "hands-on" bodywork; an eloquent exploration of the most mysterious and powerful of all human interactions--touch. -- Dr. Ken Dychtwald

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Product Details

• Paperback: 412 pages
• Publisher: Barrytown/ Station Hill Pr; Expanded edition (December 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581770227
• ISBN-13: 978-1581770223
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #927,741 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complex, Eye Opening, Vital, June 14, 2006

By 

Anora McGaha (Raleigh, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Job's Body (Paperback)

If you are a doctor, physical therapist, massage or bodywork therapist of any kind with an appetite for in depth analysis and understanding of the human response to touch, this book is a MUST HAVE for you. It's technical and detailed, and it is also ground breaking, eye-opening and very exciting.

Juhan covers the topic of the human response to touch from the micro-cellular level through to system responses all the way to the origins of the body/mind split in western philosphy and the consequences of pharmaceutical dominance in health care on touch therapies. He introduces many new perspectives that bring a rich vitality to anatomy. He shows the interactivity - the interconnectedness - the interdependence of all aspects of the human body, mind and being. He presents some of the latest theories about how the body mind are integrated and communicate - Candace Pert's molecules of emotion.

Not only is Juhan's research fascinating and valuable to body workers, but also his method of inquiry, the questions he asks, and how he asks and seeks to answer them, are also very educational - modeling ways we can pursue the investigation ourselves.

Here are a few examples of the kind of insight that Juhan offers in the Third Edition:

Page 17

"This personal, sensory engagement with the self does not spring from a rebellion against scientific authority, but rather from a realization of the present inadequacy of that authority's conception of reality, a realization that is not contrived for the purpose of debate, but which is forced upon [us] by [our] own painful circumstances."

"When the conceptions of reality that we maintain do not square with the things we are experiencing, it is not because we are flawed or because our experiences are wrong, but because our conceptions cannot contain all of the facts as we perceive them. And there is no constructive way out of this crisis but to enlarge our sense of reality to include our actual experiences."

Page 142

"The goal of bodywork should not be to impose universalized standards of posture and movement upon an individual, but rather to help the individual to cultivate the mental awareness and the physical flexibility to continually adapt to the changing needs of the moment."

Page 184

"Muscles that have fallen into disuse and flaccidity just don't provide enough pumping action for these intercellular fluids to adequately feed and bathe the nerve cells, and so the general strength of their functions is diminished."

Page 412

"Subjective and objective are not two distinct ways I have of viewing reality; they are two sides of a continuous feedback loop which together make up that reality. How completely I sense my body and how I feel about it has everything to do with the particular course of events going on within it."

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and Enlightening!, July 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Job's Body: A Handbook for Bodywork (Paperback)

I had bought this for a friend about to start massage school--but I'm KEEPING IT! The writing communicates a deep love and interest in the body and how it works, and how we respond to touch as healing. This is a wonderful way to learn about the anatomy and physiology of our living, working bodies.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars awesome, June 6, 2001

By 

C. Caret (Manchester, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Job's Body: A Handbook for Bodywork (Paperback)

Great overview of human anatomy and physiology from an integrative perspective. Brings together a lot of scientific information in an easily understood and relevant fashion that particularly explains many aspects of physiology as they apply to massage and bodywork.