Customer Reviews

The Power of Your Other Hand: A Course in Channeling the Inner Wisdom of the Right Brain

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The first night I had this book I began writing with my left hand, even though I really thought I couldn't do it. Not only was I able to do it, but it opened up a new world to me. The act of writing--which is usually dominated by the left, logical brain--suddenly became more intuitive, freer, and much more of an adventure. The blank page was no longer a threat or obstacle to overcome, but an invitation for my inner voice to speak.

The next of the book's exercises which I took up was mirror-writing with the left hand-that is, writing so that the text is legible when held in front of a mirror. It really didn't take that long to learn, and the results have been a very powerful unlocking of insights, memories, dreams, and creative thoughts. Ms. Capacchione mentions that Leonardo da Vinci mirror-wrote his journals, probably with his "other" hand, and I can certainly attest to the fact that it opens up new avenues of instinct, imagination, and intuition to anyone who wants to try it.

This book is not long and is easy to work with. The first chapter includes an interesting history of humans' cultural preference for the the right hand, along with a good introduction to right/left brain theory. All the exercises can easily be tailored to your own specific needs. I do agree with Ms. Capacchione that there is much healing and personal growth to be gained by silencing the critical left-brain using your non-dominant hand-voices will emerge on the page which you never knew you had living within yourself. I recommend this book for writers, artists, metaphysicians, scientists, people recovering from abuse, people facing dread diseases, to name only a few of the possible beneficiaries. A wonderful, eye (and brain)-opening book.

I picked up this book while going through a phase. I was trying to tap into my more artistic side which had been easy for me up until about three years ago, with real world concerns pressing in and working at a job that didn't spark my creativity I found it harder and harder to distinguish what I really wanted to do compared to what I thought I should do. This book I was hoping would help-and it did. It has many, many exercises to help you get more in touch with your more spontaneous, child like side. Many of these exercises were uncomfortable for me at first for me because they involved giving up the control I held so rigidly to.In fact I found it very hard because giving up control would mean I would have to trust in myself. I didn't know how to flow anymore and this book is all about flow. Some of the exercises involve drawing pictures with your non-dominant hand and others involve getting in touch with different parts of yourself you might have left behind for some reason or another. I find Lucia Cappachione an author who's style is very warm and the personal stories she tells in the book set her apart from self help guru's who just preach and preach and give nothing of themselve's in turn. This book is never boring and is like a kid's activity book for adults.

This is a neat little book that helps you tap into your spontaneous, creative, expressive side. Capaccione shows how we usually are dominated by rationality, logic, straight-lined thinking, and how we neglect the wise, intuitive, spontaneous parts of us. By asking us to do writing exercises with our "other" hand, she helps us get in touch with our inner child, with excitedness, a sense of discovery. Doing the exercises (and they are small, no big tasks at all) can be quite eye-opening - and thoroughly refreshing for your soul.

I've recently started doing the exercises in this book, and I am already progressing in my efforts to overcome fear (fear being the only thing which holds people back) and achieve happiness. This book can be a major help to everyone in moving along their path of personal growth. I've always sensed that life didn't have to be a painful struggle, and getting in touch with my inner self by dialoguing with myself using my dominant and non-dominant hands is providing me with powerful insights into how I can live the life I want to live. I recommend combining this book with "Your Handwriting Can Change Your Life" by Vimala Rodgers (who also recommends writing with your non-dominant hand). Happiness is possible for everyone and not nearly as difficult as it may seem.

Lucia's work, and this book specifically, showed me how to access my own inner wisdom and thus have a never ending supply of assistance, whenever I needed it. Dialoging with my inner wisdom in writing allowed me to recognize the voice of wisdom within so that I was able to hear it, and decipher that voice from my thinking mind, my inner child and other sub-personalities, all of the time. (IF this sounds strange, Lucia does an EXCELLENT job of explaining it in this book...) Writing with my non-dominant hand also allowed me to access my creative voice.....and I have hence gone on to be an author myself, and advisor for others.
I can not recommend this book highly enough...totally changed my life!

This book mixes theoretical discussion of brain hemisphere function with prescription of practical exercises designed to reawaken the neural circuitry associated with the non-dominant hand. The writer, a qualified psychologist who uses a form of art therapy, draws on her knowledge of Sperry, Jung and Transactional Analysis in positing a theory that exercising the less used hand can lead to the rediscovery or re-emergence of long forgotten aspects of personality and unrealised talents. She cites personal experience and the experience of clients/patients who have engaged with her in a therapeutic relationship. The book is very interesting and ought to be taken seriously, even though the theory would have to be regarded as speculative at this point of time.

I'm not sure how I came across this book, but non-dominant hand writing is an astounding technique. If you get only one thing out of this book, it's the reliable truth you can get from yourself when you are looking for answers. My own left hand seems to be me at about the age of six, about the time I had to start really following rules not of my own making. She's nothing like the case studies in the book - there's no fight between my conscious and my subconscious, just a relief that there's an outlet. (My left hand actually helped me find a camera I thought I'd lost, so there are plenty of practical things the left hand can tell you as well!)

My left handed writing sessions which I do a couple times a week have given me amazing clarity about the things I want, my priorities, how to handle tricky situations well, and how I really feel about things. Right hand tells me what I think. Left hand tells me how I feel. I am grateful to the writer for this book.

I was first introduced to this book in 1988 when I took a workshop by Dr. Lucia Capacchione. I was surprised by the results of my non-dominant hand writing (writing with the hand you don't normally write with). The ease and flow amazed me! I accessed a child part of me that was very unhappy. On the topic of my marriage, the message was, "Get me out of here! I'm scared." The gift of tapping into your right brain; your creativity, and your emotional center, is that the information you get is raw, honest, and right to the point! We are used to our left brains, which are polite, presentable, logical, sequential, and grammatically correct. It is so refreshing to hear our own truth. This was the first of many non-dominant writing sessions, and many new insights into how I was feeling. This book was the beginning of an exciting journey into myself. It gave me many tools for self-exploration and self-knowledge. I still use the writing techniques introduced by this book and Dr. Capacchione's work to this day! The Power of the Other Hand changed my life!

I love this book! Even doing doodles with my non-dominant hand has unlocked inspiration for me. I am a singer, and anything that gets my creative juices flowing is worth it's weight in gold to me, and this book did it in spades. What a powerful tool, right under our noses (or at the end of our arm, as the case may be! )

I am a left brain person who was looking for a book to help me connect with my right side. This was not the book for me. I suspect that author is a right brainer. She uses a lot of personal stories and not enough step by step here's what you do kind of stuff. I'll keep looking.

Jeff Anderson