Customer Reviews

Stand Like Mountain Flow Like Water

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Get cruelly betrayed by some you love, that you though loved you. Loose something precious to you. Be cruisified for speaking the truth. And think that nothing makes sence. Then, pick up "Stand Like Mountain, Flow Like Water". As I read about Andrew, the paralized student that wanted to be admitted in an already filled college class on "Humor", I remembered that there are still things to laugh about and how good it feels to laugh. I read about a woman locked up in a Chinese prison and someone in Chicago who's child was taken away to a foreign country. Then I remembered how thankful I was for my own daughters and all that their lives bring to me. I read about Larry's message to his mother Carolyn and remembered that "holy moments" like that still happen. I felt the grace and peace and strenght that come from using "muscles of the soul" and knew that love is what makes this "flow like water". We are all - for the most part - "wonderful people with horrific life experiences' like Dr. Seaward has come to know and share with us through this incredible book. And, with flexing our soul muscles, we too can come back to the awareness that we can "Stand Like Mountain, Flow Like Water". So, when your "muscles of the soul" feel a little flabby, and you think you need a personal trainer to get back in shape, I highly recommend that you put this book in one hand, a nice cup of tea in the other and go SHAPE UP! :-)

For someone who is spiritual, but not religious in the sense that there is ONLY one way, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is going through one (or many,as the case may be) life crises. This book is written in a simple manner on a very profound topic that meets you where you are and brings you up a few levels. Balance is the key to life, and I now have the key!

Psychophysiologist Brian Luke Seaward advocates finding balance in life as a way of overcoming stress. The title of his book, Stand Like Mountain, Flow Like Water: Reflections on Stress and Human Spirituality, is based on a t'ai chi saying. Seaward says "to stand like a mountain suggests a sense of stability, resistant to the winds of change. To move like water implies the ability to go with the flow, rather than trying to change things we have no control over."
He says that balance can be learned, but doing so requires becoming aware of, and using, our inner resources. Inner resources include humor, creativity, courage, intuition, and faith, among others. Inner resources "can and should be employed every day," not just during times of crisis.
Study after study has documented the harmful effects of stress on the human body. Seward says many people feel stress because they have betrayed their spiritual nature by not living the lives they know they should be living. He compares life to climbing up a mountain, with each of us picking out the one path that is best for us. He says "not only are there numerous paths, but we each move at a pace conducive to our soul's growth process." He adds that "it is impossible to get lost on the spiritual path. We can only be immobilized by our own fears." Confronting stressors overcomes those fears and brings balance to our lives.
Seward drew from many disciplines, including psychology, theology, quantum physics, philosophy, sociology, and mythology, as well as from his experience as a therapist, to write Stand Like Mountain, Flow Like Water. He says that "it is my sole wish that the collective wisdom found among these pages serve as a reminder of what we already know, because the guidance we seek is really within us."

Luke Seaward provides inspiration, beauty and simplicity exemplifying this book's title. The book truly stands and flows, weaving the ancient and the current, the philosophical and the practical, the momentous and the mundane into a celebration of how to be your best "spirit on a human path." I have a copy for my office and a copy for my nightstand!

This is the landmark book on understanding our "predicament" here on Earth and the means by which we can advance. Without the spiritual component, something which is lacking in many healing disciplines, understanding stress without spirituality is like telling a robot how to enjoy riding a roller coaster. Dr. Seaward is the one of the few originators of bringing this understanding to the world. He is the "country before country was cool" of stress management. The un-enlightened reader will get a good feeling from this book. The enlightened reader will apply the principles and advance, realizing that self-work has no substitute.

After the September 11th tragedy, I found myself rereading from the wisdom of Stand Like Mountain, Flow Like Water to try to find some meaning in all the sadness. His synthesis of the "Ageless wisdom" was very comforting in this time of spiritual hunger. I also found many passages which took on a greater meaning than when I first read it many years ago. I have given the book as a gift to many friends. I HIGHY recommend this book to anyone looking for meaning in their lives at this time. This book is a classic!

Dr. Seaward is truely gifted in every aspect of his writing style. His book is so easy to read and so hard to put down. He takes complex subjects such as stress and human spirituality and helps the reader attain a new level of understanding about them with significant ease. The real life stories he shares with the reader are true reflections of how the human condition is fragile and yet so strong. They also give the reader a real sense of connection with the skills of stress management that Dr. Seaward teaches so well. This book is perfect for anyone, from the 80 year old yogi to the 30 year old stressed out stock broker, it is an indispensible tool in achieving balance in life.

The clinical definition of stress has always seemed too convenient and easy a way to explain away the malaise which I have so often felt. You too will exclaim "Eureka!" when reading this book. Thanks Luke!

This book remains on my bedside table and I have worn the pages.... I know of no other book that offers a practical teaching approach to accessing our wise divine source. First the Author helps us to understand the very meaning of stress and then he helps us to understand that we simply have lost our divine connection which is the wise inner guide within. The mountain is spirit and it flows all through us when we become awake and move into daily awareness.Its simple approach to dealing with complex human experiences is what attracts me to its pages over and over.The stories become my stories and I come to understand how I am not alone and separate but part of a wonderful life force that supplies me daily with love and courage to overcome any life challenge.Dr Seaward uses humor as a wonderful teacher and shows the reader how life is a wonderful adverture and change is simply how the scenery keeps moving us along this journey. We just need to behave like free spirits in the presence of what feels like stress in order to flow through the sometimes damed river of life.

It is so easy to lose perspective! Stand Like Mountain reminds us of the optimism and possiblities available to us all in warm, human and generous language that is at once emotionally engaging and intellectually stimulating. A truly wonderful guide, that I have read and re-read.