Instant Calm: Over 100 Easy-to-Use Techniques for Relaxing Mind and Body (Paperback)

by Paul Wilson (Author) "Notice how your children have stopped worrying about the bomb lately and are growing more and more concerned about the hole in the ozone layer?..." (more)
Key Phrases: calm technique, nerves beneath the skin, calm foods, Power Breathing, Remember the Conditions of Calm, Calm Touch (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Available in a serene new package, Instant Calm is the busy person's guide to finding peace and contentment in a restless world. These ingenious shortcuts to calm, are written in entertaining, easy-to-follow language and are gleaned from sources as divergent as the wisdom of ancient civilizations and the discoveries of modern science. Paul Wilson's solutions are based on meditation, acupressure, self-hypnosis, psychotherapy, aromatherapy, exercise, diet, and much more.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Plume; 1 edition (May 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452274338
• ISBN-13: 978-0452274334
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #95,834 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

119 of 124 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars simple, jargon-free ideas and instructions, June 3, 2000

By	Sunil Govinnage (PERTH Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I don't agree with the synopsis of this book. The book does not contain mere "quick-fix solutions to relieve the stress and anxiety of daily life". `Instant Calm' although is about crisis control, brings together over hundred of the most powerful stress management techniques known to the humans from ancient times to the discoveries of modern research on stress management. These include meditation, yoga, ancient relaxation techniques such as Tsu-sanli, Feng-Chih, acupressure, self-hypnosis, massage, aromatherapy, exercise, diet and much more. Some of these `other' remedies include `dance', `unfold chair' and `calm hugs' which has been described as "one of the most effective techniques of finding comfort in troubled moments..." For those who don't have the luxury of receiving `calm hugs' can try listening to `calm music' and or `calm your own wrist' with the other hand!

What I liked most about the book was simple, jargon-free ideas and instructions. I liked the page on `calm affirmation'. It reminded me that the list of the words at the end of this section can help me to convert the negatives into positives. For example, `panic' can be replaced with `peace'. The `anger' can be turned into `love' and `failure' can be substituted with `success'.

The book is packed with immediate remedial and effective methods of eliminating stress, negativity and lack of energy from our life.

It is a handbook for those who have to live with stress and worries in this modern `age of anxiety'.

43 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A total waste of time, June 15, 2007

By	Mark Twain - See all my reviews

I'm a practicing psychologist with several years experience as a therapist as well as a trainer of psychologists, psychiatrists and students. I have a lot of respect for self-help books. I read one or two a year. Most of them are pretty good. Some aren't. This one is the worst.

To begin with one should read the bio on Paul Wilson. He is the head of an advertising agency, in other words, a guy who is pretty good at hyping things, which is all he does in this book. If he went to college it isn't mentioned in the bio.

There are hundreds, maybe thousands of reasonable studies showing that various relaxation techniques work. Wilson cites none of them. It reads as if he was in a big hurry to meet his publisher's deadline for 100 techniques. There is no depth. It's impossible to tell what's useful, and in some cases, what he's even describing. Meditation, which has been shown to be very effective, gets only a few pages.

Although practically every page has an example of sloppy work I'll cite just two to make my point. On page 213 he attempts to explain "Meditation Goggles." His explanation is skimpy at best and ends with the following: "Try it. It could be the easiest way yet of discovering real calm." Really? How about taking some time to track down the efforts of some researchers who might have looked into this already? Also, in the unlikely event that a reader is motivated to try this out, there is no info provided on where to go for further info or product purchase.

On page 21 there is a silly little chart which tries to show a relationship between stress and performance. In psychology we've known for years about the Inverted U Curve. This looks a little bit like it but with some critical changes to make it useless.

There are many great relaxation books. I won't endorse any of them here. Read some reviews or if you don't have the time, throw the dice; you can definitely do better than this.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great!, December 5, 2006

By	Mike O'Brien (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews

I've been using the techniques from this book for a couple or years now and I have to say that it works!
This book uses many different ways to help you, going from yoga to massage... from exercising to dieting.
The book is simple, does not use a hard to follow vocabulary, has clear ideas and instructions, and will help you to learn how to get rid of that horrible thing called stress.
A very good book!