Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing Paperback – August 26, 1997

This book was one of the required readings I had assigned to me by my yoga teacher during my RYT500 training. I heard about Caroline Myss, but I never read any of her books. I will be honest and admit that the fact that Oprah was endorsing the book I was not into it. As one can tell, I do not believe in celebrity endorsements. But this book deserves to be mentioned and it is a valuable read for anyone and everyone interested in holistic healing, alternative medicine, intuitive medicine and energy channeling.

In one way this book is almost a comparative religious study on spiritual healings associated with Jewish mysticism, Christianity and Hinduism. One learns from this book how different cultures over centuries long period came across same conclusion - that there are 7 major energy channels in human body. Dr. Myss draws parallel meaning between all three.

Personally I am most familiar with chakra energy system. This book helped me deepen my understanding of each chakra and how they are associated with human emotions, human organs and how over time, of unbalanced they can lead to disease. I also loved the fact that this book was written in a simple language that no matter what level of background one has about energy medicine, any person can understand the message. Reference material is invaluable and in my case it will be my personal guide to reading more about this amazing topic.

After digesting this complex book and her other lectures (free on Utube) I feel two different conclusions for myself as a result: First, I think she tried very hard to SELF-empower those who are ill or needing to 're-arrange' their lives to have more fulfillment and meaning by creating a sort of 'road map' to check and heal yourself; Second, I feel she is rooted in Roman Catholicism so her 'lens for the world' goes through this filter to make sense. Although in later lectures she denies Jesus was the 'son of god' and that he was just trying to show a WAY to live, heal, and thrive....and that she doesn't want anything to do with the church and all that dogma...she tries very hard to bring Christian, Jew and Buddhist/Hindu together by drawing parallels in the 7 chakras, 7 sacraments, and the Jewish Kabbala 'tree of life'. She says she did not bring in Islam because she just didn't know enough about it--but she could have also brought in Mohammed's journey through the '7 Heavens'.

She tries to bring these paths into one format--that of showing a WAY to see yourself and the world by each 'level' or chakra's influence on us, the way we have molded our lives and bodies in response to what has 'happened' along the way, and how we keep traumas in our cells to either wreak havoc or propel us forward in life.

In that way-she makes some excellent comparisons and shares many 'stories' to illustrate her points. without the personal stories of others going through what she is teaching about in that section of the book--it would have been a VERY dry read.

She has a reputation as a no nonsense Teacher (watch her stinging comments on u-tube to people taking her workshops! She is blunt and doesn't fool around). Yet the Christian way of seeing the world is her lens--angels, etc influence her profoundly. I have come to the conclusion that her popularity is somewhat like Paramahansa Yogananda's popularity in the 1920's--he came from India and brought Yoga to the West and mixed it with Christianity--a brilliant way to get the Western mind to OPEN to new ideas. In turn, Caroline does the same, blending these three religious paths in a 'common ground' sort of way to bring her points to fruition. Namely, that WE have 'road maps' from religions all around us that have been sort of 'lost in translation' and the points--to show us a way to live in health on all levels: spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally--have been forgotten or covered up in ritual and dogma.

That is very interesting and the book takes WORK to follow the suggestions for each 'level' or chakra. To look within and figure yourself out and make changes...

She has a good grasp of healing, yet her 'system' is still too rigid for my taste. It stays within the confines of accepted religious thought--and that is its appeal to those a bit frightened to venture outside the norm. As I said--a brilliant move to get western minds to OPEN.

For those wanting to look within with a ROADMAP TO FOLLOW and figure out what's wrong with your health or life in general--it is a workbook, and a good one. I recommend her lectures on u-tube over the book however, because she HAS CHANGED HER STANCE ON HEALING SINCE THIS WAS WRITEN IN THE 1990'S. Watch her more recent lectures to see that she now acknowledges that we do NOT cause EVERYTHING in our lives-that 'acts of God' etc are just what happens...she has matured spiritually over the years. So read the bok AND watch her newer stuff to get a more balanced view. But do keep in mind where she herself is coming from. The Christian saints are her upbringings perspective so keep that in mind too.

Aloha

Since I became a Reiki Master I have been reading numerous books lately on various forms of energy healing therapies. I just finished reading this 303 page hardcover book (Anatomy of the spirit: The seven stages of power and healing by Caroline Myss, Ph.D.) which I purchased on Amazon for a bargain price.

This interesting and informative book is organized into two parts covering in detail the basic principles of the author’s system. The first part (A new language of the spirit) explains the principles of energy medicine and intuition and made in the image of God exploring various esoteric issues. The second part (The seven sacred truths) goes into great detail explaining the seven Chakra. In fact, this book covers the Chakras in more depth than any other book I have read lately on this topic.

The unique aspect of this book compared to similar energy healing books is this author combines religions (Christianity, Jewish and far eastern belief systems like Buddhism, and Taoism) along with other esoteric subjects.

In conclusion, if you are seeking an interesting approach focusing mainly on the seven Chakras you may want to check out this volume.

Rating: 4 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Chair/Seated Tai Chi, Qigong and Yoga for seniors and the physically challenged).

The 3 stars reflects the quality of the book NOT its content. I love the book but it is falling apart as I try to read it. I am glad to see it is now available on Kindle. I hate to give this book a low rating because I highly recommend the book but after reading some of the reviews, I’m not the only one who has purchased the book recently (August 2017) and it is falling apart. Too late for me to return...maybe Amazon will replace it or provide a refund???