Customer Reviews

Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book has such a promising beginning, with the most wonderful observation that "Your biography becomes your biology". A simple yet stunning summarisation of our cellular organism.
For the most part there are many wonderful insights, but the text is often rambling, ambiguous and endlessly repetitious.
The theory is very hard to understand, and there are many insignificant trite comments. Page 26 actually says that "If you are spiritually centered and call back your energy from negative beliefs you can eat cat food and still stay healthy"! This is obviously incorrect and a nutritionists nightmare.
One of the most interesting observations in the book is by another author, the neurobiologist Dr Candice Pert; who states that, "your mind is in every cell of your body". This kind of clear thinking and clarity would have been a welcome continuation of a book that has one of the most unresolved texts I have ever read.

This book provides us with a wonderful outline of spiritual development. It explains the problems we may face in our spiritual development and how they are manifested as physical problems. I love how the author puts together the stages in christianity, judaism, and hinduism and illuminates us to the parellels she finds. I also love how she discusses the flow of spiritual energy and how it affects our physical health. If you'd like to read a fascinating book explaining this using a more rational (rather than intuitive) approach, read "The Ever-Transcending Spirit" by Toru Sato. It explains things like "spiritual energy" and "spiritual" development by relating it to many contemporary theories in Psychology. Both books are absolutely amazing!

I agree with a previous review - this book is full of hyped promises but does not deliver on what it supposedly sets out to do, namely, show the reader how to become intuitive. But surprise, surprise, the author follows up with one new self-help book after another, and the readers keep buying as they keep trying to find the hidden secret. I find these tactics to be dishonest and self-serving. Another talented person whose original desire to help mankind has been overcome with greed.

This was a very complex book. I found myself rereading things as it had lost me along the way. I found the discussion of chakras and energy medicine very informative but again it was to such a complex level. It also discusses the practice of using Medical Intuitive as a way to maintain wellness before the illness starts or is presence. I think the content in this book is excellent but the complex manner it is a book you must reread several times before you grasp the entire content.

I'm reading with lots of enlightenment. Caroline is really making me think and re think the process of how we really are our own medical and emotional practitioners. Great book. This book will be a study project for years.

I'm a very spiritual person, so these kinds of books are my kind of thing. I'm the first to dispense with traditional science and biology when it's convenient, since they're very complicated, and they don't cater to the emotional and spiritual needs of the ordinarily-minded person. A book like this one should give those of us who choose to turn our backs on "proper" science something to focus on instead in our search for health, longevity and freedom from pain. However, if we're replacing all the discoveries and benefits of science, it should be with something MORE intuitive, something MORE spiritually simple, than what traditional science and medicine have to offer. Otherwise, where's the alternative? If spirituality has to be so complex, we may as well just accept what we're running from in the first place: empirically measurable knowledge. I give this book two stars since, at 320 pages long, it's unlikely I'll ever read it.

In "Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing," readers are asked to reject their religious beliefs.

Hitting on the same core market as Tolle, Chopra, and even Dr. Phil, Myss has garned support for her wildly accepted books by pointing out how broken we all are.

We are tired. We've endured a tough economy, divorce, 9-11, and lots of personal struggles we never tell anyone. That is what Myss wants to address. But she does it the wrong way. Seven steps seem easy enough to fix our mistakes, hurts, our loneliness and our rejections.

According to Myss, the math runs a little like this:

A Hindu practice + a Christian practice + a Jewish practice, mixed just so = healing and inner strength. She doesn't stop there. She adds Buddhism whenever she can.

Now, Christians who follow the Bible know this is against the rules. In fact, Jews who who read the same Scripture in Deutoronomy know this is against the rules. Why does this matter in a book review? Because categorically, Myss' asserts that Judeo-Christian theology lies when it says, "put no other god before me," and what Jews and Christians believe is wrong. "Anatomy of the Spirit" is all about syncretism, and Myss fails when she thinks spiritually grounded people will accept this.

Mixing Gods is a bad idea, but Myss presents it as a possibility. Not acknowledged is that a Jew and Christian must both reject a key Scripture to do so. Moses was pretty ticked when he came back with the Ten Commandments and saw what the Jews were doing with the gold idol. That's what Myss is asking Catholic, Jewish and Protestant readers to do: build a new god from nearby resources.

Dr. Phil has more to say than Myss when it comes to healing. He doesn't mask his ideas with a false spirituality. Instead, he just tells the reader to fess up where we've messed up, and to get over the pain others have caused us. He tells us to move on, and start doing what we should be doing. Myss, however, muddies it with watered-down mistaken theology.

More depth and truth can be found in "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things" by Robert Fulghum. Fulgrum breaks it down into a more honest language.

Anthony Trendl

I sought out Caroline Myss's work because of some lower back pain I've had over the past six months. I believe that physical problems can result from spiritual issues, and since I had not been in any kind of accident, I thought my problems might be the result of something not readily seen.

Anatomy of the Spirit teaches the energies of the seven chakras and compares that knowledge to Jewish and Christian traditions to illustrate their truth and universality.

While explaining the power of each chakra, as well as the physical problems that can result from improper energy flow, Myss also tells stories of friends and clients who have overcome ailments while working through spiritual conflict.

The information here can be difficult to follow and somewhat esoteric, but the personal stories really help the reader grasp the main concepts of each chakra. The book doesn't offer practical advice so much as it offers deeper insight into the spirit and how it works.

It's now up to me to use that insight and intuitively guide my way to healing my back pain. Myss is so convincing, I believe I can do it.

I purchased this book to help me get a better understanding of how each chakra functions. I am especially curious about how our physical/emotional/mental illnesses are linkd to each particular chakra. This book fulfilled all these questions and more ... and I'm only on chapter two!

Within the first 25 pages, Carolyn Myss got me thinking about chakras in a whole new way ... the way she explains our spiritual anatomy changed my perception almost immediately. I love the way that you can feel her experience through her words ... this is a must read for anyone working with energy, dealing with bad habits, health problems or for anyone who just wants a better understanding of how to work with their spiritual selves in order to be happier & more fulfilled.

This book reconnects a few things and for me it really allowed me to see a different perspective and taught me some great lessons. I recommend this book for anyone with an interest in chakras and self discovery.