Quantum Wellness: A Practical and Spiritual Guide to Health and Happiness by Kathy Freston Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Quantum Wellness: A Practical and Spiritual Guide to Health and Happiness
Book Review: Take Small Steps
Summary: 5 Stars
I expect that this new book by Kathy Freston is going to make some big waves. Not only because of the foreword written by #1 New York Times bestselling author Dr. Mehmet C. Oz. And not even because of the author's appearance at Oprah Show today. It is because makeovers is a very popular topic and Kathy Freston seems to have a good grip on it. As the title "Quantum Wellness" suggests, our health, and our wellbeing can be achieved by focusing on small steps in our everyday life. Kathy offers for the readers the following eight Pillars of Wellness;
1. Meditation. It is important for everyone to get some quiet time everyday, become really still, and look inside yourself. Connect with your "inner light" and just be present).
2. Conscious eating. This not only mean eating less, or showing your food well. Conscious eating means most of all being aware of where your food comes from, how the animals are treated and how the environment is affected by the foods that you eat. To be healthy and happy about yourself you need have more integrity and to be conscious about what you eat.
3. Exercise. Many books have been written about it and this is nothing new for anyone. We just need to devote at least half an hour a day for moving our bodies. In my opinion taking Yoga classes is a great option, especially that it combines physical exercise with deep breathing and meditation.
4. Visualization. As suggested in The Secret, visualization is the mother of all achievements. "It's like creating a blueprint for the way I want to become and setting down the intention," Kathy says.
5. Spiritual practice. For some people it can mean prayer. For Kathy it is mainly about compassion, being aware of suffering that's all around and to be compassionate about it.
6. Self-work. Educate yourself - learn about your physical body, about your spirituality or emotional well-being.. For Kathy that means "means going inside and learning where you're stuck and pushing yourself past what's comfortable."
7. Service. Don't be stuck in your own world, reach out, help others. This will bring about great feeling of fulfillment.
8. Fun activities. It is important in everyone's live to have some fun. For some it could be listing to the good music, or dancing, or spending some time in a great company. You just need to get away from it all...
To jump start the program Kathy suggests 21 day cleansing program to get rid of Caffeine, Sugar, Alcohol, Gluten, Animal Products. I suggest Complete Body Cleansing that is so well described in one of my favorite wellness books.
Book Review: Body, Mind, Spirit and Environment
Summary: 4 Stars
Body-mind-spirit, and , most recently--environment (eco-friendly) is the new mantra to living a full and complete and healthy life, as shown in Quantum Wellness and dozens of other new and not so new books. This is a good thing--seeing books on personal transformation extend beyond the self and into caring for the environment and all its inhabitants.
The way we think, feel and act is interconnected with the planet and the animals--with all of life. For example, Kathy Freston supports vegan diets (or at the very least vegetarian) not only because of the health benefits of a meat-free diet, but because eating most meat available in this country means eating animals that have been treated inhumanely. Additionally, raising animals for slaughter takes a toll on the environment.
Freston calls this conscious eating and that means that nobody is harmed by what she puts into her body.
Freston also supports using eco-friendly body care products and household cleaners--good for the environment and you.To name one of many books that support optimal health, veganism/vegetarianism and the green lifestyle is GROWING UP GREEN: BABY AND CHILD CARE.
Quantum Wellness, according to Kathy Freston, is an achievable higher state if being. Freston writes: "Quantum wellness is not about imposing big changes but about leaning into wellness, comfortably, adding things here and there to the thrust and taking baby steps toward the changes we want to achieve."
The quantum leap--or shift to quantum wellness occurs, according to Freston, as a result of many small steps. For example, Freston suggests baby steps to a more healthful diet--not meat eating one day and vegan the next.
According to Freston, there are The Eight Pillars of Wellness:
* Meditation
* Visualization
* Fun activities
* Conscious eating
* Exercise
* Self-work
* Spiritual practice
* Service
As an eco-friendly interior designer and feng shui practitioner, I was delighted to see Freston write about the importance of home in supporting our health. She tells us to remove clutter, resist buying new stuff unless we either love it or truly need it, and to use as little chemicals (cleaning products, personal care products,) as possible. This is very good advice, as the home definitely affects our well-being.
For a complete guide to greening your home (as well as making it beautiful and energetically vibrant) for optimal wellness, read the award winning book, HARMONIOUS ENVIRONMENT: BEAUTIFY, DETOXIFY & ENERGIZE YOUR LIFE, YOUR HOME & YOUR PLANET.
As previously mentioned, Freston supports veganism for optimal health. Understanding that the transition from omnivore to vegetarian can be difficult and that veganism is almost impossible for many of us to comprehend, she describes her own process and offers many helpful tips for the reader to adapt. According to Freston, living the vegan lifestyle is empowering. The book also contains vegetarian and vegan recipes to help us make the transition in our diets.
Freston covers a lot of ground in Quantum Wellness, including dealing with addictions and fears and questions to ask yourself when you aren't feeling 100%. As an extroverted person, I have a hard time with some of these sections, as I am not inclined to "look inside too often. Some people love to ask themselves questions and ponder...I either meditate or take a hike when I'm feeling sad, mad or whatever and that generally works for me. because of this, I got overwhelmed with all the suggestions of things to do to achieve perfect wellness.
On the other hand, I love that she suggests having some fun everyday.
Overall, a very good and inspirational book.