Heal Your Body A-Z

Book: Heal Your Body A-Z: The Mental Causes for Physical Illness and the Way to Overcome Them
Author: Louise L Hay
Publisher: Hay House, Inc
Pages: 123
Price: Rs 395

Reviewed by Eisha Sarkar

Posted on Times Wellness on Wednesday, July 06, 2011 

Several years ago, Louise L Hay was diagnosed with vaginal cancer. A 'teacher of healing', Hay was well aware that cancer comes from "a pattern of deep resentment that is held for a long time, until it literally eats away the body." Instead of opting for surgery, for "the doctors would just keep cutting Louise until there was no more Louise to cut", she bargained for three months to clear her old patterns of resentment. She went to a nutritionist  to detoxify herself and, in six months, the mental and physical cleansing paid off - she no longer had cancer.   

You may call it a miracle, but Hay's story does offer hope to those who are suffering from cancer. In Heal Your Body A-Z, she writes, "The mental thought patterns that cause the most dis-ease in the body are CRITICISM, ANGER, RESENTMENT and GUILT. For instance, criticism indulged in long enough will often lead to dis-eases such as arthritis. Anger turns into things that boil and burn and infect the body. Resentment long held festers and eats away at the self and ultimately can lead to tumours and cancer. Guilt always seeks punishment and leads to pain."

Hay proposes you rid yourself of these negative thinking patterns when you are healthy instead of trying to 'dig them out' when you are in a state of panic. She tabulates most of the known diseases from A-Z, from abdominal cramps to yeast infections, describes their probable psychological causes and provides new thought patterns and positive affirmations that will help you overcome the ailments. It offers tiny packets of hope in the form of the mental equivalents that have been compiled from Hay's many years of study, her work with clients and her lectures and workshops.

You may find it hard to believe that anaemia can be caused by lack of joy but Heal Your Body A-Z is a handy guide if you are willing to do the mental work to heal yourself. Do these affirmations really work? Well, it depends on how much faith you have in them and in your body's healing powers. For, no medicine can cure you, unless you want to cure yourself.