Your Life Is In Your Hands: The Path To Lasting Health & Happiness

Your Life Is in Your Hands: The Path to Lasting Health & Happiness

Amazon.com ReviewI believe that what you eat matters, but what is eating you up matters much more, writes Krishan Chopra, M.D., in Your Life Is in Your Hands. Chopra, father of Deepak Chopra, combines knowledge from Western medicine and Eastern wisdom to help you engage in those habits that lead to health and well-being, and discard those that produce stress and illness. Western medicine is effective, but it needs to be combined with a lifestyle that includes a healthy diet and exercise plus heart-and-mind habits such as positive thoughts, optimism, zest for life, right action, meditation, and spirituality. Chopra describes how, for example, your chances of getting a major illness are doubled if you are depressed, anxious, chronically pessimistic, angry, or irritable, and he explains how to alter those emotions. He discusses the concepts of dharma and karma, illustrating them with family stories. Much of the book is philosophical, spiced with case histories and traditional tales, with advice about how to work these themes into your life. --Joan PriceThe father and mentor to best-selling author Deepak Chopra presents a thorough, illustrated handbook to spiritual and physical health, drawn from his long experience as a cardiologist, medical research, and the wisdom of ancient India. Tour.From Publishers WeeklyDeepak Chopra's father, a cardiologist, adds yet another book to the sagging shelves filled with volumes that bring Eastern philosophies to bear on the dilemmas of life and health in Western society. In a foreword, Deepak Chopra calls his father's wisdom a major influence on his own life. Like his son, the elder Dr. Chopra believes that mind and body are one, that well-being is a matter of individual choice and that yoga, meditation and other such techniques can help balance frenetic, stress-ridden modern lives. Unfortunately, Chopra pere's presentation has a quaint, almost dated flavor. Attempting to encompass physical, spiritual and moral guidance, his book, while comforting, is the eclectic self-help equivalent of an old-fashioned general store. It jostles together warnings against the risks of tobacco use and explanations of dharma, praise for such virtues as self-discipline and discussions of aerobic exercise. Much ground is covered, but few new or detailed suggestions are offered. Recommendations aimed at helping readers to eat right, act right, and above all think right?get a good night's sleep, for example?often are both obvious and vague. Chopra's voice is charming and his tone warm. Ultimately, however, his pleasant book adds little to subjects already covered, in greater depth or with more specialized expertise, by a score of other authors. $50,000 ad/promo.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.From BooklistWhat we eat . . . matters a lot, but what is eating us matters much more, says self-help health guru Deepak Chopra's physician father in his guide to balancing one's inner and outer lives. Basing his advice on his long clinical experience and his deep understanding of Hinduism, Buddhism, and other religions, he emphasizes self-discipline, an optimistic outlook, and concentration on meaningful, nonmaterialistic goals. Although one's expectations may fail, the action of the self--karma--never fails, he says. To achieve a life that is valuable to the self requires keeping the body and mind in good repair and oriented toward service. An individual is obligated to eat the right diet, to obtain necessary sleep, to stay away from alcohol and tobacco, and to exercise regularly. The book is no mere guide to a proper life, though, for Chopra enriches it with myths, anecdotes, and case histories to show what elements of life are really important and how to embody these in one's daily and long-term actions. William Beatty