Tag: sounds true

Healthy Sleep by Andrew Weil, Rubin R. Naiman

Healthy Sleep by Andrew Weil, Rubin R. Naiman

Doctors Andrew Weil and Rubin Naiman have created an audiobook to help cure the various troubles one may have while falling to sleep.

I liked their multimodality approach to a problem that everybody seems to have. They start with an exercise to help you figure out what type of sleep problem you may be facing. They discuss the differences between “rest” and “sleep”, which I had never considered. They also talk about how to structure your bedroom to give yourself the best opportunity for sleep.

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Pexels.com

Dr. Weil gives some natural suggestions for sleep like maintaining a consistent diet and exercise routine, going to sleep the same time every night, realigning your body with the natural rhythms of the outdoors, and more. He also discusses holistic remedies and the doses he recommends to his patients with potential side effects.

There are also multiple meditations to assist with relaxation and then sleep. As Dr. Naiman points out in the program, one does not truly “go to” sleep as it’s not a location or something you can “catch”. Sleep is more about stepping back and allowing your body to naturally do its thing.

The doctors also go into the importance of dreaming for the health of the psyche. If you’re not sleeping, there’s some underlying issues that your consciousness may not have time to deal with during the waking day. Managing your sleep is more than a benefit for your health, it is also vitally important for your mental health too.

Photo by Vecislavas Popa on Pexels.com

In addition to sleep for individuals, they talk about sleeping with a partner and the special challenges that can bring. I could see this being particularly helpful for sleep-challenged couples and is another aspect of the sleep environment that I hadn’t necessarily considered before.

Highly recommended for people who are looking to increase or improve the quality or quantity of their zzz’s.

Thanks for reading!

How to Be Ultra Spiritual: 13 1/2 Steps to Spiritual Superiority by Jp Sears

How to Be Ultra Spiritual: 13 1/2 Steps to Spiritual Superiority by Jp Sears

Anything can be a competition- even spirituality. JP Sears in How to Be Ultra Spiritual tackles everything from meditation to existing in the “soon” in a tongue-in-cheek effort to educate the reader on all spiritual matters.

Not for thin-skinned readers, this book uses humor to examine just how ridiculous the whole spiritual thing can be when taken to extremes. Though JP never breaks character, it is clear from the sheer amount of New Age material covered in these pages that if he hasn’t been on the retreats, met the gurus, done the shamanistic plant-fueled trips, then he’s talked to someone who has.

I found the whole thing incredibly funny, but it may not appeal to all seekers.

Photo by Eternal Happiness on Pexels.com

From the introduction: “… if there’s one thing for certain about consciousness, it’s that more is always better. There’s a lot more consciousness in the new level of consciousness that we’re now conscious of, but you’re unconscious to all of this if you’re still wasting your life in the old consciousness that is only spirituality.” loc 17, ebook. And so, the only choice we’re left with, is to become “ultra” spiritual.

What does this mean? “It’s not about being better than other people. It’s about being more spiritual than other people, which is exactly what makes you better than other people.” loc 72. Haha, JP, do go on.

When practicing veganism, he offers a few tips: “Thou shalt not acknowledge the illusionary nature of death in the presence of a thou who casts his stone at animal skulls.” loc 1079. The only vegans I’ve ever met are so not like that- and that’s what makes it so funny.

Photo by Polina Tankilevitch on Pexels.com

I’ve thought about taking a guru when I read a couple of Ram Dass’ books: “In the best circumstances your guru should be dead. … Aside from your guru always being with you like a caring stalker, the other advantage of assigning guru status to someone who’s dead is that it’s much easier for you to idealize his idealized self when he’s not alive. The tragedy of a guru still being alive is that they have their faults too.” loc 1250-1260 ebook.

It may be that I’ve never met my guru or it may be that everyone is meant to find their own way- it seems to me that we’re all just people doing the best we can. Not to pass judgement on anyone who has a guru or wants to find a guru, I’m certainly not a guru.

My favorite part of this book is when JP takes on Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment with his ultra spiritual “power of soon”: “Conscious people never have hopes and dreams that are based on exactly what’s happening in this present moment of now in their life. Why? Because now isn’t a place- it’s an illusion of time that doesn’t exist. … The enlightened ones know that the only place where their hopes and dreams can live is in the present moment of their future.” loc 1578, ebook. Brilliant.

Recommended for folks who have followed a bunch of different spiritual trends and are ready for a hearty laugh about it all. Some further reading: Be Here Now, Awakening to Zero Point: The Collective Initiation, and Psychosomatic Wellness: Guided Meditations, Affirmations & Music to Heal Your Bodymind.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sounds True Publishing for a free digital copy of this book. And thanks for reading!