Thomas Cowan before reviewing this book--boy, have I been missing something!... This book is probably the best self-help guide for the healing arts that has ever been written" --Nancy Parsons, waldorfbooks.com "Readers will be pleased to know that its author, Dr. Thomas Cowan, combines the best of Eastern and Western esoteric wisdom in the healing arts with the best of modern findings in Western medicine.... This collaboration pulls together a mix of expertise that offers health seekers some truly holistic solutions." --Duncan M. Roads, editor, Nexus magazine What is the Fourfold Path to Healing? It is a unique, comprehensive view of medicine, a holistic approach to healing that integrates the four aspects of our bodies: the Physical, the Life Force, the Emotional, and the Mental. Its principles are simple: right diet for healing the physical body; beneficial medicines or therapies for the life-force body, healing movement and exercise for the emotional body, and effective thinking activity for the mental body. Dr. Cowan merges the wisdom of traditional societies, the most modern findings of western medicine and the esoteric teachings of the ancients as he works to answer this most important question: How do we obtain true health? The Fourfold Path presents a unique, comprehensive view of medicine that will challenge your deepest beliefs, while revealing a practical approach to healing. The "fourfold approach" includes:Nutrition, using nutrient-dense traditional foods; Therapeutics through a wide range of nontoxic remedies; Movement to heal and strengthen the emotions; Meditation to develop one's powers of objective thought. CONTENTS: PART 1: THE FOURFOLD APPROACHNutrition: Healing the Physical Body Therapeutics: Healing the Life-Force Body Movement: Healing the Emotional Body Meditation: Healing the Mental Body PART 2: THE ART OF MEDICINEInfectious Disease Cancer Heart Disease Hypertension Diabetes Diseases of Adrenal Insufficiency Digestive Disorders Chronic Fatigue Women's Diseases Men's Diseases Weight Loss Depression Back Pain Arthritis Neurological Diseases How to Be a Patient APPENDICESCooking Instructions Therapy Instructions Movement Instructions Sources This book is a great companion to Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions, (New Trends Publishing, 1999).

    Author Susun Weed proposes an anticancer lifestyle, and, if cancer does enter the picture, a six-step plan for healing (sleep is at zero, or "Do Nothing"; surgery is number six, which she terms "Break and Enter"), with various complementary healing techniques included throughout. Weed is careful to point out that supplements and herbs can hurt as much as they can help, and she lists several alternative-medicine techniques that should be avoided no matter what. The steps she does recommend--from herbal oils for breast massage to help detect lumps early to the herbs milk thistle, dandelion, and burdock for women with liver damage from tamoxifen--are explained clearly, sometimes with fascinating quotes from centuries-old books on healing. Weed will draw ire from some readers for recommending that mammograms be avoided. She says they tend to squeeze cancer cells into the bloodstream and can't detect cancer until it's metastatic, which are reasons enough to not have them, and adds that women would be better off by making her suggested anticancer lifestyle changes, paying more attention to their breasts, and performing regular self-exams. The warnings about the dangers of electromagnetic fields, exposure to estrogen, and organochlorides from plastics may frighten some, but Weed means to enlighten and empower. She dedicates the book to environmentalist and Silent Spring author Rachel Carson and poet Audre Lorde, who both died of breast cancer. Extensive herbal resources, a solid glossary, and a thorough index are included.