Spiritual Medicine: Transform Your Health, Life and Relationships
By Laurie Leah Levine
Reviewed for The Whole Life Times by Lorrie Kazan

Laurie Leah Levine is a healer who contends that the root of all illness and pain is lack of love. Her intention in Spiritual Medicine is to teach people how to heal mind, body and soul in order to return to a sense of wholeness and balance. She cautions us to awaken from the illusion of separation and realize that we are deeply connected; that connection is not only among all beings, it is within each one of us. Therefore, we cannot heal the mind without also addressing the spirit, just as we cannot deny the body and simply devote ourselves to the mind. If we deny parts of ourselves, we become unbalanced and the denied aspect ultimately shouts in pain. Repressed long enough, that shout may result in injury, disease, or even an act of violence.

Levine’s awakening occurred after she incurred a soft tissue injury to her sacrum. Drugged by doctors, she found herself feeling increasingly helpless and depressed. She registered for a personal development course called “Insight,” which emphasized taking control of one’s life by choosing to focus on the positive choices one could make. From there she explored a range of alternative healing modalities, such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming, acupressure and healing the inner child. Levine incorporates these practices into a system of action steps available to the reader in each of the mind, body, spirit and emotional healing sections.

Much of the information presented will seem familiar to those who have practiced self-healing for any length of time. Nonetheless, her advice is sound, the steps simple and the illustrations easy to follow. What’s needed from the reader is dedication and time. If you can give yourself that, perhaps you’re already on the path of self-love. And it’s love, Levine tells us, that will heal the ills of the world.

Frog, Ltd., Berkeley, California, 2000.