{"id":57,"date":"2008-01-17T17:05:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-17T17:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.wpdude.com\/test\/?p=57"},"modified":"2008-01-17T17:05:00","modified_gmt":"2008-01-17T17:05:00","slug":"discovering-the-bodys-wisdom-mirka-knaster-book-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/2008\/01\/discovering-the-bodys-wisdom-mirka-knaster-book-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovering the Body\u2019s Wisdom \u2013 Mirka Knaster \u2013 Book Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
Discovering the Body\u2019s Wisdom \u2013 Mirka Knaster<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you like this blog you\u2019ll love this book . Billing itself as a \u201cComprehensive guide to more than fifty mind-body practices that can relieve pain, reduce stress, and foster health, spiritual growth and inner peace.\u201d Discovering the Body\u2019s Wisdom by Mirka Knaster reads like a text book of everything I\u2019m into and is a wonderfully clear introduction to the group of related disciplines that the author calls \u201cbodyways\u201d – covering martial arts, postmodern dance, \u201calternative\u201d therapies and bodywork.<\/p>\n

Many of the activities that take an integral\/holistic view of people have developed in isolation despite their similarities and are only now coming together. Some call them \u201cbody awareness disciplines\u201d, others \u201dsomatic practices\u201d, others bodymind practices. A down-to-earth tag I\u2019ve been playing with of late is \u201cmindful exercise,\u201d as mindfulness is a word that seems to be passing from Buddhism into the mainstream<\/a>.
\"\"<\/a>
The opening chapters give a clear account of the relevant theory. For experienced practitioners this part might seem basic, but serves as a good introduction for the uninitiated. The benefits of bodyways are discussed along the body mind spilt and subsequent alienation in Western culture that has made them a necessity IMHO. Addressing this misunderstanding and viewing the body as a domain of emotion and consciousness , and a source of pleasure, healing and wisdom is the books central theme.<\/p>\n

Mirka<\/a> Knaster also offers practical advice to the student, on how to choose an art for example and what to do if there\u2019s sexual misconduct. I would have also like to have seen a similarly practical section for teachers on promotion, ethics, managing a class, teaching, etc, but maybe that\u2019s a whole different book.<\/p>\n

Discovering The Body\u2019s Wisdom is divided into chapters on western structural and functional approaches, e.g. Rolfing and Feldenkrais (both of which were influences on my teachers which I’ll be exploring in the near future), and therapies such as massage, Bowen Technique and Craniosacral therapy. The book then moves on to western movement arts such as Contact Improvisation and Continuum. Next eastern systems of energy and movement are discussed, including shiatsu, tai chi and aikido. Finally convergence systems that integrate psychology with bodywork are mentioned. Holistics <\/a>fits into this category.<\/p>\n

Discovering the Body\u2019s Wisdom has some serious breadth. I\u2019ve spent the last few years travelling the world looking into this work and there were still some new arts for me here. Others martial arts and even meditation might have been included but it\u2019s 408 pages long already. There seems a slight American bias to the book, though to be fair this is where a lot of new work comes from or flourishes. There are some aspects of US culture that I enjoy. When I started Holistics all my US (particularly West Coast) friends said, \u201cGreat, go do it! Be original, put yourself out there\u201d while in more traditional England I got, \u201cAre you sure? It probably won\u2019t work,\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re just making this up?\u201d and \u201cWho do you think you are?\u201d All good questions but a very different spirit.<\/p>\n

Something I love about this book is that the Mirka Knaster’s researched the content personally and not just in the library \u2013 she\u2019s speaking from real experience. Similarly for each art a suggested experience is given which the reader can try out. This book is very digestible and gives the impression of a living collage, rather than just words on a page. With colour illustration, which would really suit its vitality, it could make a great herbal tea table book.<\/p>\n

Amazingly this book was written 12 years ago and is still ahead of its time in many ways. It was recommended to be by Paul Linden whose \u201cBeing In Movement <\/a>– Mindbody Training\u00ae\u201d concludes the book. Along with his work and that of Richard Strozzi Heckler\u2019s<\/a>, Discovering The Body\u2019s Wisdom will be required reading for those I train to teach Holistics. I recommend this book like I\u2019d recommend breathing and loving your mum. Read it, do it, be it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Discovering the Body\u2019s Wisdom \u2013 Mirka Knaster If you like this blog you\u2019ll love this book . Billing itself as a \u201cComprehensive guide to more than fifty mind-body practices that can relieve pain, reduce stress, and foster health, spiritual growth and inner peace.\u201d Discovering the Body\u2019s Wisdom by Mirka Knaster reads like a text book of everything I\u2019m into and is a wonderfully clear introduction to the group of related disciplines that the author calls \u201cbodyways\u201d – covering martial arts, postmodern dance, \u201calternative\u201d therapies and bodywork. Many of the activities that take an integral\/holistic view of people have developed in <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9xvDN-V","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}