Rating: 
Summary: I Don't Agree with Everything but This Book is Provocative
Review: Dr. Pearl is a great writer, funny, and I hope he'll be writing more soon. I'm a Reiki master and for the most part, so far, it looks and feels like Reiki to me. Many of his views on energy, healing, rituals I tend to agree with. I don't think one has to have their hands exactly on something for healing to occur. I'm not sure if I agree that reconnection is bigger and better than any other energy. Reiki, for instance, is Universal Energy therefore it encompasses all. Reconnection is evolving so that makes it better? Reiki transcends time also. I was put off by the idea that group energies dilute this new energy that is so intense that a wall couldn't stop it. You have to be a reconnection groupie or you just can't help. People are channels. The energy doesn't care.
I don't understand how anyone can not be already connected to the ley lines of the earth since we're all attached to it by gravity. Has anyone seen a 12 strand DNA yet?
I've been practicing the exercises and not attaching to previous practices. I feel about the same "buzz" in my hands so far. Dr. Pearl has reinforced my Reiki, definitely. Supposingly, I've been "activated" just by reading the book. I'm open to that. So if I start getting the results that Dr. Pearl has, I'll let you all know. Borrow the book from your library. It is definitely worth the read and a try.
Rating: 
Summary: Warning: User Discretion Advised
Review: Fascinating, but only in the way a car wreck is so spellbinding for most people. Despite how horrible you can't help but take a good look to see what happened.
The hairs stood up on the back of my neck several times while reading this book. Dr. Pearl openly accepts these beings and paranormal phenomena into his life without even knowing their source or intention. He make the outrageous claim that there is no such thing as evil. In fact Dr. Pearl goes on to make numerous such claims based on no supportable evidence or facts to back them up.
Sure there were some sprinklings of humor, but I found I wasn't laughing WITH him as much as I was laughing AT him (especially when he claimed these 'spirits' had chosen him because of his reputation. Yeah, because they knew how 'gullible' he was!); and I was constantly put off by Dr. Pearl's arrogance mixed with his pseudo humbleness.
I do credit this book for teaching me one very important thing (ironically, since it flies in the face of everything he says), and that is just how important it really is to TEST THE SPIRITS! Honestly, I don't think he really knows what he's dealing with.
If you're a new ager, you may embrace this wholeheartedly, just as Dr. Pearl has; but if you're interested in true bible based spiritual healing... RUN! this is NOT the book for you!
Rating: 
Summary: more of the same
Review: For a long tiume, I have heard about Eric Pearl, and decided to give the book a try, to find out what the fuss was all about. After reading the book, I am a bit baffled: After having been active in the healing and energy field for 30 years, I expected to find something new, but found all the elements that characterize a run-of-the-mill new age healing book from California:
1) Claims that this is a new level, a new energy or a new level of light. This is the main mrketing plot in new age circles to this very day: "Teacher A. brings a new level of energy": "others may bring some light, but master B. brings the highest light, a level the world has not seen befor, but you can be among the chosen to take part in this light - if you pay for the seminar".
Pearl's basic tenets fall right into this bracket, and are no different than any of the other claims.
2) Mythologizing of life events. A natural life development is twisted into something extraordinary. Truth is, so many thousands have (like me) had life-changing experiences with energy or light or another level breaking through. Each story is fascinating and special, like each life is. But some people have the need to link into Savior archetypes and make it into something more. What are their motives? They will get a power to make others follow them - but what happens in the long run - freedom or bondage?
3) "My approach is special". Instead of seeing that the field of energy work is like the parable of the blind men and the elephant - each different individual working their own different ways into exploring the potential of healing energy/consciousness, Pearl goes to great pains to explain that his approach is different from the others, but nowhere showing in what way it is, ending in an "all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others"-stance. He has a special healing energy, it is not a technique, etc.; Matthew Manning and a thousand others are saying the same, and having their followers contorting on stage. The "miraculous healings" follow the same patterns as scores of such seances I have witnessed in fundamentalist religious meeting - in Norway we have a magazine reporting such ocurrences from a Christian viewpoint, healing of blindness, deafness, AIDS, contorted back pain, etc. - Pearl's tales would go straight into these pages. But there is a difference. The Christian healings are free of charge.
4) This is not a technique (but you can take level 2), it is unique and not teachable (but for an exorbitant price you can get it from me). Pearl debunks other healers' "technical" approach, but ends in the same basic stance.
5) And this is my basic problem with Pearl'sa approach. What are his motives for using so much time to ridicule the work of others in the field, who are doing their sincere work, presumably from the same motives as his (but not attaining the same level of fame and fortune. Others painstakingly try to translate the energy experience into writing - Pearl easily debunks it as "tango". He uses the "new age" label denigratingly on others an astounding number of times, ignoring that he himself falls right smack in the middle of this category.
6) With his generous claims of heling serious diseases, he has a huge responsibility. Why does he not, then, present serious research or stringent reports on his web site, but instead sticks to the snake oil marketing schemes?Pearl has been a huge disappointment. But the good news: There is a lot of promising research in this field now coming up, much of it presented in James Oschman's excellent book "Energy medicine". And there is also a book that. maybe for the first time, satisfactorily translates the energy experience into writing: Donna Edens book, also titled "Energy medicine".
These two books actually present a new level in the field, without bragging about it, like Pearl does. My recommendation: Go for these two, and leave Pearl.
Rating:
Summary: Skip the first half of the book
Review: I found the first part of this book to be very boring, so I quite reading it. Then about a year later someone suggested that I read the book. I equated that I got half way through it and was bored. This fellow suggested that I read the second half as he agreed the first half was boring also. So I read the second half and did not come away with much. I was disappointed!
Rating: 
Summary: At the very least, it's worth a try
Review: I just finished the book (I found my copy at a garage sale), and all in all, I'm glad to have found it. I've read several of the 26 comments submitted thus far, and am surprised to find so few negative (or low-star) submissions, just because of the topic's metaphysical nature. I don't feel that it alienates so much as offers to include ANYone willing to give it a try. There's no apparent drawback, as long as you follow such key directives as "set no expectations." Sounds like an easy-out, but in context, it isn't...to me anyway, and I tend to be quite skeptical. If you feel you're on a path that involves healing lives in any aspect, this book is at least worth the time it takes to read the 220 or so pages it comprises.
Rating:
Summary: Revolutionary Mastery
Review: I love the humor of the author and the wonderful techniques that have streched my imagination to believe that all things are possible!
Rating:
Summary: Not just a book, but an experience
Review: I read Dr. Pearl's book, straight through, in one sitting. I couldn't put it down; the story is compelling. The book is about Dr. Pearl's experience of what he calls RECONNECTIVE HEALING. RECONNECTIVE HEALING is beyond "energy" work, "faith" healing, or "spiritual" healing. It has nothing to do with "belief" or "sending" energy. It's about -- if I'm reading it correctly -- tapping into the quantum, reconnecting with "virtual strings of DNA" and having one's vibration, frequency -- whatever you want to call it -- raised to a higher level. In that higher level, writes Pearl, amazing things happen, one of them being "healings" on the physical, mental, and emotional levels. Pearl's down-to-earth narrative, his self-effacing humor, and his iconoclastic views of many New Age techniques, methods, and healing rituals was welcome and refreshing. And, as strange as it sounds, I, too, like many others, have had the experience that my hands become warm just holding the book or thinking about the energy Pearl describes. In fact, for four nights following my reading of his book, I dreamed I was offering healing to others and my hands became hot as fire. So hot, that I woke up and my hands actually were hot and pulsating with an "energy" of some sort. This has never happened to me in a dream. "The Reconnection" is not just a book; it's an experience. One of the best books on healing I've read, and I've read a ton. This is a must-read for anyone with even the slightest interest in healing or energy work.
Rating:
Summary: K*I*S*S
Review: I was always advised to "Keep It Simple, Stupid" and this is exactly what Eric Pearl has done. This tchachke-free, amazing and BEAUTIFULLY written book is for those who are challenged, ready and willing to take off the "training wheels" and stand in awe of the healing. Part II is one of the most powerful affirmations of this "Gift"; quite often I was surprised by tears of gratitude as well as laughter as I read it. Written with experience, intelligence, love and humor, this book is confirmation of what I felt in my gut about healing and our place within the Universe. Many times as I read this a concept or phrase would pop into my head, only to see it in print several paragraphs later after having turned the page; obviously, there ARE Universal Truths and Dr. Eric Pearl is a faithful mouthpiece for them. Those of you who have experienced him are blessed. Thank you, Dr. Pearl, for sharing.
Rating:
Summary: The Reconnection: A Critical Review
Review: Let me immediately state that I like this book. Dr. Eric Pearl has a rare combination of wit and wisdom that makes for easy reading. He has added significantly to the literature of healing. I like this book, so much in fact, that I have committed to a weekend workshop with Dr. Pearl. When used correctly this book can be invaluable. That said, I now want to share a few critical thoughts. Despite Dr. Pearl's many statements to the contrary, The Reconnection is a technique, just like every other form of externally activated healing process. Only when the entire process comes from within the "dis-eased" individual, and only when performed without fore-thought, any form of focus, attention, or intention on the illness or healing it, would such a "method" be free of technique. Stated otherwise, healing would have to be fully spontaneous. I read a review in which the writer mentions studying Levels One and Two - that alone tells me there is a technique. If you progress through stages, if you hold your hands a certain way, if you hold a specific focus, be it love, openness, to be unfocused, or whatever, it is a technique. If you are playing with a slinky or pulling taffy, it is a technique (you'll relate to this when you read the book). In Elmer Green's "Copper Wall Project" the single common denominator was that the involved "sensitives" (healers) all used their hands. Again, this implies technique. As Pearl states, there are other ways of working with energies, but the hands are unique (they are also where energy is most unstable, changing polarity from yin to yang - and when something is unstable it is more easily affected). I have now read this book twice and have referred to highlighted sections numerous times, and I have to say, it strongly resembles qigong. A serious, long-time student of qigong, I still manage to avoid holding it in such awe as to be closed to other possibilities, and that is why I was able to read and put to use Dr. Pearl's many insights. Just as he says that the word "energy" is insufficient, so do most qigong practitioners. Many qigong adepts have long said that the process is one of information. Like homeopathy and most other healing modalities, this information is exchanged on a vibrational entrainment level. This explains why, as another reviewer points out, simply holding the book will set off energetic frequencies in the hands of some readers. For more detail on this, I strongly recommend James Oschman's "Energy Medicine, The Scientific Basis." I won't go into all the other reasons Reconnective healing and qigong are kissing cousins, but know that they are. Finally, over time I have come to realize there is nothing inherently wrong with "technique". Technique is simply a teaching protocol, a way of introducing the learner to a universe of possibilities. As with every teacher-student relationship, some instructors (especially "bow down and worship me, guru types") will abuse it, making learning more ridgid than it needs to be, a disservice to the student and future generations of learners. But once the foundation is properly in place, each individual will find their unique way of advancing. Then we can draw outside the lines. The strength of The Reconnection is in the introductory foundation it lays, but there are numerous other techniques just as effective. And this in no way takes away from what Pearl has brought to the table.
Rating:
Summary: Reconnection experience was awesome!
Review: The title of my review says it all. In the 1960's the world of martial arts was dominated by traditional Asian styles that were heavy on complicated methodology and short on realism, and lacking freedom altogether. Bruce Lee showed everybody you just need to focus on reality and results. The world of energy healing now has one gazillion methods. Mostly these methods teach techniques and concepts in their intro training, and then somewhere along the line they slip in the idea that "it's all spirit so basically just do your own thing". But nobody will say that up front cause there's no tuition to charged for that! Pearl skips that intro technique-y phase (where most of the money is to be made!) and jumps straight to the idea of getting the healer-as-master and all his(her) 'methods'out of the way from the outset. The book gets truly RADICAL after the prosaic autobiography chapters, it'll blow your mind starting with Chapter 13 to the end. If Pearl is right nobody will be able to make much of a living out of teaching energy healing from now on! "In memory of a once fluid man, cramped and distorted by the classical mess"
- Inscription on mock tombstone in Bruce Lee's original Chinatown workout space
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