The Owner's Guide to the Body: How to Have a Perfectly Tuned Body and Mind

Rating:
Summary: Highly informative, yet as readable as a good novel.
Review: As one of Roger's hellerwork clients I must admit a certain degree of bias, and I was already convinced that he knew what he was talking about. I ordered the book as soon as it was published in the UK as I hoped it would suggest ways in which I could maintain the benefits from hellerwork. I was however very pleasantly surprised as to how readable it was - I started reading it on the train and nearly missed my stop! And my fellow passengers probably thought me very strange for smiling and chuckling over a work of non-fiction! Roger has successfully found a balance between the light hearted and the serious - the humour and the trivia keep your attention, and the information and sound advice make you think. And whats more when you do think about it, everything he says makes sense - it will make you see the way you do things in a whole new light.

Rating:
Summary: I never knew squatting was so much fun!
Review: Be prepared to laugh and learn and, if you're adventurous, to fall off the toilet. The Owner's Guide to the Body is an informative and delightfully easy read authored by the UK's leading Hellerwork practitioner. Mr. Golten addresses all of the most frequently overlooked fundamentals of living: breathing, standing up, sitting down, and, my personal favorite, squatting. In the book he describes how sitting is really just an interrupted squat. He then proceeds to explain how beneficial squatting can be for your lower back and for elimination. Beg pardon? Yes, Roger squats on the toilet. I've been practicing it for a while now and though the dismount can be an interesting challenge at times, I've found the whole elimination experience to be a much more natural and thorough one (not to mention less time consuming). But even if you're not prepared to squat, the book is full of fantastic (and less acrobatic) ideas. One that I like is "pushing down to go up". When you are seated simply lean forward until all the weight is on your legs (partcularly your thighs) and then feel the weight go through your feet by pushing down into the ground. This is particularly beneficial for those with low back pain since it shifts the work to the large leg muscles which are best designed to do the job. Mr. Golten is very enthusiastic and knowledgable. In a time of intense specialization (and even more intense back aches), it's nice to see someone getting back to the basics of living. Happy reading!