Life Is Your Best Medicine

June 1, 2012

Low Dog (fellowship director, Arizona Ctr. for Integrative Medicine, Univ. of Arizona; coauthor, National Geographic Guide to Medicinal Herbs) aims to help women achieve, maintain, and cultivate optimal health by sharing her many personal and professional experiences, including being an herbalist, experiencing a vision quest, earning an M.D., and combining them all in her current position at Andrew Weil's Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. Her unique guide is a series of short essays arranged into three sections: "Honoring the Body" (e.g., foods to eat and avoid, supplements, herbs), "Awakening the Senses" (e.g., massage, eye health, aromatherapy), and "Listening to Spirit" (e.g., humor, relationships, play, meditation). VERDICT While its tone and content may be too abstract for some, this title will be well received by self-help readers, who can either read it from cover to cover or dip into it for insight and practical information. Low Dog is an expert in many of these areas, not least those topics that resonate with her life philosophy that the everyday stuff of people's lives influences their ability to be healthy and whole.--Elizabeth J. Eastwood, Los Alamos Cty. Lib. Syst., NM

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2012
Low Dog, a Native American medical doctor who served on the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy and now works at the Arizona Center on Integrative Medicine, has led a colorful life, which she covers in the first section of her book. She then looks at herbal medicines, lifestyle (especially spending time in nature), and forgiveness. Alarmed by Americans' unhealthy habits, she writes, As a physician, I see the lack of fitness and rising epidemic of obesity as a threat to our very survival. To make her points, she weaves in quotes from famous people, including Thomas Jefferson, who said, Not less than two hours a day should be devoted to exercise. . . . If the body is feeble, the mind will not be strong. An advocate of massage, Low Dog notes that medicine has changed from high-touch to high-tech. Throughout her book, she stresses living life in a positive way, asking readers to every day find one thing to be grateful for. Her holistic approach will appeal to anyone open to lower-tech ways to be healthy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)