Quiet Mind, Healthy Body: The Art of Low-Stress Living

Nancy Tan, LCSW
Fig Garden Press (2008)
ISBN 9780615186672
Reviewed by Lynn O’Connell for Reader Views (1/09)


‘Stress is a household word,’ begins Nancy Tan.  Then, in her book’s first chapter, she defines stress, the stress response (complete with a real-life example), chronic stress and chronic illnesses.  From this foundation, Tan moves on to the book’s purpose – specific how-to’s for the reader in both stress reduction and stress prevention.  This is a book that works – the simple techniques and strategies can be practiced right away, and even Tan’s relaxed and compassionate writing style serves to begin to relax a reader.

Tan, a yoga instructor and a certified psychotherapist for thirty years, focuses the book on breathing techniques, yoga poses and Ayurveda teachings that a reader may use to relieve stress.  In all, there are ten chapters in the book.  The second chapter discusses breathing and includes exercises that the reader may practice quite easily.  The next few chapters are devoted to feelings, emotions and thoughts that readers are likely to experience and then how to manage them.  Tan includes numerous “awareness exercises” throughout the book.  In Chapter 6, she turns to the subconscious and looks at fears, where they are rooted, and coping mechanisms.  Chapters 7, 8 and 9 address the physical being: health and wellness, sleep and weight.  The book closes with a summary of integrated living to reduce and prevent stress in Chapter 10. 

The book definitely achieves its purpose of offering readers immediate and simple ways to reduce stress.  The format in the first nine chapters is consistent: explanation, exercises and a one-to-two paragraph summary.  Photographs of individuals practicing the exercises are interspersed throughout, so readers may quickly try out an exercise.  With Tan’s background as a yoga instructor, the poses and techniques are carefully explained and then correctly demonstrated in the photographs. 

At the beginning of each chapter, there is an illustration of a leaf or leaves along with a quote appropriate for the chapter.  A couple of my favorites were: “Time for rest and renewal should be a part of our regular routine rather than an exception,” and “A sense of contentment forms the backdrop for low-stress living.”  The illustrations are simple sketches, and fit the mood of the book well.

I would recommend this book to a reader interested in, but new to, yoga and self-healing.  Both the yoga poses (e.g., the sun salutation) and the breathing exercises are basic.  After finishing this book, a reader will likely want to then consider some of the wonderful resources which Tan includes in her appendix – books by such experts as Rodney Yee, Jack Kornfield, and Deepak Chopra. 

As a beginning yoga student myself, I enjoyed seeing which yoga poses Tan included and then trying the steps myself.  Her step-by-step directions for each pose along with the photographs made them all quite easy for me to do in my own home.  I was fascinated by the 8th chapter and her explanation of sleep cycles.  She stressed the importance of getting up between 6 am and 10 pm as well as the need to fall asleep before 10 pm (during the restful earth energy stage).  She explained that after 10 am and 10 pm, the body enters its fire energy stage.  In other words, ‘second winds’ happen during that fire energy time period.

“Quiet Mind, Healthy Body: The Art of Low-Stress Living” by Nancy Tan offers a quick read for those looking for practical ways to start reducing stress right away.  The book is relaxing to read and will not intimidate even those readers totally new to yoga and other Eastern world philosophies.  Reading the book is in itself an honest-to-goodness stress reliever.

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