The Essential Teachings of Sasang Medicine: An Annotated Translation of Lee Je-ma’s Dongeui Susei Bowon by Gary Wagman. Philadelphia, PA: Singing Dragon; 2016. Hardcover, 360 pages. ISBN: 978-1-84819-317-8. $60.00.
This translation of Lee Je-ma’s 19th-century treatise on traditional Korean medicine by Gary Wagman, LAc, PhD, makes the work accessible in English for the first time. Korean traditional medicine, while influenced by China’s practice, offers different approaches to health concerns. Wagman provides annotations, footnotes, commentary, and explanations, enriching the text with modern context. The book explores the human body as an integrative system, combining psychological and physiological traits with philosophy, biology, and botany. It also includes more than 100 herbal formulae for treatments according to the Sasang concept of the Four Constitutions.
Nutrition Essentials for Mental Health: A Complete Guide to the Food-Mood Connection by Leslie Korn. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company; 2016. Hardcover, 464 pages. ISBN: 978-0-393-70994-0. $42.50.
Nutritional therapy can be a useful tool for clinicians seeking to integrate a holistic approach to their practice. Nutrition Essentials for Mental Health provides clinicians with a practical guide to the relationship between nutrition and mental wellness, and helps create a nutritional counseling plan to improve the mood and mental health of their clients. The text covers a wide variety of topics, and starts with the basics of the role nutrition plays in mental health, how various nutrients nourish the brain and the gut, assessment techniques for individual needs, and strategies to aid withdrawal from illicit drugs, alcohol, and conventional pharmaceutical drugs. The book also advises clinicians on protocols for the use of vitamins and dietary supplements, and provides other resources for food allergies and special diets.
Mushroom Essences: Vibrational Healing from the Kingdom Fungi by Robert Rogers. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books; 2016. Softcover, 296 pages. ISBN: 978-1623170455. $19.95.
This guide offers a unique tool for a range of physical, emotional, and psychological conditions: mushroom essences. Similar to flower essences, mushroom essences are composed of water collected from the fruiting bodies of fungi. The book is organized as an easy-to-use alphabetical reference, with entries that outline how to create each essence, indications for usage, and its effects. The text also includes anecdata from the author’s personal experience with essences in clinical practice. Forty-eight essences are profiled, from basidiomycetes and ascomycetes to lichens and one bryophyte. Each entry includes an introduction to the fungus/plant and its energies, a description of the essence’s activity, method of preparation, and a case study from the author.
Fully Alive: Using the Lessons of the Amazon to Live Your Mission in Business and Life by Tyler Gage. New York, NY: Atria Books; 2017. Hardcover, 272 pages. ISBN: 9781501156021. $25.00.
Tyler Gage, founder of RUNA tea company, shares the story of how his suburban American upbringing collided with the healing traditions of the Amazon in his memoir. Guided by spiritual teachings and lessons from the guayusa (Ilex guayusa, Aquifoliaceae) leaf, Gage turned the popular caffeine-containing plant native to Ecuador into a multi-million dollar business by respecting native traditions, empowering the people of Ecuador, and subscribing to an organic, Fairtrade model of production. Gage recounts his successes and failures, the bridges burned, and lessons learned, and weaves the story and power of guayusa throughout the narrative.