Review of "Dr. Andrew Weil's Mindbody Toolkit"

Dr Andrew Weil's Mindbody Tool Kit comes in a box with 2 audio CDs, a short workbook, and 25 "mind-training" cards.  The book has short sections on the benefits of breath work, meditation, guided imagery, and sound therapy.  The training cards have exercises in each of these four areas.  They are quite short: for example, exercise 1 for sound therapy recommends "listen to upbeat music ... to help you get going in the morning," and also suggests that "you can list to relaxing music to help wind down at night."  The most useful part of this kit is the instruction from Andrew Weil, Jon Kabat-Zin, Martin Rossman and Kimba Aren, on the 2 audio CDs, who address each of the four areas.  Weil leads the listener through a few breathing exercises; Kabat-Zin does a half-hour meditation on cultivating mindfulness and then a short lovingkindness practice; Rossman does a deep relaxation exercise, and Aren's section consists of pleasant new-age music.  So the whole package is aimed at getting listeners to relax.  It's nicely put together, although the booklet and the cards are dispensable, so what you are really paying for is the box and the 2 CDs.  Personally, I'd be just as happy with a relaxation CD.  It should be noted that although Andrew Weil's name is all over this package, his contribution consists of a little more than a half hour of breathing exercises. 

© 2007 Christian Perring

Christian Perring, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Dowling College, New York.