Everything You Need to Know to Feel Good

Dr. Candace Pert's book, Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Bodymind Medicine, was a best-seller but it was her appearance in the film, "What the Bleep Do We Know?", that really boosted her popularity as a seminar-circuit science diva. "Mind over matter" is an expression we sometimes use; Dr. Pert has come to believe that "mind becomes matter." As a psycho-pharmacologist who has done her own leading-edge research, Dr. Pert understands the mind-body connection "as a widely distributed psychosomatic network of communicating molecules." With the assistance of friend Nancy Marriot, who helps her stay still for a few moments at a time, Dr. Pert has written a book that is accessible and full of helpful, healthy advice. Included are her laboratory discoveries and notes from the road, which add lightness, background and humanness to the scientific details. Those scientific details, though, are reassuring. Thoughts and emotions can make us sick or heal us. As an "expert on the biochemistry of how we feel," Dr. Pert believes emotions link us "as physical entities to the divine, making it possible for us to both feel good and feel God at the same time." In a chapter section called "Receptor-ology 101", Dr. Pert describes the biochemistry that makes up the new-paradigm physiology. The receptor and the ligand (hormones, neurotransmitters and peptides) are the two components that make up the bodymind communication system and are what Dr. Pert calls the "molecules of emotion". As a writer who engages in various forms of bodywork, including network chiropractic recommended by Dr. Pert, I can relate to and very much agree with what she writes under the heading of "Emotion and Memory." She refers to "core emotional trauma," a term used by some psychologists and healers for buried and painful emotions from the past. "The point of therapy--including bodywork, some kinds of chiropractic, and energy medicine--is to gently bring that wound to gradual awareness, so it can be reexperienced and understood. Only then is choice possible, a faculty of your frontal cortex, allowing you to reintegrate any disowned parts of yourself; let go of old traumatic patterns; and become healed, or whole." In a chapter entitled, "Toxicity, Mood, and Food," Dr. Pert points out the ramifications of the artificial sweetener aspartame. Her own review of the literature supports "a policy of zero tolerance." The chapter also includes information about inflammation, which shows up in many diseases, most commonly arthritis. While she includes mention of supplements such as bromelain, she also reminds readers that the language we use about our ailments affects the condition. If you say you have a "bad knee," you are "dooming your mind to produce the painful symptoms over and over again." Forgiveness, studies have shown, is helpful for reducing inflammation. Most importantly, a forgiveness of oneself. Dr. Pert also espouses the healing benefits of music as it can interact directly

I just finished the book and loved its authenticity, candor and exploration of a wide range of topics that effect the human spirit. For an author who has published hundreds of scientific articles, her writing is very approachable and very human. This book inspired me to take better care of my life, and empowered me to look into how so many areas of life are interconnected into the web of my feeling "good." Dr. Pert's compilation of resources to other books and scientific contributors in the areas of holistic health is a blessing to us all - a skilled researcher took the time to share with us what she has discovered. Very kind of her, indeed.

If you've read Dr. Pert's other books, packed with scientific studies of the intricacies of hormonal and molecular transactions, you'll be surprised at the very human scientist behind the work. She describes her own helter-skelter and unintended growth path, and the amazing journey on which her studies have launched her. Each chapter describes a set of experiences and travels, often to conferences to present her ideas, and the people and concepts she runs into on the way. She tells us that what everyone wants, when all the elaboration is stripped away, is to feel good, and is very revealing of her own personal process toward that goal.

What I liked best about this terrific book is that it was written by two women--world-class neuroscientist Candace Pert and her lifelong friend and writer, Nancy Marriott. There is something very personable and easy in their telling of the adventure they embark upon to get a book written, and along the way, explore the frontier of science on emotions, healing and spirituality. I loved that they took me so intimately on their journey--it made all the difference in me understanding the science to see how it influenced their real-life relationships and growth. Oh, and not to forget the part about the AIDS drug Dr. Pert is developing with her husband, and getting a first-hand view of the governmental politics and industry greed that prevent new drugs from making it to people. I wept to hear about the suffering that continues in Africa while we wait for a shift in consciousness by the powers that be, toward an acceptance of newly designed drugs that work but may not make people rich. This book is a fun romp, a seething indictment, and a tale of personal growth and triumph. What a great combo!