Your Hands Can Heal You: Pranic Healing Energy Remedies to Boost Vitality and Speed Recovery from Common Health Problems

A form of "energy medicine," pranic healing is based on the belief that stimulating the "universal life force" helps bodies heal themselves. Practitioners use a series of hand "sweeps" and finger gestures that manipulate the body's own energy source, or prana, in order to accelerate its natural healing abilities for a number of persistent health problems, including PMS, insomnia and hypertension. Co-written by Co, a Master Pranic Healer, and Robins, a surgeon and pranic healing instructor, the book is grounded by Robin's scientific background and Co's initial skepticism. Based on two practices that the authors claim are largely unique to their method-employing colored pranas (to heal menstrual cramps, "project light whitish-green and light whitish-orange prana into the sex chakra") and focusing on "energetic hygiene"-the text offers a six-step program for achieving self-healing. Pranic breathing, meditation and exercises to increase energy are three such steps, and the authors explain all in efficient and surprisingly matter-of-fact chapters that resemble a textbook's: there are practice exercises that close each chapter, detailed line drawings that illustrate what pranic breathing "looks like" and the hand and finger positioning for basic sweeping techniques, technique and methodology checklists and tables, and numerous medical narratives that make for good study breaks. While the scientific credibility of this non-touch healing technique will continue to be debated, Co and Robin appear to have just the right touch for crafting a no-assembly-required, ready to use guide, to be used, they note, as a complement to more traditional medicine. B&w illustrations.

This review has been corrected. An earlier version stated that pranic healing is "touch-based," which it is not.