Esoteric Anatomy: The Body as Consciousness

by Bruce Burger

Book Overview

A comprehensive course in the power of energy medicine--drawing on polarity therapy, esoteric anatomy, and somatics--that reveals the vital role of consciousness in the healing arts

Esoteric Anatomy offers a spiritual approach to massage, bodywork, and somatic psychology, demystifying an ancient transpersonal model for understanding energy in nature and working with consciousness in the healing arts. It offers a comprehensive...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1556432240
• ISBN13: 9781556432248
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books
• Length: 440 Pages
• Weight: 2.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 8.1" x 10.1"

Customer Reviews

Amazing--not a quick read

This book is incredible. It's laid out with a lot of charts and pictures to assist what's being said. This is dense and a lot to go through, but I find that going that much in depth help wth unerstanding the complexity of the issues. A lot of material is summarized int his book, and I'd recomend it to anyone. In fact, I had to order two copies--the first copy I ordered went to my mother's house--who liked it so much that I had to order another copy for myself.

For serious seekers and scholars of the occult

Like Dr, Stone's work, this might take a while to get through, but is worth the time. Read a little, meditate on it. This book is worth taking the time to properly digest. Also great for reference, great charts and diagrams. Great information on indian philosophy, polarity therapy, the elements, the gunas, and many other subjects. Highly reccommended.

Wow

Having met Bruce in person and experienced his personal brilliance and the compassionate nature of his work, I would say this book is a must have for any esoteric minded person. The book covers a huge variety of topics all of which I have found utterly profound. Most of the pages could be read over and over again to soak up the cosmic/myopic insight and awareness dripping from the text. This is not just one mans words, but a infinite reflection of wisdom gathered from all corners of the world. Nothing is left out except personal application of this knowledge to manifest its wisdom and reward. Thank you Bruce.

The theme of the book is the body as Consciousness.

I first met Bruce at an American Polarity Therapy Conference in 1990. He is the founder of the Heartwood Institute in California and a respected member of the Polarity Therapy teaching fraternity. His primary emphasis as a teacher and practitioner of Polarity Therapy is that Polarity Therapy is a form of Bhakti yoga. Bhakti yoga is one of the eight branches of classical yoga and relates to compassionate service as a yogic practise. Esoteric Anatomy is infused with BruceÕs deep commitment to Polarity as spiritual practise. The book is a credit to both Polarity Therapy and him. It is an extraordinary body of work that displays not only his deep understanding of the art of Polarity therapy but also reflects his spiritual studies in India and Asia and so covers an array of material on all the differing aspects of Polarity theory and practice as well as detail on an esoteric approach to somatic psychology. The philosophical underpinning of the book is derived from Sanatana Dharma which is an expression of the teachings of the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the teachings of the Indian sage Shankara. Simply put this teaching offers a profound vision of the unity and sacredness of all life and how "ÉÉ.the living conscious, or self, of each being is unified with the one universal Being." The main theme of the book is the body as a manifestation of Consciousness. Threaded through this matrix are sections on fundamental Polarity energy balancing techniques entitled "loving hands are healing hands" followed by chapters on the breath, the Golden Mean, the mystic spiral in relation to the body and astrology and somatic psychology to name but a few. There is in depth look at harmonic patterns of growth in the physical and energy bodies illustrated with some beautiful diagrams that have not appeared in any other Polarity book all of which combines to give a rich tapestry of over 300 pages of information and insight that is invaluable to every student and teacher of Polarity. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Esoteric Anatomy is both mind expanding and practical.

I came across a biography of Dr. Randolph Stone, the developer of Polarity Therapy, and knew I had to learn more about his work. This led me to a three week Intensive course at Hartwood Institute where I studied under Bruce Burger. The first copies of "Esoteric Anatomy" arrived the first day of our classes and I had an opportunity to both read it and incorporate the techniques,ideas and philosophy in everyday living. Part I, Loving Hands Are Healing Hands, provides a good background on Polarity Therapy and very adequately describes how to perform eleven hands-on energy balancing protocols. I feel that any adept student could learn to perform these protocols from the step-by-step descriptions given in the book. Part II, Essays on Esoteric Anatomy, provides a wide variety of ideas and philosophies of the kind that went into Dr. Stone's experience in developing Polarity Therapy. I feel that through reading these essays I was able to capture some of the essence of Dr. Stone's experience. Part III, The Practice of Somatic Psychology, provides a theoretical and practical approach to the practice of somatic psychology in a very simple way that produces profound results. Every student in the class could apply these techniques effectively ... and the process is all in the book. I am extremely grateful to Bruce Burger for the many years of love, time and effort that went into making "Esoteric Anatomy" available to me ... and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the healing arts.