Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing

by Elliott S. Dacher

Book Overview

A 20-year-medical veteran offers a comprehensive program of integral health based on Ken Wilbur's integral theory of consciousness, which focuses on the inner aspects of the psychospiritual and the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 159120190X
• ISBN13: 9781591201908
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Basic Health Publications
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.2" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Another Indication of a Seismic Shift in Health, Wellness and Happiness

Human beings are evolving and evolving rapidly. As we change, then so do our illnesses and, as we have recently discovered, so do the Laws of Healing. Elliott Dacher was a practicing physician for many years, until, in the early 1990s, he felt the same frustration of many other doctors, in that he was unable to address the underlying causes of his patients' distress. Although he does not say it in so many words, he recognized that modern health care has degenerated into a limited model of disease management. For people in distress who do not have a diagnostic label attached to them, this can be profoundly frustrating. Elliott had the courage to seek another medical education, this time one steeped in Eastern philosophy, and he subsequently wrote two highly regarded books on health in the 1990s: Whole Healing and Intentional Healing. Those books began to outline ways to introduce wisdom, compassion, the alleviation of suffering, and the promotion of wholeness and sustained - even permanent - health and happiness. This book presents a vision of medicine very different form the one with which most of us are familiar. AT the beginning of the book he says some things that are absolutely correct, but which will shock many people, "Conventional health is simple. Just follow what you've learned. A far-reaching health requires a transformation of mind and heart. We call this holistic and evolutionary transformation an integral shift. The result is integral health.... What is holding us back? Why have we settled for ordinary health when so much more is possible? The answer is so close that it is difficult for us to see. We've been trained to deal with suffering, distress, and diseases by looking outside of ourselves by relying on remedies, therapies, techniques, health practitioners, self-help, and self-improvement programs... We've been similarly trained to look outward for "happiness," seeking pleasure from materialism, success, fame, romance, sexuality, alcohol and drugs.... To transform health and life we must shift our gaze inward, where we will find the ever-present source of exceptional health and healing." This is one of the first book-length attempts to apply some of Ken Wilber's ideas to medicine, and overall it is very successful. Ken Wilber's ever-evolving ideas are important, complex and the basic principles are becoming quite widely known. In this book some of Wilber's ideas are developed with care and clarity. The author begins with Five Guiding Principles. 1. Holistic: involving the four major aspects of human experience: Biological, psychospiritual, interpersonal and worldly 2. Evolutionary: every one of these quadrants can develop and evolve 3. Intentional 4. Person-centered 5. Dynamic The book is a call to return to an integration of body, mind and spirit that was at the core of the philosophies of Plato, Plotinus and the ancient masters of Indian and Chinese philosophy. But this is not some pining after an imaginary Golden Age, b

The Promise of Evolution

.As an avid reader and perpetual seeker on the spiritual path, I was immediately overtaken by Dr. Dacher's approach to health and happiness. It is a rare treat to pick up a book that speaks directly to your heart and soul. Integral Health touched me in a way few publications have. It articulated so many of my feelings about the human condition and the relationship between our spiritual and physical health. I am incredibly grateful for the work Dr. Dacher has done in presenting the Integral Health model and providing a step by step approach to human flourishing. In a time of fear and war mongering, it is encouraging to find authors who are willing to point out the preciousness of every individual life. We each need to cherish and nurture our own spirits so that we can heal the planet. I believe that this book may help us in that quest.

A Wonderful Read for Travelers on a Spiritual Journey

Dr. Dacher has given us a book with wide applicability, and will be especially relevant for readers who are interested in personal and spiritual growth. The author uses Ken Wilbur's model of Integral Theory and relates it to human health, happiness and wholeness. It is a big goal, but Dr. Dacher offers not only a theoretical model, but down-to-earth practices and exercises to enable the reader to gain experiential glimpses of this very big picture. The book also contains a chapter for practioners, which I found particularly helpful. The author asks doctors and other practioners to take two hours at the end of one day a week to authentically and empathically listen to one client's story. I would add from my own experience, that if doctors were to take 10 minutes to truly listen to a patient with fine attunement and an open heart, this would be an evolutionary step in the practice of medicine as we know it. Throughout the book, the author speaks to us of loving kindness, open-heartedness and the value of authentic listening. We are cautioned that the kind of healing of which the autor speaks can only happen when we turn inward, quiet our minds, and learn to listen to what the mind/body/spirit has to tell us. Dr. Dacher also tell us that a personal guide for this journey is most important. I highly reccommend this book for anyone who is interested in turning within to connect with his or her full being and potential.

Health, Happiness, Wholeness - Why not?

This book goes straight to the heart! The heart of the causes of the unhappiness, suffering and pain that plague our Western culture. But more than that, this book offers a solution and a path for those willing to take the journey into consciousness and health. Dr. Dacher eloquently tells the story of the roots of healing in the Western culture, the Aesclepian healing temples that were prevalent in the Greek world for over 1800 years. He challenges us to bring forward the wisdom and the energies of that time into what he describes as Centers for Human Flourishing. Dr. Dacher has an incredible capacity to meld the understandings of the healing traditions of the east and the west and to make the roots of these traditions clear and accessible. He brilliantly draws from the Integral Model from Ken Wilber, applying it as a map for the journey of transformation to a whole health. But most of all it is through his personal experiences that he appeals to health care professionals, clients and patients alike to take up the understandings and the practices outlined in the book and to do the necessary transformational work that will create for ourselves an integral health, authentic happiness and genuine wholeness - a life of flourishing.