Whole Life Magazine

April/May 2014

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art & soul BOOKS The Girl Who Sang to the Buffalo A Child, an Elder and the Light from an Ancient Sky BY JUDITH ORL M.D. S urrender gets a bad rap in our culture. We think we must be warriors—that to surrender is to give up, be defeat- ed. While that may be true in war, to surrender in life is actually a way of taking charge. Instead of fi ghting against the fl ow—swimming upstream—when we surrender we allow life's current and buoyancy to power us in our journey. "In one sense," writes author Judith Orloff, "this entire book is about power." A psychiatrist and intuitive healer, Orloff has a unique perspective on body/mind balance and is not afraid to use herself as a case study. Her own life has been a kind of test kitchen for the practical strategies she suggests in the hot-button areas of power and money, communication, love and sensuality, health and mortality. These are all areas in which we have a vision of how success should look, but Orloff teaches us the lessons of surrendering fi rst and foremost to our inner wisdom and guidance. It's quite simple, really, but not necessarily easy. This text includes some of the more familiar ideas about health and happiness, such as meditation, exercise and healthful eating, but Orloff's unique training and experience informs it in pleasantly surpris- ing ways. For example, she suggests a supplement called TA-65, a telomerase activator that may help reverse aging; and a high-sensitivity C-reactive protein test for infl ammation. Yet she also talks about surren- dering to air, faking orgasms, and using "remote viewing" to help evaluate another person's intentions. Eclectic indeed. This not a woowoo book, however. Orloff is a teacher and physician, and everything she presents has been researched, albeit not always endorsed by the American Medical Associ- ation. But it's what so many of us want, and mainstream med- icine hasn't quite caught up to: integrative body/mind/spirit healing. So take a chance on ecstasy. Truly go with the fl ow. Surrender. (Harmony Books) —Abigail Lewis BY KENT NERBURN T he story itself seems allegorical, as it unravels mingled Northern Plains legends and histories of Ojibwa and Lakota Nations, almost irreparably trampled and suppressed by the white man. Guilt and shame at our ancestors' roles fi nd a measure of reprieve as this rambling tale strives to unite a rare surviving elder gifted with earth's ancient wisdom, with a new generation—a young girl born with full connection to, and vision of, the old ways, newly embodied. Reprising cast and locations from earlier works, the story recounts Yellow Bird's disappearance and continues with the convoluted search to fi nd her—offering a storyteller's intimate glimpse from his own personal odyssey into an otherwise inaccessible Native American world. Mythical in proportions, the search traverses several reservations and states, winds through long-concealed depths of the white invaders' atrocities (persisting to the modern day), and provokes the author's heart-wrenching exposition of guilt and plea for redemption, even as militant Natives resist—suggesting an ever-widening and incurable rift. New Age seekers, however reverent, appear as the same old thieves, at last stealing the fi nal and most sacred remnant of native culture—the old shamanic teachings. The clashing cultures have come full circle, and hope and forgiveness rise as a new dawn. The annals of atrocity hopefully draw to a close as the glimmering rebirth of a nearly lost culture's deeper dimensions fi nds resurrected expression in Nerburn's leading character. Can she sing into being a profound and overdue healing, transcending old injury by joining us in a common heart experience? All will enjoy this great story, told with an honest mix of humor and sadness, irony and stark realism. (New World Library) —Mac Graham The Ecstasy of Surrender 12 Surprising Ways Letting Go Can Empower Your Life 30 wholelifetimesmagazine.com FINAL-WLT-APRIL-MAY.indd 30 3/30/14 7:58 PM

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