Emotions aren’t bad, even the negative ones; each emotion we experience in our lives has a message for us, if only we would listen. That is the message of Emotional Wisdom, the newest collaboration between Mantak Chia, a prolific writer and teacher if Taoist Chi Kung, and Dena Saxer, a Taoist Chi Kung instructor currently residing in Los Angeles.

Through the use of the tools in this book, the authors employ techniques drawn from Chi Kung principles and traditional Chinese medicine designed to help us listen to our emotions better, resulting in better states of mind and better health. In addition to working with sound and motion, Emotional Wisdom also recommends specific foods and color visualizations in association with various and specific parts of the body as a means to processing our emotions, especially the negative ones.

The practices themselves are easy to do and only take a few minutes, and the common recommendation for each emotion is to avoid processed, gmo foods and focus on fresh, organic, and locally grown food (not surprising since the connection between a proper diet and good mental, emotional, and physical health is well known), with lightly cooked or even raw foods a frequent recommendation as well, particularly in the case of vegetables.

From sadness to shame, from anger to anxiety, this book is a useful workbook for helping the reader come to terms and accept the darker sides of ourselves.  From New World Library and available at your local, independent bookstore.  (Buy independent, buy local, and tell ’em you saw it on Elephant Journal!)