Book review

Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul: How to Create a New You by Deepak Chopra Crown/Random House, 2010, 287 pages, $17.00 ISBN: 978-0-307-45298-6 Prepare to consider yourself—because, at the very least, this is what reading Chopra’s newest soft-cover release will cause you to do. Chopra reminds us that we are standing at “the growing tip of evolution,” where a world of new possibilities is directed, and also limited by our thoughts, our spirits, our souls. By daring to challenge an ingrained belief system about notions of body and soul we can be rewarded with spiritual breakthrough. As the cuddly voice of a best-selling new spirituality, Chopra is master at guiding readers to a softer, warmer light within themselves. In this latest book, lessons for personal breakthrough are neatly packaged into 10 manageable chapters: five for reinvention of body and five for resurrection of soul. Each chapter represents a big idea (for example, “Your Physical Body is a Fiction”) that requires open-minded reading abilities. An open mind will help us understand the rich conceptual details woven through the chapters. To embrace these 10 breakthrough notions will certainly lead to some sort of self-transformation. Chopra writes that to achieve well-being, what the body needs more than anything else is awareness. By viewing and treating the body as a personal aspect of our deeper selves (rather than objectively or superficially as a physical machine), we can link mind and soul to achieve our birthright—to transcend our physical beings and to be united in spirit. First we must understand that, as Chopra identifies it: soul carries our potential for wellness, mind carries the intention, while brain produces the result. Above all, Chopra teaches that “the process of reinventing the body and resurrecting the soul is a journey, and the journey never ends.” For Chopra fans, this book’s way to transformation may sound familiar. Considering the author’s more than 55 past publications, it would be hard to avoid duplication. But while the concepts themselves are big...and daunting, there is gold hidden in the minutia of its pages. This is a book to read slowly. Chapters envelop paragraphs, which in turn contain precious sentences—each deserving due consideration. It’s a book for people who like to think, and who are willing to change...provided they are first prepared to challenge themselves.