Now this is way different from what you may be expecting of a book that’s reviewed on The Way of The Buzzard but just stick with it for a while.
We do so much work with our emotional selves don’t we? At times it appears that we are working on one layer of ‘stuff’ after another and necessarily so as we strive to be the best we can be. Spiritually too we endeavour to find our path, to walk our talk and to live with presence, alignment and interconnectedness.
Too, we do our best to live lightly on our Earth, being frugal with her precious resources and honouring our connections deeply.
Yet for some reason we (well, I) find it easy to neglect the one thing that makes all of this work possible – my physical Me! How can I (we) possibly hope to achieve our goals if our body is dragging its feet behind us!
So, in the spirit of making amends I decided to embark on something of a pilgrimage to a better Me and found in this author a great mentor. Mark Sissons has written several long, deep books on the subject of total body care and, although he is aiming at the mass market his works ring with words of connection that you too will notice.
So on with the review. I’ll keep it brief, otherwise I may natter on all night. His approach is an ancestral one, he allows himself to be educated by his predecessors, the folk who went many thousands of years before. How shamanic is that! We are keen to listen to our ancestors on journeys and in spirit dreams so why not tap in to how they lived and see what we can learn.
The book begins by covering all the areas where modern society has got it wrong and includes areas such as sleep, exercise, relationships, relaxation and diet weaving in mindfulness and nature connection very frequently. Very well put together comparisons of paleolithic man and modern man demonstrate how far we have come from what we are designed to be.
Sisson explains how many modern maladies including the major causes of death (cancer, heart disease and stroke) are a direct result of a sedentary life with a poisonous diet and he shows how our ancestors didn’t suffer from these terminal ailments.
Fortunately all is not lost to these modern ills. Backing up his findings with in depth scientific reasoning he explains how anyone can turn their life around simply by stepping back into the lifestyle of the humans of 10,000 years ago. Better than that, he shows how we can apply the principles in our modern lives and enjoy the best of both worlds.
I have followed his guidance on and off for almost 3 years now and cannot believe the transformation I feel when I throw myself into the way of the caveman. It’s not about losing weight (although that happens), it’s more about awakening our bodies and our minds to be the best that we can be, thereby enabling us to achieve more happiness and satisfaction in our everyday life.
The 21 day challenge in the latter part of the book is key to the process of change and Sisson hand holds you through the process of personal rebirth and initiation as the You that has been waiting since ancestral times.