Cyndi Dale
Trade Paperback, 328 pages
Sounds True
October 1, 2011
Metaphysical, Nonfiction, Psychology, Self-Help Spirituality
Book Synopsis: Just as our physical
body is protected by our skin, our psyche and spirit have energetic
boundaries that keep out harmful influences. These boundaries, invisible
to the naked eye, are more than just defenses. According to Cyndi Dale,
these spiritual borders are our soul's way of communicating to the
universe what we do and don't want to experience in life. With Energetic
Boundaries, this renowned intuitive and energy-medicine expert presents
a definitive guide for maintaining this essential aspect of our health
and personal integrity, including techniques to enhance the health of your physical, emotional,
relational, and spiritual borders, self-diagnosis instructions for
determining where your boundaries are weakest, and practical ways you can
strengthen them. Also included: how to signal the world that you are ready for success
and prosperity, special guidance for healers, sensitives, and people
whose work regularly exposes them to strong emotional forces, and how healthy
boundaries allow us to balance intimacy and personal autonomy in
relationships and parenting. Strong and flexible energetic boundaries
allow us to share who we truly are with the world, teaches Cyndi Dale.
Filled with insights, practical guidance, and easy-to-learn techniques,
Energetic Boundaries is an indispensable tool for staying protected and
connected in every aspect of life in our relationships, career, and on
our spiritual journey.
My Review
The idea of a human energy field is not new; numerous books have been published on the subject, many of which I've seen on Amazon. I do think it makes sense, to some extent, that the human body should be surrounded by such a field or fields. As the author herself states, our psyche and spirit need protection just as much as our physical body does. The author of this book, Cyndi Dale, cites numerous scientific sources as evidence that these fields do exist. Of course, Kirlian photography has been around for many years now. For those who might not be familiar with this type of photography, it's basically a technique used to photograph the electrical discharges surrounding people and other living beings, including plants. Dale briefly discusses this process in the first chapter, "Energy and our Energetic Fields".
This book also deals with the subject of the chakras, which are centers of energy in the physical body, and are also part of what is known as "the subtle body". These centers of energy are a well-known aspect of Hindu beliefs, and specifically, the yogic tradition.
Although I do feel that much of New Age philosophy, psychology, and spirituality needs to be taken with a grain of salt, I nevertheless enjoyed reading this book. It's not one for casual reading, either; in fact, studying it will yield more food for thought than just one reading will provide.
The author introduces the concept of energy balancing with an exploration of the four basic energy boundaries -- the physical, the emotional, the relational, and the spiritual. These are actually comprised of several of the twelve auric layers surrounding the physical body, and each has a different color, when viewed clairvoyantly; the physical is red, the emotional, orange, the relational, green, and the spiritual, white. She also discusses what life events can have detrimental effects on each of the boundaries.
Next, she presents the eight specific boundary issues that most people will typically encounter. These she calls "spiritual syndromes".
The first of them is named "The Paper Doll Syndrome", the basic manifestation of which being an endless repetition of the same troubling pattern in at least one area of a person's life. This might be, for example, a substance addiction that the person can't seem to break, or a pattern of getting involved in abusive relationships, also persistent in spite of therapy.
The second boundary issue is named "The Vampire Syndrome". This one deals with the curious phenomenon of feeling energetically drained after being around certain people. It can manifest as a feeling of exhaustion, frustration or lack of motivation, as well.
The third boundary issue, known as "The Mule Syndrome", is related to being a workaholic, of feeling duty-bound to take up the slack for others. It even involves worrying about others' concerns, to one's own detriment. Of course, physical exhaustion, as well as anxiety and depression, are also part of this boundary issue, which is related to co-dependency.
The fourth boundary issue is named "The Psychic-Sensitive Syndrome". This one is specific to those people who are psychically gifted. It includes those who are highly empathic, as well as those who are able to sense supernatural beings. Admittedly, this sounds a little scary to me.... Physical symptoms such as anxiety and insomnia are typical of this syndrome, unsurprisingly enough!
Dale mentions three other boundary issues -- "The Healer's Syndrome", which afflicts not only those in the medical or intuitive healing fields, but also those who are extremely kind-hearted; "The No-Boundary Syndrome", in which people are constantly hyperactive, as well as hypervigilant, and "The Environ Syndrome", which involves extreme sensitivity to environmental surroundings.
Dale offers various solutions to all of these syndromes, starting, of course, with one's own self-diagnosis to see which one(s) a person might be affected by. From there, she discusses such things as visualization, guided meditations, color and crystal therapy, and sound therapy.
I must admit to some skepticism as to the validity of using crystals for psychologically therapeutic purposes, because it just seems too "way out there". Some of the qualities Dale claims for crystals just seem to have no basis in scientific fact. Colors, on the other hand, do have valid psychological associations, although I'm not totally convinced of the therapeutic benefits thereof.
Subsequent chapters deal with working on boundary issues to help in specific areas, such as work and success, financial issues, relationships, and parenting.
Specific techniques that I do think are useful are "Uncovering Your Storyline", which is a means of digging into one's psyche in order to discover the origin of one's boundary issues, the use of sound therapy (music has scientifically been proven to profoundly affect the brain, and therefore, moods), visualization, and prayer. Although the author refers to God mostly as "the Divine", she does have a rather Christian-sounding tone in these sections of the book. I especially like her reference to "streams of grace" coming from God to take away the symptoms of the above-named syndromes.
Again, this is a book that can be best appreciated by studying it, and putting its techniques into practice. While perhaps not everything will be helpful to individual readers (this depends on each reader's beliefs, as well as degree of skepticism), there is much to reflect on here, psychologically as well as philosophically speaking, not to mention the spiritual sense. Each chapter in the book is annotated, with references to scientific research articles on the Internet, for instance, as well as spiritually-related ones. There's also a bibliography for further reading.
The tone of the writing is very soothing and peaceful, yet, the concepts discussed will ensure the reader's full attention. Dale never talks down to her readers, nor doe she engage in filling her chapters with any kind of jargon; in fact, she explains potentially new or confusing terms in clear, easy-to-understand language.
In short, this book will not only be appreciated by veteran New Age adherents, but also by those who are open-minded enough to investigate a field of knowledge that might not entirely be sanctioned by the scientific establishment, yet, remains totally fascinating.
MY RATING:
This book also deals with the subject of the chakras, which are centers of energy in the physical body, and are also part of what is known as "the subtle body". These centers of energy are a well-known aspect of Hindu beliefs, and specifically, the yogic tradition.
Although I do feel that much of New Age philosophy, psychology, and spirituality needs to be taken with a grain of salt, I nevertheless enjoyed reading this book. It's not one for casual reading, either; in fact, studying it will yield more food for thought than just one reading will provide.
The author introduces the concept of energy balancing with an exploration of the four basic energy boundaries -- the physical, the emotional, the relational, and the spiritual. These are actually comprised of several of the twelve auric layers surrounding the physical body, and each has a different color, when viewed clairvoyantly; the physical is red, the emotional, orange, the relational, green, and the spiritual, white. She also discusses what life events can have detrimental effects on each of the boundaries.
Next, she presents the eight specific boundary issues that most people will typically encounter. These she calls "spiritual syndromes".
The first of them is named "The Paper Doll Syndrome", the basic manifestation of which being an endless repetition of the same troubling pattern in at least one area of a person's life. This might be, for example, a substance addiction that the person can't seem to break, or a pattern of getting involved in abusive relationships, also persistent in spite of therapy.
The second boundary issue is named "The Vampire Syndrome". This one deals with the curious phenomenon of feeling energetically drained after being around certain people. It can manifest as a feeling of exhaustion, frustration or lack of motivation, as well.
The third boundary issue, known as "The Mule Syndrome", is related to being a workaholic, of feeling duty-bound to take up the slack for others. It even involves worrying about others' concerns, to one's own detriment. Of course, physical exhaustion, as well as anxiety and depression, are also part of this boundary issue, which is related to co-dependency.
The fourth boundary issue is named "The Psychic-Sensitive Syndrome". This one is specific to those people who are psychically gifted. It includes those who are highly empathic, as well as those who are able to sense supernatural beings. Admittedly, this sounds a little scary to me.... Physical symptoms such as anxiety and insomnia are typical of this syndrome, unsurprisingly enough!
Dale mentions three other boundary issues -- "The Healer's Syndrome", which afflicts not only those in the medical or intuitive healing fields, but also those who are extremely kind-hearted; "The No-Boundary Syndrome", in which people are constantly hyperactive, as well as hypervigilant, and "The Environ Syndrome", which involves extreme sensitivity to environmental surroundings.
Dale offers various solutions to all of these syndromes, starting, of course, with one's own self-diagnosis to see which one(s) a person might be affected by. From there, she discusses such things as visualization, guided meditations, color and crystal therapy, and sound therapy.
I must admit to some skepticism as to the validity of using crystals for psychologically therapeutic purposes, because it just seems too "way out there". Some of the qualities Dale claims for crystals just seem to have no basis in scientific fact. Colors, on the other hand, do have valid psychological associations, although I'm not totally convinced of the therapeutic benefits thereof.
Subsequent chapters deal with working on boundary issues to help in specific areas, such as work and success, financial issues, relationships, and parenting.
Specific techniques that I do think are useful are "Uncovering Your Storyline", which is a means of digging into one's psyche in order to discover the origin of one's boundary issues, the use of sound therapy (music has scientifically been proven to profoundly affect the brain, and therefore, moods), visualization, and prayer. Although the author refers to God mostly as "the Divine", she does have a rather Christian-sounding tone in these sections of the book. I especially like her reference to "streams of grace" coming from God to take away the symptoms of the above-named syndromes.
Again, this is a book that can be best appreciated by studying it, and putting its techniques into practice. While perhaps not everything will be helpful to individual readers (this depends on each reader's beliefs, as well as degree of skepticism), there is much to reflect on here, psychologically as well as philosophically speaking, not to mention the spiritual sense. Each chapter in the book is annotated, with references to scientific research articles on the Internet, for instance, as well as spiritually-related ones. There's also a bibliography for further reading.
The tone of the writing is very soothing and peaceful, yet, the concepts discussed will ensure the reader's full attention. Dale never talks down to her readers, nor doe she engage in filling her chapters with any kind of jargon; in fact, she explains potentially new or confusing terms in clear, easy-to-understand language.
In short, this book will not only be appreciated by veteran New Age adherents, but also by those who are open-minded enough to investigate a field of knowledge that might not entirely be sanctioned by the scientific establishment, yet, remains totally fascinating.
MY RATING:
(from the Sounds True Website)
Cyndi Dale is an internationally renowned author, speaker, intuitive healer, and visionary. She is president of Life Systems Services, a corporation that offers intuitive-based healing, destiny coaching, and corporate consulting. Cyndi has been trained in multiple healing modalities, including shamanism, intuitive healing, Lakota medicine, and Reiki. She has written several groundbreaking books on the chakras, including Advanced Chakra Healing, Attracting Prosperity Through the Chakras, and New Chakra Healing, and her work has been translated into nine languages.
Cyndi Dale is an internationally renowned author, speaker, intuitive healer, and visionary. She is president of Life Systems Services, a corporation that offers intuitive-based healing, destiny coaching, and corporate consulting. Cyndi has been trained in multiple healing modalities, including shamanism, intuitive healing, Lakota medicine, and Reiki. She has written several groundbreaking books on the chakras, including Advanced Chakra Healing, Attracting Prosperity Through the Chakras, and New Chakra Healing, and her work has been translated into nine languages.
Great commentary Maria.
ReplyDeleteI am personally very skeptical that world views ascribed to by Cyndi Dale are helpful in understanding what I would call the nuts and bolts reality of the Universe. Why I think that they are popular, and to an extent interesting, and I would go as far as enlightening, is that they seem to symbolically describe things that go on with people that can be explained using more conventional theories. I think that sometimes these symbolic explanations help us to visualize and understand these things more completely.
Hey, Brian!
DeleteYeah, I share your skepticism to some extent. Your observation about their usefulness in a symbolic way is very interesting. I guess these concepts do give the mind something to grasp, which, as you say, more conventional theories or concepts might not. Great point!
On the other hand, I do see some validity in the spiritual syndromes she mentions, psychologically speaking. There are indeed people who seem to be stuck in certain life patterns, for instance, and there are others who are indeed seen as 'work mules' by friends, family, and co-workers. In my case, now that I think about it, I know people (like my ex-husband, whom I long ago severed contact with!!) who have really drained my energies. So, if using prayer, visualization, and guided meditation seem to help, I'm all for them! Where my skepticism really does kick in is with the concept of using crystals for any kind of psychological therapy. Bu then again, I've never tried this. However, it does sound pretty "out there", as I stated in the review.
These types of book certainly do have their good points. I just take from them what I consider useful, and not too 'weird'. Lol.
Thanks for the thought-provoking comment!! : )