With his usual mix of enthusiasm, optimism, and anecdote, Dr. Wayne Dyer is back again to emphasize that we are in control of our life experiences. Quoting everything from the Bible to The Tao of Pooh, he returns continually to his central point: with truth and self-awareness, all things are possible, including physical healing, improved relationships, and great personal accomplishment. There's a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem dissects what is meant by the word problem and shows us how to achieve our deepest wishes with surprisingly simple suggestions.

Designed to be a resource for both women who want to maintain breast health and those who've been diagnosed with breast cancer, Breast Cancer? Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way draws on "women's wisdom," or the inner knowledge often ignored by modern medicine, as a powerful tool for healing. Author Susun Weed proposes an anticancer lifestyle, and, if cancer does enter the picture, a six-step plan for healing (sleep is at zero, or "Do Nothing"; surgery is number six, which she terms "Break and Enter"), with various complementary healing techniques included throughout. Weed is careful to point out that supplements and herbs can hurt as much as they can help, and she lists several alternative-medicine techniques that should be avoided no matter what. The steps she does recommend--from herbal oils for breast massage to help detect lumps early to the herbs milk thistle, dandelion, and burdock for women with liver damage from tamoxifen--are explained clearly, sometimes with fascinating quotes from centuries-old books on healing.

Your biological age may be a lot different from your chronological age--for better or worse. Dr. Michael Roizen, a preventive gerontologist at the University of Chicago who appears perennially in the "1,000 Best Doctors in the U.S." listings, says that with the help of his RealAge program, you can reduce your biological age by up to 20 years. He's compiled a list of 100 health-related factors, among them tobacco and alcohol use, diet, prescription and over-the-counter drug use, your parents' health, even pet ownership and the highest educational level completed by your spouse, and worked all these into a quiz to determine your "real age." If you've taken your health for granted, be prepared for a shock. He then explains how to follow a personalized age-reduction plan using a range of methods, from quick fixes (use a helmet while bicycling), to moderately easy changes (avoid sun and radon exposure), all the way to the most difficult changes (reduce the stress in your life). Emotional issues are given as much attention as physical ones; Roizen says, for example, that seeing a psychologist to help work through serious personal problems can reduce your chronological age by 8 to 16 years alone.

Twin brothers Bradle and D. Craig Willcox, an internist and anthropologist, respectively, and geriatrician Suzuki, fascinatingly recount the results of a 25-year study of Okinawa, where people live exceptionally long and productive lives. There are more than 400 centenarians in Okinawa, where the average lifespan is 86 for women and above 77 for men. Most impressive is the quality of life Okinawans maintain into old age; the book is filled with inspiring glimpses of elderly men and women who are still gardening, working and walking into and well beyond their 90s. The authors point out that while genetics may account, in part, for Okinawans' longevity, studies have revealed that when they move away from the archipelago and abandon their traditional ways, they lose their health advantage, proving that lifestyle is, at the very least, a highly influential factor. The Okinawans' program of diet, exercise and spiritual health apparently lowers their risk for heart disease, osteoporosis and Alzheimer's, as well as breast, ovarian, prostate and other cancers. According to the authors, "the Okinawan Way" is neither elusive nor esoteric. It consists, in part, of a low-calorie, plant-based, high complex-carbohydrate diet. Exercise, the authors maintain, is essential, as is attention to spirituality and friendships. Okinawans, too, lead slower-paced, less stressful lives than most Westerners. The outcome of years of extensive medical research, this book offers a practical and optimistic vision of growing old.

Here is the first Rodale book to replace specific conventional medications with herbal equivalents. As the natural precursors of today's pharmaceuticals, herbs can reduce, even eliminate dependence on medications. Arranged by ailment, herbal alternatives are offered for more than 500 prescription and over-the-counter drugs. For example, 6 milligrams of the herb ephedra can replace Sudafed for cold symptoms. More than 100 ailments are covered, and an encyclopedia details more than 70 medicinal herbs. The authors are thoroughly versed in herbal medicines, and they provide accurate advice about which drugs and herbs work-and which don't. They point out when a drug works best, or when an herb is better as a supplement to, rather than replacement for a drug. But the main result of their study and experience is that people don't have to rely on conventional drugs-herbs can be an all-natural way to maintain health.

Exercise books often make grandiose claims of improving everything from your sex life to your cholesterol level. At best, these claims are harmless; at worst, annoying. Every so often, however, a program is developed with attention to specific issues, backed up with strong medical knowledge, and presented in a plain and helpful manner. Peggy Brill is a physical therapist who has created just such an exercise program. The Core Program offers numerous ways to improve deep muscle strength in women, which can lead to improved posture, strength, and energy levels. Brill's program is designed specifically for women and built around easy exercises for the torso area, starting deep with the pelvic floor and working its way out from there. As it is a no-impact program that takes just a few minutes each day, it's easy for every woman to incorporate into her schedule, and equally appropriate for teens or senior citizens. She emphasizes that "the Core Program is supposed to relieve stress, not cause it," so a skipped routine or two is not the end of the world. The exercises are similar to those taught in physical therapy visits. Muscle groups from head to toe are gently warmed up before moving into yoga-inspired stretches and lift-and-hold exercises. Each one is shown with photographs and detailed written instructions, and all are easy to follow, even for a novice. With a few simple tests, you can easily determine the exercise level appropriate for you out of the three different levels shown. Amid all the instruction are plenty of stories from women with chronic fatigue or injuries who have successfully improved their stamina and strength. Whether this is the only fitness program in your life or an addition to your regular workout, you'll find this book informative and educational, with achievable goals and straightforward routines. --Jill Lightner

Western and Eastern medical professionals, alternative practitioners, and science researchers all agree: exercise is therapeutic. Physical activity can assist healing, and specific types of exercise can improve health and combat illness. Carol and Mitchel Krucoff have dissected the research and created a series of practical, motivating plans to incorporate "healing moves" into your lifestyle, whatever your health conditions. "Physical activity can help some diabetics come off insulin and some hypertensives quit their high-blood-pressure medication," write the authors (Carol Krucoff is a science writer and health columnist for the Washington Post; husband Mitchel Krucoff is a senior staff cardiologist and director of the Ischemia Monitoring Laboratory at Duke University Medical Center). "It can lower cholesterol, ease arthritic pain, lift depression, relieve anxiety, and help asthmatics breathe more easily." Moreover, exercise helps slow the aging process, improves heart and lung function, increases metabolism, and strengthens the immune system.
Healing Moves is an indispensable, readable, science-based resource for people who wish to improve their health with exercise. Special chapters target metabolic disorders (such as diabetes and obesity); mental health conditions (stress, depression, anxiety); orthopedic disorders (back pain, repetitive stress disorder, osteoporosis); immunological conditions (colds, cancer, HIV); cardiovascular disorders; men's health; women's health; and respiratory disorders. For each, the authors explain the condition and how it is affected by lifestyle, its risk factors, and how exercise helps. Then they give an exercise prescription with general and specific guidelines, cautions, and additional resources. Each chapter offers specific "healing moves" that include specific aerobic, strength, relaxation, mind-body, breathing, stretching, and daily-life recommendations. The illustrations are line drawings of refreshingly real looking people, complete with paunch, neck wrinkles, and eyeglasses.
The Krucoffs back up their recommendations with plenty of science, but the writing is still reader friendly, warm, and simple to understand. They offer commonsense advice, too, such as asking you, "What's the point?" of exercising when you have a cold: "If you're exercising for your health, because it makes you feel good, and to boost your immunity, why work out when your body is telling you to rest?" Healing Moves is a must-have book that promotes seeing exercise as "recess": a "play break" rather than a "workout," keeping it fun and flexible. --Joan Price