Radiant Body Restful Mind
Shubhra Krishan
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2004 New World Library
ISBN: 1577314212

A Woman's Book of Comfort. How to create a healthy body in a sacred home amid the chaos of everyday life. Designed to enliven & enrich women's lives.

What a dilemma! Will this exquisite book be Women's because of the subtitle? Health, Mind & Body because it is offers comfort? Or will it go on your Spiritual & Religious shelf because it also addresses the Soul? No matter the category, your copy will soon be well-thumbed, annotated & bookmarked, possibly with dried sprigs of Lavender & Rosemary, oh! & don't forget Cedar.

“Life offers you two kinds of simple pleasures. Those that you get for free, as perks for being part of this beautiful world ... [&] ... the pleasures that you create for yourself ... I have seen that taking the time to savor them can take your body from weary to radiant, your mind from restive to restful, and your life from humdrum to humming.” (P.xi)

Radiant Body Restful Mind is for “ ... every kid-rearing, hair-tearing, bus-hopping, word-chopping, seldom-stopping, coffee-drinking, hardly-blinking, big-city girl” ... as well as all us “kid-rearing, animal-herding, preserve-cooking, harvest-gathering, wood-chopping, relative-caring, computer-working, short-sleeping, deep-country gals!”

Shubhra Krishan, has a lively & fun way with words. She gives us the secrets to her joyous life without an ounce of coyness or euphemisms:
Joie de Vivre: How to Enjoy and Energize the Body You Inhabit.
Nourishment: How to Savor the Bounteous Flavors of Health.
Beauty: How to Be Lovelier -- Inside and Out.
Sanctuary: How to Make Your House a Home.
Love: How to Nurture Your Relationships.
Repose: How to Relax and Revive Your Body and Mind.
Bliss: How to Be simply, Spiritually Happy.

From exercising while you're sitting: Kegel muscles & shoulders, arms & legs; to brushing your teeth, drinking delectable teas, palming your eyes, adding scents to your senses, the help simply pours from every page.

What I like about Shubra Krishan's book is the window on a refreshing new way of looking at my life, plus the new words. I learnt, for example, that “Annapoorna” means “the one who nourishes” & you're it! I also learnt that when I murmur “Namaste” with my palms put together that I am saluting the divine in you, in everything. There is so much to glean from Radiant Body Restful Mind about living a light, elegant, scent-filled, humming life, that I'm so glad to be able to recommend it!

A perfect gift to give every woman you love!

Shubhra Krishan has reported for prime-time network news to an audience of 400 million Indian viewers, & has been the editor for Cosmopolitan Magazine's India edition. She now works as Editorial Director for a Chicago-based company that produces films & television shows on health & entertainment. She is at work on her first novel & lives in Colorado Springs with her husband & son.

More from Shubhra Krishan: Essential Ayurveda: What It Is and What It Can Do for You
(05/30/04)

Rebecca