Product reviews for The Hero's Journey (Paperback edition)

I have just finished reading this book by Stephen Gilligan and Robert Dilts and want to share my thoughts about it.

The first thing I have to say, is that this is not a passive read. To gain maximum value, readers need to participate fully because it is very much a -˜hands on, do-it-yourself' book. As a player and instructor of tai chi chuan I easily understand many of the principle, but Robert's & Stephen's explanations are more than able to convey.

The authors synthesise concepts and principles from many disciplines and philosophies, including Tai Chi, Aikidi, Zen Buddhism, Yoga, etc in terms of opening the channels of the body, grounding, balance and centring. It is about replacing antagonistic or confrontational reactions, behaviour and emotions with accepting, welcoming in and using somatic questioning to identify the positive intentions and working with them. It guides through aligning our energies (resources) so taking negatives and barriers ancountered in life's journey, understanding them and converting them into positives.

I particularly liked working with the -˜Archetypal Circle' defining the dragon (the problem) and working through various transitions to resolve issues. 
Another exercise which I found illuminating as well as useful was the -˜Energy Ball', which is a concept I worked with when I used to practise Kung Fu. It's a marvellous mechanism for centring, so helping you cope with a variety od stressors. It has the added advantage of being highly portable and available in almost any situation.



This is a highly experiential book serving both the individual reader's life journey but also adding another tool to the life coach's toolbox.