Shovel It: Nature's Health Plan

It s easy. It s quick. It s drug free. It s right for everyone. Combining cutting-edge medical research and the best-kept gardening secrets, Dr. Eva Shaw s Shovel It: Nature s Health Plan can save your life. Shovel It: Nature s Health Plan is one of the most illuminating books I have read on the therapeutic effects of gardening, writes Washington Post reviewer Joel M. Lerner. Dig in the dirt. Pick a posy. Come close to the grass. Get gardening to save your life. Medical studies validate that doing so can help you heal after a heart attack and avert a second one. Gardening can lower blood pressure, strengthen bones, deal with depression, cut the effects of chronic fatigue and reduce the need for pain medication. It can help you overcome life-changing ordeals and to deal with everyday anxieties from stress at work and home to the after-affects of chemotherapy and heart attacks. With gardening you can restore health, reduce anxiety and find peace and happiness right in your own backyard. Dr. Eva gives the backyard gardener the garden therapy advice needed with how to design a meditation garden, the principles of garden therapy, tips on garden journals, beating stress in the garden, designing a sanctuary, a fitness program, breathing exercises, the score card on the language of flowers, aromatherapy, feng shui, herbal remedies, gardens for those with physical challenges, and sharing one s garden to continue a life-long therapy. Dr. Eva quotes medical studies proving that even a garden view can help wounds heal faster, reduce the need for anti-depressants and assist cancer patients to regain strength. She says, Human s are hard wired to seek out nature during times of fear and stress. That was clear after the September 11 tragedies when thousands flocked to public gardens, garden centers and their own backyards. Rather than a textbook, which this certainly is not, the book is like sharing conversation and a fragrant cup of tea with an articulate, caring friend. Dr. Eva s friendly, outgoing nature shines through the topics assuring the reader that he or she can come to terms with ill health, stress and even death with garden therapy. The quotes from Sr. Frances Bacon (God almighty first planted a garden. And, indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.) to Ralph Waldo Emerson ( Earth laughs in flowers ), this book is as rich and soul-satisfying as the blackest garden topsoil. With practical tips and sound advice, the book is carefully structured so that whether one is a novice with gardening or a seasoned green thumb, it is a book to be savored and cherished. Great as a gift, valued as a reminder of the role of nature in our lives. Dr. Eva is an authority on gardening as therapy, speaking nationally on wellness and recovery. She s a caring professional when she explains when and how to use Shovel It: Nature s Health Plan to shovel away problems and get well with gardening. It s all based on medical and scientific facts.