This book on "Massage for Health and Healing: The Ayurvedic and Spiritual Energy Approach" is a commendable guide to a very important medical aid which reigned with dignity in the past. Though it was neglected for many years, the art of massage has recaptured its central place amongst the forms of healing, prevention of disease, and promoting health.

Massage is the oldest of all techniques for relieving pain, shaping the organs, regenerating tissues, and con-ecting almost all internal malfunctions. Massage has its origin in the natural instincts of animals, handed over to the conscious man with a mandate to improve it as far as possible with his old wisdom. Despite advancements in knowledge and complex techniques, massage retains its usefulness and significance even as a method to save a person from immediate death, as in heart failure, breathlessness, and several other fatal ailments.

In all kinds of therapeutic approaches, massage alone can maintain certain links. Any method of treatment with a holistic approach cannot leave out massage. Ayurveda upholds its psychosomatic benefits. Sushruta and other texts explain it, classifying various types of massages and instructions on their manipulations and effects. In Ayurveda, the human body constitutes three functional entities, the balance of which maintains health; an upset in this balance increases diseases.

The book serves not only as a guide to novice practitioners but also as a manual and refresher guide for those who are experienced ayurvedic masseurs. The contents (techniques) of this book will bring relief and better health to those who faithfully apply them in their daily lives.