This engaging and well-made documentary grabs the viewer right from the beginning. We start with real people and real problems: individuals who have shifted from profound dis-ease - cancer, obesity, immune system deficiencies - to health. These people turned their lives around not by paying a lot of money for pills or fancy treatments; rather, by taking responsibility for themselves and their lives.

Heal Your Self does not advocate any one particular method, but explores a variety of paths. Viewers are invited to explore health benefits in different categories - food, stress, the power of the mind, love, self and more. And yet the film doesn't feel divided, for we are inspired to see how ideas, perspectives and different techniques flow from one category into another. We are whole human beings, after all - not parts, not easily categorized, and not always cured by one particular way.

The presenters (including the aforementioned individuals, as well as noted health advocates, spiritual teachers and doctors) are encouraging, sharing what has worked for them. For the most part, these are things we already intuitively know: to eat a healthy diet (more whole foods, less processed foods), to release and avoid stress, to spend some time in nature, to harness the power of our mind through visualization and the wholeness of our body through meditation, and so on. Our physical health is linked to our emotional health, which is related to the health of our environment. We are all connected.

One of the biggest messages of the film is gentle encouragement to take responsibility for our health. The old paradigm of depending upon an authority figure 'out there' is being replaced by a movement to take back one's power through education and empowerment. Rather than looking outside ourselves for answers, we can find wisdom within. (Though this is certainly not to say we can't consult doctors or others in the medical arena.) As one participant put it: "You can't purchase a cure, but you can earn your health."

Nowhere in the film did I sense an agenda or a 'one way fits all' dogma. Rather, viewers are encouraged to do the research, try different things (for example, shift one's diet gently by including a little bit of raw food at every meal), and see what works. Global access to the Internet allows unconventional treatments to be shared; we can learn from others who have gone through similar disease processes and have healed themselves.

We have lost touch with our own self-healing abilities. As Lewis Thomas notes, "One of the biggest tragedies that has happened in America is lack of respect for our self-healing power, for the power of the body to heal itself." This helpful film reminds us of this very important fact. It also entertains, educates, inspires and encourages. A great documentary for anyone who wants to find or maintain good health!

Hi,
Heal Your Self received rave reviews and we gave out your web site information so people could purchase the DVD themselves. It was such an important movie to our theme (Holistic Health Film Festival) that it was the only movie we showed twice! Please let me know if you will be making any additional movies. Thanks again!

Great film. I enjoyed all the interviews. Thanks for producing this. I will spread the word! Keep up the good work.

An inspiring documentary. Changes the way you look at what you put in your mouth/ body. Thanks for sharing all these people's experiences. Great job - love it.

I found Heal Your Self to be a fascinating look at the various aspects of our health and what goes into it. Here is the quick summary of the movie, which I think covers the gist of it nicely:

"Heal Your Self speaks to a unique mix of doctors, healers, educators and survivors of all too common illnesses which include cancer, obesity, Crohns disease and even alcoholism. These are people who took their health into their own hands, took responsibility for their illness and healed themselves.

With the emphasis on creating positive change in your life, we examine topics that include food; emotional and environmental stress; the power of the mind through the placebo effect; love; meditation and visualization; self-education and practical things you can do for yourself."

Everything about Heal Your Self shouted "awareness" to me. At first, I wondered if they were simply going to point out issues of concern, or if they were going to offer actual solutions, but then I realized their process. Many of the suggestions put forth in this movie may sound extreme to some people at first, so the director eases you into them. The viewer is warmed up to the changes so that they don't appear as threatening, and in fact sound quite doable by the end of the film.

If you are dealing with substantial health issues or are on the fence about things like trialing a raw food diet or switching to a more natural lifestyle, then I think Heal Your Self might be the gentle nudge you are looking for.

Just the inspiration I was yearning for to get motivated to attend to the parts of my life I've been neglecting. And also feel (in our age of info overload) the segments were informative, inspiring, and succinct.). Not an easy trio to achieve, and I extend my congratulations.

I just watched your dvd -- you really did a great job with this! congrats to you, and to everyone on the dvd for such personal sharings.

I watch quite a few 'heal this, that and the other' type of dvds throughout the year and this is truly one of the best I've seen. It was inspiring, helpful, educational, and at times entertaining (I can't recall the gentleman's name -- but one guy was very blunt and funny; I really enjoyed watching him).

Music was nice and provided good background, but not overwhelming. And I really like the quotes/clips you chose -- it was great to see so many different perspectives and, especially, without that sense of someone trying to sell us something. Or prove their system was the best. You did a very nice holistic job of inclusion here.

I particularly liked Aubrey -- I've always liked his products, so it was nice to see him included here too! You have an impressive group of folks included -- all very articulate and obviously wanting to help others.

Just watched this great video, very interesting and compelling!

The pacing was perfect. The music was supportive and non invasive. The in between graphics were timed perfectly. I actually couldn't find anything to complain about. I didn't know the film would also be talking about raw food. That was a nice surprise. I never found myself feeling like "when will it move on". Never felt that. You made the idea of changing your eating habits easy and even the meditation part was made easy.

It is a great film for those of us who are questioning what is going on about our health from diet, environment, spirit, emotions and visualization. The promotional words are accurate to the information in this film. No hype. I really enjoyed the ending clips, the humor.

What a great contribution to the field of healing. The website and the video are professional insightful and inspirational, and I think you you have a done a great job as a filmmaker, researcher and healer. Now we need one on 'reclaiming birth' and 'healing our autoxic children'. The quality of the documentary is beautiful, it's interesting, informative, well edited, the visuals are just enough, simple but effective, its really great...well done, seriously. You have done a beautiful thing...I hope lost of people order it and watch it and move towards the message.