Book Description Review “The Little Book of Big Life Change is a fresh take on wellness that we all need to hear. Carrie completes the circle of health by focusing on all aspects of wellness—not just the foods we eat, but including breath, movement, rest, cleansing, thought, unity, purpose, and love. By learning how to easily incorporate each of these aspects into our life in a practical way, we are able to harness the optimal health we all deserve.” —Dr. Will Cole, leading functional medicine expert, IFMCP, DC, and author of The Inflammation Spectrum and Ketotarian “A beautiful little book about how to create an intentional, high-vibe, colorful life!” —Deanna Minich, PhD, nutritionist and author of Whole Detox “The perfect field guide to living with a human body as part of the larger ecosystem in which we live. Carrie walks us through self-care as world care; world care as self-care.” —Elena Brower, bestselling author of Practice You “I recommend this book to every being looking for a spiritual injection with a splash of science to create the ultimate formula for a whole life. This little book helps you shift your life in big ways!” —Emma Mildon, bestselling author of The Soul Searcher’s Handbook and Evolution of Goddess “The Little Book of Big Life Change is full of great knowledge and practical tips, written in a very inspirational way. Very much needed in a world of books that may give lots of information, but are boring and difficult to get through. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a change for the better, or simply enjoys a good read.” —Alejandro Junger, MD, The New York Times bestselling author of Clean, Clean Gut and Clean Eats “Here are the keys to true well-being presented in a beautiful and approachable way. I wish everyone the opportunity to glean the wisdom in this book because none of us are well until all of us are well.” —Julia Plevin, author of The Healing Magic of Forest Bathing “This gorgeous book gifts the world with a true treasure trove of goodness for all those who are seeking a better way to live.” —Raven Keyes, CMRMT, founder of Raven Keyes Medical Reiki International “A lovely guide to living in harmony with ourselves, others, and our planet. Carrie’s inspiring words and practical tips invite us on a journey to greater well-being and wholeness.” —Francine Jay, bestselling author of The Joy of Less and Lightly “Despite our ever-growing population and ‘social media,’ so much about our modern times fosters isolation. But we are desperate for reconnection—to ourselves, to others, and to the planet that sustains us. In fact, our survival depends on it. Centered on reestablishing connection, Carrie gifts us a guide that will undoubtedly help so many.” —David Perlmutter, MD, author of Brain Wash “You want simple yet profound wisdom to live a life that feels alive, abundant, and peaceful? Read this book!” —Danette May, leading healthy lifestyle expert and bestselling author of The Rise Read more About the Author Carrie Ciula is a biologist, natural health practitioner, and nutritionist. She is a devoted believer in earth-connected living, wholehearted loving, and the change that can come about through playing with the boundaries around what we consider possible. Based in the Indianapolis area, Carrie focuses her writing and work on helping to create and support both personal and global wellness. Visit her at carrieciula.com. Read more Customers Review: What a find! I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I picked it up and suddenly I’m stumbling upon ideas and actions that almost immediately moved me to make progress in areas that have been stubbornly resisting change. And the benefits (better sleep, better mindset, better salads, better smoothies!) are already a revelation. I’ve got 6 bookshelves of massive volumes on nutrition, herbs, psychology, natural healing, meditation, and self help of every sort. Few, if any, have helped ease me into simple yet powerful new habits so quickly, quietly, and painlessly as this little gem. The author gets right to the heart of the matter in a fun, smart voice without jargon or preaching. It’s like she slipped into the room, sat down with me and hours later I’m still talking with her and in love with life in whole new ways. I’ll keep those reference books on the shelf just in case I have specific questions to research, but this is the one I’ve been bringing to bed with me every night.
As the title says, this is a physically small book without a ton of pages, yet a very rare one that fully addresses the giant issues involved in finding and implementing Wholeness in our lives. To me, it is genius when an author can achieve such a result. Lesser authors, who do not possess both depth and breadth of understanding, or perhaps the required skill and ability of presentation, instead will often ramble on, perhaps trying to present every theory they’ve encountered on each topic. The more they ramble, the more voluminous their data become! I cannot help but feel that somehow they hope to impress the reader with how much they know. But instead, such an approach wears me down to the point that I lose all interest and before long I stop reading altogether. It also tells me that they may know a lot of facts, but haven’t processed them into a cohesive enough understanding of their subject to be able to present it clearly and succinctly, and in a way that impacts their readers. Well, Carrie Ciula is one very rare author indeed! She has such a complete grasp of all aspects of this subject, and such a skill and mastery of writing, that just about always you become quickly engaged, involved, and feel like a part of the discussion! She does not “speak at you,” but rather engages you in the process, consistently relating her points to your life via what she has experienced in her own. Frequently, I found myself reflecting on habitual living patterns I had adopted without much thought. I realized how improved I would likely be if I could adopt and integrate these wholesome elements into my own life! I find that Carrie presents things in her own warm, relaxing and entertaining manner. But as a special treat, she often also gifts her reader with warm, personal glimpses of her own life over the years. All of this is fully integrated, and fully related to and supportive of the nine main points being made in the book. This book is a wonderfully insightful and perhaps even enchanting experience for the reader! The importance of Nutrition surely should not be overlooked, and Ms Ciula, rightly presents it as the first of her Nine Elements to Wholeness. Just simple observation shows us how many people do overlook and abuse their selection and consumption of food! It makes a lot of sense that a “whole person” cannot be very complete or happy if their physical body is not receiving wholesome nutrition daily! Yet, when early-on her discussion began to shift toward charts of food groupings and potential recipes and menus, she had me starting to wonder if this was actually going to be just another cookbook! – NO WORRIES -What she’s doing there is showing that one need not be overly tense or invested in specific menus or recipes (unless you wish to be, of course!). If you understand what good, wholesome food is, it may be combined and prepared and served in any way appropriate to the rest of your life’s priorities, and in ways that excite you. This section ended up making me very excited to get to the market and pick up MANY of the foods I’d lost along the way… or never tried before! I can’t wait to include new whole-foods in my diet and reap the inevitable rewards I know she promises with honor and first-hand experience. Only after fully exploring each of her Nine Elements toward Wholeness, relating them to herself, to others and to the reader, does the book draw to a close by tying it all together once again. This book moves at a steady pace and offers much variety that maintains your interest. At the end, I felt like I had received the biggest gift! A most pleasurable time spent in reading, receiving information, adding new perspectives, and feeling encouragement and motivation. Along with all this, I gained a better appreciation of the importance of each of The Nine elements of Wholeness. How they work together as a whole… in making you Whole! I am now a believer that Nutrition, Breath, Movement, Rest, Cleansing, Thought, Unity, Purpose and Love can change my Life and open doors to Wholeness I’d never thought possible.
Heartfelt and well written, with good practical advice. You can tell the author really cares about the reader and creating positive change in the world. The information is profound, but delivered in a simple, smooth, non-judgmental way. I have already started incorporating some of the suggestions into my daily life. I highly recommend!
From the moment you look at the cover, the book emits a certain energy. I purchased it for my little cafe as a book for customers to look through when they sit at our juice bar and they love it. I really love the recipes and easy to digest information on how to stay/feel healthy and vibrant. It’s a wonderful book to have around to flip through for quick inspiration.
I have been pursuing and sharing a holistic wellness path for years now, and am all too familiar with the feeling of overwhelm that can hit people as they begin to realize that they need to shift their behaviors in so many areas of life. This little book is a wonderful antidote to the paralysis that can result from this overwhelm.Too often our culture has the idea that “working hard” at something is a virtue, and we bring that to a holistic lifestyle path as well. We create overly complicated foods, fitness routines, philosophies, etc and in the process make wellness feel even further away – something only for the elite and erudite. This behavior is one of the worst problems with the wellness culture, and represents our feeling that these things are only for the special people who can pay or put in that kind of extreme effort. There is an elitism to much of wellness that shows the sickness that is still present despite all the talk about being well.Instead this book thankfully resounds with the idea of “effort and ease” which is a philosophy espoused in yoga. It’s ok to apply intentional effort, but it should flow and feel good, not painful. You can’t get to ease and joy by causing yourself more pain – the destination is the journey, and this is something that Carrie Ciula clearly understands.The writing in this book is personable, easy to digest, clearly practiced by the author, and filled with joyful certainty. Rather than dumping evidence on the reader she relies on her own experience and the inner knowing of the reader to help them forward. Perhaps you have read much of the advice in this book before in other ways, but this book will make it seem so simple and joyful and natural that it becomes inevitable to want to begin to embody the ideas included. These are principles our bodies yearn to show us, and Carrie deftly invites us to remember that.Ultimately feeling whole is something we sense and deeply know, not something of which we must laboriously convince ourselves. If you would like to remember that wholeness then this will serve as a lovely little guide on your path. |
9 reviews