Radhule Weininger, MD, PhD is a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, and meditation teacher. She leads weekly and monthly meditation groups in Santa Barbara and leads retreats in the United States and internationally. She is the author of “Heartwork: The Path of Self-Compassion.” In her new book “Heart Medicine: How to Stop Painful Patterns and Find Peace and Freedom – at Last” she helps readers find freedom from life’s painful recurring patterns in 12 simple steps, with guided practices of self-compassion, mindfulness, and embodiment. (Amazon, 2022)

“Heart Medicine” – Do you ever feel trapped by experiencing challenging feelings over and over again–sometimes without realizing it? Or do you find yourself thinking “Why is this happening to me again?” or “Why do I always feel this way?” You are not alone. With “Heart Medicine,” you can learn to identify your emotional and behavioral patterns through the lens of loving awareness–without self-judgment or blame, learning to hold yourself as you would a dear friend, with space and grace. Radhule Weininger has decades of experience as a therapist and meditation teacher and uses it to help readers understand the trauma behind their patterns and offers twelve simple steps to work toward healing. Each chapter includes short practices so readers can begin to put the book’s concepts to work for transformation in their own lives. In the Introduction, the author defines what LRPPs are, Long-standing Recurrent, Painful Patterns of hurt and that this book is about identifying and healing our LRPPs. The book is divided into two parts: Part One: Meet Your Long-Standing, Recurrent, Painful Patterns (LRPPs), where she defines LRPPs and explains why we obsess and repeat and Part Two: Twelve Steps toward Healing and contains chapters such as Being Mindful of Body, Thoughts, and Feelings and Forgiveness. All together, it contains her personal story, case studies, and suggested practices, like mindfulness and breathing exercises as well as journaling, geared towards reducing these painful patterns.

The need for better mental health care has never been more important and there are so many books out there that can help. “Heart Medicine” by Radhule Weininger is one of them. Given that the author herself has gone through her share of rough times and picked up some coping mechanism along the way, it gives the book an authentic voice. She shares her personal struggles, as well as those of others she has helped, in the hope that readers will benefit from them. Her tone is heartfelt and comforting yet professional but never condescending. Highlights, both in Part Two, include Step 1 – Recognizing Your LRPP – because in order to begin healing, “we must first be able to identify when our LRPP is manifesting and the particular characteristics signifying its presence” which include twelve types of indicators, two of which are narrowing awareness and depleted life energy; and Step 12 – Service: Sharing Our Healing Sets Us Free because by sharing, we can restore some of the equilibrium in our bodies that has gone awry. Her combination of psychology and Buddhist principles give readers the tools they need to break through the patterns that can hold them back and in turn begin to live better lives. “Heart Medicine” is an exemplary guide book that can help identify and address emotional and behavior problems and is recommended for readers interested in self help, mental health, Buddhism, and philosophy.

“This book is intended as a medicine for the heart. I hope that we can all find healing and freedom within our distress that has so often kept us from living the lives we wanted to create for ourselves.”

*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.