The years go by and I continue to look for books about Chinese Psychology.
Yes, I know, Good luck to me, but I didn’t give up yet.
When I find there’s nothing new under the Tai Yang, I go back and take comfort in Dragon Rises, Red Bird Flies by Dr. Leon Hammer.

I bought this book a long time ago.
When I got back home, I felt as though I’m holding the most important book in my hands. It’s no surprise, considering that all my teachers spoke very highly of this book. At the library, the copy of the book was worn out and crumpled from over-use by students.
I was always drawn to the psychology world, and the fact that there’s a fully accomplished, well established psychologist who converted to Chinese Medicine and focused on that 100%, these two reasons I had to buy my own copy of the book.
I was very clever to do so.

Dr. Hammer successfully presents Chinese Medicine and psychology together, and we can see that despite the differences, there is a lot of resemblance between these two methods.
The author is able to wisely use his knowledge from the world of psychology to help the reader understand the different psychological aspects and translate them to Chinese Medicine terms. Thus we are presented with a book that is a one of kind- as far as I know- in which the author puts Chinese Medicine in the center and validates it with references from the psychology and psychiatry world.

Don’t mistake, this is not a book about psychology. This is a 100% Chinese Medicine book:
Dr. Hammer talks about Yin and Yang, the emotions and Five Elements, in each element he goes deeper and deeper to explain the main syndromes and their possible personality manifestations.
In addition, the book contains a chapter that is dedicated to the work of Dr. John Shen, Dr. Hammer’s mentor of 8 years for pulse diagnosis.

The chapter is a rare documentation of Dr. Shen’s theory, which was developed by Dr. Shen for more than 50 years.
One of the interesting things that is presented by this theory is the “nervous system weak”.
The nervous system according to Dr. Shen is the Tai Yang layer, the most external layer of the body that defends the body and mind. One can see symptoms of weakness of that system in early childhood, symptoms that stay with that person for the rest of his life.
Dr. Hammer says that the state of that system will determine the person’s reaction to stress: if the system is weak there will be a psychology reaction (anxiety and so on). If it’s strong, the reaction will be physical (sickness, pain and so on).

The book is filled with enlightenments such as the one mentioned above.
I go back to the book from time to time, read another page or chapter and absorb information that is valuable to my understanding of myself, the people around me and of Chinese philosophy.
Dr. Hammer’s wisdom, which is a mixture of his Chinese and psychological experience, is entwined in every page, which creates a delightful and educating reading experience.

If you ask me- this is a must have book to all those who are interested in helping their patients on a deeper level. This is a must have book for those who seek to learn more about Chinese philsophy and those who wish to have another interesting deep understanding of Chinese philosophy and medicine.

To buy a copy of the book click here.

Over to you
I am interested to hear your thoughts about the book- leave your comments here.