It's a self-help book, it's an exercise book, it's a book loaded with meditation visualizations. It really can't be categorized, other than to call it a fitness book for the mind, body and spirit. Turn on Your Inner Light has a workout for every occasion: Training for Insomnia, Training for Trauma, Training in the Garden, Training to Have Fun. There's even Training for the Times You Live a Life of Quiet Desperation and Training to Deal With People Who Push Your Button. Each "training" chapter explains its purpose and contains a mind/ body prescription, a meditation, and physical exercises appropriate to the situation (in the Training for Divorce chapter, for example, the objective of the exercises is "taking control to move forward"). Perhaps the concept sounds just a tad wacky, but these Training sessions really can open you up, build your strength (both in body and in spirit), or bring you closer to the one you love.

Author Debbie Mandel is a motivational speaker whose knowledge in fitness and alternative therapy is quite broad, and it seems like she puts everything she knows to use in this book. It borrows from Qi Gong, Zen, Tai Chi and all kinds of fitness styles (equipment that is used ranges from the machines at the gym to stability balls to your own ingenuity). Several of its 29 chapters are bound to apply to anyone at some point or another (some of us need to deal with fear, letting go or loving ourselves on a daily basis). Turn on Your Inner Light takes a light-hearted approach to life's troubles, and invites you to use its training chapters as a springboard towards empowerment. A self-help book can't have a better goal than that!

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