The Age of E

Many people today are searching for alternatives to mainstream lifestyles, not necessarily struggling with religious convictions, but simply looking for more than the fast-food, designer-worn, media-driven gruel that has become our staple American diet. As seen on the Wisdom Channel, this comprehensive three-program consumer guide, amiably hosted by Lois Larimore, opens with “Healing Arts," an exhaustive survey of alternative healing practices. On her own quest, Larimore lies down on smooth hot stones (ouch), gets a good face scouring with microdermabrasion (the alternative face-lift using a machine called the Dermablast), discovers why two or three bowel movements a day are essential to good health (yikes!), visits with a therapeutic touch practitioner, takes off her shoes for a reflexology specialist, watches a ballet dancer receive acupuncture treatment for arthritic joints, sticks her nose into a bit of aromatherapy, and gets her aura mapped by a strange looking machine which measures the low grade electrical current that surrounds each of us. Although doing your personal ‘energy work' used to be considered wacky fringe stuff, today the movement in America has reached the level of avant-garde chic, and while many of these ‘treatments' are grounded in American Indian and Eastern tradition, Americans are (re)discovering them in the marketplace, where holistic living has become big business. Combining top-notch production qualities with Larimore's excellent navigation skills though the sometimes murky waters of alternative practice, The Age of E offers solid bang for the budgetary buck. The two other titles in the series--Journey to Self Knowledge and The Spiritual Life--look at feng shui, near-death experiences, reincarnation, rebirthing, and more. Highly recommended. Aud: P. (N. Plympton)