#148 – Book Review & Giveaway: Chopin and Beyond

If you haven't heard of Byron Janis, this is an opportunity to attune your ears and open your mind and heart to learn more about a man who has invited us into his world. It's a world where anything can and does happen. Where music is a constant. Where forks bend. I'd really like to witness this firsthand! Where healing occurs in unexpected ways, and where synchronicity flows.

And where you have an opportunity to enter a draw to win a copy of his book!

Chopin and Beyond is more than a memoir, it is also a love story.

It's a love of performance, music and Chopin. As Byron states on page 258:

"Music is my life's oxygen, and I would always be able to find ways of being creative to fulfill what is the essence of my nature... Music for me has always been and always will be a step into that 'more'."

It's a love of family. We learn what Byron's family was willing to do in order to allow Byron to grace the world with his gift.

It's a love of Maria Cooper Janis, his co-author and wife. She is the daughter of Academy Award-winning actor Gary Cooper and is an accomplished artist, writer and lecturer.

It's a love of encouragement and inspiration. Both Byron and Maria generously give of their time to the Arthritis Foundation, encouraging others to live their best life.

It's also a love of exceptional human experience (EHE), which is one of the many things that he credits for allowing him to continue playing and composing, despite the pain of psoriatic arthritis.

In the Forward, Maria writes:

"Mind over the supposed limitations of matter carried him forward...a disease that is particularly devastating to a concert pianist."

In A New Harmony, an article Byron Janis wrote for Arthritis Today, he tells us about his unusual homemade remedy that involves daily therapy with a large black instrument with 88 black and white keys which, when tapped, pressed and otherwise tickled, make a variety of pleasing sounds.

"Although arthritis is not good for pianists, the piano is good for arthritis. Playing the piano is probably the best exercise for my hands."

Eighty-eight keys to success - doing what you love!  

Doing what you love is an important note in stress transformation. During times of stress and a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis or some other chronic, debilitating disease is one such time; people stop doing the very things that allow them to transform their stress. Physiological changes occur based upon on how you are thinking and feeling. Perception is key.

"If all the world's a stage, then your choice of seating in life's pageant can make a profound difference. Unless you try to look at life from different perspectives, you may never see much beyond the back of the head of the person in front of you."

auntie stress chopin and beyond giveaway

Did you notice a positive change in how you felt, simply by writing about your love? You may feel a sense of ease as you breathe. Perhaps you feel a slight lifting of your spirits. Maybe something doesn't hurt as much.

Your body responds to how you think and feel by triggering different chemicals to flow, complete with side affects. If there is a perceived threat, the stress response may be triggered - flight, fight or freeze.

In my work as Auntie Stress, I teach you how to undress your stress, with simple and effective techniques that allow you to treat the cause of your stress, not just the symptoms.

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