New Book Alert: Ways to Go Beyond and Why They Work: Seven Spiritual Practices for a Scientific Age by Rupert Sheldrake; Self-Help Book Thrives With Good Advice and Habits

New Book Alert: Ways to Go Beyond and Why They Work: Seven Spiritual Practices for A Scientific Age by Rupert Sheldrake; Self-Help Book Thrives With Good Advice and Habits

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: Rupert Sheldrake's previous book, Science and Spiritual Practices described seven different activities that help Readers become more spiritually centered: gratitude, meditation, connecting to nature, relating to plants, singing and chanting, rituals, and pilgrimage.

In his follow up book, Ways to Go Beyond and Why They Work, Sheldrake gives us seven more practices to strengthen our bodies and minds and replenish our souls.

It is a very helpful book that suggests how these practices can be implemented to give us a more centered and spiritual life. Even if the person does not use them often, Sheldrake's words provide some form of a take away that the Reader can use in their daily lives.


These practices are:

Sports-Most people don't equate sports with spirituality but Sheldrake thinks of it as one activity that requires the person to be in the present.

Some sports began with a spiritual connection such as the Olympics, which were designed to appease the gods.

The skills athletes learn in competition and play help prepare them for life. When athletes compete, Sheldrake writes, it helps them work out their aggressions, persevere through injuries, and learn and understand game theory and rules of combat.

Besides the practical skills, there is a deeper connection when people participate in sports. Athletes are often focused and practice mindfulness so they can pay attention to their goal or the other player's actions.

Sheldrake also writes about the flow or as athletes describe, being “in the zone”, a process which requires clear goals, immediate feedback, and a good balance between perceived skills and the challenges at hand.

This flow is revealed by speed movements and by working in a group.

Even if we don't play sports, Sheldrake believes that we can practice mindfulness and flow in any activity.


Animals-Like his previous book with plants, Sheldrake suggests that we can improve our spirit by communicating with nature. This time he focuses on animals. Humans can study the way animals move and interact with each other as a means of understanding our own potential as humans.

Even as far back as the days of hunter gatherers, people domesticated animals to help hunt for food. These animals, particularly dogs, may have played an important part in evolution because as time went on, they were used for work and companionship.

With that domestication and companionship, an almost telepathic connection developed between animals and humans. This is most prominently seen among pets and their owners. Sheldrake reasons that we have such deep connections with our pets because it is deeply habitual for humans to develop these connections. Also, love binds people to their furry and feathered friends.

In return, animals provide support, unconditional love, and sometimes assistance for people with physical and mental disabilities. Animals allow humans an emotional center and a strong telepathic link.

Through animals, we learn about humility, unconditional love, healing, intuitive sensitivity, mindfulness, joy through play, and an acceptance of death.


Fasting-This is one of Sheldrake's most provocative chapters as certain serious questions towards health are raised in favor of obtaining a spiritual connection.

In many cultures, people fast for seasonal or ritual reasons. Some of the First Nation Tribes of British Columbia had rituals where girls went into seclusion and fasted for four days after their menstrual period. The Bible features characters like Moses, Elijah, and Jesus Christ fasting before they communicated with God. In some Native American tribes, shamans fasted to induce dreams and prepare for their spiritual journey.

Ritual fasts were meant to be temporary and they were usually preceded and followed by a feast. The Catholic period of Ash Wednesday precedes Easter but is followed by Carnival or Mardi Gras. Judaism has Yom Kippur and Islam has Ramadan, both ritual fasts for atonement and detachment respectively.

Fasting enters the public consciousness nowadays as a form of protest. Mahatma Gandhi went on a hunger strike in prison protesting the British occupation in India. In 1981, Bobby Sands and 9 other Republican paramilitaries went on a hunger strike that lasted from 46 to 73 days. In 1917, Suffragists in the United States went on a hunger strike in Occoquan Prison and were force fed through a tube.

Nowadays, some medical professionals suggest fasting or abstaining from certain foods for health reasons. Weight loss is one of the more obvious reasons, but sometimes fasts are recommended for detoxification by removing excess harmful chemicals from the body. It also is used to develop a better memory and activate the brain.

For obvious reasons, this chapter and the next might be the most controversial. Sheldrake addresses these issues as well.

There might be benefits to fasting and abstaining from food. However, there can be just as many long-term negative consequences if it is done irresponsibly.

People should not fast if they are still children, have health problems, are pregnant, have an eating disorder or are already limited on the amount of food that they can eat.

Fasting is only recommended on a temporary basis for example during an allotted amount of days, during a specific ritual, and/or with the monitoring and advice of a medical professional.

However, a middle ground can be made instead of fasting entirely from food. One could simply make more responsible food choices and abstain from certain foods and drinks such as excess fats and sugars as well as eating smaller portions.


Cannabis, Psychedelics, and Spiritual Openings-Consciousness altering drugs have been used in various rituals for centuries. Ancient Egyptians and Greeks drank beer and wine in ceremonies to honor the gods, such as Dionysus. Cannabis was used by the Indian sadhus, holy men. Central and South American tribes took psychedelic mushrooms, cacti, snuffs, and other plant mixtures during rituals. In the 20th century, chemical psychedelics like LSD, mescaline, and ketamine were used particularly during the psychedelic 1960’s and many continue to do so.

Many people have taken psychedelic drugs to communicate with the spiritual world. These psychedelic experiences are caused by physical and chemical changes in the brain.

Many spiritual practices such as the Sufis and Rastafarians rely on cannabis as their religious practice. Now people are more aware of cannabis's health benefits for example chemotherapy, calming anxiety and seizures, and to improve concentration. Some countries like Canada have legalized it and many of the U.S. states have as well. (However, many Americans are trying to get it legalized on a federal level.)


Psychedelic drugs affect the neurotransmitter system in the brain by altering the dopamine and serotonin receptors. Many of the drugs such as MDMA, DMT, and LSD increase senses and give a sense of euphoria to the user. Users have reported synesthesia when two or more senses act at once (hearing colors or tasting words. Some see vibrations when they hear music).

Some drugs produced happy blissful feelings while others like DIPT produced negative consequences such as distorted sounds and threatening auditory hallucinations. 

Writers like Aldous Huxley wrote of their experiences with psychedelics describing the intense creativity and visions that they produced. Some spiritual practitioners to this day recommend psychedelics to achieve a higher level of consciousness and communicate with autonomous entities like ancestors and spirit guides.


As with the previous chapter, Sheldrake acknowledges the controversies involved in taking substances and offers warnings.

Do not take these substances if they are illegal. Some might be legal in some states or areas and dependant on how they are taken. Readers are advised to check local laws before they take any potentially illegal substances.

If you have mental health problems, these drugs will only increase them.Cannabis for example has been known to induce paranoia with some users. Hallucinations caused by psychedelics can be negative and frightening to someone who has Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder or any other such disorder.

Users who are inexperienced should only take a small amount. Above all, see a medical professional or a spiritual provider before taking any drugs.

There are alternatives to achieving these states without the use of such drugs. Many imaginative and creative people report visions to find solutions to problems and receive inspiration.

Some develop those connections through prayer and meditation. Even just having an alone quiet time can be enough to increase one's ability to visualize possibilities and develop concentration.

Everyone dreams and dreams often lead to inspiration and ideas. Some people dream more vividly and interpret their dreams in a journal. People can also practice lucid dreaming, a type of dreaming where the sleeper is aware that they are dreaming so they can control the events inside the dream.


Prayer- Prayer is similar to meditation, but involves conversations with a deity, gods, goddesses, spirits, angels, faeries, saints, and ancestors. Sheldrake writes that belief is important when it comes to prayer. “It is necessary to believe that there are beings to whom prayer can be addressed and that these beings
help,” he said.

Of course, the recipients of such prayer can vary. The Abrahamic religions pray to a single male deity. In Shamanic countries, deities include animal spirits, ancestors, Mother Earth, and a Great Spirit. Hindus pray to a wide variety of deities. Buddhists do not pray to Buddha for mundane things so they communicate with gods, goddesses, and other guardian spirits. Orthodox and Catholic Christians contact saints and angels for intercessions.

Different forms of prayer include gratitude, thanksgiving, contemplative, or to ask for something such as healing, protection, success, or on behalf of others.

Many religions also use repetitive mantras like the Buddhist Aum or the Jesus Prayer. The repetitions sometimes include objects like rosaries, prayer beads, malas, misbahas, or prayer ropes.

Part of prayer involves believing that our minds are transparent to gods and spirits. Some are not concerned with whether the deities know everything but whether they know what is being prayed about and that they can hear us wherever we are.

Some studies have been conducted to ascertain whether prayer has any effect on healing. 

One in Mozambique, featured researchers studying auditory and visual thresholds on sick people before and after they were prayed over for healing. This study found significant change in behavior. However, Harvard Medical Research featured prayer for people going through coronary bypass surgery. This study showed no significant results.

Keep in mind that prayer works for those who believe in it, similar to a placebo effect. Like someone given a sugar pill and told it's a miracle drug, those who believe in prayer believe that it works alongside medicine.


Holy Days and Festivals-Holidays and Festivals are good times to gather and celebrate important milestones. Cave paintings from Ice Age Europe show potential rituals of humans honoring seasons with animals.

Even the familiar week was instituted to honor heavenly bodies and deities.
Many religious days like the Jewish Sabbath, the Christian Sunday, and the Islam Friday are filled with ritual and ceremony to honor their deities.

There are also seasonal rituals to celebrate solstices and equinoxes. Many holidays like Christmas/Yule, Imholc, Ostara/Easter, Beltane/May Day, Midsummer, Lughnasadh/Lammas, Mabon/Michelmas, and Samhain/Halloween/Day of the Dead coincide with the seasonal harvest calendar. Islam festivals are tied to the lunar calendar which begins on the new moon. Therefore, many of the holidays like Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr move around throughout the year.

The benefits of these holidays include days off from work and school, time spent with friends and family, assisting the less fortunate, and lessening loneliness and isolation. They also activate a collective memory connecting current participants with traditions and ancestors.


Cultivating Good Habits, Avoiding Bad Habits, and Being Kind-The final practice explores the idea of virtues, morality, and ethics. All practices have some form of a code of morality in which we are encouraged to be kind, helpful, and to not hurt others or oneself. 

A survey conducted by several psychiatrists and influenced by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders studied various religious, spiritual, and philosophical beliefs to find common ground. 

The six most important virtues identified across the board are: Wisdom and Knowledge, Courage, Humanity, Temperance, Justice, and Transcendence. While these virtues varied in importance and practice, the basics were the same around the world.

There are conflicts between morality and altruism, Sheldrake writes. “Top down starting from society as a whole and bottom up, starting from the individual person,” he writes. 

Philosophers and thinkers have argued for centuries whether the whole human society is primary or individual acts are primary and whether large changes are needed or the smallest actions can make the biggest difference. However, both are needed to make a real difference. 

Individuals make society and society influences the individuals. Sheldrake explains various examples where no matter how individualistic we think we are, we are still a part of society. In fact some of the worst punishments are to be completely cut off from society such as being ostracized or out in solitary confinement.

Many of the vices such as the Islam eight vices of deficiency and excess, the Christian seven deadly sins, and the difficulties concerning addiction reflect the aspects of living a selfish life which involves harming others. Ultimately, these vices lead to harming oneself.

That social need influences laws of morality and ethics. We make these to show kindness and acceptance towards others and do not harm others. 

Many followings offer basic care towards others, such as the Golden Rule (“Do unto others as you would have them unto you.”) the Wiccan Rede (“If it harms none, do what thou wilt.”), or the Buddhist Eightfold Path (which includes Right Intention and Right Action.) All of these are meant to show kindness in the world.

Rupert Sheldrake's book is good to follow no matter what spiritual, religious, or philosophical path that you are in. Any Reader can find some advice that they can use to change their lives for the better.