This is the second book on lymph that I've read for review recently but the two books could not be more different. The first was by a respected doctor (Lymph Longevity: The Untapped Secret to Health) and was an in-depth scientific look at the importance of the lymphatic system, the role it plays in all sorts of illnesses, and how to support it. This one is written by a woman who does lymphatic massages who has a bit of a celebrity following and it mostly contains detailed directions on how to do lymphatic massages. Unfortunately, my galley had terrible illustrations that looked like negatives of the artwork most of the time, so I couldn't really use the illustrations to properly follow the recommendations. It appears that it uses simple brown and white drawings of people to show the many steps for each massage.

The number of steps for the massages was a bit overwhelming for me and they take up many pages. There are sometimes 30 steps. You are supposed to massage the nearest lymph nodes first to "open the drain" and then you massage part by part in that direction. You are supposed to use specific hand positions like the C and J and it didn't translate that well for me to understand it (terrible illustrations played a part in that). It reminded me a bit of those yoga books where the steps take multiple pages and you don't know if you'd actually use a book and flip through it with that many pages even if you want to get in the habit. I'm sure if my illustrations hadn't have been so wonky, it might have helped there. As it was, it seemed incredibly long and complicated with bizarre, hard to read illustrations.

The end section has other recommendations for helping the lymphatic system like swimming, yoga, exercise, walking and food suggestions. Other suggestions like meditation don't seem that related to lymph, but can't hurt.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

Wow. I've already been treating myself to lymph massage for health reasons and always feel better afterwards. I had no idea lymph was 95 percent water! Now, im even more determined to hydrate. The illustrations for self massage are suberb.

I am typically wary of books like this, as I worry that people will rely solely on these methods rather than seeing a doctor. But recently my anxiety has begun significantly impacting my health. When I came across this book I thought it couldn't hurt to have a little extra help. The instructions are explained well, and the step by step diagrams are going to be easy to follow. I hope to incorporate at least a few of these massages into my self-care attempts.