Ela Manga - The Energy Code: Mastering Energy in the Age of Burnout

Suffering from stress and burnout has reached epidemic proportions in the world. If you make a list of the top ten health complaints that the average doctor hears every day, you will find that every one of them is linked to stress or burnout in some way.

Being busy and feeling exhausted has become normal. In fact, most people, without realising it, have become addicted to the chemicals their body produces when they are stressed out. And many or most of our health problems are often caused by it!

The toll that stress and burnout has on our bodymind system, relationships, and performance and productivity simply cannot be ignored. We cannot afford to wait until we are incapacitated by stress and fatigue before we do something about it.

Enter Dr Ela Manga, and this important book. Elas passion is in bringing mindfulness back into medicine and in inspiring conscious living as a way of restoring and supporting health and wellbeing.

This book is full of compelling, real-life stories about the effects of stress and is a treasure trove of practical tips for preventing and recovering from it. It is a perfect guide for anyone faced with the pressures of modern life who is open to an integrated and mindful approach to optimum wellness.

This book explains clearly what supports our energy, how to recognise and manage the things that drain our energy, and shows us how to harness the stress response so that it works for us instead of against us. In short, this is a book about an exciting new approach to healthcare called energy management.

As a starting point, Ela shares with us her own remarkable story. She teaches us the basic laws and principles of genuine or authentic energy. And throughout the book she lays the foundation and a path to living on natural or authentic energy instead of the adrenalised energy that has become the norm.

She has created a collection of energy codes that you can use to generate and sustain natural energy throughout your day. Many high performers are aware of their bodys signals and have developed their own strategies to cope with stress. They know what to do to keep going. They know what supplements to take and what food to eat. They deal with their symptoms as they encounter them in a practical way. They exercise and do yoga. They have learned to cope with their energy rollercoasters. But in many ways, all these strategies only allow them to function at baseline. This book will take these high performers to a new level of health and wellbeing.

Ela encourages and supports people in re-evaluating old, established habits and patterns. She points out that its not just what you do, but how you do it that is important. For example, she explains how an exercise regime may be working against us rather than for us, and how using exercise as a way to tune out or distract ourselves is actually counterproductive, and how by focusing on the external benefits, working out has the potential to do more harm than good.

Dr Manga offers some simple yet powerful ways to integrate what she calls recovery loops into our everyday lives. She describes how the brain is designed and how to use mindfulness to harness mental energy. She also explores ways to use technology to support rather than drain our energy.

Ela practises what she preaches. She maintains a busy private medical practice, does holistic consulting, writes articles for leading health magazines, does radio and television interviews, speaks at conferences, leads seminars and trainings, does research and supports community-based programmes. She spends time alone in nature, and she has learned to integrate her personal and professional life. She listens to her body and she makes use of heart intelligence. She paints, practises yoga, does business and enjoys a rich personal and family life.

She is a genuine student and teacher, devoted to a life in service to others. She radiates love and light, and that energy comes through her words in this book. Ela is also the only medical doctor in South Africa who is a certified Breathwork practitioner and trainer. She is making a real difference in the world, and this book is sure to make a real difference in your life.

This book is a gift to the world. In fact, I believe that this unique and groundbreaking work will do more to help you prevent and recover from stress and burnout than anything you have learned and anything that has been published to date.

Dan Brul, author of Just Breathe
May 2017

I have an early memory of myself as a little girl sitting on my beloved grandfathers lap as he painted a floral border around every page of his handwritten memoirs. As a historian and writer, he spent many hours in his study compiling photographs and stories of the Gujarati community who were living in different parts of the world. His own story told of a young boy of 14 who had docked on the shores of South Africa after a long sea journey from India with his father in 1926. It was a time when many Indian tradesmen and artisans were making their way to South Africa to set up businesses. They settled in the coastal town of Port Elizabeth where he helped his father start a small shoe-repair business. His heart was set on becoming a doctor, but due to the lack of financial resources his dream lay barren. Instead, he channeled his energy and focus into his business, which grew to sustain his family and put two of his sons through medical school. His two older sons remained in the business, which by then had evolved into a mens clothing outfitter. One of those sons was my father, who died of a massive myocardial infarction. I was only three years old.