DreamHealer : Alternative Medicine

DR: What led a western-trained medical physician such as yourself to pursue the ancient Indian practice of Ayurveda?

DEEPAK CHOPRA: Just an unhappiness with the mechanical approach of contemporary medicine, which says that there is a magic bullet in the form of a pill for everything we have. And the fact remains that none of our medical interventions either get to the root cause of disease, or make a significant difference in mortality or morbidity. They just alter its expression.

It’s frustrating to see patients again and again, and to keep giving them sleeping pills, tranquilizers and antibiotics, for their hypertension or ulcers, when you know you’re not getting rid of the problem or disease. The word “cure” is not even used. You are just treating the patient. “Curing” is a term that all physicians avoid. Our training is not oriented toward that.

DR: Can you explain what you mean by “quantum healing?”

DEEPAK CHOPRA: Quantum healing is healing the bodymind from a quantum level. That means from a level which is not manifest at a sensory level. Our bodies ultimately are fields of information, intelligence and energy. Quantum healing involves a shift in the fields of energy information, so as to bring about a correction in an idea that has gone wrong. So quantum healing involves healing one mode of consciousness, mind, to bring about changes in another mode of consciousness, body.

DR: How important is meditation in achieving and maintaining health?

DEEPAK CHOPRA: Meditation is a very important aspect of all the approaches that one can use in quantum healing, because it allows you to experience your own source. When you experience your own source, you realize that you are not the patterns and eddies of desire and memory that flow and swirl in your consciousness. Although these patterns of desire and memory are the field of your manifestation, you are in fact not these swirling fluctuations of thought.

You are the thinker behind the thought, the observer behind the observation, the flow of attention, the flow of awareness, the unbounded ocean of consciousness. When you have that on the experiential level, you spontaneously realize that you have choices, and that you can exercise these choices, not through some sheer will power but spontaneously.

DR: What aspects of contemporary lifestyles do you feel are most harmful to people’s health?

DEEPAK CHOPRA: The most harmful is the loss of simplicity, and the loss of trust. The experience of alienation, fragmentation, isolation….this ultimately leads to all of the problems, like contamination of our environment, hostility towards each other, poor nutrition, and hard work, too much work . . . A work-oriented society, a success oriented society, in which we believe that somehow, material objects are the only source of our happiness.

DR: How do you find time for medical practice, writing, travel and family life, and still get to bed early, as you recommend in your books?

DEEPAK CHOPRA: That’s a good question. I in fact don’t believe in the existence of time. That’s one thing I have to tell you, and the other is that I don’t take myself or what I am doing seriously. I believe in the ancient saying that this is a recreational universe, for those who want to share God’s one great passion, beauty. I feel that I’m having a wonderful time. I don’t look upon any of this as work. It’s a source of great joy and happiness for me.

I experience beauty in everything I do, and when I experience it emotionally, then I know intellectually that it must be the truth. So if I don’t go to sleep by ten, it doesn’t bother me, because I’m not tired. Most of my writing I do in planes, when I have plenty of time. I meditate whenever I have a chance, and that is actually more frequently than most of my patients meditate. I see patients about 50% of my time at this clinic. That too is a source of great joy to me, talking to people and interacting with people. In fact, I have learned more from my patients than from anybody else.

DR: What has surprised you most in your practice of Ayurvedic medicine?

DEEPAK CHOPRA: What has surprised me most is that when given insight, even a little bit of insight, patients find themselves empowered to do the impossible.

DR: Your father is a medical physician in India. How did his values influence you with regard to your choice of a career, and also regarding your outlook on western and eastern healing methods?

DEEPAK CHOPRA: My father was a great source of inspiration for me, because he was such a wonderful father, who never in his life have I heard raise his voice. He brought up his two children as princes, told them that their birthright was to have all their desires fulfilled. He was a very strongly western-oriented doctor, however. He is a cardiologist, very well-known in India. But he is also a very fun-loving person. I still remember going on vacations and picnics together, going to Shakespearian dramas together.

I never wanted to be a doctor. I always wanted to be a writer and journalist, but when I got to college, I felt that I also had to be a doctor, because that was a very important part of my childhood experience, watching my father heal people. He has that ability. Not only as a great, great cardiologist, but also as someone who cares about his patients. Even when he is not in the hospital or office, he cares about them, he thinks about them, he talks about them to his children and his wife. Not giving away any confidential information, but just wondering how he can help them. He has always been a great source of inspiration.

He was not, however, inclined very favorably toward Ayurvedic medicine until I introduced him to it. Now he is the most enthusiastic researcher on Ayurveda in India.

DR: What current research on Ayurveda interests you most?

DEEPAK CHOPRA: The research that interests me most is the research on Panchakarma, which is the procedure for removing toxins from the body, and how it affects biological aging. And of course the research on the herbal preparations, which yield very interesting and previously unthought of ways of healing. Herbs don’t usually work the way pharmaceutical compounds do, binding to receptor sites. They seem to be evoking and amplifying the body’s own healing processes. They are much more gentle. That means they probably take longer. It’s a much more gentle, a much more holistic, and a much more complete effect.

DR: You said your father raised his sons to believe that their wishes could be granted. If you had one wish that you knew could be granted, what would it be?

DEEPAK CHOPRA: My wish would be for peace on the planet, and that we all fall in love with each other.

Daniel Redwood is a chiropractor, writer and musician who lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He is the author of A Time to Heal: How to Reap the Benefits of Holistic Health (A.R.E. Press), and is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. He can be reached by e-mail at redwoods@infi.net.

Healing with the energy of angels It was a lugubrious white duck named Jo Jo that led Lynda Tomlinson to understand, as a girl, that humans aren’t the only creatures filled with God’s energy and spirit.

Well, actually the duck had help from Lynda’s grandfather, a Puerto Rican immigrant who was arrested once for setting free pheasants that were meant for an organized shoot.

Lynda, 56, of Trevose, remembers him as a soft-hearted man with “laughing, loving, compassionate eyes.” When he wasn’t caring for his family, he was caring for animals — freeing targets, mending wings, putting a basin in the basement for Jo Jo when it got too cold to paddle outdoors.

When he and Lynda walked the family dog through their Lawndale neighborhood, the duck strolled along. Neighbors would call out to it, and it seemed to Lynda that the duck (who happened to be the dog’s best pal) would return the greeting, changing its posture, stretching its neck, then quack, quack, quacking an answer in a voice unlike the one Lynda heard at home.

“Poppy, he’s really talking to people,” Lynda marveled. Her grandfather agreed that Jo Jo was indeed holding court.

“I wanted to learn all I could about these angels, these animals,” she said. “I feel honored to work with them now.”

A nurse for 37 years working in human hospice care, Lynda also is a master of Integrated Energy Therapy and Reiki for animals. IET was developed by Stevan Thayer at the Center of Being. He calls it “healing with the energy of angels.”

Lynda, the mother of two grown sons, will teach a course this spring on IET for animals at Bucks County Community College. Seems we can all learn how to do it. That’s because we aren’t the healers, just the pipe through which the healing goods are transmitted.

As a lay person, the best explanation I’ve read of IET is this: “Feelings and sensations are stored in the cells of the body much like facts are stored in the cells of the brain. Negative or traumatic experiences, stress, unexpressed emotion, fear, anger, resentment or self-limiting beliefs can become “stuck’ [or suppressed] in the body and inhibit or disrupt the flow of vital life force at a cellular level. These energy blockages can result in a lack of spontaneity, energy depletion, a feeling of unrest, agitation or disease.”

“[IET releases] the issues in our tissues,” Thayer teaches.

It was another animal that led Lynda to study it. This time it was Aggie, an “unbalanced,” anxiety-filled, snapping border collie mix. Lynda didn’t know how to help. The dog, taken from its mother before it was properly weaned, nipped and fussed and suffered before succumbing to cancer.

Lynda’s grief in losing Aggie left her open to learning about IET, especially as it pertains to animals.

“A dog [exposed to any negative experience] can carry an imprint of fear, betrayal, mistrust, powerlessness and anger. IET addresses all this with the angels to imprint safety, love, trust and spiritual ease,” she explained.

Eventually — and quite unexpectedly — a new love came into Lynda’s life, a “Zen-like” golden retriever she named Kayla Journey. Kayla means joyous. And joy is exactly the look Lynda’s son captured on film the instant the pup’s eyes met Lynda’s. It was a mix of glee and recognition on both their faces.

“Animals are here as teachers, protectors, healers,” Lynda said.

Posted by Adam Dreamhealer </span>

It is natural to experience a sense of fear when confronted with a serious illness, as our very lives are being threatened. With courage and determination, you must conquer the emotion of fear in order to use your intentions to assist your body’s healing. You have to have faith in your own spirituality. Eventually we will all experience a physical death, and our objective should be to make that event as far into the future as possible while living the best that we can until then. Living and dying are natural parts of life. When pondering what is looking through your eyes, you will understand that the energy coordinating all your living cells exists after physical death. Dying is a journey to be taken with a confident spirit, a curious mind and a loving heart. Everything is interconnected and your part in this living consciousness is as important as any other creature on this planet. It is essential for you to understand the important role you play in both life and death. Your energy does not die, it stays connected will continue to influence all life after physical death. Once a level of comfort is achieved in this knowing, you can relax and enjoy the ride as it is at this level of awareness that intentions are used beyond fear of an outcome. When we are not preoccupied with a focus on death, we can focus on, and improve our lives.  

BOULDER, CO — (MARKET WIRE) — 09/19/07 — When it comes to natural pet food, pet owners don’t seem to hesitate to spend more for “green” peace of mind but does it really add up to a cleaner environment?

According to Andrew Weil, M.D., world-renowned leader and pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, it’s all the steps from farm to bowl that determine the credibility and impact your pet food may have on the environment.

“I think it’s especially critical for pet owners to examine the type of protein that goes into their pet’s food,” says Weil, who has two Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Jambo and Daisy. “My dogs are a big part of my family, so knowing the protein source of their food is really important to me.”

Weil’s personal concern over the health and wellbeing of his dogs combined with his personal passion for the environment led him to get involved with launching one of the first pet foods with U.S. source-verified meat and poultry.

“What impressed me was their attention to detail when it came to knowing the source of their protein and their unique ability to process the pet food in their own manufacturing facilities under strict guidelines,” says Weil.

Pet Promise was developed with a two-part mission. First, a promise to pet owners to produce a pet food made without the use of animal byproducts, rendered meat or chicken meals, added growth hormones or antibiotics. And second, a commitment to environmental practices which involves sourcing their protein exclusively from natural family farms and ranches.

The positive impact family farms have on the environment may be more critical than most people realize, but unfortunately many family farmers go out of business every week. Family farms that support the use of sustainable agricultural practices are often replaced by factory farms. Environmental proponents believe that factory farms unnecessarily produce tons of waste that compound pollution problems.

“Factory farms are major offenders of the environment today. The amount of residues from antibiotics and hormones that goes into the water tables is significant,” says Weil. “By choosing pet foods made with meat and poultry protein sourced from family farms, you are sending a message about these practices, and helping to do something positive for the environment.”

CHAPEL HILL – Right around Halloween two years ago I (along with my 10-year old cocker spaniel Max) proved the laughingstock of just about everyone we knew outside of the San Francisco Bay Area where we then lived. Why?After our regular veterinarian diagnosed Max with a spinal rupture, the treatment plan outlined was straightforward — if over-the-top expensive. Immediate spinal surgery. Price tag: $4,000.

Aside from the cost, I couldn’t believe major surgery — with a dog in a body cast for weeks — could be the first line of attack.

Nor did another Bay Area vet who relies on alternative medicine techniques for her four-legged patients. She recommended eight weeks of acupuncture and some homeopathic remedies as well.

And so Max and I went for two months; he took extremely well to the countless needles inserted in his paws, backside, forehead and ears. By New Year’s he was just fine, scavenging for food and chasing squirrels like before. Total cost: $680.

A miracle? Hardly. Among two-legged creatures, acupuncture is now an accepted medical intervention for dozens of conditions and, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly half of U.S. adults have used some form of complementary medicine. Still, Max and I were the butt of many New Age jokes — especially by friends and family here on the East Coast. Read More…..

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By Dr. Andrew Weil
July 24, 2007

When Dr. Andrew Weil speaks, more and more people are paying attention.The proponent of “integrative medicine” has written five best-selling books and been called an “extraordinary phenomenon” by the Washington Post.

Starting today, Rocky Mountain News readers can share his insights in his column, “Ask Dr. Weil.” Each week Weil answers reader questions about everything from medical conditions to drugs, surgery to diet. He also fields questions about meditation, acupuncture, homeopathy, herbal remedies and supplements.

“I don’t claim to be an expert in every sphere of health,” Weil writes. “When I encounter a topic outside of my experience, I pose the question to a colleague who can address it, or admit that I am out of my depth.

“But people approach me with such varied questions because they know I’ve studied hundreds of therapies in my 40 years as a doctor, including many unconventional treatments that weren’t covered in my Harvard Medical School education.”  Read More…

DreamHealer Blog

People who spent more time in the sun as children may have a lower risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) than people who had less sun exposure during childhood, according to a study published in the July 24, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

 

For the study, researchers surveyed 79 pairs of identical twins with the same genetic risk for MS in which only one twin had MS. The twins were asked to specify whether they or their twin spent more time outdoors during hot days, cold days, and summer, and which one spent more time sun tanning, going to the beach and playing team sports as a child.

The study found the twin with MS spent less time in the sun as a child than the twin who did not have MS. Depending on the activity, the twin who spent more hours outdoors had a 25 to 57 percent reduced risk of developing MS. For example, the risk of developing MS was 49 percent lower for twins who spent more time sun tanning than their siblings.

“Sun exposure appears to have a protective effect against MS,” said study authors Talat Islam, MBBS, PhD, and Thomas Mack, MD, MPH, with the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. “Exposure to ultra violet rays may induce protection against MS by alternative mechanisms, either directly by altering the cellular immune response or indirectly by producing immunoactive vitamin D.”

The study also found the protective effect of sun exposure was seen only among female twin pairs, but Mack says this novel finding must be viewed with caution since only a few male twins were involved in the study.

“Our findings note the importance of sun exposure among people with identical genetic risk for MS,” said Mack. “High priority should be given to research into how sun exposure reduces MS risk if we are to unravel the mystery of what causes MS.”

The study was supported by grants from the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Cancer Institute, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by American Academy of Neurology.

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