St
Louis (MO): Churchill Livingston/Elsevier; 2005. 583 pages. ISBN
0-443-06800-3; $29.95. |
Consciousness
and Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine |
to pdf >>
Marilyn
Schlitz, Tina Amorok, and Marc S Micozzi, editors
Review
by Doris Lora
|
"If
I only had a heart," the Tin Man laments in The Wizard of Oz.
All the while he is unaware of the deep compassion already infusing
his own behavior. Lest we think that modern medicine has completely
lost its heart--and its practitioners their humanity--in a system gone
mad, a recently released book highlights the research and insights of
healing experts who not only speak from their science, but also from
their compassionate hearts.
Opening
with Ken Wilber's brilliant introduction calling for "more effectively
setting the stage for the extraordinary miracle of healing," followed
by Marilyn Schlitz's eloquent, articulate statements inviting us into
the emerging consensus of an integral medicine, Consciousness and
Healing had my adrenaline pumping within the first few pages.
Schlitz
and her coeditors Tina Amorok and Marc Micozzi state that the goal of
integral healing is to bring into awareness a health and healing model
that, in addition to using the best strategies of physical science,
recognizes "personal relationships, emotions, meaning, and belief
systems as fundamental points of connection" to the physical body.
To that end, these essays and accompanying DVD geared to the academic
and layperson alike offer both a sympathetic critique of the prevailing
medical paradigm and a variety of well-researched alternatives that
specify the role of conscious awareness in healing. Contributors range
from such experts in the medical field as Deepak Chopra, Dean Ornish,
Candace Pert, Larry Dossey, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Stanislav Grof, and Rachel
Naomi Remen to a multiethnic group of scientists, philosophers and healers,
including William Braud, Thomas Berry, Willis Harman, Michael Lerner,
Brian Swimme, Honglin Zhang, Sogyal Rinpoche, Nancy Maryboy, and IONS'
own James O'Dea.
How many
physicians and nurses realize that they do not need formal training
in "spirit nurturing," a key ingredient of integral medicine?
As hinted at in this collection of essays, being a "human, comma,
being" automatically forges a heart-to-heart connection with each
patient. Healing happens by being present and letting go. Add to this
a physician's up-to-date medical knowledge and modern medicine's technological
wizardry, and we have the potential for dynamite integral healers.
This book
demonstrates connection and cooperation between all health providers
and their patients, which oils the mechanism of courageous change. Contributors
compassionately report their careful observations of what works and
what doesn't in the healing arts. Through this approach, conventional
and complementary healers alike are encouraged to step up to the uncertain
adventure of transformation of consciousness, a concept that made less
daunting and esoteric as one experiences the heartfelt personal accounts,
simply daily exercises, and multitude of empirical data this book offers.
Book
Review appeared in Shift: At the Frontiers of Consciousness, No. 6,
March-May 2005.
Reprinted
by permission of the author and the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS),
www.noetic.org.
Doris
Lora is a member of the Institute of
Noetic Sciences and has been a clinical psychologist, professional musician,
and owner of an autobiography-writing service. Contact Ms Lora at dloralin@aol.com
