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Consciousness and HealingIntegral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine

PRESS RELEASEThough t -Lead ing Book f r om I ns t i t u t e o f N oe t i c Sc ienc es

Consc iousness and Heal ing : I n t egra l Appro aches to M ind -Body Med ic ine

New Perspect iv e f rom Leading Scient is ts , Doctor s and Front l i ne Pol icy Makers

Chop ra, Ornish, Per t , Schl i t z , Rem en, Micozz i , Dossey, and Mor e

The Institute of Noetic Sciences announced the launch of a new book and accompanying

DVD entitled, Consciousness and Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine. This

new book, authored and edited by Marilyn Schlitz, Ph.D., Vice President of Research at the

Institute of Noetic Sciences, Tina Amorok, M.A. at the Institute of Noetic Sciences and Marc

Micozzi, M.D., Ph.D. at the Thomas Jefferson Policy Institute, will be the most comprehensive

and authoritative collection of work on the subject.

At this time of healthcare crisis-- a crisis of care, confidence, and cost-- patients,

scientists and physicians are being called on to make the system more effective, and empowering

for all involved. This book calls on healthcare consumers and professionals alike to reevaluate

and revision the underpinnings and belief systems that support the current medical model.

Integral Medicine provides a starting point for a paradigm shift that will make the system more

humane, effective and empowering for all involved - healthcare workers and patients.

Integral Medicine comes from the perspective that humans have a powerful innate

healing system and this book provides insight on topics that can guide us into better alignment

with it. Topics range from multicultural and nature-based healing systems, healing though

expressive arts and the impact of energy medicine to the impact of altered states of

consciousness, meditation and prayer on healing.

With medical and health insurance costs skyrocketing and millions of people having no

insurance at all, patients are feeling alienated and doctors are feeling professional frustration

and despair. The decreasing level of trust in the current biomedical system is expressed as more

and more people seek alternative treatments for their illnesses.

"What is needed is a full system change, a new framework that can embrace our

experience of health and illness within a lifelong process that is embedded in biological,

psychological, social, environmental, and spiritual contexts alike. In other words, we need to

begin to put together everything that we know about health and healing. And we need to do it

now," said Marilyn Schlitz, PhD, Vice President of Research at the Institute of Noetic Sciences.

The I nna te Hum an Hea ling System

Mind-body medicine has come of age, and there is increasing recognition, grounded in

serious and disciplined research, that we all possess an innate healing system. The efficacy of

this system rests on the premise that brain, mind, and spirit act in concert when healing

occurs. As a "metasystem," it responds to symbolic processes, such as prayer, faith and

intention as well as physical stimuli.

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The crucial ingredient in any integral medical practice is not the integral medical bag

itself-with all the conventional pills, the orthodox surgery, the subtle energy medicine, and the

acupuncture needles-but the holder of that bag. Integrally informed health-care practitioners,the doctors and nurses and therapists, have opened themselves to an entire spectrum of

healing, acknowledging their supportive role to the powerful innate healing system.

The Fut ure of Medic ine

This integral perspective calls for deep change within practitioners and patients who together

need to embark on a transformation about how we think about healing. We need to "live" the

understanding that powerful human healing can occur in the face of illness and disease.

Consciousness and Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine is a collection of 47

essays on integral medicine, consciousness, and healing that integrates mainstream medical knowledge

with recent developments in the emerging areas of frontier sciences and insights from alternative

healing perspectives. Integral medicine embraces the recognition that human beings possess

emotional, spiritual, and relational dimensions that are essential in the diagnosis and treatment of

disease and the cultivation of wellness.

Science has contributed to the understanding and treatment of disease, but it has also

served to limit the creation of a model in which personal relationships, emotions, meaning and

belief systems are viewed as fundamental points of connection between body, mind, spirit,

society, and the environment. The current model fails to offer a system for understanding the

fullness of lived experience- minimizing or negating completely the innate wisdom of the body or

the importance of personal relationships and positive attitude on healing.

"All of the important dimensions of integral medicine are addressed by the contributorsof this long awaited anthology. The following chapters are the maps of intrepid explorers

pushing into a new territory that can only dimly be seen forming on the horizon of our integral

conversations. This book is not the last word in integral medicine, but merely a humble beginning.

It is the opening of a dialogue too long ignored, the calling forth of extraordinary potentials too

long denied, the acknowledging of a healing love too long left unspoken," said Ken Wilbur,

author and cultural philosopher.

Tenets o f I n tegra l Hea l ing

- Health and healing are lifelong processes that provide opportunities for our personal growth

and transformation.- Mind, body, and spirit interact to shape individual health potential.

- The idea of unity in diversity allows for a deep appreciation of the multiple cultural and socialperspectives that make up the world's healing traditions and worldviews.

- Harnessing our will to live is as significant as the role of scientific information and technology.

- The well being of our planet's ecosystems is required for our well-being as humans.

- Life is our greatest teacher. A full-hearted healing system includes deep humility in the face of

wonder and mystery.

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Book Specif ics

The purpose of this book is to ask those health professionals and patients to shift their

understanding of health and healthcare.

The array of healing perspectives in this book include: Multicultural healing systems,

relational medicine, subtle energies and energy medicine, contemplative mind, meditation, distant

healing through intercessory prayer and intentionality, and ecologically based healing systems.

Readers learn from the leaders in the emerging field of integral medicine and

consciousness research, from the most well known (Deepak Chopra), to the frontline policy

makers (James Gordon-Head of the White House Commission on Conventional and Complementary

and Alternative Medicine).

Readers also gain insights from physicians who have experienced healing within themselves

and witnessed remarkable healing in their clients. They hear from other medical professionals

who approach medicine from an array of cultural perspectives, as well as hear from patientswho have experienced multicultural, interdisciplinary, and participatory healing systems in action.

Essays are short and in a language suited to an audience of both lay and professional readers,

with extensive references on the accompanying documentary DVD to original scientific studies

for those interested in further exploration.

Contac t I ONS Research Depar tm ent fo r add i t iona l in fo rm at ion about t he book .

[email protected]

707-775-3500 (IONS main number)

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