Let's Talk Alternative Healing

by Adele Ryan McDowell, PhD

I recently returned from an international conference on shamanism and alternative healing. This particular conference has been going long and strong for 25 years. As with most things these days, it made me think.

I wondered why we, and I include myself in that "we," are so resistant to other ways of doing things. We get so ingrained in the one way; that everything else feels almost heathen.

That makes me think of James Michener's book, Hawaii, or was it his Tales of the South Pacific, that tells of the fervent missionaries coming to convert the local islanders with their better ways. Sometimes, allopathic medicine, what we know as Western medicine, seems like those hell-bent-for-Christianity missionaries. They have the right way, the only way.

Do you know what I mean? There is no room for compromise, much less conversation. To some of the more rigid of the white-coat types, there are only the scientifically tested and proven treatment protocols. The rest is considered anecdotal, superstitious, potentially harmful, or just plain quackery.

Like Good Housekeeping, they want their AMA or FDA seal of approval. There is a fear of drawing outside the lines. And, to give the White Coat his/her due, there is deep knowledge and experience of what could go wrong if the condition is untreated. They want evidence-based medicine, which, clearly, is not a bad thing, but it is, also, not the only game in town.

Over the last decade or so, there has been a shift, albeit a forcible shift, prompted by the consumers of health care who have sought alternative means and methods and spent considerable non-insurance dollars in the process.

The NIH, the National Institute of Health, created NCCAM, which stands for the National Center of Complementary and Alternative Medicines. Complementary medicine indicates those practices that work in conjunction with mainstream medicine. Whereas, alternative medicine, like the name suggests, offers an alternative methodology to what heretofore has been standard practice.

NCCAM classifies these practices into five major groups; as you will note, there can be some overlap between the groupings. The categories are 1) mind-body medicine, a holistic approach; 2) whole medical systems like Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda; 3) manipulative and body-based practices like osteopathy and chiropractic; 4) biologically based practices that use natural substances like vitamins, herbs, and food; and 5) energy medicine.

This leads me back to my conference, where papers on shamanism, healing, scientific research, and cross-cultural methods were explored. The common underpinning of all these papers was the concept of energy -- energy as is in electromagnetic fields.

Were you aware that shamanic practices are forms of energy medicine? Yes, it is so. When you think about it, this is not terribly surprising given that everything, and I mean everything, is made up of energy. Just ask the physicists, they will wholeheartedly concur.

We, human beings, are throbbing electromagnetic energy fields. When our energy fields get disrupted, out of balance, or become dense and dark, there are physical and emotional manifestations. This is where energy medicine comes to the fore.

At our conference, we were shown a clip of a documentary film with four healers from around the world: Zimbabwe, China, Bali, and the U.S. Each healer was shown "working with clients, the client being interviewed and, then, a western physician documenting their results." I remember one of the western doctors, an oncologist, I believe, saying she wished all of her patients could work with the healer she documented. The results were that incredible.

The healing modality of these healers: energy medicine. In this film, all the healers allowed they were the conduit for healing, and that they were able "to contact a force greater than themselves on behalf of humanity."

On a more first-hand basis, we were graced with the presence of a shaman, healer, researchers, and translator from Mongolia. After the arrival of their last-minute visas, these intrepid souls traveled literally for days. (They were 48 hours delayed at some juncture of their journey. And upon arrival in San Francisco, they discovered that a piece of luggage, the one with all the ceremonial gear, was still circling Beijing.)

The hostess of our Mongolian guests reported that her aging father, who had just returned to her home from an elongated stay in the hospital, was immediately seen by the Mongolian shaman, a steely-eyed woman who emanated strength and no-nonsense.

This shaman, in mere minutes, was able to give her hostess a diagnosis of her ill father. Mind you, this was done via a translator, and without any pain on the part of the father. It was the exact same diagnosis that had taken two weeks and a battery of invasive tests for the western medical establishment to produce. Further, the western docs had allowed that the father would pass soon; the shaman did not concur and vowed to work daily on her hostess's father.

The healer, also a female and a shaman, had first experienced her healing capabilities spontaneously when a person was in need. She brought along a film of her treatment center, where she meets 50-60 patients per day. The majority are cancer patients who have been to China for allopathic treatment and told to return home as there is no more hope.

This healer raises her hands and beams energy to the patients in her office. There is a roomful of people. She sees them for a series of treatment. Her hands become hot; they have been measured at 110 degrees.

The film included interviews with some of her clients who told their stories of going from terror, fear, and abject hopelessness to returning to good health, being able to work, and live normal lives again. The phrase that was heard most was "no medical treatment needed anymore."

The healer even gifted the 100+ attendees of the conference with a mini-healing. I was in the third row and could feel the waves of heat. One woman's vision was notably changed as a result of the healing.

Energy medicine is an ancient, cross-cultural modality that comes in assorted forms, and it is receiving a great deal of well-deserved press and recognition, especially, now, that we have the technology to measure the efficacies of these methods.

Years ago, when I was studying mind-body medicine for catastrophic illness, I was given a test to determine my attributions to health and healing. I remember there was a question, "Would you ever go to a faith healer?" I marked the highest yes on the numbered spectrum of responses. At that time, I knew so little of this realm, but on another, unconscious level, I knew it felt right. I still do.

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