Monday, June 11, 2012

Spirited medicine on the dream show June 12th


My next "Way of the Dreamer" radio show on healthylife.net, is LIVE on Tuesday June 12th from 9:00-10:00 am Pacific time, which is 12:00-1:00 pm Eastern. This is the show where we learn to reclaim the power of dreams, coincidence and imagination as sources of energy, healing and guidance in our lives.

My guest for this show is Cecile Carson, M.D. and we will explore the application of shamanic techniques to our contemporary healing and healthcare. Cecile is a physician and shamanic practitioner whose work for several decades has focused on people facing life-threatening illness such as cancer and HIV disease.  She was Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center from 1986–2006, teaching mind-body medicine as well as soul-level medicine to medical trainees. She is a founding board member of the Society for Shamanic Practitioners.
     Cecile has been at the forefront of the effort to expand our conceptual models for understanding the sources of illness and healing, drawing on shamanic traditions that have been at work on the planet for at least 40,000 years. She is especially sensitive to the power of naming and of the power of stories - the ones that release us and the ones that bind us - to shape our bodies and our lives.
     Cecile contends that clinicians can and should expand their practice to address the transpersonal and spiritual sources of illness and healing. To do this in the shaman's way, the clinician will be required to reach beyond his or her own skill sets and function also as "a conduit for the spirits to bring their power and inspiration through to address a fuller dimension of healing: the re-ordering of the self from the impact of illness, the re-membering of the broken and forgotten relationship to the larger web of life, and the recognition that we are more than our physical bodies."




Did you notice that the image features the caduceus of Hermes rather than the serpent-staff of Asklepios? Extra karmic points. The two are endlessly confused, including on missives from the healthcare community. The emblem of Hermes is appropriate here (as are winged feet) because a radio show is about getting the word out.