Being at peace?
Being closer to Source?
Touching All-That-Is?
Before I enter a room with a patient, I center myself.
I take a breath. I
bring consciousness and breath from my head into the Tanden, the lower dantian,
2 inches below the navel. This is the
place where we breathe and move as martial artists.
When I enter the room, I am “just a regular physician.” I do a complete traditional history and
physical exam. I make decisions about
therapy. I engage the patient in
partnership.
But, there is something more. Presence.
Awareness. Keeping a toe dipped
into All-That-Is.
That allows intuition to arise. Intuition allows a better diagnosis to arise,
and to make a better choice of therapy.
Listening to the patient’s story has great power for
healing.
Traditional medicine, allopathic medicine, usually ignores
the power of listening. Yet, at least one
study showed the power of empathy in decreasing the length of the common
cold.
Examining the patient.
Touching gently, with presence.
Touching the patient on the shoulder while examining with the
stethoscope, connects at 2 points, for 2 persons, that are really just
One.
Traditional medicine ignores the power of touch.
Massage and body therapists know better.
Am I a great healer?
I don’t think so.
Do I perform miracles?
I doubt it.
Do my patients do better, because I am present? Yes, I think that is true.
I am present, because that is what I feel is “right
practice.” Could I heal better if I was
a Qi Gong master? Perhaps. But, alas, I am not.
I am on a path. Sitting
in meditation, doing practices that remove layers that get in way of being more
present with Source, with All-That-Is.
And All-That-Is not.
That is gaining Wisdom.
When I am present with a patient, that is practicing
Compassion.
Does every patient appreciate what I offer to them? Absolutely not.
Is this my fault?
Perhaps.
I have a long way to go…
Is it the patient’s fault?
Perhaps.
However, there are 2 people in the room, only in the
conventional sense.
The Truth is that there is only Source in that room. Playing out it’s game. Pretending that there are two of us.
Sometimes connecting.
Sometimes not connecting very well.
My job is to connect ever closer to Source, to plant seeds
with this patient, in this room, at this moment. Sometimes those seeds blossom immediately. The Ah-Ha moment. So beautiful to see.
Sometimes the patient may take months, or years, to see a
bit more clearly.
Sometimes, I despair that they ever be able to see more
clearly, within this lifetime.
Sadness arises.
And, sadness drifts away.
Clouds come, clouds go.
No second arrows needed.
Do we teach Presence and Intuition in medical school? If you take a class with me you will hear
these words.
Is this widespread teaching?
Not really.
We need to radically change medical school training. This is not optional anymore.
How soon will medical schools adopt these teachings? Who knows?
There are many of us in medical schools teaching Wisdom and Compassion,
Presence and Intuition. But it is usually
hidden. Hidden in Healers Art
electives. Hidden in Complementary and
Alternative Medicine electives.
Why are these teachings not central to medical
education?
We are still stuck in the worship of “pure” science. Medical schools have become fundamentalist
worshipers of science. They do not see
the value of non-denominational spirituality.
We don’t teach how to ask “what is meaningful for you in your life.” We don’t acknowledge that there is anything
else but science, that there might be something more than basic biology.
The Enlightenment removed religion from science. A very important step. Our next step is to reconnect science with
non-denominational spirituality. With
valuing Wisdom and Compassion, Presence and Intuition. Realizing that we are always already Source.
This will change.
Everything changes. Everything
evolves exactly as it should. At the
pace that it needs.
Those of us who see further will be frustrated.
Clouds come, clouds go.
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