Wellness East & West. Kathleen F. Phalen

Treating Common Ailments With Herbs, 125 Addictions • Aging • Appetite Control • Asthma • Cancer • Colds and Upper Respiratory Infections • Constipation • Diarrhea, the Flu, and Gastrointestinal Problems • Gynecological Problems • High Blood Pressure • Pain Relief— Headache and PMS • Tips for Common Maladies • NINE Women and Healing: Reclaiming Our Natural Processes 135 Childbirth the Natural Way, 137 Woman Discovers Her Birthing Path • Midwifery • Some Tips for a Better Birthing Experience • Herbs for Pregnancy PMS: Bloated, Crabby, and Craving, 141 Food and PMS • Herbs and PMS • Prozac the Natural Way Menopause, 142 Herbs and Menopause • Current Studies on the Use of Herbs to Treat Menopausal Symptoms • Osteoporosis and Calcium TEN Healing Through Energy, Touch, and Gentle Exercise 147 Life Force Around the Globe, 147 Biofield Healing Clinical Promise for Energy Healing, 148 Reiki: the Laying On of Hands, 149 Reiki Treatment for a Mother-to-Be Balancing the Chi Through Gentle Exercises, 152 T'ai-Chi Ch'uan • The Rom Dance • Qigong ELEVEN Shooting Up: Treating Substance Abuse with Acupuncture and Community Solutions 157 The Experience of a Healing Heroin Addict, 158 Acupuncture and Addiction, 158 Balls and Seeds • The Lincoln Hospital Program Was the Forerunner • Studies on the Efficacy of Acupuncture in Treating Substance Abuse • Acupuncture and Jailed Addicts • The Three-Tiered Protocol for Treating Addicted Convicts • Community Health Initiatives: The Penn North Neighborhood Center TWELVE Miracles: Prayer, Spirituality, Death, and Healing 167 Prayer, 167 Studies on Prayer and Distant Healing, 169 More Studies on the Effect of Prayer on Healing Spiritual Healers and the Sacred Contract, 171 Finding Oneness: The Sacred Contract Quantum Physics, 172 Studies on Healing in Community, 172 Healing in Death, 173 AFTERWORD Where Do We Go from Here? 175 The Perils of Mainstreaming Alternative Medicine, 176 Being Realistic About Research, 176 State-Sponsored Changes, 177 Finding the Path to the Future, 178 NOTES 179 REFERENCES 185 INDEX 189

      Foreword

      Wellness is a meeting point of many different facets of our life: the scientific, the interpersonal, the way we eat, the way we sleep, the way we deal with our emotions. Healing involves interpersonal relationships between individuals and those whom they invite to be in healing relationships with them.

      It is clear that we are moving from a world in which we look to experts in health care to make decisions for us to a world in which we have recovered our ability, as individuals, families, and communities, to heal ourselves and to make the advice and skills of the "experts" supplemental to our reliance on the innate human ability to heal. We are in a period of redefining the idea of health and recovering the awareness that a life well lived is characterized by the ability to cope with suffering and to live life in the presence of death. We are also coming to recognize that the expectation of living life without pain and suffering is unrealistic, and that human cultures cannot afford to go on believing otherwise.

      Kathleen Phalen starts from the perspective of a journalist reporting on emerging phenomena in our culture. She gives us a book different from others in its scope and presentation.

      Here you will find the stories of many individuals—stories that most readers will recognize. You will also find lists of illnesses and suggested remedies, as well as new ways of thinking. Uniquely, Kathleen points out the possibilities confronting each individual as he or she copes with various symptoms, and she brings to her presentation the awareness that symptoms may be teachers and guides that each of us and our practitioners must interpret in a different way. And she also offers a solid presentation of the available research and the relationships that exist between mainstream researchers at the National Institutes of Health, physicians, and practitioners of alternative medicine, as well as an understanding of the enormous drive of the American public to recover something that has been lost but that was well known to our ancestors.

      There are answers. And when you find an answer, you will also find another question. Wellness East and West is a wonderful blend of factual material, possible options, creative thinking, and personal