Mana for the Doctor's Soul

"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet There are times when kindness is the only thing that makes sense. Perhaps this recognition dawns on us once we have lost enough in our lives -- relationships, jobs, pets, health, possessions, anything we value -- to connect with other beings experiencing the same. Once there, life is never the same again. It's like your heart is broken open, and no self-righteous stance holds any longer. There is only marveling at the diversity of life, the variety of human and other kinds of suffering, and offering of ourselves where we can. As a doctor, I see and hear a lot. As a homeopath, I have the chance to listen even more deeply than I could when practicing conventional psychiatry alone. From this quiet place within, I simply allow the other to be as s/he is. We gently track and find what needs healing. It gradually shows itself. I, too, have a homeopath who does this for me -- even ...

"Humans suffer," reads a Ho'oponopono newsletter posting from Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len a few months ago. He continues: "They experience problems in the course of their everyday existence. These problems and suffering are experienced and are caused by memories replaying the past AGAIN in the computer of mind, the subconscious!" Is this suffering so many of us go through, really necessary? Can it be interrupted, even relieved? Pain and suffering, after all, are not the same. All of us experience pain at times -- think toothache, appendicitis, loved ones leaving or dying, etc. But suffering complicates this, and can last a lot longer. We suffer when we want what shows up in our lives to be different from what's actually present. Sometimes we even demand this -- which is a common path towards illness in some form. As a psychiatrist and classical homeopath, I work with people to discover their personal requirements for a feeling of "okayness". Some, for...

For many people including me, it's been a challenging year. At times I've felt discouraged -- due to family concerns, finances, and sometimes even my worth as a physician. My specialty is classical homeopathy, a practice that differs from most other psychiatrists like myself. Sometimes this is isolating, and I feel overwhelmed. People who come to see me are often very exasperated with conventional medicine, and their suffering is longstanding and complicated. Some are willing to work with me to understand their problems deeply enough to prescribe remedies effectively; some are not. Initial sessions are 2-3 hours, and I study a lot on top of that. I've seen the kinds of healing possible through these methods, so even though it's difficult for me I keep at it. Through all this occasional anxiety and discouragement, I've continued to practice Self-Identity Through Ho'oponopono -- sometimes more consistently than others. The times I feel best are when I DO remember...

For the next several days, I'm in Vancouver BC studying classical homeopathy with Dr. Rajan Sankaran and other colleagues from all over the world. Practicing in Mumbai, India for almost 30 years now, he is well-known for being a keen observer, original thinker, and dedicated physician. Dr. Sankaran's work has significantly deepened our case-taking in classical homeopathy, and our understanding of the medicines we use. His efforts have given us a more reliable system for tracing our patients' suffering down to its core. He argues for eliminating theory about patients, in favor of listening to them. If we do this, they show us directly what's out of balance and what can help. What's more, Dr. Sankaran's video cases illustrate that we are complete beings whose parts are all connected (holism) -- even when we're ill. This is his method of teaching: direct from the patients themselves. And all this makes for much better treatment results. Why mention this in a...

Sometimes despite our best intentions and Ho'oponopono cleaning, outer situations don't change. In fact they may even seem to deteriorate. This can be extremely frustrating, leading us to think that nothing we do -- including Ho'oponopono -- "works." Maybe we expect that if we clean (or share our supposed wisdom), others will do as we think they should do. When they don't, we get agitated. There's a precious balance between doing what we realistically can in support of others, and expecting them to follow our suggestions. It can be hard to maintain this balance. A situation in my family has been causing great pain, and I've been asked for my thoughts. I've been cleaning, and sharing when it seems right. But for the most part, my words fall on deaf ears. The question is recovery from alcoholism, a condition which eventually leads to death. My upset is a complex blend of concern, love, indignation, fear, anger, and incredulity that others don't ...

Why would you imagine that people come to see a psychiatrist -- and a homeopathic psychiatrist at that? All kinds of stresses and suffering lead them to my door. But out of all the problems I hear, the most frequent is their relationships with each other. That's right. Some want to be in relationships and can't find them; others are in relationships and want out. Still others are so focused on tormenting each other they wouldn't think of leaving -- but both partners become ill. In homeopathy , we explore the person's inner experiences. This is not to create a chronological "who did what to whom" kind of document. Instead we want to discover how the life force has tried to adapt to perceived problems; this is revealed through the person's pattern of symptoms and ways of suffering. Through this understanding we can find a medicine from the natural world that contains this same energy pattern -- and thus can catalyze healing. Believe it or not, there are simi...

Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len reminded me recently that his teacher Morrnah Simeona , the kahuna who updated the ancient Hawaiian problem-solving practice of ho'oponopono, kept a sign upon her desk. "Peace Begins with Me," it said. People came to Morrnah from all over for various kinds of healing, especially spiritual; she was also expert in massage. She was apparently very relaxed about all this, and was even known to fall asleep during training seminars. She went about her business, practicing the inner peace conveyed by her desk sign. She also got results. This kind of calmness sometimes eludes me. People come to doctors hoping for some kind of relief. So I get anxious when they're suffering; I feel both their pain and and the need to relieve it. Morrnah probably cared a great deal for others, or she wouldn't have made herself available to them. But she also taught that getting too wound up in others' pain makes one useless as a healer. In my own case, the danger ...

"We don't see people as they actually are. We see our reactions to them." ~ Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len Most of the time I am not seeing clearly. This is one of the most life-changing realizations Self-Identity through Ho'oponopono brings home to me. When I look at others, what am I seeing? According to Dr. Hew Len, mostly my own dusty memories. And those often distort and complicate things. Dr. Hew Len echoes one of my classical homeopathy teachers, Dr. Rajan Sankaran of Mumbai India, when he reminds us that there is no "out there" at all. Please understand: getting this has bugged me. I'm a psychiatrist, trained to value my observational abilities. The conventional psychiatry paradigm includes a distinct "I" who objectively views people and events "outside" of me. And then I classify my observations through the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM IV-TR). Neat. Simple. Often wrong, even among other psychiatrists. Always wrong, accord...