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INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE
November 8, 2007
In this newsletter:
Coming up this weekend: a healing retreat in Chicago,
IL
Next, in December first week, a five-day intensive in
Oakland, CA
Read a report on my recent trip to Pennsylvania
Highlights from my lecture at Winder Research Center
for Integrative Medicine
About Kirtan in Austin, TX, and about projects in the
works.
Hello everybody,
I hope this finds you well. I just returned from a truly
exciting experience in Pennsylvania. The report follows
these announcements …
NOV 9 - 11: THE WARRENVILLE CENACLE, CHICAGO, IL
Please visit my events page for details:
www.russillpaul.com/calendar.html
Coming up this weekend could possibly be my last retreat at
the Warrenville Cenacle that is on the outskirts of
Chicago, Illinois. I have been presenting at this gorgeous
retreat facility for almost 10 years now, and sadly, they
are compelled to sell the facility. If you are anywhere
near the Chicago area, or if you know our friends in the
area that might like to take advantage of this unique
opportunity, please let them know about this weekend.
This is a healing retreat, a time during which we explore
the healing power of sound through chant, movement, and
meditation. Although the retreat is designed for people in
the healing profession, such as yoga teachers and music
therapists and health caregivers, it will be presented in
such a manner as to benefit anyone who is in need of
healing as well as those interested in acquiring tools that
can assist in the continued renewal of energy through
sound.
DEC 3 -7: WISDOM UNIVERSITY IN OAKLAND, CA
Please visit my events page for details:
www.russillpaul.com/calendar.html
I also want to inform you of another very special learning
opportunity that is coming up in the first week of
December. This is a five day intensive at Wisdom University
of California at which I am a faculty member. Wisdom
University is the continuation of the University of
Creation Spirituality at which I served on the faculty
since 1996 that in turn came out of the Institute in
Culture and Creation Spirituality where I first began
teaching in 1992.
What is special about this program is that it is a five day
intensive and I offer very few of these. The focus of this
week long program is on three major Scriptures that distill
the essence of the yogic tradition and conveys the spirit
of yogic mysticism as a whole. We will be studying the Yoga
Sutras, the Bhagavad-Gita, and the Upanishads while at the
same time engaging in spiritual practices that help us
enter into the spiritual vision that comes through these
three profound Scriptures.
Additionally, Wisdom University is offering a special $100
discount for audit students, that is, those students not
taking the course for credit.
A REPORT ON MY RECENT TRIP TO PENNSYLVANIA
I had a profound experience at the Windber research
Institute for Integrative Medicine in Windber Pennsylvania.
The staff at the Institute was receptive and open to
implementing a wide range of alternative therapies, far
beyond anything I could have anticipated. Many, if not all
of them, have a deep interest and respect for yoga coupled
with great openness to the power of sound in healing. They
showed me one of their new programs in development in which
eight multifunction electronic Yamaha keyboards are
connected so that folks who have no musical sense can enjoy
creating music guided by blinking lights on the keyboards.
I also had a great evening concert at the Aracadia Theatre
downtown, where I was joined by two fantastic drummers from
a great band called "Rusted Root" who many of you may
remember. Rusted Root is a band from Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania known for their fusion of Grateful Dead-style
bluegrass rock with a strong percussion section that draws
from African, Latin, Native American, and Middle Eastern
influences. They toured extensively for almost a whole
decade in the 90s and sold a couple of million albums in
the process, no minor feat! Jim DeSpirito in an excellent
tabla player who studied with the great tabla maestro Zakir
Hussein and his legendary father Alla Rakha in Bombay. Jim
Donovan, the other percussionist, played djembe, and he was
pretty amazing too. Check them out at:
http://www.jimdispirito.com/, and
http://www.jimdonovanmusic.com/, and
http://www.rustedroot.com/
And then, I had my beloved brothers in sound "The Sharma
Brothers" who played traditional Indian percussion
instruments and sang along with me. They also assisted me
in my day long workshop at the Windber Research Center,
which is a truly cutting-edge facility doing phenomenal
work. Rachel Allen, a music therapist who works full-time
at the Institute played a major role in a lot of the
arrangements as well as in accompanying me musically and
assisting at the workshop. Jeanne Brinker, the director of
the Institute was also magnificent. In the midst of it all,
I got to visit with a dear friend who is undergoing
treatment for cancer. I ask that you keep her in your
prayers and send her healing vibrations whenever she comes
to your mind. Her name is Becky Meyer. Becky has made six
trips out of the ten pilgrimages we have made to India and
is quite a remarkable lady.
After the presentations at Windber, the Sharma brothers and
I offered a special evening Satsangh at their family temple
in rural Pennsylvania. This turned out to be quite an
amazing experience. The Sharma brothers accompany me
musically at many of my presentations on the East coast and
there is quite an electric charge generated through our
collaborations. You can know more about them through their
websites: www.yogaofconsciousness.com and
www.lightofloveSF.com
HIGHLIGHTS FROM MY LECTURE AT WINDBER RESEARCH INSTITUTE
In my address to the staff at Windber Research Institute of
Integrative Medicine (http://www.wriwindber.org/), I stated
that Integrative Medicine is not only the future of healing
but that it is also very much the present. Many millions of
Americans, and I include myself among them, are practicing
integrative medicine in their lives taking to heart the key
points underscored in the Windber Institute's objectives
written in bold. My comments follow each objective:
1) That we take an active role in our own wellness. St.
Ignatius of Loyola once said: "pray as if everything
depends on God; work as if everything depends on you." This
is how we need to approach our health.
2) That we recognize and emphasize the importance of both
mind and body for our wellness. Today, we have made the
progression from body/ mind connection to body/mind unity.
Our thoughts, images and feelings are integral to our
health and well being.
3) That we continually nurture the connection between our
mind and our body. This is precisely what we call yoga as
well as meditation in the East. The role of sound,
especially sound that is integrated into a healthy yoga
practice, holds tremendous possibilities for our improved
mental and physical health.
4) That we discover natural ways to improve our health. In
this context, we can understand that chant and music are
forms of nutrition. From this perspective of vibratory
nutrition, we can directly experience that our thoughts,
our mental self-talk, even our unconscious mental chatter
can be health productive or health destructive
5) That we learn how to help the body release its own
healing forces. Chant and vocalizing is one of these
methods. The evidence is overwhelming -- coming in from
music therapists, doctors, and medical professionals: sound
heals!
6) That we empower ourselves with the power to heal on many
levels. This necessarily involves connecting to the
invisible dimension of our existence, our spirit nature; or
in the language of Dr. Deepak Chopra, "the field of all
possibilities".
7) That we continually acquire tools to enhance and promote
our sense of wellness and well-being. This requires that we
personally acquire a spiritual or therapeutic vocabulary.
We need a language of energy as well as everyday language;
a language of transcendence as well as immanence. In this
context, Sanskrit has tremendous therapeutic and spiritual
value.
I also shared a quote from a keynote lecture of Dr. Andrew
Weil, that I heard when I presented at a conference on
Integrative Medicine in Tucson, AZ, a couple of years ago.
He said that, "Spirituality is an integral component of
integrative medicine. We need to focus on health and
healing and good medicine begins with the body's natural
mechanisms. What is preventing natural healing from
occurring? This is the key question to ask. We need to
focus on whole person medicine, which recognizes that the
person is more than just the body, that there are other
dimensions of human life significant to health and
wholeness, such as community, spiritual practice, and
family. Human beings are spiritual entities and our
lifestyle needs to take this into consideration."
When I reflected upon this, I realized that just as we need
to learn how to handle stress through proper exercise and
nutrition, there are stresses upon the soul, upon our inner
life, and there are methods of exercising the soul and
providing the soul with the nutrition it needs. The Yoga of
Sound, which I practice and teach, is a means of addressing
this type of nutrition and exercise for the soul.
ABOUT KIRTAN IN AUSTIN AND PROJECTS IN THE WORKS
I have been deeply moved that since our arrival in Austin,
Texas, last year I have received a number of e-mails from
people who support my work and who are interested in me
offering kirtan locally, here in town. First, I want to say
"thank you". Second, that we have it very much in mind to
offer local events next year, that is, in 2008.
The reason I have not offered anything yet is because our
move to Austin last year was quite sudden and rapid and
then I traveled a lot in the fall of last year, continuing
to travel into the spring this year. Secondly, I spent the
entire summer of this year working assiduously on several
of projects, the most important of which is a distance
learning program that I intend to launch next year. This is
a comprehensive learning system that uses a combination of
DVD, audio CDs and printed text to enhance the learning
experience along with a powerful student support system
that I have devised. I will announce details of this
program in the summer of next year and will be launching
the program in the fall of next year.
Like last year, I am traveling a fair amount this fall and
will continue to tour until May of next year. As you can
understand, with the combination of travel and project
work, I also need time relax when I am at home in Austin.
However, as mentioned, I do intend to offer local events
starting from next year, so stay posted.
Well, that's it for now. I hope you have enjoyed a
marvelous fall. Asha and I got the tail end of some
spectacular colors in Pennsylvania last week, and I was
fortunate to get the start of the colors in the Berkshires
this September when I was at Kripalu. Now, with the winter
creeping in, you can be sure that our southern bodies are
glad to be holed up in Austin, Texas.
Wishing you great peace and great joy,
In One Spirit,
Russill Paul
www.russillpaul.com
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