Vital Healing

Energy, Mind and Spirit in Traditional Medicines of India, Tibet and the Middle East - Middle Asia

Marc S. Micozzi, MD, PhD
with Donald McCown and Mones Abu-Asab, PhD (Unani), Hakima Amri, PhD (Unani), Kevin Ergil, MA, MS, LAc (Tibet), Howard Hall, PsyD, PhD (Sufi), Hari Sharma, MD (Maharishi Ayurveda), Kenneth G. Zysk, Dphil, PhD (Ayurveda & Siddha)

Dr. Marc S. Micozzi describes the healing systems of Middle Asia (India, Tibet, and the Middle East) in some detail - from the Ayurveda and Siddha medicines of India, to the Unani and Sufi healing practices of the Middle East. He explains the basic principles and methods, putting them briefly into historical context and also providing a context to understand them within the framework of Western medical, and to some extent spiritual, thought. Dr. Micozzi unfolds the compelling idea that vital energy, expressed as "prana" in the Indian practice of Ayurveda, is the unifying concept that underpins and connects all of these traditions.

This groundbreaking book will be of interest to practitioners of all Middle Eastern and Asian medical traditions, complementary and alternative health practitioners, and anyone with an interest in Middle Eastern and Asian approaches to health and well-being.

Contents

Preface. 1. Vital Healing: Body and Spirit (Contribution by Hari Sharma, MD). 2. Vital Energy: Spirit and Flow in Asian Medicines. 3. Continuous Healing: Traditional Ayur Vedic Medicine of India. 4. Alchemical Healing: Traditional Siddha Medicine of South India. 5. Yoga: Journey From Body to Spirit. 6. Quantum Healing: Maharishi Ayur Veda (MAV) (Contribution by Hari Sharma, MD). 7. To the High Himalaya: Tibetan Medicine. 8. The Light of Healing: Unani Medicine. 9. Rapid Healing: Sufism of the Middle East. 10. The Sum of Healing (Contribution by Hari Sharma, MD). Index.

Reviews

'Dr. Marc Micozzi, a physician and anthropologist, promotes the notion that insights "have been converging on a new... understanding of energy in human physiology as related to [healing]." He explains Ayurveda's Indic roots, South India's Siddha healing, yoga, Tibetan and Sufi healing, and the Unani Greco-Arabic Tibb system. Common threads in these "lesser known Middle Asian ethno-medical traditions" affirm ancient wisdom, expand the healing spectrum, and offer practical alternative care.'

- ForeWord Reviews

'This book offers a great outline/overview of multiple healing traditions - including also the larger context of how Western medicine went astray from this understanding and the results of that distorted allopathic focus (wasteful healthcare spending and chronic illness). Readers from many backgrounds can appreciate this scholarly work. This book is suited to both professionals in the healing arts as well as laypersons. If medical students were to read this we might have a much more effective health care workforce, where people would have a better understanding of health and the forces that govern our well-being. This book is well-researched and it even includes an appendix of Asian medicine treatment approaches for common health concerns.'

- Jed Shlackman, Licensed Mental Health Counsellor and Certified Hypnotherapist

Author information

Marc S. Micozzi, MD, PhD is the founder and director of the Policy Institute for Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He is a former Executive Director of the College of Physicians and Director of the National Museum of Health and Medicine.

Donald McCown is Assistant Professor of Integrative Health at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, and has held positions as Lecturer at Thomas Jefferson University, and Director of Mindfulness at Work programs at Jefferson's Mindfulness Institute. He holds a PhD from Tilburg University, a Master of Social Service degree from Bryn Mawr College, and a Master of Applied Meditation Studies from the Won Institute of Graduate Studies. He has completed the advanced Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) trainings through the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He is the primary author of Teaching Mindfulness: A Practical Guide for Clinicians and Educators, the first text of its kind.

Hari M. Sharma MD DABP FCAP FRCPC DABHM is Professor Emeritus and former Director of the Division of Cancer Prevention and Natural Products Research, Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University; Chairperson of the Integrated Medicine Committee of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin; and has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Ayurveda by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.