Book Reviews

by Daniel J. Benor, MD (unless otherwise noted)

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Raymond G. Helmick, SJ and Rodney L Petersen (eds) . Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Religion, Public Policy, and Conflict Transformation

Philadelphia/London: Templeton Foundation Press 2001 450 pp 21pp resources $34.95

This is a book of major importance in this time of soul-searching and groping for immediate solutions following the events of 9-11. An extraordinary spectrum of authors share their experiences of mediation and advocation for peace in many of the most difficult situations in chronically conflict-ridden countries.

The contributors to this collection of essays have broad experiences in mediating and helping to transform relationships between warring parties in chronic conflict situations, as in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, South Africa, and in other countries where tensions have escalated to genocide proportions. They bring to their discussions the wisdom of religious teachings, psychology, mediation, pattern recognition that transcends the immediate conflict situation and plain old common sense.

Some of their observations and suggestions:
Victimization naturally generates anger, hatreds, feelings of loss of control, and the desire for revenge. When the original traumas occur on national or racial levels, there are cultural as well as personal wounds that fester – sometimes over generations; even over hundreds of years. It then becomes a way of life to hate an enemy and seek revenge – which only generates further cycles of hurts and further vengeance. Hatreds lead to distancing of the conflicted parties, so that neither side has an experience of the actual reality of its opponents. Each relates to the other side through traditional, culturally accepted stereotypes and myths of the opponent as the nasty enemy – without the opportunity of learning whether these are accurate beliefs because of lack of contact with the enemy.

Leaders within each group may use the conflicts to their own advantages, distracting their constituents from domestic problems, using the enemy as scapegoats for angers that would otherwise be directed at the administration for unresolved social problems, fueling a war economy, and riding a wave of patriotism. Such politics may impede the progress of reconciliation.

Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war
in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor,
for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword.
It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind...
And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood
boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no
need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry,
infused with fear and blinded with patriotism, will offer up all of
their rights unto the leader, and gladly so.

How do I know?
For this is what I have done.
And I am Caesar."

Franklyn Sills. Craniosacral Biodynamics, Volume One: The Breath of Life, Biodynamics, and Fundamental Skills

Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic books/ Palm Beach Gardens, FL: UI Enterprises 2001 453pp (8 1/2 x 11 inches) 1 p. resources $35

Cranial field work involves biofield perceptions with the hands held lightly touching or several inches away from the head, sacrum, and other places around the body. There are rhythms of pulsations that the therapist senses and uses as guides for therapeutic interventions. Elaborate theories to explain the biofield sensations are suggested to explain these pulsations. These pulsations are attributed to fluctuations in spinal fluid pressure against the skull. The bones of the skull are believed to move in response to these pressure fluctuations. Treatments are given with the therapist’s hands held near the head, sacrum or other parts of the body. The hands may be held lightly touching (not directly manipulating) the body, or may be held several inches away from the body. The therapist silently attends to intuitive impressions that arise while holding the intent to be available to offer whatever treatment is appropriate. Intention may be introduced to alter the rhythm of the pulsations.

This process overlaps very broadly with spiritual healing treatments by the many other names, such as Therapeutic Touch, Healing Touch, Reiki, Qigong, and others. Oddly, most cranial field therapists focus their theoretical explanations of their treatments on the body they are treating far more than on the bioenergies they are sensing and manipulating. A converse oddity is that I know of few spiritual healers who identify the pulsations of bioenergies which are the focus of much of cranial field therapy.

The writings of Franklyn Sills are, in my opinion, among the finest in the literature on spiritual healing. His concise, clear descriptions of what he does and how he does it are an inspiration to practitioners to strive for the highest levels of wholistic healing.

Here are a few examples:

Work in the cranial field is largely perceptual. The heart of clinical practice is listening. This demands both stillness and humility on the part of the practitioner. In this inquiry all one can do is to enter into a stillness and see what our journey brings. The foundation of this endeavor is the experience of our own perceptual and inner process. An appreciation of our inner world is crucial for efficient clinical practice. This awareness of our own interior world is critical in the creation of a safe and efficient healing relationship. In this process, we will come directly into relationship to our own human condition and our own suffering. This is a huge undertaking. It means truly inquiring into who we are. The ground of this exploration is a commitment to learn about ourselves. . . (p. 3)

Cranial field therapy requires that the therapist be totally in the present moment. Sills acknowledges the wisdom of The Buddha in reaching towards and into the stillness that facilitates healing.

He simply and profoundly stated that there is suffering and it must be understood. This simple statement is the ground of therapeutic inquiry. (p. 4)

. . . if we hold onto things, onto fixed positions, onto self-construct, self-view, and past history, there will be suffering. . . Most of us, most of the time, tend to see the present through the filters of the past. But if we can find a way to truly live in the present, in the present time-ness of things, then there is the possibility of not suffering. There may be pain, but there needn’t be suffering. Within the cranial context, it is seen that suffering is relinquished when the system truly aligns with the present time-ness of things. It is an alignment to something else beyond the fear that seems to hold our sense of selfhood together. It is a realignment to a universal, an Intelligence much greater than our human mentality. To something still, yet potently present. This occurs when the oppositional forces of our past experience are reconciled within us, in states of balance and stillness. Within the Stillness, known only in this present moment, something else can occur beyond the suffering held. It is as simple as that. (p. 8-9)

When Dr. Sutherland began his exploration, being an osteopath, he was initially interested in the physical manifestations of cranial bone motion. When he began to relate to the movement dynamics of the whole body, he discovered not just bony movements, but a whole series of interrelated pulsations. In his explorations, he discovered that he was sensing the dynamics of a powerful yet subtle physiological force within the human system. He realized that this force is the most fundamental ordering and healing principle within the human body-mind. He believed that this ordering principle was generated be the action of what he called the Breath of Life .The breath of life is a concept that is difficult to define. The best I can do is to call it the action of a divine intention. This divine wind expresses and orchestrates the intention to create. I will discuss this in much more detail in later chapters. The Tibetans call a similar concept rigpa, the pure and divine state of pristine awareness, or pure consciousness, which is the ground of all phenomena. Dr. Sutherland realized that the Breath of Life generates a primary life force which is expressed within the human system. This life force is a bioelectric principle, which has physiologically integrative and healing functions in the human system.

In his palpation studies, he also realized that he was exploring a subtle physiological system that is critical in the maintenance of health and vitality in the mind-body system. He called this system the Primary Respiratory Mechanism, or the Involuntary Mechanism. He discovered some amazing things about its functioning and expression. He noticed a subtle rhythmic impulse that is palpable to sensitive hands throughout the body…

By the end of his career, Dr. Sutherland believed that the potency of the Breath of Life is an expression of the Intelligence of life itself and its fundamental to the proper functioning of both mind and body. He also perceived that the cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord becomes potentized with this life principle. He described the process of potentization as one of transmutation. Transmutation means a change in state. In other words, there is a change in the state of the bioelectric potency within the fluids, which allows it to act as a direct physiological ordering force within the body. This transmission of the potency of the Breath of Life into the cerebrospinal fluid became the most fundamental concept in his treatment modality.

Dawn Nelson. From the Heart Through the Hands: The Power of Touch in Caregiving

Forres, Scotland: Findhorn Press 2001 183 pp (8 1/2 x 11 inches), 11pp annotated bibliography $23.95

Dawn Nelson brings us an excellent book on wholistic use of touch, detailing its effects on body, emotions, mind, relationships, and spirit; a book written with warmth, humor, and above all with deep wisdom about dealing with the human condition.

Caregiving touch involves the use of your physical self to bring healing to another. While we tend to think in terms of doing something to the person we are helping, Nelson suggests that our healing presence may be the most important aspect of what we bring to the interaction.

…the mental idea or mind state of “helping” sets up an unequal relationship between two people, casting them in roles of strong or weak, capable or incapable, powerful and powerless. In the quest for authentic relationship, it may be necessary to give up our well-intentioned desire to help. This does not mean we cannot use out skills and abilities to relieve suffering and to offer support to those who need it. It means we must examine out attitudes, our motivations, our attachments to roles and tasks: we must investigate out intention in relationship. We may need to set aside role identifications that create dependent relationships in favor of just opening our hearts, out minds, ourselves, to those whom we wish to serve. If we can commit ourselves to remaining present and in contact with another, whatever unfolds, then the truth of our contact with that other can flow through and between us and the relationship that evolves can instruct and heal both people.”

The following poem, addressed to her nurses, which I first saw quoted in a newsletter from Lagunda Honda Hospital in San Francisco, California, is said to have been written by a ninety-year old woman in a geriatric ward of an English nursing home. It was discovered in her locker after she died, by staff members who thought she was incapable of writing.

What do you see, what do you see?
What are you thinking when you are looking at me?
A crabbed old woman, not very wise
Uncertain of habit, with faraway eyes
Who dribbles her food and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice, "I do wish you’d try.”
I’ll tell you who I am as I sit here so still,
I’m a small child of ten with a father and mother
Brothers and sisters who love one another;
A bride soon at twenty, my heart gives a leap
Remembering the vows that I promised to keep
At twenty-five now I have young of my own
Who need me to build a secure happy home.
At fifty once more babies play round my knee
Again we know children, my loved ones and me.
Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead
I look to the future and I shudder with dread
My young are all busy rearing young of their own
And I think of the years and the love I have known.
I’m an old woman and nature is cruel
‘Tis her jest to make old age look like a fool.
The body crumbles, grace and vigour depart
There is now a stone where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass a young girl still dwells
And now and again my battered heart swells
I remember the joys; I remember the pain
And I’m loving and living all over again.
And I think of the years all too few… gone too fast
And accept the stark fact that nothing will last
So open your eyes, open and see,
Not a crabbed old woman; look closer… see me.”

Sharon Begeley and Michael Reagan. The Hand of God: Thoughts and Images reflecting the Spirit of the Universe

Philadelphia: Templeton Foundation Press 1999
160pp. $15.95

This is a wonderful, inspirational book. It is beautifully crafted, with a wealth of glorious color photos of galaxies thousands of light-years away from earth, paired with quotations from scientists, astronauts, and others who have been touched by spiritual awarenesses.

Sharon Begley’s essay is a perfect opening for this experience. She points out that science and religion agreed on a “mutual nonaggression treaty” in the 17th century. Science agreed it had nothing to say about religion, while religion agreed its domain was outside the domains of science. Nevertheless, religion provided explanations of how the world was created and how it worked.

For centuries theologians had appealed to “the God of the gaps.” This God is the one whom you offer in explanation for phenomena that otherwise have none. (p. 13)

The more science invaded the turf traditionally reserved for religion, offering a natural explanation for what had previously been regarded as divine, the less the God of the Gaps seemed to show Himself. He was no longer even necessary to explain Creation itself.
(p. 15)

It was my science that drove me to the conclusion that the world is much more complicated than can be explained by science… It is only through the supernatural that I can understand the mystery of existence. (p. 21)

Star formation in Ara - Red glowing hydrogen gas, hot blue stars, and dark obscuring dust clouds are scattered throughout this dramatic region of the Milky Way in the southern constellation of Ara (the Alter), which is about 4,000 light years away. Visible within the dark dust nebula in the bottom center is a small cluster of newborn stars. (p.90)

I share here only two more of these marvelous quotes – actually a difficult choice to make, as there are many that feel well worth sharing

After close on two centuries of passionate struggles, neither science nor faith has succeeded in discrediting its adversary. On the contrary, it becomes obvious that neither can develop normally without the other. And the reason is simple: the same life animates both. Neither in its impetus nor its achievements can science go to its limits without becoming tinged with mysticism and charged with faith.
(p. 90)
– Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
The Phenomenon of Man

For after all what is man in nature? A nothing in relation to infinity, all in relation to nothing, a central point between nothing and all and infinitely far from understanding either. The ends of thing and their beginnings are impregnably concealed from him in impenetrable secret. He is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness out of which he was drawn and the infinite in which he is engulfed. (p. 76)
– Blaise Pascal, Pensées”

Paul Brenner, MD, PhD. Buddha in the Waiting Room: Simple Truths about Health, Illness, and Healing

Hillsboro, OR: Beyond Words 2002 142pp $14.95

Paul Brenner is a gynecologist who left medicine for personal development and to be a healer. His path included studies in acupuncture, t’ai chi and healing. He has sessions with people for several hours, listening to the life stories that liberate physical as well as psychological dis-ease – and sometimes disease as well.

I attended a workshop Paul led about twenty years ago, in which he introduced participants to ways in which we could access our inner wisdom. Simple exercises were truly profound in their effectiveness, such as attending to the feelings of rightness and wrongness in our body and consciousness as we listened to workshop partners speaking about issues that were important to them.

Brenner writes:

I suggest that you let your body answer the questions posed by your mind. The body does not know how to lie. Illness is real. Since it is difficult to control your autonomic nervous system (your heart, lungs, kidneys, etc.), which as everything to do with human survival, trust it to know the answers to your questioning mind. And trust your mind to know what has to be asked. Make the unconscious conscious.

Christie, a thirty-eight-year-old, battled breast cancer for almost eight years. “Paul,” she said, “there comes a time when a doctor has no right to tell me what is best for me. I’ve got the cancer and lived with it for more than seven years. I have enough trouble dealing with my own helplessness without having to take on theirs. Sometimes I think I’m staying alive for my doctor. My death is not his failure, damn it – Nor is it mine.”

Susan Mackey-Kallis. The Hero and the Perennial Journey Home in American Film

University of Pennsylvania Press 2001 248 pp $24.95

The Hero in American Film - A Spiritual Quest of Sorts
From: Stephen S. Daggett

Susan Mackey-Kallis' The Hero and the Perennial Journey Home in American Film attempts to reconcile two modes of film criticism, the rhetorical and the psycho-mythological into a new synthesis for future film criticism. Mackey-Kallis, who teaches film studies and rhetoric in the Communications Department at Villanova University, manages to integrate the writings of Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, and the plot elements of several popular American films into this tapestry designed for a select audience, namely film studies scholars. The hero quest, as she puts it," does not involve simply the hero's discovery of some boon or Holy Grail, however; it also involves finding him -or herself, which ultimately means finding a home in the universe." While contemporary dramas, such as Thelma and Louise, are critiqued, the book and the critical methodology used, works best when applied to science fiction and fantasy. The author states that, " Of all film genres, the science-fiction genre is most compelled to explore the relationship between scientific/rational ways of knowing and spiritual/nonrational ways of knowing because when humanity seeks answers to questions regarding its future (the "what if" territory of the sci-fi genre) it is inevitably faced with questions regarding its past, or more specifically its genesis."

The book works best when applying psycho-mythological analysis, which helps keep focus on its central themes. It is here that Joseph Campbell's impact is most striking. Campbell gained a sizeable following in the 1980's with The Power of Myth, Bill Moyers' PBS series of interviews with Campbell. Campbell, in turn, relied heavily on Carl Jung's writings concerning the collective unconsciousness. This began with his classic work The Hero with a Thousand faces, where myths from diverse cultures are integrated to illustrate common archetypes that make the transcendental spiritual journey that Mackey-Kallis' work emphasizes. Heroes make these mythic journeys "home," and simultaneously, find a sense of self and inner peace as a result of the experience. Campbell's writings stress a wish that myths of the future, rather than view humanity in terms of families, cities, or nations, will address humanity as a whole and humanity's relationship to other aspects of nature and the cosmos. He applied this universal view to myths and works of literature that he critiqued. Mackey-Kallis does the same with movies. This book is divided into three sections. The first section, the longest in the book, describes the modes of the hero quest. Logically, it uses Homer's The Odyssey as its touchstone. It stresses coming age myths, including the sacred marriage quest (Odysseus returning home to his wife Penelope) and the father quest (Telemachus seeking his father while maturing into a father figure). The second section analyzes films in a socio-historical context. The final chapter of this section is a worthwhile lead in the final section. Here, the discussion turns to science fiction and fantasy. The works of Kubrik, Spielberg, and Lucas can provide plenty of material for several books, individually and collectively. The science fiction genre blends all the themes stressed in this book. Archetypes such as mana (spiritual power), shadows ("the dark side"), heroes, maidens, wise old men, etc. can be used creatively to describe a character's personal transformation or spiritual journey. Mackey-Kallis effectively uses examples from this genre to develop a mythic model for future film criticism, and possibly, film development.

The first two sections analyze more "down-to-earth" motion pictures, with the possible exceptions of the venerable musical hero quest, The Wizard of Oz and the what-if fantasy drama It's a Wonderful Life. The enigmatic, Thelma and Louise epitomizes the type of analysis used in these sections of the text. Geena Davis' abused housewife Thelma is transformed during the course of the film and the sacred marriage quest theme is quite evident. Susan Sarandon's Louise also makes the quest in far more subtle ways. Louise's transformation begins with the shooting of Thelma's husband Harlan in the parking log of the nightspot where she's employed. Her other experiences with men following this incident and her personal growth are repeatedly reflected by sequences of her examining herself in mirrors. She is being transformed. She is finding her true self. However, the sacred marriage quest in this film does not end with a man, but with the two women united in their ultimate escape from men. The author clearly respects this film. She is more negative in her criticism of other films, especially Gone with the Wind and It's a Wonderful Life, when analyzing some of the cultural, gender, and socioeconomic issues that influenced the making of those pictures. She writes "moral judgments are necessary in any analysis of narrative form. Myths, neither true nor false, are rather more or less functional for interpreting the human condition and, thus, are more or less instrumental in moving a culture toward individuation."

This idea stems from Campbell's view that myths cannot be consciously conceived or scripted, but arise from the collective unconsciousness. Stanley Kubrik perhaps best exhibits Campbell's perspective, with 2001: A Space Odyssey. Kubrik's fascination with technology reached its zenith with this film. Screenwriter Arthur C. Clarke is blunt about his collaboration with Kubrik, "We set out with the deliberate intention of creating a myth. M-G-M doesn't know it yet, but they've footed the bill for the first 10,500,000.00 religious film." No one individual makes the journey home. Humanity undergoes a spiritual journey of which Campbell must have been proud. Even the title pays homage to Homer. The journey that humankind takes is punctuated by mandala symbols, spherical symbols that promote contemplation of a deity. Typically, these symbols include the sun, the moon, the mother's womb, and the circularity of the passage of time. In Kubrik's film, technological mandalas are evident, from the spinning bone at the dawn of man sequence, to the spinning space station in the middle segment, and even the astronaut Dave's eye in the final segment. The good and bad that comes with scientific and technological developments are symbolized with these. Mackey-Kallis' criticism that this film successfully reconciles the "logical/rational ways of knowing with spiritual/nonrational ways of knowing," is well-documented with several of the movie's sequences. Kubrik brings together the contrasting ways of knowing into a critically acclaimed package that manages to stimulate over thirty years past its release date.

Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind does this as well. The hero, Roy (Richard Dreyfuss), struggles throughout the film with what he knows in his heart (i.e., that aliens are trying to make contact with him) and what his education and practical experience should lead him to believe (i.e., that he is delusional). Roy eventually does arrive at "home;" but home is the great unknown...the alien world. A world the audience glimpses for only a few closing segments at the end of the feature. While Roy is the focus of the film, the struggle is going on with others. Government personnel, clergy, and mother searching for her alien-abducted child must contend with the logical-spiritual conflict. Those individuals that successfully reconcile these conflicting elements are called "boundary spanners" by the author. In Close Encounters, the boundary spanner is the French scientist, played by director Francois Truffaut. The other movie stressed in this review, 2001, uses technology, rather than individuals as boundary spanners. Space vessels function both as mandalas that force us to wonder about our connection with God and boundary spanners that reconcile our relationship with the deity and the scientific approach to understanding the universe. The mandalas for Spielberg's work is the South Dakota mountain where the alien mother ship lands, the mother ship itself, and assorted smaller alien vessels that are sighted around the world. But his film has more of a traditional emphasis on individual characters and their storylines.

Even with a traditional narrative, Close Encounters and other science fiction films, encourage us to wonder "at the infinity of space and time that is the universe and the divine spark of life that created humanity-both of which science and technology reveal-while warning that science and technology could paradoxically obscure those same spiritual truths." In this light, Mackey-Kallis praises the Star Wars trilogy as a spiritual tale, but acknowledges its conservative interpretation of the hero quest prevents it from becoming a model for future myths. Women, even Princess Leia, are at the margins of the various quests portrayed in the film, while white males carry out most of the heroics. This falls well outside Campbell's wish for future "myths that will identify the individual not with his local group but with his planet." However, Mackey-Kallis' work concludes on a hopeful note that science fiction aficionados dwell on when they come together for meetings. That is, "The new myth for humankind needs to be a quest, not a conquest; its purpose, to search rather than to search and destroy." Fulfillment of this dream is a long way off, especially as long as Hollywood continues to be driven by the bottom line. Nevertheless, it is a beautiful dream that future filmgoers and filmmakers should pursue.

Copyright 2002 Metanexus:
The Online Forum on Religion and Science
http://www.metanexus.net/
Reprinted with permission of the author.
Stephen S. Daggett, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biology
Department of Natural Sciences
Avila College
11901 Wornall Rd.
Kansas City, Mo. 64145
daggettss@mail.avila.edu
(816) 501-3654 Fax (816)501-2457

Keith Tones and Sylvia Tilford. Health Promotion: Effectiveness, Efficiency and Equity

(3rd ed.), Cheltenham, England: Nelson Thornes 2001 (orig. 1990) 525pp, each chapter well referenced, $37.50

Keith Tones and Sylvia Tilford provide an excellent, thorough discussion of the history, concepts and practices of health promotion and the empowerment model within the framework of epidemiology.

Modern medicine is failing to adequately address major health and illness problems nationally and internationally. The focus of modern medicine on the physical body as the point of intervention ignores cultural, socio-economic and environmental factors that impact on health.

Citing R. Dubos (1959), they point out:

The concept of perfect and positive health is a utopian creation of the human mind. It cannot become reality because man will never be so perfectly adapted to his environment that his life will not involve struggles, failures, and sufferings.

. . . we are more exacting than our ancestors in matters of health, and expecially are we less willing to accept the infirmities, pains, and blemishes, the catarrhs, coughs, and nauseas that use to be regarded as inevitable accompaniments of life. . . it is also true that the modern ways of life are creating problems of disease that either did not exist a few decades ago or are now more common than in the past.

Nevertheless, the utopia of positive health constitutes a creative force because, like other ideals, it sets goals and helps medical scient to chart its course toward them.

The myths of Hygieia and Asclepius symbolize the never-ending oscillation between two different points of view in medicine. For the worshippers of Hygieia, health is the natural order of things, a positive attribute to which men are entitled if they govern their lives wisely. According to them, the most important function of medicine is to discover and teach the natural laws which will ensure a man a healthy mind in a healthy body. More skeptical, or wiser in the ways of the world, the followers of Asclepius believe that the chief role of the physician is to treat disease, to restore health by correcting any imperfections caused by the accidents of birth or life.

The more subtle bioenergetic issues which are the focus of IJHC take these considerations even further, perhaps accounting for some of the unknown factors that influence health and illness.

References:
Dubos, R. The Mirage of Health, New York: Harper and Row 1959, 346-347.

McKeown, T. The role of Medicine: Dream, Mirage or Nemesis? Oxford: Blackwell 1979, 3.

Syme, S.L. Control and health: a personal perspective, In Steptoe, A. and Apples, A. (eds), Stress, Personal Control and Health, New York: Wiley 1989.Burton Silver and Heather Busch, San Francisco: Chronicle 1999 96pp $16.95.

Burton Silver and Heather Busch. Dancing with Cats

San Francisco: Chronicle 1999 96pp $16.95.

IJHC Editor. Brief Mentions

Koch, Laura (ed), Exploring Hospital-Based Massage: Selected Articles from the Hospital-Based Massage Network Quarterly 1995-2000, Hospital-Based Massage Network (HBMN), 612 College Avenue, Suite 1, Ft. Collins, CO 80524, 2001 335pp, 8 1/2 x 11 in. (Distributed by Information for People, PO Box 1876, Olympia, WA 98057-1876)

Discussions on protocols, standards, safety, setting up programs, confidentiality, charting, procedures, insurance reimbursement, self-care for the therapist, applications for categories of problems, and much more.

Koch, Laura, Hospital-Based Massage Programs in Review: Data on Over 90 Programs to Network with Colleagues and Support Your Case with Hospital Administrators, Hospital-Based Massage Network (HBMN), 612 College Avenue, Suite 1, Ft. Collins, CO 80524, 2001, 8 1/2 x 11 in. (Distributed by Information for People, PO Box 1876, Olympia, WA 98057-1876)

Briefly describes programs, administrative and financing details, provides names and contact details for administrators

Dunn, Tedi and Williams, Marian, Massage Therapy Guidelines for Hospital & Home Care: A Resource for Bodyworkers, Healthcare Administrators and Massage Educators, Information for People, PO Box 1876, Olympia, WA 98057-1876, 2001 122pp , 8 1/2 x 11 in.

Nicely focused summaries, outlines of requirements for setting up programs. Planetree hospital system model discussed.



Koch, Laura, 1001 Sources to Build Your Hospital Massage Program: Extensive Lists of Research, Books and Articles, Networking Contacts and Useful Resources, Hospital-Based Massage Network (HBMN), 612 College Avenue, Suite 1, Ft. Collins, CO 80524, 2001, 8 1/2 x 11 in. (Distributed by Information for People, PO Box 1876, Olympia, WA 98057-1876)

References for literature on research and practice (many annotated), programs, practitioners

David Aldridge, PhD. Spirituality, Healing and Medicine: Return to the Silence

Philadelphia/London: Jessica Kingsley 2000 224 pp Refs 15pp $24.95

This is an outstanding, erudite discussion of spirituality in medical practice, focused on research. Aldridge suggests subcategories of spirituality and religion as relevant to clinical practice and research.

A spectrum of definitions of spirituality is suggested, including: Spirituality as meaning and unity, as transcendental, as power or force, as breath and its activities, and as postmodern.

Similarly, he suggests a range of areas of focus with religious studies: belief operationalized as practices, as meaning, and as relationship between humans and a supernatural power or force.

A light review of healing research is presented. Aldridge suggests that in “so-called spiritual healing” research, it might be relevant to study the effects of prayer on those who pray, not just those who are the recipients of others’ prayers. Aldridge does not believe distant healing is effective in treating others, and suggests that prayer should be for personal healing.

Aldridge is able to hold a balance between the research and the clinical, pointing out:

In those moments when we begin to question, through doubt or pain, then the argument about which truth is not so important as how we come to acquaint ourselves with truth: not what we believe, but how we believe. This is what unites practitioner and patient in search for healing. (p.52)

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