The Office for the Study of Unconventional Medical Practices has been established by the US Government within The National Institutes of Health.

The Senate Appropriations Committee, headed by Sen. Tom Harkin...issued this mandate to NIH:

          "The committee is not satisfied that the conventional medical community as symbolized by NIH has fully explored the potential that exists in unconventional medical practices...  In order to more adequately explore these unconventional medical practices the committee requests that NIH establish within the office of the director an office to fully investigate and validate these practices.  The committee further directs that the NIH convene and establish an advisory panel to screen and select the procedures for investigation and to recommend a research program to fully test the most promising unconventional medical practices..."
                                             The Washington Post, June 1992

     Steven Groft, a pharmacist with many years' of governmental work, is the director of this office.  The Editor was pleased to meet with him last July to hear of the start of this program.
     Groft convened 85 representatives of a broad spectrum of Complementary therapies over a period of two days to hear their views.  Represented were acupuncture, Ayurvedic medicine, biofeedback, healing, holistic dentistry, homoeopathy, meditation, naturopathy, visualisation, and more.  Many found particularly moving the discussion of a Native American on the need for healing of the planet in addition to increased awareness of healing in medical practices.
    Quoting Groft's words from the Washington Post:  "...it's going to be difficult, very difficult, to convince some parts of the establishment.  But we have to; the people are telling us there's more to it.  There's more to learn."

BASLE PSI TAGE - International Conference of the Swiss Parapsychology Society
12-15 November 1992

Three thousand people gathered from around the world to hear lectures and attend workshops on spiritual healing.  A few of the many highlights included:
**  Healers and interested health carers in Europe are looking hopefully towards the example which the UK is setting for the integration of healing with conventional medicine, hoping that with European unification the laws which now strictly prohibit healing in many of their countries will be relaxed.  This is the precise opposite side of the coin to the anxieties expressed in the UK about the possible outcome of European unification.
*  Henry A. Auway, a Hawaiian Huna healer, emphasised that healers must ask themselves what lessons each healee is bringing to the healer.  Then the healers must ask the Powers on High for forgiveness and healing for those problems within themselves before they can help the healee to find healing.
*  Followers of Bruno Groning discussed how healees could be empowered to activate their own spiritual healing gifts by healers.
* Anita Furdek, an American psychologist/healer discussed her close collaboration with doctors in a private German hospital, following her successful treatment of a patient who had been in coma for six weeks after a liver transplant.
*   Eduard Naumov discussed and showed videotapes of some of Russia's great healers.  Russians also have folk 'magicians' who offer healing, relying on theatrical manoeuvres, suggestion, and the like in addition to psychic and healing gifts.

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