This lecture was given in conjunction with Dr. Edwin Noyes, M.D. Please take the time to visit
his website spiritualisticpractices.com
Holistic Healing or Spiritualism?Exposing the Inroads of Mystical Medicine
Within the Adventist Health System
According to Wikipedia, “Integrative medicine or integrative health is a neologism
coined by practitioners to describe the combination of practices and methods of alternative medicine with conventional
medicine.” Today, more than ever, universities and
hospitals have integrative-medicine departments.
Welcome to the new age of Integrative Medicine or IM. Integrative Medicine is making
efforts to explore new ways of treating the mind, body and spirit -- all at the same time.
For example - At age 68, Karen has had her share of health woes: breast cancer, high cholesterol, clogged arteries,
osteoporosis, and scoliosis. Once a year she journeys from her home in Georgia to Duke University; Medical Center in North
Carolina where an internist, endocrinologist, and other specialists monitor her with blood tests, X-rays, bone scans, and other tests. But Karen knows that she’s more than the sum of her illnesses. When her checkup ends, she heads for the Duke Center for Integrative Medicine [IM], where she has learned about nutrition, fitness, yoga, tai chi, meditation, and other
practices she says have helped her to live better.
“I became an avid tai chi person,” she says. “I’m a type A personality. I knew I had to do something
about my lifestyle. I had to bring myself down to a type B.”
Many Americans have never heard of IM, but this holistic movement has left its imprint on many of
the nation’s hospitals, universities, and medical schools. And both doctors and patients alike are bonding with the philosophy of IM and its whole-
person approach. The goal being to treat the mind, body and spirit, all at the same time.
Today, fewer people have concern whether there may be any reason one should question the value or
spiritual safety in accepting or using a particular healing method.
The use of alternative and complementary medicine (a.k.a. IM) is rapidly increasing and being accepted as if it
were part and parcel of conventional or general medicine. Within western medicine, there is a great
movement to mesh conventional medicine with integrative medicine. Therapies that were once only
found in naturopathy and chiropractic practices can now be found in mainstream medicine. They can now be
found to some degree in many hospitals, even in prominent medical schools that have adopted and are
experimenting with various healing disciplines.
Across the nation, medical clinics are now integrating the conventional with the non-
conventional (or IM) style of medical treatment.Already, many health insurance companies now
include alternative health coverage in their policies. E.g. - yoga, meditation, crystal and gem
healing, Reiki, craniosacral therapy, etc.We will briefly look at what is currently taking
place within Adventist hospitals and healthcare, in the area of IM.
Dr. Leland (Lee) and his son and daughter.Together the Kaiser’s have founded “Two World’s Wisdom”,
“Kaiser Institute” and “Kaiser Consulting”.
Dr. Kaiser is a pioneer in many emerging areas of health care, and an acknowledged authority on the changing American healthcare system. Dr. Kaiser is founder and
president of Kaiser Consulting, a health care consulting firm in Brighton, CO. He also is co-founder of Kaiser Institute, a postgraduate educational program providing advanced
training in integrative medicine, intuition, and philanthropy. Dr. Kaiser is a dynamic motivational speaker known for his ability to change the way organizations think. He is
an associate professor in the graduate program in health administration at the University of Colorado in Denver. He has previous professional experience as a
hospital administrator, trustee, R&D director, graduate program director, and professional psychologist. He holds a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and
Medical Care Administration and a doctoral degree in Social Psychology and Higher Education. Dr. Kaiser is involved in the design of new communities and state-of-the-art hospital architecture. He differentiates spirituality from religion, and teaches (what he considers) core spiritual values useful for managing healthcare organizations, discusses how spiritual values can be translated into organizational norms, and suggests the role
of spirituality in solving pressing organizational problems.
Leanne chairs the grants committee of the VHA foundation which is funding innovation across healthcare--from organizations as
large as the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins, to an array of small and rural organizations. She has reviewed the innovation
strategies in hundreds of hospitals, and funded novel prototypes. Leanne continues her growth through exposure to the scientific fields, deep exploration across spiritual traditions, etc. Health
systems seek her out to think in new ways and create paths to a preferable rather than a probable future.
An example of what a health professional who supports both conventional and integrative medicine
might look like.