“What’s up doc?”

Seems the buzz around the medical water cooler these days is integrative medicine.

Think of you and your integrative medicine physician working “as partners to engage body, mind and spirit in attaining and maintaining optimal health.”  This is how physicians at University of Cincinnati Health describe integrative medicine on their website, an approach to health care that patients are requesting and health professionals are seeing as beneficial.

“Complementary” and “alternative” medicine (CAM) has been part of the health lexicon for a generation or more.   The terms have been used to describe those therapies considered outside the traditional scope of medicine or at least beyond the doctor’s comfort zone.  That is changing.

What is being integrated?  Complimentary practices such as mindfulness and spirituality, health and wellness coaching, yoga therapy, massage therapy, stress reduction techniques and acupuncture, treatments considered evidenced-based practices according to UC Center for Integrative Health and Wellness.

Why are they being integrated into the medical regimen now? “It’s about time that medicine put mind and body together and began to treat people in all dimensions of their needs,” says Thomas Boat, MD, Dean of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.  He was addressing a group at the launch of the UC Health Integrative Medicine clinic, part of the Center for Integrative Health and Wellness which incorporates three distinct missions: education, research, and clinical care.

“The word ‘Integrative’ medicine is particularly, I think, meaningful to me because it does signify that we have finally arrived at the point where we understand that all dimensions of people’s existence and people’s experiences really do need to be dealt with,”  Boat said.

“If you look at the number of people who are engaged one way or another with integrative medicine, it’s a huge part of health care,” Dr. Boat told me later.

Dr. Sian Cotton, executive director of the University of Cincinnati Center for Integrative Health and Wellness agrees.  She is responsible for bringing Integrative medicine to UC, a project begun in 2009.

Cotton sees part of her responsibilities as educating “both faculty and students about what is the evidence out there, the good and the bad, so we know what people are doing and what works and doesn’t work.”

The growing body of research pointing to successful uses of integrative practices in health recovery and preservation as well as the increasing demand for these approaches by the public has helped to propel the movement.  Dr. Cotton reports that UC Center of Integrative Health and Wellness is part of a growing number of academic health institutions that currently totals 56 and are a part of the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine.  The organization has established basic core values:

Every individual has the right to healthcare that:

•  Provides dignity and respect
• Includes a caring therapeutic relationship
• Honors the whole person – mind, body, and spirit
• Recognizes the innate capacity to heal
• Offers choices for complementary and conventional therapies

Like Dr. Boat, Dr. Cotton appreciates the significance of all human dimensions being tapped in order to expedite healing.  To her thinking, “when you look at holistic health care and you look at physical health and you look at mental and emotional health and social health and when you look at spiritual health…people get it.  We are of a spiritual nature, a religious nature, we are very spiritual,” Dr. Cotton told me.

Curiously, the spiritual/mindful component has been absent from traditional medical practices with an emphasis solely on physicality.  Wisdom books like the Bible often point to an active spiritual life that “will make you healthy, and you will feel strong.” (Proverbs 3:8) Certainly, health and wellbeing have been a key part of many spiritual practices over the centuries.   And while not singling out any specific spiritual practice, an integrative approach that recognizes the healthful influence of spirituality and mindfulness appears to be gaining wider acceptance.

According to Dr. Cotton her colleagues are embracing much of the integrative philosophy, and medical students participating in integrative classes are being put on the “national landscape” setting “them up to be on par with the students around the country.”

And as health professionals are exposed to the fundamentals of integrative medicine and get more familiar with its application, it will be interesting to document our “innate capacity to heal.”   As Dr. Boat put it, integrative medicine, “It’s here to stay.”

Stock Photos Close-up of an information board Manhattan, New York City, New York State, USA © Glow Images

The lights will be dimmed in Broadway theaters tonight at 8:00 p.m. for one minute to honor American character actress Jean Stapleton, who died May 31 in New York City at age 90. I remember watching her play Edith Bunker, Archie’s naive wife, in the television comedy “All in the Family“.

She was born Jeanne Murray to Joseph E. Murray, a billboard advertising salesman, and Marie Stapleton Murray, a singer. She was a Christian Scientist, a member of the Church of Christ, Scientist.

After graduating from Wadleigh High School in New York City in 1939, she attended Hunter College. She worked as a secretary until she began her acting career in 1941 as a New England stock player at the Greenwood Playhouse, Peaks Island Maine. Her fame may have been on television, but her first love was the theater.

Stapleton made her stage debut in “The Corn is Green” (1948), and appeared on Broadway in the musicals “Damn Yankees” (1955) and “Bells Are Ringing” (1956), later repeating her roles in the movie versions “Damn Yankees” (1958) and “Bells Are Ringing” (1960). Other Broadway roles include the original companies of “Rhinoceros” (1961) and “Funny Girl” (1964). She played Abby Brewster in the 1986-87 revival of “”Arsenic and Old Lace”.

In 1977 she was one of the commissioners who helped to put together the National Women’s Conference, part of International Women’s Year, in Houston, Texas, where 2,000 delegates from every state in the United States met to assist in the formation of national policy on women’s issues.

Her husband William Putch died in 1963. Their children are actor John Putch and actress Pamela Putch. Truly a remarkable woman, she was greatly loved and will live forever in our hearts.

Stock Photos Cougar Rubbing Its Head © Glow Images.

Ever heard someone say, “I have a splitting headache”? Inevitably compassionate individuals come forth with solutions to help.

During National Headache Awareness Week this week the list of solutions given are a good diet, reasonable amount of sleep, reducing stress, keeping a diary, seeing your healthcare provider, being a partner in your healthcare, and being educated to the latest migraine and headache news and treatment. Granted all of these are important stepping stones to fewer, shorter, and more tolerable headaches; however, an essential solution to be added to the list is prayer.

Prayer as illustrated by people of the Bible and The Lord’s Prayer as taught by Jesus should be added. Especially because headaches interfere with your life in all sorts of ways,  such as athletic competitions and school trips.

The World Health Organization confirms that an estimated 47% of the adult population have a headache at least once within the last year in general. Headache disorders are associated with personal and societal burdens of pain, disability, damaged quality of life and financial cost.

Headache statistics indicate there are about 45 million Americans complaining of headache each year. That is one in every six people or 16.5 % of the population. There is a need for people to be educated to effective ways to treat them.

Anyone who has ever experienced a really bad headache, probably a migraine, knows of what I am speaking. When I was a substitute teacher, I used to have full days of work mastering the class assignments and disciplining the children in a new school environment almost every day. Several times I went home, straight to bed, without dinner for myself or my family, knocked out by the pain.

My way of dealing with this was through prayer to God. As I lay there in bed with the room darkened, I would quietly think about God’s love for me. A Bible Psalm would come to me like, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).” Eventually I would fall asleep to wake up to find my husband had fed the kids and helped them with their homework.

One time I recall my daughter sat by my bed to read Psalms to me. As we prayed together, I felt God’s love flood over me, and then the pain quickly ceased.   The chapter “Prayer” in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, the Christian Science textbook, has helped me to better understand how prayer brings healing. The chapter begins, “The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God…(Science and Health, p. 1).”

I’m not one, when asked, “What do you have for a headache?” has a pill in my purse to give. When I am asked, I share I would be happy to pray with you, because I have found prayer to be effective in my health care. So, why not put prayer at the top of the list for solutions to splitting headaches!

Stock Photos Close-up of a beautiful young woman in despair © Glow Images. Model used for illustrative purposes only.

Pathways to Wellness is the theme of National Mental Health Month celebrated each May for more than 60 years. Among the many paths to wellness and emotional stability is spirituality that gives you a sense of purpose and meaning. Is it possible that spirituality and the compassionate love that comes from it can contribute to the healing of mental illness?

Scientific evidence indicates that individuals are healthier and possess greater healing capabilities:

• who regularly participate in spiritual worship services or related activities
• who feel strongly that spirituality or the presence of a higher being or power are sources of strength and comfort to them

Experts agree that spirituality is a valuable component in healing of mental illness. According to Mayo Clinic staff, “Mental illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions – disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior. Examples of mental illness include depression, anxiety disorders. schizophrenia, eating disorders and addictive behaviors.”

Dr. Andrew Powell, member of the Spirituality and Psychiatry Special Interest Group in the Royal College of Psychiatrists, states at the conclusion of his study, “Mental illness always produces fragmentation of the psyche and for any real recovery, healing must be helped to take place. Healing begins with the offering of love, a word that doesn’t figure nearly enough in the lexicon of psychiatry. Compassionate love – spirituality in action – can only do good and mixes well with all other treatments that may be required. And who would want to turn down such a precious gift that comes free?”

The Bible tells us , “God is love (I John 4:16). The apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians declared, “Charity never faileth (I Corinthians 13:8).” The Discoverer of Christian Science Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 494:10).”

Jesus in his healing of the man of the Gadarenes, whose name was Legion, “which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs,” proved the power of Love to heal. “Then went the devils out of the man,” and he was found “sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind.” (Luke 8:27-39)

Jesus’s healing of this man makes a significant contribution in recognizing the importance of spirituality in achieving and maintaining good mental health. Let us consider this and add it to our prayers for those suffering from mental illness for healing to take place.

Stock Photos Tree with tangled roots and dappled sunshine © Glow Images.

The musical Oklahoma  with the song “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” filled with the strength and joy of its resilient people and the natural beauty of the land comes to my thought in the wake of the tornado that devastated Moore, Oklahoma this week.  It helps me to envision what is already beginning to happen… courageous people springing back from a natural disaster… seeing the sun shining.

First responders and neighbors rushed to the scene to rescue people from the rubble. President Barack Obama told the Oklahoma people, “You will not travel that path (to recovery) alone. Your county will travel it with you, fueled by our faith in the Almighty and our faith in one another.”

I pray with all my heart that those grieving for loved ones, who died in the tornado, and everyone affected will find comfort in God’s love and each others’ love. The Bible tells us, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God (II Corinthians 1:3,4).”

Tornado Alley may be extended to include Indiana, and many a time I’ve gone to the basement of our Indiana home with my family to be safe when we had tornado warnings. The books I read every day, the Bible and Science with Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, went with me along with the water, blankets, flashlight, battery radio, and food.

Before we settled in to wait out the warning, we’d pray together to be listening to the “still small voice” from God that spoke to Elijah in the Bible, trusting that God was “not in the wind…not in the earthquake…not in the fire” (I Kings 19:11, 12). After the warning ended we’d walk up the basement steps to the sunlight shining through the trees that were still standing in our yard, and we would feel so grateful. Sometimes there was significant damage to trees and buildings in our community, but never the extremity of our city being destroyed.

That didn’t happen in Moore. In Moore a tornado emergency was broadcasted. The news has been reporting stories of people, who took to shelters, but when they came out their homes were destroyed.  I am deeply saddened by this happening, and I know God does not bless some and leave out others, even though it may appear to be so on the human scene.

God is Love, and God loves all of us impartially. Mrs. Eddy  wrote, “Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals. It is the open fount which cries, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters (Science and Health, p. 13).”

I pray that the Oklahomans will come to the waters to realize the sunlight of God’s love is with them to help them rebuild and find comfort in their losses. In God’s eyes there is no destructive event, and the sun is continuously shining forever.

Stock Photos Man Hiking On A Mountain Path © Glow Images. Model is used for illustrative purposes only.

Being a baby boomer I naturally rebel from being labeled an aging senior facing declining years. The fact is I have good friends up to 20 years older than I am, who are still going strong. Since this is Older Americans Month, I’d like to give you a brief scenario of a couple of them to dispel the myth that aging leads to a downward spiral in health and happiness.

Research shows three major ingredients in the recipe for well-being and longevity are:

1. Altruism
2. Attitude
3. Gratitude

My friends have all three in their lives, and they feel like the quote from American poet Robert Browning, “Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be.” They are moving forward in years with expectations and gratitude for more good to come. Particularly noticeable are their qualities of wisdom, grace, patience, and confidence.

The first one, an active man in his seventies, hikes mountains, backpacks, motorcycles, and he is still working in his professional office. Aging is a non event to him. He is grateful that his life is an adventure. He works out regularly three to four times per week.

His attitude is to make a positive difference in the lives of others by lending a hand whenever he can. His sense of confidence in what he has achieved in his life instills confidence in others to keep on going, no matter what. His life portrays Jesus commandment to “…love thy neighbour as thyself (Matthew 22:39).”

The second one, a true lady of grace, in her mid eighties, lives alone, and she is never lonely, because her family and friends find spending time with her such a joy. She reads a daily Bible lesson, and she devotes hours to praying for others. Her wisdom and patience make her someone to call if you need a good listener and a shoulder.

She never complains or talks negatively about her age, continuing to cook, care for her home, and travel. She is grateful for everything, and she is always looking forward to the next event. She is an example of Job’s words in the Bible, “And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning (Job 11:17).

Notable is that both of these individuals give of themselves to others, do not perceive themselves as limited by advancing years, and are grateful for their lives confirming studies that people who are altruistic, don’t gripe about aging, and are grateful experience happier and longer lives. They inspire me to keep on, keeping on with joy and gratitude for each new day!

Please tell about an older person who has inspired you.

]]> http://www.christiansciencein.com/2013/05/20/recipe-for-well-being-and-longevity/feed/ 2 http://www.christiansciencein.com/2013/05/15/prayer-for-teen-drivers/ http://www.christiansciencein.com/2013/05/15/prayer-for-teen-drivers/#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 19:25:06 +0000 Katie Brown http://www.christiansciencein.com/?p=5338 Continue reading →]]>

Stock Photos Teenage Girl Sitting In Car, Holding Car Keys And Smiling At The Camera © Glow Images. Model is used for illustrative purposes only.

The headlines of our newspapers can alert us to what our prayers should be focused on that day. One morning’s headline, “Teen traffic deaths on the rise”, alerted me to pray for teens to be safe in driving and for the grieving families and friends of teens, who have died in vehicle accidents on our Indiana highways and nationwide.

Indiana ranks one, up 13%, with a 19% increase nationwide in teen traffic deaths. The article stated that a report of preliminary data gathered by the Governors Highway Safety Association compared fatal car crashes involving sixteen and seventeen year old teens from the first six months of 2011 against the first six months of 2012.

Teen traffic death causes could be attributed to use of cell phones, little driving experience, more driving due to a better economy, increase in dangerous drivers on the road, and added vehicles on the road. Whatever the cause, it is heart rending when a young person with their life ahead of them dies in a fatal crash.

Coping with that loss can mean running a gamut of emotions, while trying to heal from grief. Going forward with one’s life after a loved one dies can be difficult and painful.

Although not driving, my cousin died in a fatal car crash. I did not go to her funeral service.  My parents thought it would be too hard on my aunt and uncle to have me there, because   parents struggle with the death of a child. My cousin and I were very much alike, and we were only a year apart in age. I was a sophomore at Franklin College, Franklin, Indiana, and she was just starting her freshman year at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio

We had enjoyed visiting each other in the summers, since I lived in Indiana, and she lived in New Jersey. She was full of life, and it was hard to believe that we would not be able to share our lives together. She was one of five children, but the closest cousin to me.   

I was in my college dorm room by myself, when my parents called to tell me the news that she had been killed in an accident on a slippery, curving highway. I had a first date that night, and I went on that date seeking some support. We talked and prayed for my cousin, and my date’s strong Christian faith helped me get through the immediate shock of her death.

My religious beliefs were a source of great comfort that I drew upon. I felt alone even when surrounded by college friends, but turning to God in prayer, I began to reason that I was not alone. God’s love was with me and my cousin, because God and man are one, and we live in God.

When I was in a high school Sunday School class, we memorized this passage from the Christian Science textbook Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, “As a drop of water is one with the ocean, a ray of light one with the sun, even so God and man, Father and son, are one in being. The Scripture reads: “For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.” (Science and Health, p. 161:16)

My life moved forward, and I was able to feel peaceful about my cousin’s death. Her younger sister and I became close, when she came to Indiana to attend Purdue University. While her sister never took her place, the need of cousin companionship was met, and I am  grateful for God’s provision of love in my life.

Since my cousin’s death, the first death I had experienced of someone close to me, there have been many more. What I learned at that time, has given me a foundational understanding of man’s eternal oneness with God that sustains and comforts me. I pray for those who have lost teens in traffic deaths to find comfort in God, as I did, and for teens to be safe on our highways.

Stock Photos Mother and Son Riding Bikes © Glow Images. Models used for illustrative purposes only.

As we honor mothers throughout the United States, where Mother’s Day has been celebrated annually for over 100 years, let’s honor our Mother-God.

Because I attended the Christian Science Sunday School as a very young child, I was taught and have always thought of God as both Mother and Father. This was made clear by Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, when God was considered by most people to be exclusively Father. To think of God as Mother is to bring into one’s life Her precious nurturing, tender mercies and unconditional love that are apparent in all good mothers.

Mrs. Eddy wrote, “a mother’s love touches the heart of God …” (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 253), and “Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p.516)  She defined Mother, “God; divine and eternal Principle; Life, Truth, and Love.” (Science and Health, p. 592)

The Bible tells us, “For thus saith the Lord…”As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you…” (Isaiah 66:13) Oh, the comforts of a good mother surpass all other comforts in her sweet and tender compassion to her children, always there for them through the smiles and the tears, sickness and health, guiding their spiritual growth, and supporting them in their life endeavors.

So, this Mother’s Day, let’s cherish and praise God as Mother, making it a day for everyone to share! Happy Mother’s Day!

What are your thoughts on mothering?

]]> http://www.christiansciencein.com/2013/05/10/honoring-mothers-day/feed/ 1 http://www.christiansciencein.com/2013/05/06/oval-office-jelly-beans-tribute-to-former-indiana-governor-otis-bowen/ http://www.christiansciencein.com/2013/05/06/oval-office-jelly-beans-tribute-to-former-indiana-governor-otis-bowen/#comments Mon, 06 May 2013 15:33:53 +0000 Katie Brown http://www.christiansciencein.com/?p=5301 Continue reading →]]>

Stock Photos Bowl of Coloured Jellybeans © Glow Images

Thanks to Dave Horn, former Indiana Committee on Publication, Raleigh, North Carolina, for today’s blog.

News of the passing of former Indiana Governor Otis Bowen at age 95 wakened sweet memories, and recalled some words by Mary Baker Eddy, founder of The Christian Science Monitor, that could have described the “Doc.”

Bowen began his career on an internship from Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Indiana, in 1942. From 1943 to 1946 he served in the Medical Corps of the United States Army, rising from the rank of 1st lieutenant to captain. On his return from World War II, he set up medical practice in his home town of Bremen, Indiana, where he treatedboth “English” and Amish residents and delivered a generation of babies. Bremen’s Bowen Babies grew into solid citizens and many remained friends for life.

Doc began his pubic service career as Marshall County Coroner. He served as a member of the Indiana House of Representatives from 1956 to 1958 and again from 1960 to 1972. He was speaker from 1967 to 1972. He was elected Governor in 1972 and re-elected for a second term in 1976, making him the first Governor to serve for eight consecutive years in Indiana since 1851. He taught at Indiana University until appointed by President Reagan as Secretary of Health and Human Services and confirmed by the US Senate on a vote of 93 to 2, making him the first medical doctor to serve in this position. He served in
Reagan’s cabinet until 1989, when he retired and came home to Bremen. That’s when we first met.

After 15 years with The Christian Science Monitor in Boston, my family moved to Plymouth, Indiana, where I tried to bring Monitor-quality journalism to Marshall County’s only daily paper, The Pilot-News. Bremen is a proud little one-stoplight town a few miles northeast of Plymouth. Hearing that Doc had returned from DC, I dialed his number
and was invited to interview him at his home.

We discussed national health issues, and he told how honored he was to serve as a presidential cabinet secretary. Before I left, he insisted I take a plastic bag of gourmet jelly beans which he vowed came from the Oval Office. Some may recall that President Reagan loved jelly beans and kept large bowls of them in his White House office.

After returning to the newsroom, I shared the jelly beans with fellow reporters, hoping they might make us smarter. They didn’t. But Doc’s candor, simplicity, and Hoosier honesty reminded me of some words Mrs. Eddy once wrote.

“The upright man is guided by a fixed Principle, which destines him to do nothing but what is honorable, and to abhor whatever is base or unworthy; hence we find him ever the same, — at all times the trusty friend, the affectionate relative, the conscientious man of business, the pious worker, the public-spirited citizen (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 147).”

These words fit Doc Bowen to a T.

Stock Photos © Glow Images

Katie S. Brown lives in Fort Wayne and writes regularly about spirituality and health. She is also a Christian Science practitioner and teacher and the media and legislative liaison for Christian Science in Indiana.

The United States Congress designated the first Thursday in May as the National Day of Prayer when all Americans are asked to turn to God in prayer for our country. This year’s theme, “Pray for America,” is based on the Bible, Matthew 12:21, “In His name will the nations put their hope.” I also like The Living Bible translation of the verse, “And his name shall be the hope Of all the world.”

On this day let us pray for our country and the world to feel the love of God to find solutions for peace and goodwill among all people. President Barack Obama in the Presidential Proclamation for The National Day of Prayer 2013 begins, “Americans have long turned to prayer both in times of joy and times of sorrow.”

Let us pray for those affected by the explosion in West Texas, the Newtown, Connecticut shootings and the Boston Marathon bombings as well as for those who are suffering from lack of any kind…lack of health, employment, home, and companionship. Let us recognize the good that we have in our lives and be grateful to our Father-Mother God for our blessings. Each day, I among many, say the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus gave us.

The Lord’s Prayer is found in various Bible translations in Matthew 6 and Luke 1, and in the Christian Science textbook Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.  She wrote, “he gave that prayer which covers all human needs.” And she shared, “Here let me give what I understand to be the spiritual sense of the Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father which art in heaven,

Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious,

Hallowed be Thy name.

Adorable One.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present.

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Enable us to know, — as in heaven, so on earth, — God is omnipotent, supreme.

Give us this day our daily bread;

Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections;

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And Love is reflected in love;

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;

And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.

For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All.”

(Science and Health, p. 16, 17)

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