David Simon - The Wisdom of Healing: A Natural Mind Body Program for Optimal Wellness

I hope this understandable book will be read open-mindedly not only by those who are sick and those who do not want to become sick, but by those who manage health care organizations.

George Freeman Solomon, M.D.,

Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and

Biobehavioral Sciences, U.C.L.A.

Dr. Simon distills the vast wisdom of healing from the ancient Ayurvedic system of India and places it at the fingertips of the modern Western reader. His book is one of the most important additions to the literature of Ayurveda in modern times and should be read by all who are interested in this profound subject.

Dr. David Frawley,

author of Ayurveda and the Mind

Ayurveda encompasses the healing of the body, mind, and consciousness of each individual in his or her day-to-day life and in daily relationships. As a practical text for self-healing, Dr. David Simons book guides both the professional and the layman through his integral approach and his own wonderful journey toward total healing.

Vasant Lad, B.A.M.S., M.A.Sc.,

author of The Doctors Book of Ayurvedic Home Remedies

Copyright 1997 by David Simon, M.D.

Introduction copyright 1997 by Deepak Chopra, M.D.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published by Three Rivers Press, a division of Crown Publishers, Inc.,
201 East 50th Street, New York, New York 10022.
Member of the Crown Publishing Group.

Originally published in hardcover by Harmony Books,
a division of Crown Publishers, Inc., in 1997.

Random House, Inc. New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Auckland
www.randomhouse.com

THREE RIVERS PRESS and colophon are trademarks of
Crown Publishers, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Simon, David, M.D.
The wisdom of healing : a natural mind body program
for optimal wellness / by David Simon.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references ()
1. Medicine, Ayurvedic. 2. Holistic medicine. 3. Health.
I. Title.
R605.S565 1997
615.53dc21 97-9296

eISBN: 978-0-307-82911-5

v3.1

Creating the Universe

Layers of Life

Health and Disease

Shri Yantra

Nadi Shodhana

Sitali

Sun Salutations

Yoga in a Chair

Communicating Immunity

Immune Defense System

Immune Feedback

Neti Pot

Stress and Blood Sugar

Stress and Fertility

In the world of forms and phenomena, change is the only constant. In life, change proceeds in the direction of evolutionhow more can be accomplished with less energy expenditure. Human evolution has moved through several epochs over the past several million years, from the hunter-gatherer stage to the Agricultural Age, on to the Industrial Age and now, the Information Age. Each age has had its own worldviewits own paradigmwhich defines the expectations and limitations of the people living in the period. I believe that the transition from the Industrial Age to the Information Age has again resulted in a transformation of our worldview. We are beginning to see, thanks to information technology, a paradigm shift from a material worldview to a consciousness-based worldview. We are beginning to understand that what exists at the essential core of matter is information and energy. I hope and believe that the Information Age is going to be the stepping-off point for the Age of Consciousness. What is consciousness, if not information and energy that has become alive with self-referral? In other words, consciousness is information that responds to feedback, which is also information. Through this self-referral loop, consciousness influences its own expression in more abstract and unpredictable ways, and in this process, consciousness becomes intelligence.

This underlying nonmaterial basis for existence is already taken for granted in the information technologies of our civilizationfax machines, cellular phones, satellite television transmissions, and the Internet. These tools of our age demonstrate the basic premise of our time, which is that the essential nature of the material world is not material; that the essential stuff of the universe is nonstuff; that the atom, which is the basic unit of matter, is not a solid entity, but a hierarchy of states of information and energy in a huge void.

This profound and valuable knowledge has been missing from our biological sciences. Our current health-care system needs to integrate this understanding of consciousness in order for it to evolve to the next phase. Our current therapeutic interventions in medicine are based upon a mechanistic view of life that views the human body as a physical machine with consciousness as the epiphenomenon. Although modern medicine has made great advances, saving millions of lives through sophisticated technology and pharmaceuticals, it has come at a high price. Modern medicine has not evolved sufficiently to deal with the underlying causes of disease in our society. There is a need, therefore, for a system of health care that is truly holistic.

This book by Dr. David Simon offers a new vision of health care that embraces the best of East and West. It brings together the insights of ancient healing wisdom with what we know about the workings of nature through the window of science. Wisdom requires knowledge and experience and this book provides the keys to both.

I have known David for more than ten years and have worked closely with him for the past five. Together, he and I have developed courses that have trained thousands of physicians, nurses, and other health professionals in the principles and practice of mind body medicine. As a result of these courses, we have certified hundreds of health-care providers to teach The Magic of Healing, which is being taught to thousands of people all across the world. In my opinion, Dr. David Simon is the most qualified person to translate the ideas and concepts that I have been exploring and writing about for the past ten years into practical programs that anyonehealth-care professions and the general publiccan access.

There has been a need for this book for many years. Dr. Simon has painstakingly researched every statement made in this book and diligently gathered the scientific evidence that documents the benefits of the techniques of mind body medicine that he explores in each chapter. I believe