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Ashok Bedi, M.D., ISSN 1939-3407  Contemporary Western medicine is disease-based and focuses on the work of specialists rather than generalists. It is reactive rather than proactive, crisis-oriented rather than holistic, physician-directed rather than interactive, and focused on curing illnesses rather than promoting wellness. Medical treatment is delivered via a chaotic, disconnected matrix of urgent-care facilities, emergency rooms, hospitals, and specialists. The presumed driver of this care, the family physician, is at the bottom of this pyramid.  The emerging integrative medicine of the 21st century will be patient-focused, empowering individuals to take care of themselves through a balanced lifestyle that uses their unique personal resources and attributes, and invokes the traditions of their ancestral wisdom and their souls’ guidance. In this model, patients will map out, not only their illness profiles, but also their wellness plans. In this new paradigm, the emphasis is on accessing the Healing Zone to move from a focus on illness to a goal of enhancing wellness.  According to the National Center for Complementary Medicine, 42 percent of Americans use at least some of the methods of wellness medicine we will discuss (Spiegel, n.d.). More patients visit practitioners of these complementary methods of treatment than visit primary-care doctors. Among the main reasons for seeking these alternatives are pain, pediatrics, and self-care for stress and weight loss. Fifty percent of cancer patients and AIDS survivors consult complementary-care providers. Seventy-two percent of these patients don’t talk about it with their doctors, yet studies show that 83 percent of patients combine alternative with conventional medicine.  The Healing Zone is a place of awe and mystery. It is not a linear phenomenon, but a quantum field where energy and matter become interchangeable. My recently published […]

Carl Jung had an ambivalent relationship with the Soul of India. This issue of Spring explores the complexities of this relationship between Jung and India.   Spring: A Journal of Archetype and Culture Spring, founded in 1941, is the oldest Jungian psychology journal in the world. Published twice a year, each issue explores from the perspective of depth psychology a theme of contemporary relevance and contains articles as well as book and film reviews. Contributors include Jungian analysts, scholars from a wide variety of disciplines, and cultural commentators. http://www.springjournalandbooks.com/Jung and India Spring: A Journal of Archetype and Culture, Volume 90 Nancy Cater, J.D., Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief Al Collins, Ph.D., and Elaine Molchanov, LCSW, Guest Editors ISBN: 978-1-935528-60-9 418 pp. Price: $25.95 Buy this issue now » SUBSCRIBE to Spring Journal and SAVE up to 40% off the cover price. One year (two issues) is $40.00 and two years (four issues) is $70.00, with free shipping within the United States. Your subscription will start with theJung and India issue. Subscribe to Spring Journal »Carl Jung’s interest in India, and specifically in Hinduism and Buddhism, will be obvious to anyone who has even superficially read his work. Nevertheless, its significance is often ignored or minimized. This issue of Spring aims to show just how extensive and fraught Jung’s ties to India were and to present attempts from a number of directions to plumb the meaning of the relationship and, in the spirit of active imagination, to “dream it onward” into the present and future. In this issue we will focus mostly on Jung’s connections with Hindu thought. Buddhism and Hinduism in complex ways grew out of one another, so it is inevitable that there will be some overlap between the two. However, in spite […]