TEDMED 2009: The Future Of Mind-Body Medicine

This morning's session at TEDMED 2009 was a great moment for HuffPost Living. First up was HuffPost Living's Medical Editor, Dr. Dean Ornish, who also approved all the food served at the conference. Ornish, while standing on stage holding his beautiful baby girl, spoke about intimacy and how those who are lonely, depressed, or isolated are more likely to get sicker. "Anything that promotes connection is healthy," he said. He focused his talk around the fact that we're beginning to rediscover ancient spiritual truths and how it relates to our health and well being.

Next up was HuffPost Living blogger, Deepak Chopra, who spoke about his consciousness-based model for health. "Consciousness and biology are directly linked," Chopra said. He instructed us to turn our attention to who is listening to him speak. The room fell quiet. "I hope you feel a still presence and if you do that's your core consciousness called your soul," Chopra said. "Hold on to that part of yourself because it's the only thing that's real."

He repeated a common thread echoed throughout the conference that our genes and nervous system are not fixed and can change. He added his own twist that psychological information is transformed into biological information. His recipe for health? Recognize that we are all connected consciousness and take on divine attributes like loving-kindness, joy at the success of others, experience equanimity and you will be healed.

Dr. Andrew Weil, the bearded pioneer of integrative medicine and HuffPost Living blogger said we need to stop giving lip service to prevention and health promotion and follow through with it. He rhetorically questioned how we can break our dependence on conventional medicine and answered by suggesting the integrative health model, which builds on conventional medicine to expand its usefulness and reduce its cost. Integrative medicine uses nutrition, mind-body therapy, botanical medicine, specific medicines like acupuncture, Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine (among others), and instruction in self-care to educate physicians to be examples of health.

Last to speak on integrative medicine was fashionista and visionary behind the Urban Zen Foundation (and soon to be HuffPost Living blogger), Donna Karan. In an extraordinarily vulnerable talk, Karan recounted the death of her husband from lung cancer seven years ago and remembers his instruction: "Donna, you've got to help the nurses." She heeded his request and this year Urban Zen: To Find The Calm In The Chaos, is preparing to graduate 100 integrative therapists who have been trained to work in hospitals to start to transform the modern healthcare system by providing peace and calm for patients, loved ones, doctors, and nurses (they're even trained in bed yoga!). "Instead of dressing people, I wanted to address the needs at hand," Karan said. Beth Israel Hospital is the first to create a "sanctuary", designed by Karan, where loved ones, doctors, and nurses can de-stress and heal. Her vision? "I want to join forces with each and every one of you to create change in the medical system and create the optimum healing experience. "

Next: Can a video game cure cancer?...

Here's to your health!

Full Coverage Of TEDMED 2009:

• Why Your Doctors Need To Know Where You've Lived
• The Future Of Cancer Medicine
• Do You Want To Live Forever?
• Using Sleep As A Gateway Into The Brain

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Comments

[David M]

11:20 AM on 11/10/2009

If you're a fan of Deepak Chopra, you might want to check out his new stress reducing program; it’s a first of its kind iPhone application implementing a comprehensive program to remove stress from daily life (http://www.DeepakChopraMobile.com)

[Suzie Heumann]

07:32 PM on 10/30/2009

I am so thankful for the TED Conferences. They bring knowledge, joy, understanding and hope. What a great experience Alana to be there live! Thanks so much. I can't wait to hear the talks.

[dbawden]

09:48 AM on 10/30/2009

"Recognize that we are all connected consciousness and take on divine attributes like loving-kindness, joy at the success of others . . ."

What the Hindus recognized was that we also have the divine qualities in us of Shiva, the destroyer along with the creator: the Taoists have the Yin and the Yang. Although I believe these speakers are on target there is a bit of fluffiness here that I find naive. A speaker from this eastern religion quadrant would add balance by bringing their ancient insights into this excellent forum. See "The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell for a starter.

[Ed and Deb Shapiro]

11:40 PM on 10/29/2009

Hi Alana- Awesome

This must have been a heartwarming experience.

A blessing to be there. I have seen Deepak many times and he is one the finest speakers.

The others present all sound spot on.

Thank you for conveying

Blessings,

Ed

[Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald]

11:33 PM on 10/29/2009

Alana,

Thanks so much for the live blogging. Sounds like an amazing, inspiring conference. I can feel the excitement and hope through your writing.

Patricia

[missmelissa]

10:00 PM on 10/29/2009

We're living in an exciting time for medical breakthroughs and discoveries that connect ancient wisdom and spirituality with modern science. The problem, of course, will be those members of the population who refuse to believe the science and rail against teaching it in schools.

[mesioul]

08:57 PM on 10/29/2009

But there is such a loooooong way to go. Most MDs seem to know very little of nutrition and less of spirituality. And such vested interests as the AMA, APA and Big Pharma are working hard to keep it that way.

[SavvyLass]

08:15 PM on 10/29/2009

The mind is most definitely the single most important factor in healing, and I can speak from first-hand experience. To make a long story short, I fell ill several years back. Quite, quite ill. The doctors knew only to give me more drugs.

They admitted these drugs were "poison", but that I needed to take them anyway. Being entirely too ignorant about such matters at the time, but knowing in my gut that this so-called "medicine" was not helping (on the contrary, making things worse), I decided to take matters into my own hands.

I was doing so poorly anyway, I figured, let's take the natural, holistic route, and see if that doesn't make a difference. It did. It made a HUGE difference. But no matter the wonderful holistic doctor I found, the nutrition plan and vitamins/supplements I was taking--none of that mattered without the sheer force of will and determination--the mental strength, that enabled me to get through it and get healthy. And if I can harness the power of the mind to help me heal, then anyone can.

[goldandmudd]

08:31 PM on 10/29/2009

To assert profoundly hyperbolistic certainties like "The mind is most definitely the single most important factor in healing..." is a meaningless, hollow statement. Considering the mind is merely what the brain does, and the brain is the most executive organ in the body, obviously the brain is hugely important to directing the response to insult or injury. But that's a bit like saying "The mind is definitely the single most important factor in...thought, or blood pressure, or initiating motor movements, or...literally any other function in the body." Well, yeah, obviously if you had no brain it'd be a bit difficult to accomplish much of anything.

Obviously you are talking about chemotherapeutic drugs when you say "poison". Yes indeed, it's poison in the same way that ALL drugs are poisons if taken in high enough concentration. A little common sense here...less conspiratorial finger-pointing at the folks who have doubled our lifespans in the past two hundred years.

So you took the "natural" route -- did it occur to you that cancer is a natural phenomenon too? You fell for the naturalistic fallacy. Familiarize yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalistic_fallacy

I'm glad you recovered and are doing well. Most disease is self-limiting and, being pattern-seeking mammals, we tend to view causal connections between correlative events when there are none. Your recovery isn't evidence of a conspiracy in real medicine and science. It's just your good fortune so be thankful and stop finger-pointing.

[SavvyLass]

08:41 PM on 10/29/2009

First off, don't assume I was referring to chemo, because I wasn't. Secondly, I find your response to be patronizing and entirely too condescending. I think the mind IS the single most important factor in healing, based on my own experience.

I believe we're perfectly entitled to express our opinions here? And who was finger-pointing? I was describing an experience. MY experience. No one was finger pointing, merely offering a perspective--again--something I believe we're entitled to do around here.

That being said, you in turn are obviously able to say what you will, but do try not to jump to false conclusions, would you? Thanks ever so much.

[Perla]

09:56 AM on 10/30/2009

You said: "Considering the mind is merely what the brain does...."

I'm not speaking for SavvyLass, because I don't know what her belief system is. But I do want to point out that you are basing your criticism of her on a cultural assumption that is not held by all. There are, in fact, doctors trained in and practicing the allopathic model of medicine who realize its limitations and who do not reduce consciousness to brain activity. (A few of them write for HuffPo.) I fully expect you to consider this bunk, and that's okay, but SavvyLass's note was neither "meaningless" nor "hollow."

[Kirantana]

07:59 PM on 10/29/2009

It's an Evolutionary intellegence test. Survival of the fittest no longer means survival of the most brutish...it means survival of the most intellegent, adaptible, and capable of getting along with their fellow mankind. I'm proud to say I have never once listened to the "Surgeon General"... I listen to my body. I haven't been to a doctor in 40 years by doing yoga, eating correctly and fasting when I'm "so-called sick." But I teach in the allopathically entenched town of Memphis, where none of this lifestyle is greeted with much enthusiam. Oh well! The intellegent / strong will survive, and the rest better make sure they cut a good insurance deal.

[John McCormick]

10:07 AM on 10/30/2009

I really appreciate your comment and can relate. Living in a very sedentary and narrow minded thinking environment, which seems to be similar to yours, makes me have greater appreciation of "alternative" approaches to living and lifestyle. It seems that if some people were more willing to venture out of their ordinary routine and try new things and approaches to living, the results might have a positive effect. I don't know though if it is a question of intelligence, but more so the opportunities or selection offered to people. Ultimately though, it is up to each individual to choose the path in life they want to follow and, in many ways, it is a worthless venture to try and introduce new things to people that are unwilling to change or take responsibility for their own health.

[Kirantana]

12:09 PM on 10/30/2009

Hi John...yeah sometimes it does seem like a worthless venture...but then most of the time I remember the teachings of Karma Yoga from the Bhagava Gita which basically says just do it anyway and don't worry about the results. I just sort of hope people learn by "osmosis"...By intelligent I mean evolutionary intelligence...whatever it is in us that causes us to "see' what are the right choices...what moves us along (and also our progeny) to the state of constant thankfulness. This is what health is to me. It also gives one the ability to come out of cultural conditioning (TV) and KNOW which road to take. But it is a big ??? for me. I live around a bunch of backwoods hillybillies, and they are dear friends. I certainly don't think of myself as more spiritual than them, but I sure have a lot less aches and pains. What keeps me trying is the sadness I know I will feel if I lose some of them. There hearts are big, but their diets are atrocious, and I can see whats going to happen...I'm just trying to pump up my "osmosis" muscles :-)

[msbadger]

05:22 AM on 10/31/2009

Thank you Kirantana. An Evolutionary intelligence test indeed. I can only hope that those of us who are the most intelligent, adaptable, and able to get along with others will prevail. I see this as an important correlation with the current political situation. The selfish, brutish, social Darwinists against those of us who want to progress and nurture ourselves and others' humanity. Thanks for the insight.

[Alison Rose Levy]

06:54 PM on 10/29/2009

As we watch the death throes of the old ways of doing the business of medicine, nothing could be more hopeful that this report on the future of medicine.

Thanks for the log blogging, it's the next best thing to being there!

Alison