and sometimes they don’t,” says Noonan-Gores, who intends to have her fi lm awaken viewers to the possibilities of alternative paths of healing. As just one other example noted in the fi lm, thousands have used the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), tapping on their body to help release the trauma and stress oſt en associated with illness.


Resistance to Change “T e conventional medical community wants to maintain the model in which they have heavily invested centuries of time, energy and money. Patients that investigate integrative and complementary medicine may resist hearing that in order to get well, they might need to change their worldview and lifestyle, take a leave of absence from their job, develop a spiritual practice, exercise or maybe even leave a toxic relationship,” says Schomer. “Conventional medicine says take this


pill and keep living your life the same way,” says Schomer. “We are not demonizing doctors, pharmaceuticals or the medical system. We simply believe that individuals are more empowered to heal when they take control of their health.” Eva Lee, a resident of Los Angeles


featured in the documentary, suff ers from a rare and unpredictable form of blistering skin infl ammation. “I’ve tested negative for faulty genes and all sorts of rare viruses and bacteria, which helped point me towards holistic methods. So far, following the directives of Dr. Mark Emerson, a chiropractor specializing in nutrition, in Maui, Hawaii, who I met while fi lming, has helped my body become healthier and deal with infl ammation levels that rapidly reduced as soon as I detoxed and eliminated meat and dairy from my diet,” says Lee. Still, it’s hard for her to accept that her condition could be due to the type of stress and suppressed emotions that Anthony William explores in his book Medical Medium: Secrets Behind Chronic and Mystery Illness and How to Finally Heal. “Before, I wasn’t


familiar with EFT, which I continue to


use and benefi t from. However, despite everything I’ve learned, I can’t give up on all Western medicine, put my faith in alternatives and let my intuition and faith guide me to healing. It’s easier to be skeptical


than to have faith,” Lee says.


Quiet Role Models Sheila Tucker, a resident of Navarre, Florida, has been a registered nurse for 20 years, practicing in hospital settings such as critical care, emergency and administration. “I know and understand doctors, surgeries and pharmaceutical treatments and hospitals,” says Tucker, who recalls that throughout her life she was taught to believe in a system that suddenly stopped working for her. “In 2014, I was dying from a rare


autoimmune condition, requiring full- time care, and planning my funeral. Doctors had tried everything, yet my health continued to decline. When I saw a friend’s Facebook posts about her use of essential oils, I was curious, but reluctant to reach out, and didn’t want anyone to know that I called her for advice,” recalls Tucker. “Shortly after my friend


arrived with her oils, my husband came home with our daughter, who had strep throat and a fever. She made us promise to use selected oils through the night and prayed with us.” Tucker attributes the miracle of her daughter’s turnaround the next morning to shifting her paradigm and opening her up to believing in the healing power of essential oils. T anks to her friend and role model,


Tucker learned how to use therapeutic- grade oils, supplements and a healthy diet to cleanse her body of the heavy toxic load accumulated from several years of expensive drug treatments. Today, she is a healthy and enthusiastic advocate, and her personal results opened the eyes of her physician to the point where she also shiſt ed her own philosophy of healing. Tucker now off ers educational classes


in her offi ce and online through her website FloridaOilsRN.com that reaches hundreds of


individuals worldwide. She advises, “Reach out to people that you see are having positive results with a diff erent healing system than yours. Ask them to show, help and teach you. I’ve seen many people restored to health by using methods that science is only beginning to understand.”


It’s a Marathon “Outside of any dominant paradigm, it’s easier to cast suspicion than to make curious inquiry and, over time, working within a dominant worldview creates polarity, the antithesis of ‘wholism’. An inclusive approach integrates all medical and complementary approaches, as well as interaction with the natural world,” says Patrick Hanaway, a family physician and founder of Family to Family Medicine, in Asheville, North Carolina. Hanaway, the former director of


medical education for the Institute for Functional Medicine and the fi rst medical director at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine, explains, “Doctors have a rigorous job fi lled with responsibility. Change is diffi cult and investigating vastly diff erent ways of practicing medicine requires a degree of curiosity and openness. I am heartened


by thought leaders and heads of top


medical schools who are presently opening up to functional medicine, natural medicine and complementary approaches.” “T e paradigm shiſt we are ushering


in has been 50 years in the making,” assesses Hanaway. “Some medical professionals are immersed in a polar view of right and wrong, off ering personal attacks and disparaging comments to maintain control of the dialogue. T is is not appreciated by patients who look to the doctor as a teacher—the Latin docere means to teach. “T e movement to change medicine


and the cultural paradigm of healing is a marathon, not a sprint, and those of us involved are prepared to stay the course.”


Linda Sechrist is a senior staff writer for Natural Awakenings. Connect at LindaSechrist.com.


May 2018 23


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