Due to several complications he died several weeks later. But during those weeks, at my insistence, he was graced with caring and loving touch from his immediate and extended family, and his entire Quaker meeting. We in turn were graced to be sharing that sacred time with him. Many people suffer from touch deprivation including people with AIDS, people with cancer, hospice patients, infants in Neo Natal Intensive Care Units, especially those who have been abandoned by thei

A survey by the Office of Alternative Medicine found more than a half of conventional physicians in the U.S. have recommended or tried alternative medicine. An osteopathic doctor here in Murrieta, CA, Laurie Blanscet, believes that massage therapy for fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue is invaluable. For general aches and pains, it is more effective than medicine and other therapies. She says, “I wish massage therapy was reimbursed because it is so effective. I think that d

Archeologists have found food stashes of algae in Stone Age South African dwellings. Palmaria palmata, also known as fresh sol or dulse, has been eaten in Iceland since about 1000 B.C. Japanese literature regularly refers to sea vegetables as “gems” or “gemlike,” and in China’s “Book of Poetry” (800-600 B.C.), sea vegetables are prasied as a delicacy fit for any honored guest. In “Breast Cancer?Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way,” master herbalist Susun Weed writes, “Brown s

In 1986 I met with a bodyworker trained in New York City by the renowned shiatsu master Ohashi. She was showing me how she worked with, what was to me at the time, an unusual client. Duke was a great mastiff puppy from New Jersey horse country who was receiving deep muscle massage around his leg and hip joints to increase circulation to lessen the chance of sprains and strains as he grew. Duke enjoyed every minute of the flexion and extension, friction massage, acupressure