Breathing exercises as effective as prescription drugs? Guided imagery and herbs dispensed as painkillers? Andrew Weil’s approach to health and well-being has won him a following of millions and at the same time put the American medical establishment on red alert.
An advocate of nutritional supplements, meditation, yoga, and other mind-body remedies and regimens, Weil, thanks to his impeccable training and eclectic approach, is partly responsible for bringing these therapies from the margins to the mainstream. His method is to encourage people to blend conventional and alternative treatments. In managing diseases like cancer, for instance, he often subscribes to traditional modalities offset by therapies that reduce a drug’s toxicity (and may also increase its effectiveness). The result is what he calls “integrative” medicine.
Not content simply to practice his healing arts, Weil has become a one-man industry. Widely known for his best-selling books, he now also offers DVDs, memory-sharpening kits, even dietary supplements and a line of cookware. But while his followers adore him, many in the medical profession are unnerved that one of their own, with excellent credentials—including a Harvard University medical degree, 15 years as an ethnopharmacology researcher at the Harvard Botanical Museum, and a stint at the National Institute of Mental Health—is going this unconventional route.
Catching up with this 65-year-old physician requires patience and persistence. But when Weil eventually touched down at his ranch in the Arizona high desert after a trip to India, DISCOVER was able to reach him on the phone. Engaging and articulate, Weil is not flustered by criticism or challenges from his medical peers. His approach continues to attract new followers, and more and more medical schools are launching their own programs in integrative health.
Why do some people experience spontaneous remissions and self-healing, while others don’t?
