Many tribal peoples consider illness to be one of the most reliable sources of revelation. Many of the practices that traditional religions impose upon seekers-abstinence, isolation, stillness-are practices that illness imposes upon us, so it is in a sense a cocoon that allows revelation to unfold.Collection: Practice
My body has taught me many things, all of them filled with soul: how to dance and make love, mourn and make music; now it is teaching me how to heal. I am learning to heed the shifting currents of my body-the subtle changes in temperature, muscle tension, thought and mood-the way a sailor rides the wind by reading the ripples on the water.Collection: Reading
I often felt better as soon as I swallowed my vitamin C, long before it had time to take effect. Medical researchers call it 'placebo effect'; I prefer to call it magic, for it occurs when something - a pill or a word - is imbued with power and meaning, and so it becomes effective. That is alchemy.Collection: Placebo Effect
By the time writing was invented, the Greeks and Egyptians had already learned to extract opium from poppies to facilitate sleep.Collection: Sleep