How it all began:

At 55 years of age, divorced and in a very successful sales and marketing career, I began to develop a weakness in my right leg.  In retrospect it was really preceded by an increasing bladder control weakness, which I at the time attributed to aging, as well as other elusive neurological symptoms, some dating back as far as five or six years.

After being advised by several assorted health care practitioners that the leg weakness related to an old back injury, I continued my hectic life style. After a couple of years, however, during which I noticed some sense of loss of balance and hyper reflexes on my right side, as well as an increase in my right leg weakness, I began a serious search to discover the source of my problem. It became increasingly difficult to continue my state of "denial" when my friends and associates were asking me why I was limping!  My excuse of "new shoes" was getting weak.  And some days I was just too fatigued to make it through a full day.

It took several neurologists and other medical specialists, numerous MRIs and other neurological tests to finally make a diagnosis of Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. That was just two months after my 58^th birthday. I was told I had almost made the record books. It certainly was a distinction I could have done without! MS usually strikes young adults between 20 and 45 years of age.

I was devastated. My mother had experienced her first MS symptoms when I was in my late teens, and she had been confined to a wheelchair for over 25 years. My mother's MS was the relapsing remitting kind (quite different from mine), so her symptoms were not at all similar. I have since learned that no two people experience MS exactly the same way.  MS is a degenerative process wherein the myelin sheath surrounding the spinal chord and brain develops lesions or hardened areas called a sclerosis (scar), hence the name multiple sclerosis, or many scars. The individual symptoms vary widely depending on severity and location of the lesions.

Please stay with me - my story is all up hill from here!  Today I am 75 years old, look 60, and have no MS symptoms whatsoever.

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My Search for Meaning and Answers:

I believe the human body is designed to heal itself. Science calls this the Spontaneous Healing Response. When you cut your finger you can easily see this automatic healing taking place. And your body doesn't know the difference in healing a cut finger and something you or I would consider far more difficult to heal. It is only our perception that makes one hard and the other easy. I believe the body has its own innate intelligence, separate from our conscious mind, and it knows what is wrong and how to correct (heal) itself.  The person who has relapsing remitting MS experiences this healing response during a period of remission.

I believe we all possess a Spirit which is connected inexorably to the one Universal Divine Presence. I believe that at some level we all create our reality. Because of that deeply embedded belief, and after being told by my neurologist that there was/is absolutely nothing allopathic medicine can do for primary progressive MS, I began to search for alternative possibilities. 

I tried just about everything, and the first year and a half spent over $20,000 - all to finally reach the all-important conclusion that the answers I needed were all inside of me!  I researched medical literature. I surfed the Internet for weeks and months on end. I downloaded reams of scientific data. I read every research paper I learned about.  In a few months I came to know more about the MS degenerative process than any neurologist I have yet talked to. 

The important things I learned were:

First: Voila! There are things I could do to stave off advancement of this degenerative disorder. Well, needless to say, I was sure glad to learn that!  I share them with you through the pages of this website, and more importantly each month through my Journey to Wellness newsletter and the books I have written.  Be sure to preview the latest newsletter issue here.

Second: The most important thing I learned early on to do for myself was to meditate each day, and thereby "tune in" to the infinite part of my nature. I call it the God within, but whatever one calls it does not matter.   I just know that the process changed my life in a very positive way.  I recommend it for everyone. Meditation is also widely accepted by the medical community as a very effective way to reduce stress.  If you would like some help with meditation, be sure to read this meditation report. 

Third:  I discovered the healing powers of Qi Gong (chi kung), the healing form of Tai Chi, and later Yoga.  They are great healing tools for anyone, and especially persons with limited mobility.  Be sure to check out the information on the exercise videos I use. 

Fourth:  Early in my own journey I discovered a then newly-published book, THE HEALER WITHIN, by a Chinese Medical Doctor, Roger Jahnke.  It has become my "bible" for self healing.  The following is a quote from Dr. Jahnke:

'Awaken the medicine within, and restore the natural
self-healing capacity of body, mind, and spirit.'

One of the most effective ways to activate this formula is the regular practice of four essential self-care methods