Introducing LIGHT
Dear friends,
Thank you so much for being interested in LIGHT. The vision of LIGHT has grown naturally out of my work, and the knowledge and wisdom gained from 30 years of forging new forms in Medicine. In the 70s, my project was Holistic Medicine and the Mind-Body approach, in the 80s, the large-scale healing potential of Self-Esteem, and in the 90s Deep Healing. My desire now is to apply the principles and techniques of self-healing, using wisdom as a guide, and in a spiritually harmonious way to effect transformation in the larger human sphere.
One key to this expansion is the potential of the World Wide Web. The Internet provides us, for the first time in history, with open and free communication that can facilitate the distribution of wisdom, creative solutions, and high quality information to all. My experience, and that of my students and colleagues, is that the same principles that produce individual healing can produce similar transformation in a family, a community, or even the planet. At all levels of system, when the wise, guiding spirit of humans is love, openness, gratitude, and honesty, healing is the result.
Looking back, the first part of my life seems to have been a great quest. I was always a rather driven person, and my holy grail was the secret to healing. On a personal level, I certainly needed an enormous amount of healing myself. Who in this world of ours is without fear, anxiety, unwanted habits or physical imbalances?
I also really enjoyed seeing others healed—whether it was seeing a panicked person become calm again, seeing an organ of the body become functional again or simply watching someone have a good time or laugh at a humorous story.
But somehow, through it all, there was a bigger question that drove me. As an only child, I could never understand the pain that people caused each other in life. I watched my parents battle, and I watched the fights at school. I witnessed domestic violence up and down the street where I lived in New York City, and the fights in the schoolyard.
I watched the gangs battle it out on the street, and I felt the anxiety of walking through the “turf” of a warlike street gang. (In those days, the gangs weren’t like today’s gangs, which are about selling drugs. In those days, they just liked to beat people up, to see them bleed and thereby enhance their “rep”).
Meanwhile, I could never figure out why people didn’t want to be closer to each other. It always seemed to me that if I simply had a brother (and I must admit I had a very idealized image of what a “brother” is) …, just having someone who was very much like me, who loved the same things I loved, and was almost the same age, a permanent playmate—that seemed like heaven.
But all around me people didn’t treat each other the way I thought brothers ought to treat each other. And the shock of discovering the slaughter and destruction of World Wars I and II, and the creepy, inhuman genocide machine of Adolf Hitler, is one from which I still have not fully recovered.
So whether it was the kids, the adults, or even the way the nations of the world treated each other, it was always baffling to me.
Curiously enough, helping individuals heal, I soon found out that many illnesses would respond briefly, and then when a person returned to their family or workplace, their illness would return. I thus found myself having to figure out how to heal these higher levels of system.
I was able to adapt those healing techniques at various levels of system, and soon began to realize that the same thing that was being missed in individual healing by modern medicine was missing on a global scale because of the way people and countries thought about each other. I was later to discover that the reason these international faults were allowed to persist was that the people of the planet simply had not discovered the secret of healing.
In the same way, I had the opportunity to “see the universe in a grain of sand, and heaven in a flower, to hold infinity in my hand and eternity in an hour.” There it was, such a clear representation of life energy from the cell up through all other living things through the human being.
I could see the oneness of life and the interrelatedness of all living things and could perceive that the healing system used by life was similar at all these levels, thus giving rise to the basic principles of deep healing. Healing could be attained by attuning ourselves to spirit and letting this attunement flow through the mind as congruent mental images, through the emotions and finally into the body. (And discovering that this can happen all the way to the cellular level.)
In an analogous way, I was soon able to see how the individual person is much like an individual cell, in relation to the community. Multicellular organisms must have the cells systematically arranged and integrated into a whole, with a nervous system, under the control of some intelligent “overmind” (the cerebral cortex) in order to have a functional animal. In the same way, each of us is like a cell, each is part of an “organ”, and these organs can be balanced by a consciousness that is great enough to include the whole of the community.
The problem is that far too many people have been led to feel separate, alone, either thinking that they are much better than everyone else or much worse, or, at any rate, very different. They fight with each other, avoid each other and find it much easier to break up than to stay together.
Even those who do get together in groups tend to consider themselves as separate entities with no connection to the whole, and they fight for their individual survival. It would be like your liver deciding it wanted to concentrate all of its energy on its own growth and, as a result, decided to stop detoxifying the blood. Or if the kidneys decided to put their energy into becoming bigger and having more power than to continue to eliminate urea, the products of metabolism from the body.
I was also dumbfounded to discover that the same thing that injures us at the personal level, thus leaving us stressed out, in pain, sick and tired of being sick and tired, lost, and a slave to our behavior patterns—the same principle applied to families, communities, and the world as a whole. These are the basic principles of healing and LIGHT is the institute for sharing these principles with the rest of humanity.
Primarily there is love and violence.
Just as in working with individuals, what we needed to do was to make certain that the person has the ability to consciously focus and control their awareness, and then learn the internal messages to send to the deeper mind, the emotions and the body so as to produce. In effect, this was taking the highest level of human awareness, that part that can do the wisest balancing, of diet (energy in), exercise (energy out), to create a pathway so that this higher level can determine thoughts, images, emotions and behavior.
From out of this grew LIGHT (Leadership Institute for Global Healing and Transformation). After decades of working on these theories, concepts and practices procedures, the Institute is designed to give everyone an opportunity to participate.
One thing we learn in practicing mind-body medicine, holistic medicine, is that a symptom is simply a flag that is waving which, like a warning light on your dashboard, indicates that something is amiss. Simply covering up the symptom is like covering up the warning light on your dashboard—that’s the problem with symptomatic treatment. I found that what people most needed was deep healing—tools to address the source of the symptoms and bring balance at that level of system.
Similarly, LIGHT reveals that the many symptoms that we see—the Columbine High School shootings, and the violence in schools that doesn’t even make the news anymore, the Arab-Israeli conflict, September 11, Ruby Ridge, the Oklahoma City bombing, the anthrax terrorism, our burgeoning prison population—all these are symptoms of a fundamental imbalance that filters throughout our society, throughout our culture, and weaves its way through most of the cultures on the planet (with the possible exception of the Tibetans).
Just as covering up the symptoms of smallpox or cancer can allow the deeper issue to destroy the patient’s life, health or happiness, so too if we simply attack the symptoms and not the source. It’s like trimming weeds down to the ground; the roots simply grow deeper and the weeds return stronger than before.
If we do not learn the lessons of history, we are forced to repeat them. And every time the price goes up!
So LIGHT endeavors to look beyond the symptoms at the source. This means developing the tools to see deeper.
Every living system has a built-in healing potential. Our goal is to discover that healing potential in larger elements of system, like families, communities, organizations, in relationships.
Ideas Can Be Contagious
Just as a sentence can be broken down into its smallest meaningful units—words—and a chromosome strand can be broken into individual units called genes, human knowledge can be broken down into individual units of learning. Some of these ideas, though simple, can be profound, (“the source of all suffering is desire”), contagious, (a catchy melody), and world-changing, (the wheel, the bow and arrow, or the computer).
Certain ideas have such survival potential that they act like viruses or genes—it’s almost like they intentionally self-propagate. Such ideas were given the name “memes”, by Dawkins, author of “The Selfish Gene”. Memes propagate through communication networks and face-to-face contacts between people. The term is the root of the word “memetics,” a field of study that postulates that the meme is the basic unit of cultural evolution. Examples of memes include melodies, icons, fashion statements, cliches, and phrases. The quote at the start of this section is a meme; that’s why we have all heard it.
Life-changing Ideas
Imagine you come out to your car in the parking lot with an armload of groceries. You fumble around trying to open your front door and, for some reason, you can’t seem to get the key to work, struggle as you might, while trying to avoid eggs falling out of the top of the bag. After about 30 seconds of struggle, you happen to notice a green hat in the back seat of the car.
You know that that hat was not there when you got in the car this morning, nor was it there when you got out to go shopping, and that you’ve never seen a hat like that. Almost simultaneously, you glimpse another car that looks exactly like the one you’re jamming your key in, parked just on the other side of the car you’re trying to get into.
Your entire universe changes at that moment. There’s absolutely no reason for you to continue trying to get into the other person’s car, and the obvious and only logical response is to withdraw your key, walk around to your own car and drive away. In other words, just as the alteration of a single gene can make a profound change in a living being, this tiny bit of information irrevocably alters everything. It moves your consciousness onto a one-way road.
Shift Happens
Beyond such trivial examples, certain ideas may have much more profound and far-reaching consequences. These are profound truths about life, learning experiences that fundamentally transform the way you think, perceive the world, and behave. The messages of Jesus (Agape-Love), Buddha (The Source of All Suffering), for example, represent examples of clear, fundamental ideas which, when their power and truth is fully understood, result in a powerful shift in how you see yourself and live your life. Further, when you understand their value, you are eager to share these ideas with others—they are “contagious.”
Each of these examples was known at first to only a few disciples, then took hundreds of years to spread through the many millions who ultimately were to adopt them, both as guides for living their own lives, and as vital truths to pass on to the next generation.
Healing the Planet, One Mind at a Time
Though the world, snug in its handbasket, seems to be hurtling toward certain disaster, I believe we have the power to change the course of history. The growth of the Web affords an unprecedented opportunity for profound ideas (as well as harmful ones) to spread exceedingly rapidly.
What remains to be done is for the pieces of this technology to be drawn together to work as a harmonious whole, dedicated to a healing mission, and guided by wise guides/leaders.
What is needed is for a certain number of us (a la “The Hundredth Monkey”), especially those who have power (financial, social, creative, or spiritual) to join forces to transform the entire system.
I believe that there is a set of profound ideas that can be gathered and spread in a very effective way.
When this set is identified and learned, it will have the power to awaken us all to begin to connect and to act in ways that will create healing and transformation at every level, from the personal to the planetary. I know it can be done. The question is, “Will we do this while there is still time?” LIGHT is an institute dedicated to helping this to happen. See the Membership page for ways to stay in touch with this developing idea.
Sincerely,
Emmett Miller, M.D.
More Information on Dr. Miller’s Background
Biographical Highlights
Often acknowledged as one of the fathers of mind/Body Medicine, Dr. Miller is a physician, poet, musician, and master storyteller, whose multicultural heritage has given him a unique social, medical, and spiritual perspective.
His commitment to helping us to reclaim our inborn personal wisdom, integrated with the scientific knowledge and techniques of modern medicine, has allowed him to unite seemingly disparate fields of knowledge and experience.
For over 30 years, it has been his inspiration and his challenge to help people—individuals, families, and organizations discover this truth for themselves. Millions have been touched by his message of hope, his vision of a brighter future, and his spirit of wellbeing. As a physician, health educator, and a pioneer in a field that is now on the cutting edge of modern medicine, Dr. Miller brings us a deeper understanding of how the mind and body can work in harmony to produce healing, balance and wellness.
Dr. Miller, a graduate of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, has been a lecturer and preceptor at Stanford University and The University of California, as well as other universities and medical schools. In 1977, he gained international prominence as a founder and Medical Director of the Cancer Support and Education Center, (Now the Center for Healing and Wellness), and, in 1987, as a co-convener of the groundbreaking California State Task Force on Self-Esteem.
A pioneer in the development of mind-body medicine, he is has been widely acclaimed for his invention and development of the first deep relaxation/guided imagery intro audiocassettes. His tapes and CDs are widely used by such medical facilities as Kaiser Permanente, the Mayo Clinic, and by health professionals, business people, performers, and athletes, including members of the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team.
Dr. Miller is the author of numerous books, beginning with the seminal Selective Awareness for Self-Healing, in 1973, and including his latest contribution, Deep Healing: The Essence of Mind/Body Medicine.
Deep Healing is a bold step forward in the theory, philosophy, and practice of self-healing and peak performance. In the book, Dr. Miller shows clearly how beliefs and images become actual physical events in the body, and includes detailed instructions and training in how you can learn to use images and emotions to change your mind and change your life. His tapes and CDs do more than just talk about how it can be done; they take you by the hand and guide you through the experience of doing it, in a most enjoyable way.
The instruments Dr. Miller offers here are not scalpels and drugs…but words and experiences—images, memories, and emotions. They do not substitute for or replace needed medical or psychological therapy—instead, they enable you to do your part in changing your diet, exercise patterns, thoughts and relationships. His techniques teach you to relax and his presentations inspire you to take charge of your life and realize your full potential. He has shared his insights into Deep Healing on hundreds of television and radio shows. He has appeared in the San Francisco Examiner, Los Angeles Times, Journal, as well as American Health, Prevention, Essence, Women’s Day, Woman’s World, Yoga Journal, and Shape magazines. His columns have appeared in more than 30 newspapers and magazines.
Dr. Miller maintains a private practice in the S.F. Bay Area and in Nevada City, California where he sees patient/clients in his office and consults by telephone.
The Emmett Miller Story
Internationally acknowledged as one of the creators of the field of Mind/Body Medicine, Dr. Miller has played a central role in the development of modern concepts of complementary medicine, wellness, stress management, psychoneuroimmunology and guided imagery/visualization approaches to human change.
Dr. Miller spent the majority of his youth in the inner city of New York, an experience that contributed enormously to his discovery of the power of the mind to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles, a discovery he was destined to share with millions. Determined to succeed in spite of his environment, he chose an academic path, earning a degree in Mathematics, and election to Sigma Pi Sigma, the National Physics Honor Society.
His areas of special interest, topological transformation and computer programming, were to prove of seminal value in his later work. His interest was soon distracted from the “hard” sciences by a deep desire to learn about this mysterious thing called Life, and he was soon drawn to the study of medicine.
After obtaining his Medical degree at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Dr. Miller opened his practice of Primary Care Medicine in Northern California in the late 1960s. Early in his work he was to make a discovery that profoundly altered his professional career:
Mental, emotional, behavioral, spiritual and social factors play a crucial role in human health and disease. When these are directly addressed in health care, healing is faster and more complete. Indeed, a large portion of our illnesses can be prevented!
In fact, as Dr. Miller was to help the medical profession learn over the next two decades, most of our illnesses and dysfunctions are not caused by external factors (infections and injuries), but are the result of our thoughts and attitudes, emotions and behaviors, expectations and stresses. Mainstream medicine tended to treat human beings like machines, attempting to treat disorders by removing, replacing, or adjusting parts.
Recognizing that the missing ingredient in health care was the mental, emotional and spiritual participation of the patient, he embarked upon a unique path of healing and performance enhancement.
The Birth of the Holistic Approach
One of Dr. Miller’s first contributions was the development and integration of a powerful set of healing tools relatively unknown to physicians and psychologists at that time. These included deep relaxation, hypnotherapy, guided imagery, movement and music therapy, meditation, and cognitive behavioral and self-affirmation techniques.
Through the study of numerous spiritual and religious disciplines, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, Taoism and Islam, he discovered the common ground in their wisdom and the importance of accessing spiritual resources through a deeply relaxed state, often called prayer or meditation. His goal was to integrate the phenomenal advances of medical technology with these new approaches to create a holistic approach that would treat body, mind, emotion and spirit as an integrated whole.
While exploring the incredible ability of the human mind to use internal tools to improve health, healing, performance and the ability to enjoy life, he came upon the astounding discovery that the brain/mind could be viewed as a kind of biocomputer. Indeed, the computer can be considered an excellent emulation of the cerebral cortex. In line with this, in trance-like states such as hypnosis, meditation, and prayer, remarkable feats of healing, performance, and personal achievement can be obtained.
This occurs through a careful sequencing of instructions, fed in as mental images and positive self-talk (affirmations), much as a program is fed into a silicon chip-based computer. The resulting “program” now directly influences the behavior of mind, body and emotions.
Dr. Miller became convinced that these new discoveries could lead to a virtual revolution in health care, accelerated healing, greater happiness, and a deeper, richer, more fulfilling experience of life.
Inventing a New Healing Tool—The Audiocassette
In the early 70s, Dr. Miller published his first book, Selective Awareness, firmly establishing him as one of the founders of modern Mind-Body Medicine. In this groundbreaking work, he introduced the medical and psychological professions to a new paradigm, one that went beyond the Cartesian/Newtonian approach to human health then in vogue, and also to a totally new healing tool, the audiocassette. By recording his voice, along with music and nature sounds, he found listeners could be guided into deep states of stress-relieving relaxation.
With relaxation giving access to the “programming” level of the deeper mind, listeners could learn to use their emotions and spiritual resources to create imagery forself-healing. The power of this approach has been widely documented in subsequent controlled studies.
The power of these recordings to create change, healing, and high performance, was recognized at once by forward-thinking physicians, athletes, performers, yoga teachers, and psychologists, among others. Although these principles and techniques can be written down and studied, it soon became clear that the effect of Dr. Miller’s soothing voice produced results that were dramatically better.
These inexpensive tools gave the power of self-healing directly to his patients and to the many healthcare professionals who recommended them.
The full effect of these products, millions of which are in circulation, is only now being felt; they are helping to catalyze a fundamental paradigm shift. Worldwide, a gradual acceptance of the power we have to heal ourselves now shakes very foundations of the technological approach to medicine that characterized the 20th Century.
The use of this powerful new tool spread rapidly through their use in the practices of professional colleagues, and later through bookstore and Catalog sales. Dr. Miller’s extraordinary voice, sensitive guidance, clinical experience, technical expertise, musical talent, and healing wisdom enabled millions to experience, for the first time, the potential of the mind to heal the body. Users of his tapes and CDs soon began to refer to him fondly as “The Voice.”
By the 1970s, Dr. Miller was applying his approach with great success to a wide variety of physical disorders and illnesses, maladaptive behavior patterns, (habits, dependencies, addictions), emotional imbalances (depression, anxiety, anger, fears), as well as personal and professional fatigue, depression, and anxiety. At the time, most of those willing to accept the role of the mind in healing their bodies and in coping successfully with life challenges were the people who had serious and life-threatening diseases. Together with Maggie Creighton, who had designed the original training programs for Carl Simonton, MD, and oncologist William Buchholz, Dr. Miller founded the Cancer Support and Education Center, one of the nation’s first mind-body centers, the oldest continually operating one in the country.
In 1970, while Dr. Miller was practicing Family Medicine in Carmel, CA, his interest in the role of the mind and emotions in human disease and dysfunction led him down the Big Sur coast to the Esalen Institute. Since the 1960s, Esalen Institute has been a world leader in addressing the defects in the medical model, which has tended to see mind and body as being separate. Instructors and leaders at Esalen focused on approaches such as Gestalt therapy, which emphasized growth through awareness of the body and its movements, as well as awareness of inner psychological phenomena, using massage, meditation, and yoga.
In the 1960’s, Esalen was one of the primary points of entry into the U.S. of Eastern meditative disciplines. The freedom and openness there provided a uniquely nurturing environment in contrast to the rather chilly reception accorded his mind-body concepts and approaches in traditional hospital and clinic settings. Dr. Miller still offers seminars at the Institute, alone and with Sandra Miller.
At Esalen, Dr. Miller was discovered by Richard Price, Esalen’s co-founder and director, and he soon became a kind of protégé of Mr. Price; they began teaching seminars and leading workshops together. In addition, Dr. Miller had an opportunity to study with a wide range of people, such as philosopher Gregory Bateson, Taoist-Buddhist writer Alan Watts, Moshe Feldenkrais, inventor of the Feldenkrais technique, Milton Trager (Trager body work), Ida Rolf (rolfing), Chungliang Al Huang (Tai chi), and other prime movers in the body and spirit-centered therapies. Their influence can readily be found in Dr. Miller’s approaches.
In addition to developing the techniques of deep relaxation and guided imagery with individuals and groups, Dr. Miller studied music therapy and movement therapy, and incorporated their perspectives and techniques into his individual and workshop presentations.
In 1975, Dr. Miller met Sandra Ferreira. She was soon to become not only his life partner, but also, due to her skills in bodywork and in teaching meditation and massage therapy, they began leading workshops together.
Healing Families and Beyond
Over the next 20 years, while developing his practice and lecturing at numerous universities and medical schools, Dr. Miller broadened his perspective. He focused on creating strategies for creating high-level wellness, peak performance, and for applying these new approaches to healing and behavior change in families, groups and organizations.
His work with his colleague, Virginia Satir, led to an expansion of the concept of “Family Therapy,” and their work gained National and International prominence through his contributions to the California Task Force on Self-Esteem. This groundbreaking group demonstrated clearly the profound effect that self-esteem (or the lack thereof) has on success, social adaptation, scholastic performance, drug and alcohol abuse, and violence.
To explore the effects of applying the principles of healing he had discovered to organizations, he joined forces with Dr. Juanita Brown and a highly regarded group of organizational development specialists. Together, they developed strategies (evocative technologies) for catalyzing second order change in corporations, government, and education.
Some of those explorations are reflected in such current movements as The World Café. They also have served well in developing the principles that have inspired the development of LIGHT, the Leadership Institute for Global Healing and Transformation.
During this time he authored several other books, including, “Feeling Good; How to Stay Healthy,” and “Software for the Mind,” which introduced the theory and practice by which the human biocomputer can be self-reprogrammed.
Awakening the Power to Excel
By the 1990s, his expertise had been discovered and put to use by such performance-oriented entities as the championship San Francisco 49ers and United States Olympic Track and Field Team. “World’s Greatest Athlete,” Dan O’Brien made use of Dr. Miller’s tapes on the way to his Olympic decathlon gold medal performance. In 1997, Dr Miller published Deep Healing: The Essence of Mind/Body Medicine, which chronicles his 30 years of work studying the process of human healing.
Dr. Miller’s vision for the future includes using the World Wide Web to share his discoveries and healing tools with as many people as possible, for as low a cost as possible. In addition, LIGHT has been a primary focus for several years, with the goal of healing at the societal and global levels, and the prevention of incidents like September 11, 2001 through addressing the source of such symptoms and healing the cultural imbalance.
Current Practice and Challenges
Dr. Miller now practices in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada (Nevada City, California), and in Los Altos (San Francisco Bay Area), by appointment. He continues to produce experiential audio and video that are widely recommended by caring health professionals world-wide. His tapes, CDs, and videos are in daily use, for instance, at Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, the Mayo Clinic, and are featured by McGraw-Hill in their Stress Management texts, in use in university courses. Dr. Miller also speaks at conferences and offers workshops and seminars on many topics in his field of expertise.
Dr. Miller’s current book, Deep Healing, the Essence of Mind-Body Medicine, provides not only an excellent training guide to heal and empower your mind/body software, but also offers a fascinating tour through the mind-body complex. Further, it gives a personal glimpse of Dr. Miller’s journey of the last 30+ years of his work in this field.
Dr. Miller has been an active participant in the parenting of his three children, of whom he is inordinately proud, and spends as much of his free time as possible walking in the hills and sleeping under the stars.
For more information, to arrange for an appointment in person or by phone, for a schedule of upcoming events, or to book Dr. Miller for your group, call (530) 478 1807 or FAX, (530) 478 0160.
A Dream Realized
My goal has been to make it possible, at minimal expense, for any person, anywhere, to initiate a life transformation through self-healing, wellness, and peak performance. In addition, my current project invites interested people to participate, through LIGHT in the healing of our beleaguered planet.
My primary web site at DrMiller.com offers you opportunities to:
Discover the tools of Deep Healing
Discover the power of Mind-Body Medicine
Begin your healing right away with our beautiful and effective experiential tapes and CDs
Schedule a personal consultation by phone, internet or in office
Learn about seminars, workshops and training/supervision options
The New Medicine
Although the original work of my colleagues and I was met with skepticism when we first introduced the principles of holistic approach, this was soon to change. By the 90s, people were spending more than 27 billion dollars a year on complementary and so-called alternative practitioners, herbs, supplements and the like. Unfortunately, mainstream medicine, obsessed with technological “fixes,” did not recognize these needs in the 70s and thus lost the ability to guide patients in the wise integration of these new approaches. The problem is, of course, that far too much of what is sold as “alternative medicine” is hype, some of it quite dangerous.
Trust, Healing, and the World Wide Web
I have often lamented how impersonal today’s world has become, with so much emphasis on competing and acquiring wealth. We suffer because we place so little value on the virtues of honesty, integrity, pride in workmanship, commitment, professional ethics, and community/family values.
Unfortunately, this pattern has extended itself to the healthcare field as well; I have witnessed with dismay the disappearance of personalized medical care, and a focus on the “bottom line” instead of the patient. I believe the Web offers a solution, a way to bring trustworthy information directly to people. But does it? True, the World Wide Web brings us unlimited amounts of information—that’s the good news. The bad news is that most of it is information slanted to promote ideologies and sell products, and studies indicate that much of the information found on the Web is misleading and frankly incorrect.
Observant clinicians have always known that often the most healing aspect of the doctor-patient relationship is trust. But with the disappearance of the “family doctor,” and the remoteness of today’s “managed care organizations,” the healing power of trust is too seldom accessed. When I practiced Family Medicine, I placed my patients first, and took care to heed the basic rule of medicine, “First, do no harm.” How difficult this must be for today’s doctors, limited to office visits of 7-10 minutes, often with a patient they have never seen before!
DrMiller.com is designed to be a place on the web that deserves the same trust I receive from the patients and clients I see in my medical practice. I, alone, determine what is published on this site; its accuracy and veracity rests upon my integrity. The site is not “farmed out” to a set of writers or PR specialists. The information here comes directly from my clinical experience and research. And although this information cannot substitute for needed surgery or other medical treatment, it can help you access your inner resources and heal yourself. How to heal yourself— to get well, stay well, perform at your peak, and become the person you really want to be.
Wider Circles of Healing
Another thing that has distressed me through the years is the declining quality of personal relationships. True friendship, commitment, family spirit, and community empowerment have diminished as we have become more mobile and our lives more controlled by the corporations that employ us. There is less free time and less job security, more anxiety and less social support. We live far away from those we care about, and we are so busy it is often impossible to even stay in touch by phone.
I believe that modern communication technology, especially the Web, can actually give us a way to resuscitate our personal relationships. Furthermore, I believe that although there are social and political desires many of us share, we have had no way to join our voices. The Web gives us a viable alternative. LIGHT, the Leadership Institute for Global Healing and Transformation, is one way I think we can begin to harness this power.
The events since Sept 11, 2001 illustrate painfully how urgent is the need to examine how we can heal our families, communities, nation, and planet. People around the world are recognizing the importance of global healing—a healing that is about our bodies, our minds, our institutions, our governments, and a general realization that we must come together—and this process is underway. Many informal circles are forming around the world aiming toward this kind of healing. What we need to do is create the structure so that we can all communicate and coordinate—just like a central nervous system gives the eye a way to communicate where the food is so the foot can take the hand to it.
It is time for us all to wake up to our potential for self-healing, peak performance, and social (local and global) transformation. It’s just a matter of waking up enough people, and perhaps we now have a big enough alarm clock to do that.
Wishing you deep healing and peace,
Signed,
Curriculum Vitae (partial)
EDUCATION
1959-1963
Trinity College, Hartford, CT
Degree: B.S. Mathematics
President, Physics Honor Society (Sigma Pi Sigma)
Co-Founder, Mathematics Society
Intercollegiate Athletics: Track, Basketball, Football, Cross-Country
1963-1967
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York
Degree: M.D.
1967-1968
Kaiser Hospital, Oakland CA
Internship
MILITARY SERVICE
1960-1963
United States Air Force, Reserve Officers Training Corps: Member Drill Team and Rifle Team
1968-1970
United States Army, Stationed: Ford Ord, California;
Chief Research Investigator for Surgeon General comparing outcomes of physician treatment with paraprofessional care.
Special assignment-Medical Response Officer, Nuclear and Chemical Accident Task Force
MEDICAL PRACTICE
1970-Present
Attending Physician, In-patient and Emergency Services Monterey County General Hospital, Monterey, California
Physician, Migrant Workers Health Clinic, Gilroy California
Clinic and Emergency Services, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Santa Clara and Oakland, California
Private Practice, Carmel, California
Emergency Medicine, Monterey, Hospital Ltd., Monterey, California; Kaiser Permanente, Santa Clara, CA and Oakland CA
Private Practice, Los Altos and Nevada City, California
Medical Director & Co-Founder, Cancer Support and Education Center, Los Altos, California
Consultant: Stress Management and Optimal Performance to business, industry, athletes, government, performing artists, etc.
INSTRUCTOR/LECTURER-Schools and Universities (Partial List)
Antioch West College, DeAnza College, Josephson’s Bar Review Course, Sacramento Academy of Hypnosis, San Francisco Academy of Hypnosis, San Francisco State University, Santa Barbara City College, Stanford University School of Medicine, University of California at Berkeley University of California Davis, University of California LA, University of California Medical School, Davis (Preceptor), UC San Diego Medical School, University of Hawaii, Hamburger University, University of Hawaii School of Nursing, University of Houston, Medical Anthropology College University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, Medical College of Wisconsin, Metropolitan Adult Education Program University of Notre Dame, Institute for Clergy Education American Academy of Guided Imagery, West Valley College, CA
INSTRUCTOR/LECTURER-Hospitals and Clinics (Partial List)
Gladman Memorial Hospital, Honolulu Mental Health Clinics, Kaiser Permanente, Pomerado Hospital, Stanford University Medical Center (Emergency Room Technicians and Primary Care Associate Program), Tripler Medical Center, Veterans Administration Hospitals, Washington Hospital, Wellness Program, West Valley Medical Center, Department of Outpatient Psychiatric clinics, San Jose, California, West Valley Mental Health Center, The Women’s Hospital of Texas
INSTRUCTOR/LECTURER–Corporations and Organizations (Partial List)
Aktivera Goran Wiklund AB (Swedish Health and Business Consultants Group), ALMACA, American Airlines, American Imagery Conference at University of Chicago, American Society for Clinical Hypnosis, American Society of Psychopropylaxis in Obstetrics, ASPO Lamaze, Association of Humanistic Psychology, California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (Annual Conference), Cope Corporation, Emergency Nurses Association, Encore, Inc., Esalen Institute, The Executive Committee, Exxon Chemical, Family Therapy Study Group (Houston, TX), Federal Women’s Program ( Fort Shafter), Fielding Institute, Granite Rock Company, Harris County Medical Society, State of Hawaii Wellness Celebration Center for the Healing Arts, Center for Health Awareness, Hewlett-Packard, Institute for Human Enhancement, Inc., International Association of Cancer Counselors, Jewish Community Center, Lama Foundation, League of Kansas Municipalities, Levi Strauss Company, Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, R.L. Lorber & Associates, Memorial Presbyterian Church, Mental Health Workers of Santa Clara County, Minnesota Title Company, National Conference of State Legislators, National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine, National Nursing Review, New York Open Center, Oasis Center, Oregon Judicial Department, Organization Development Network (Annual Conference), Palo Alto Community Church, Pathways to Peach, Planetree Health Resource Center, Pollock Corporation, Ronald McDonald House/Managers, San Andreas Health Council, Association of Transpersonal Psychology, Unity Church, Palo Alto, Los Angeles and San Francisco, California and Houston, TX, United States 6th Army, Germany, Wellness Associates, Western Psychological Association, Bill Wilson Center, and Young President’s Organization.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS (Partial List)
Board of Advisors, The Hermes Project, Inc.
Board of Advisors, Meta Development and Research Institute, Inc.
Board of Advisors, Center for Personal Development
Board of Directors,Cancer Prevention Society, Eugene, Oregon
Board of Directors, Wellness Associates, Mill Valley, California
Chairman, Speakers Bureau, Physicians for Social Responsibility
South Peninsula Area Director, Better & Better, Inc.
Medical Director, Cancer Support and Education Center, Menlo Park, California
Member, Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine
Member, American Society of Clinical Hypnosis
Member, Calif. Task Force on Self-Esteem, Personal and Social Responsibility
Member, National Speakers Association
Member, San Francisco Academy of Hypnosis
Member, International Society of Hypnosis
National Advisory Board, Cancer Counseling Institute,
Advisory Board, Academy for Guided Imagery.
PUBLISHED WORKS-Selected Books
Health Power, (Co-Authored with H. Stanley Judd and Alvin I. Haimson, Ph.D.) Power Pak Learning System, 1977
Selective Awareness, Privately Printed, 1975
Self-Imagery: Creating Your Own Good Health (Formerly-Feeling Good, How to Stay Healthy) Celestial Arts, 1986
Software for the Mind Celestial Arts, 1987
Body, Mind and Health: Toward an Integral Medicine, Contributing Author, edited by James S. Gordon, M.D., Dennis T. Jaffee, Ph.D., and David Bresler, Ph.D. National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH), 1979
Holistic Medicine: Harmony of Body, Mind, Spirit, Contributing Author, with Tracy Deliman and John S. Smolowe, M.D., Reston Publishing Company, Inc., 1982
Deep Healing: The Essence of Mind/Body Medicine Hay House, Inc., 1997
ORGANIZATIONS USING DR. MILLER’S RECORDED PROGRAMS for in-house management development, employee assistance or self-care and wellness programs (Partial List)
Apple Computer, AT&T Communications, Canadian Olympic Ice Skating Team, Dome Petroleum Company, Ford Motor Company, Garrett Turbine Engine Company, General Electric, General Motors-Hydramatic Division, Hewlett-Packard, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Levi Strauss & Company, Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, Inc., Metropolitan Transit Commission, Morton Thiokol, Motorola Corporation, NASA, National Nursing Review, PG&E, Shell Oil, Sterling Drug, Sun Company, Transamerica Relocation Service, Upjohn Corporation. United States Olympic Track and Field Team, Martial Arts Team, United States Army Operation Desert Storm Trauma Recovery
MEDIA APPEARANCES (Partial List)
Television: The Morning Show, Regis Philbin, 20/20, Sally Jessie Raphael Show, Lifeline, The 4 Today Show/WBZ, KNBC News, Sumi Haru Show/KTLA, Joe Franklin, News-Scope/Jim Randall at Large, America’s Black Forum/Barbara Semedo, New England Today, Charley Class Show/Gill Cable.
ARTICLES ABOUT DR. MILLER AND HIS WORK HAVE APPEARED IN THE FOLLOWING PUBLICATIONS (partial list)
People Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Prevention Magazine, Chicago Sun Times (Herb Gould), Medical Self-Care, Los Angeles Times, San Jose Mercury News, American Health (Grace Lichtenstein), Geriatric Consultant, Long Beach Press Telegram, The Menlo Park Almanac, New Age Magazine/Advisor Column, Peninsula Time Tribune (Mark Simon), Post Graduate Medicine, South Bend Tribune, The Reporter by Carrie Abrams, Whole Life Times, Parenting Magazine, Health and Fitness Magazine
Leadership Institute for Global Healing and Transformation 
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