Mind Body Spirit Connected - Connectives Newsletter
July 30, 2006
MIND BODY SPIRIT CONNECTED
Connectives Newsletter
July-August 2006
Spirit in Action
Dr. Jeannette Potts of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Glickman Urological Institute, has been an MBSC member since February 2005. In May, she lectured to the Franco-American Urological Society, with her usual spiritual, mind-body spin. It was very well received by a “discriminating” audience and in fact, the association president wrote her a note afterwards, saying “What a hit! What a splash! I kept hearing about your performance and your personality during my stay in Atlanta.”
In June, she delivered a presentation at the bi-annual convention of the Latin American Urological Society in Brazil. The way it came about is what’s interesting. As is the case with many professional organizations, faculty members are sometimes asked for a specific topic or are invited to provide a list of related topics they would like to present at the annual convention. Jeannette submitted her list of very clinical/urological topics, but at the last second, she threw in "The Art of Healing" with NO additional description. She planned to incorporate her experiences in Turkey, visiting the ancient hospital of Esclepius, exploring the power of the curanderas and the hex of midwifery. She also planned to finally redefine placebo and challenge the audience to consider themselves the most powerful placebo in existence. But no one knew that but Jeannette.
Well, it turns out, that this is the ONE lecture that the convention chose. "I was almost euphoric as I prepared," Jeannette said. And, on top of this, the president of the Mexican Urological Society (a long-time friend of Jeannette's) saw the Confederacion Americana de Urologia/Brazil agenda and asked her to give exactly the same lecture in Mexico City in September.
Jeannette has been lecturing to these societies since the late 1990's, and she says that they have repeatedly enjoyed or welcomed the spiritual spin of her urological lectures. But this was really a BIG step, according to Jeannette. "This is the most macho of medical specialties and one of the most macho of societies. I think this really says so much about our era...it is a great era... people are opening up, broadening their visions and welcoming something ancient, timeless, eternal...in a new way."
And Jeannette thinks that MBSC is the right organization, doing the right thing, at the right time…