My first encounter with Rudolph Ballentine was during my naturopathic training in early 2000 at Clayton College of Natural Health. The book was called Radical Healing and it changed the way I think about illness and healing. 600 pages of knowledge and experience opened my eyes to the promise of holistic thinking.
Rudolph Ballentine was educated at Duke University in Psychiatry; He later founded and directs the Center for Holistic Medicine in New York City. He is one of the great contemporary standard-bearers for healing traditions as old as mankind. Ballentine tells us that suppressing symptoms is folly, true healing is profoundly transformative, and deep healing reorganizes deep inner patterns in the mind and body.
As I read Ballentine I am reminded that the history of natural healing is full of men and women of vision and courage, that Ballentine’s radical healing is not new but centuries old. This concept is difficult to grasp because in this day and age the word “new” is just a way of framing what has always been.
There is something about using natural medicine that tends to bring us back into harmony with the rest of nature. The idea of the practice is to heal by bringing all the parts back into a cohesive package of mind, spirit and body
Ballentine is a true marvel in the practice of naturopathy, he has written a number of books, is a doctor, psychiatrist, herbalist, Ayruveda practitioner, homeopath and teaches all these techniques. dr Ballentine is a model for the naturopath of the future.
Books: Radical Healing, Integrating the World’s Great Therapeutic Traditions to Create a New Transformative Medicine (2000) Science of Breath, a Practical Guide (2007) Yoga and Psychotherapy, the Evolution of Consciousness (with Swami Rama) (2007) Rudolph Ballentine is a great modern natural health guru. I appreciate his life and his work.
Thanks to Bill Tallmon
