by Lisa Marino PT, DPT
After discerning God’s will to integrate prayer and spirituality into healthcare, I left my mainstream physical therapy job in 2017. I was amazed at how much better my patients improved with an hour of one-on-one care, more time to listen and encourage them, and especially prayer for healing.
A recent study claiming that acupressure reduced pain by 35-36 percent in acupressure groups is receiving criticism for its limited scope.
Know Thyself, and thy faults, and thus live. – St. Augustine
My mother had me pegged at a very young age. I remember walking into her bedroom as she put down the book Transformed Temperaments by Tim LaHaye and smiled at twelve-year-old me. “You,” she said with certainty, “are a melancholic.” It didn’t mean much then–although I remember it clearly–but years later I would come to learn and appreciate the four temperaments. Sure enough, even as a child, melancholic me was more likely to be writing poetry than playing sports or crying over a poignant novel than hanging out with friends.
PM asks: “Is self mastery through conscious autosuggestion by Emile Coue new age?”
AS writes: “Conscious Breathwork sessions are all the rage right now. Can I, as a practicing Catholic, participate in this?”
Dr. Lisa Marino
Lisa Marino is a young doctor of physical therapy and devout Catholic woman, wife and mother who is using her feminine genius to transform the health of families – body and soul – in an authentically Catholic way. In the following blog, she tells the poignant story of how Our Lady laid out her mission in life to be a wife, a mother, and a faithful Catholic healthcare provider.
MF writes: “I am inquirinq about a bodywork technique called rolfing which I had done. I read about it and it said it was about movement of the facia connective tissue but it is mentioned in the document ‘Jesus Christ, Bearer of the Water of Life’ as being new age. Could you help me out with tis question.”
CB asks: “Just thought that I’d make you aware of another technique that is gaining adherents here in the Chicagoland area. It is the LifeLine Technique developed by Dr. Darren Weismann. He is gaining followers through his books and is training people to teach his methods. It’s classic New Age psychic/energy healing nonsense with a side of chiropractic thrown in (which is what draws most people into his practice initially.). You might want to address this in your blog.”
JM asks: “What is our obligation as Catholics regarding holistic health? People are deriving good from chiropractic, etc. Are we just to be made aware and be on guard, or is the Church saying to avoid it?”
We receive a lot of questions from Catholic who are uneasy about integrative medicine and are afraid of being inadvertently introduced to New Age practices. This is a very real possibility and the discerning Catholic consumer may want to be aware of some of the risks associated with this field of medical care.
