Dear Friend,

Welcome to the July newsletter! Last month, I told you all about my brand-new website—hopefully, you had the chance to explore it, and found the new structure, videos, and other tools both informative and supportive. We’re constantly working on better ways to reach out to you, and we hope that the new website is able to provide you with this continual source of healing and inspiration.

I’d like to take some time this month to tell you a little more about the work that we do at Amitabha Medical Clinic and Healing Center.  Let me begin by explaining a little bit about the origins of the name: Amitabha.

In Sanskrit, Amitabha literally means “limitless light.” It represents the quality of healing that takes place through love and compassion, through the limitless light that love and compassion embody. Here we are not necessarily speaking of a literal light, but rather the limitless radiance of love and compassion that embraces everything and is deeply healing. Like light, this unconditional embrace has the power to permeate our entire experience. At Amitabha clinic, we use these principles as our guide, and try to express them in our efforts to touch people’s lives and health.

You see our heart—our essence, our true being— is limitless light, limitless love and compassion. But unfortunately, it’s obscured by our ego games.  Our ego, our self identity, either clings to things or rejects them. Bound by hope and fear, by attachment and rejection, it ultimately gives rise to a stormy sea of afflictive emotions.

Consider anger or resentment; desire, or attachments such as uncontrolled cravings; ignorance (such as denial or lack of awareness of things); jealousy; and pride. All of these are mixed together and fueled by our external experiences—by how we perceive outer phenomena through the five senses—and by the inner stirring of our thoughts and feelings. 

On a daily basis, we are controlled and swayed by all of these.

But when our mind and heart opens, something beautiful happens. As we find some freedom from these ego games, we start to experience boundless, limitless love and compassion. Like the sky, it is without direction or boundary. It never discriminates, and it shows no bias. It radiates everywhere… inside and outside.

This is the healing quality expressed through the Buddha Amitabha in Tibetan Buddhism, Quan Yin in the Chinese tradition, with other manifestations in still more traditions. But whatever the religion, the essence remains the same: one of limitless light, love, and compassion.  

At Amitabha Clinic, we focus on treating patients with cancer, chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue, Lyme’s disease, autoimmune diseases, and also patients with hormonal imbalances. (Hormonal changes are often the way that the body symbolizes and expresses transitions in life—the classic example, of course, is menopause.)

Serious life-threatening illnesses as well as life transitions offer an opportunity for change… an opportunity for us to peel off our masks and habits, and to get in touch with who we really are!

At the clinic, we support the change and growth that can reveal itself during the healing process with multidimensional and personalized health programs. We help to guide and support this healing process through the integration of Western medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, homeotoxicology, botanicals, nutritional supplements, and massage therapy, cranio sacral osteopathy, infrared protocols, and various intravenous therapies—among many other modes of treatment.

But just as important is the atmosphere of teamwork that we emphasize at Amitabha Clinic. From the front desk all the way to the treating physician, we are all part of the limitless healing energy of Amitabha. I’m fortunate to share this extraordinary space with some wonderful health providers and healers. I’ve asked them to write a paragraph or two about their backgrounds and philosophies for this newsletter.

Let’s begin with Dr. Cheri Quincy. She has been bringing integrative approaches to her practice for two decades, and was a founder of one of the first preventive health curricula for medical students in 1982. She has produced a conference on Death & Dying, and has been invited to lecture on life transitions by groups as various as the International Conference on Shamanism, and the American Osteopathic Association. She has been interviewed on New Dimensions radio, WBAI Radio (The Positive Mind) in NYC and KQED in San Francisco. She has been an Associate Professor of Medicine, and has special interests in aging and life transitions.

Holding and directing the energies of the Amitabha Clinic staff, she recruits the wisdom of her colleagues, and applies scientific, practical, comprehensive approaches to direct a return to health. Here is a brief description of Dr. Quincy’s healing background and philosophy, in her own words:

Since resettling in Sonoma County in 1986, I initially practiced with my husband, Dr. Joel Alter, (now retired). During those years, our office provided a transitional professional home for many of our best local practitioners, when they first came to the area. I’m a specialist in Internal Medicine, and my practice focuses on the medical evaluation and treatment of difficult health problems ranging from hormone issues and menopause to fibromyalgia—it also includes inflammatory and toxic challenges, and cancer. In treating patients with cancer, I bring together the talents of multiple experienced practitioners of Acupuncture, Chinese medicine, nutrition, body work, and osteopathy to the problem. The creation of a new relationship between clinician and client includes a transfer of information, and the creation of a sacred space between them, where honesty, and healing can happen.

Next, I’d like to introduce you to Elaine Weil, a Stanford Graduate, nurse practitioner, herbalist, and clinical nutritional consultant here at Amitabha, with a specialty in women’s health and chronic illnesses. Elaine has trained closely and worked side by side with me for years. Below, she explains what the essence of our work means to her, and how it translates into her relationship with her patients.

Amitabha, the Buddha of Limitless Light, is the symbol of our clinic. To me this means that the human spirit is not in any way limited by the presence of illness. A person with a new cancer diagnosis is thrust into a frightening and overwhelming world that is moving too fast and requiring decisions one had never dreamed he or she would be faced with. The person often comes feeling lost and fearful. It is my privilege to sit with this person, to provide time and space for breathing, feeling, and the settling down of all the chaotic emotions so the person can find themselves again. We walk together through the journey of decision making step by step. We provide a fresh, health building perspective, offering regimens to complement and integrate with conventional treatments, making them more effective, reducing negative side effects, and building health and strength through the use of nutrition, detoxification, homeopathy, nutritional therapies, and safe natural remedies.

I also work with women who have health issues, often surrounding the menopausal transition. We take time to discuss these issues in detail, consider options, and work together to restore harmony and balance using herbs, supplements, and bioidentical hormone therapy. I believe that the body has immense restorative and self healing capacity. The work that we do together is very individualized, finding the clues to restore integrity and healthy functioning.

I’d also like to introduce you to Jay H. Callender L.Ac., MS, Dipl. OM. With over thirty-seven years of varied martial arts experience, a career in Asian healing/medical arts was a natural progression for Jay.  After graduating from the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 2004, he began practicing Chinese medicine. Now, he is a part of the team at Amitabha Clinic. Here he shares his philosophy and approach with us.

My training in Chinese medicine encompassed a variety of treatment methods, including acupuncture, cupping, moxibustion, Tuina (Chinese medical massage), and Chinese herbology.  As a healer, it is my philosophy that in treatment of illness, many times “less is more.”  In principle, this means being as non-invasive as possible, while assisting the body in finding its own natural state of balance. When this is achieved, the body’s internal landscape will be better suited to healing and wellness, relieving not only the symptoms of disease but mitigating the root of the illness, as well. Providing truly compassionate care is one of my foremost goals, and I look forward to continuing this practice for many years to come.

Lastly, Amitabha would not be the sacred space that it is without the wisdom and commitment of our nursing staff. Kristina Hopkins is the primary clinical nurse here. For the past three years she has been responsible for the organization and administration of the variety of treatments our clinic provides for our patients. Here’s a bit more about her, in her own words:

I have been a nurse for 11 years now and I was lucky enough to get my initial education in a very open minded nursing program in Prescott, AZ.  My program taught us about treating patients in a holistic manner.  I knew from the beginning that this was the type of nursing that I wanted to do, as I believe in treating the whole person, not just medicating the symptoms.  However, it wasn’t easy to find a position as an RN in a holistic setting.  So, I spent many years working in behavioral health, hospitals, home health, and even hospice.  I feel that this gave me a very solid background for the work that I do at Amitabha Medical Clinic, administering treatments that include intravenous therapies, nutrition for immune support, trigger point therapies, infra-red sauna/lamps, and micro-current therapy.  I care a great deal about what I do and the patients we care for.  I believe in giving each person the same quality of care that I would want for my own family.

If you’d like to learn more about any of the staff members here, you can follow the links to their video segments at the end of the newsletter. In these short pieces, each discusses a little bit more about their work. And if you’d like more information about our clinic and its services, you can call Amitabha at (707) 829-5900, or visit our website at www.amitabhaclinic.com. 

I’m happy that you’ve had the chance to meet some of our clinic’s extraordinary healers—without their contributions, so much of my work and research would be impossible. In fact, there are quite a few new developments that I look forward to sharing with you in my next newsletter—specifically, the latest results of my ongoing work with Modified Citrus Pectin. The research we are finishing up now is some of the most exciting we’ve done yet, and I’ll tell you all about it in the coming month.

Until then, enjoy your summer, and all of the wonderful activity this season brings.

Best of health,
Isaac Gabriel Eliaz