ONL058 The Fourfold Path to Healing with Dr. Thomas S. CowanONL058 The Fourfold Path to Healing with Dr. Thomas S. Cowan

Dr. Tom Cowan, principal author of The Fourfold Path to Healing, spoke with us recently about the Fourfold Path to Healing approach that he uses in his medical practice, wrote about in his book, and teaches at the Fourfold Path of Healing Conferences. The essential question he addressed in our conversation was “Is it true that people can live long, healthy lives without cancer and heart disease? Dr. Cowan believes that the answer is yes. Our Podcast interview can be accessed below or downloaded from iTunes, Zune, Tivo, or Sticher.

Before I continue with today’s blog, I want to tell you that our website had a recent problem that caused everything to be deleted. Everything since we started in 2008 was suddenly gone! We are continuing to put things back together, and hope things will work better than ever. In another 3 months our web host promises that things will work even more smoothly. However, all of our wonderful reader comments for shows prior to this one have been deleted. Jon is slowly adding back all the older blog posts and podcasts as time permits. If you ever linked to one of our podcasts or blog posts on your website, that link is now broken and you will need to set up a new link. Thank you for your patience as we get things working again.

Rudolph Steiner

Our guest interview for this show was Dr. Thomas Cowan, a holistic MD who has over 20 years of medical experience. He relies heavily on the work of Rudolph Steiner, an Austrian mystick who founded a philosophic movement called “anthroposophy” or “human wisdom.” Steiner also taught that the human being has four “bodies” or spheres of activity and that humans enjoy the best health when these four spheres are in harmony or balance. The four interlocking bodies are Physical, Life-Force, Emotional, and Mental. In The Fourfold Path to Healing, Cowan dedicates the first four chapters of his book to these four bodies. They are: Chapter 1 (by Sally Fallon Morrel) “Nutrition: Healing the Physical Body,” Chapter 2 “Therapeutics: Healing the Life-Force Body,” Chapter 3 (by Jaimen McMillan) “Movement: Healing the Emotional Body,” and Chapter 4 “Meditation: Healing the Mental Body.”

Dr. Cowan

When asked about some important guidelines in relation to food, Dr. Cowan explained that concept of place was very important. Food needs to be both locally and sustainably grown. In addition, food has strong connections to the local community. The microorganisms in your home provide the bacteria to your intestinal tract. He also stated that he has never found a healthy group of vegans or vegetarians and that fat is more important than protein. It is important to develop a close relationship to your food sources and to use the whole animal. Bones in the form of bone broths or marrow provide important minerals. (Sally Fallon suggests that every town needs a “broth-al” to help obtain this) Muscle meats were the least important in traditional cultures.

We think that you will enjoy this interview and get some important ideas from it. If you want to know more, check out Dr. Cowan’s website and consider attending the Fourfold Path to Healing Seminar in New Hampshire later this month.

Jon and I have been busy decluttering our house in Johns Creek and preparing to stage it for sale. Jon put together some incredible video of our backyard birds eating mealworms from our deck. You can view it here. This weekend we are attending the conference of the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We’re looking forward to networking with small family farms that are using sustainable methods. The food should be great, too!

Our next podcast will be a video tour of Natures Harmony Farm in fall, 2009. You will be amazed to see what Tim and Liz Young are doing on their family farm in Elberton, Georgia.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:03:30 — 72.7MB)