‘How Healing Works’ Author Dr. Wayne Jonas Explains His Approach

Dr. Wayne Jonas, who formerly led the National Institutes of Health Office of Alternative Medicine, now directs the Healing Works Foundation, which has a mission to “make whole person, integrative care regular and routine.”

“The data is very clear: most health does not come from going to your doctor and getting a diagnosis or treatment,” Jonas tells hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter. “The body is continually healing.”

Jonas shares the story of a man he calls “Joe,” a grandfather living with chronic back pain despite years of surgeries, injections and medications. The turning point came when Jonas asked Joe what mattered most.

“He said his back pain kept him from driving to see his grandkids and getting down on the floor to play with them,” Jonas explains.

Together with a physical therapist, Jonas reframed the goal: Joe wasn’t there for pain treatment; he was there to interact with his grandchildren. A regimen of stretching, hot tub treatments, and better sleep and stress management helped him do just that within weeks.

“He was engaged in his own self-care…his own self-healing capacity had been tapped,” Jonas says. “He saw the results and said, ‘What else have you got, Doc?’”

Jonas’s vision for whole-person care began during his Army service in Germany, where he saw physicians using acupuncture, herbal treatments and other integrative approaches.

Click to hear the full conversation.

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