Gladys McGarey, MD, MD(H) and The Inner Physician

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Anne Salisbury, PhD, CCHt and Gladys McGarey, MD, past President American Holistic Medical Association

The Secret to Living in Joy

When we presented a “Conversation with All That Is” at the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine (ISSSEEM) Conference in June, 2014, we were honored to be able to spend some time with Dr. Gladys McGarey, who is widely known as the “Mother of Holistic Medicine.” We were able to ask her questions about how she uses her intuition both in medicine and in life.

We were greatly impressed with her energy and inner joy. We asked her what her secret was for being so vital in her mid-90s. She said, “I live in a state of gratitude.”

The A.R.E. (Edgar Cayce) Clinic

Originally, Anne met Gladys in the 1980’s at the A.R.E. Clinic, which the McGareys founded in Phoenix, Arizona. This was the only medical clinic in the world that was based on the channeled wisdom of Edgar Cayce. Their approach was loving, refreshingly alternative, and amazingly holistic. Ever since that time, Anne has admired Gladys for applying intuition in medicine.

Her A.R.E. Clinic utilized Edgar Cayce’s (1877-1945) principles that were obtained through his psychic readings. For 40 years, Cayce gave psychic reading to diagnose illnesses and give cures. He is the most documented psychic of the 20^th century and has been referred to the “sleeping prophet” and “the father of holistic medicine.”

According to Gladys, Edgar Cayce’s approach was one of wholeness with regard to the person and the healing process. Cayce saw the mind, body, and spirit as one while he saw everyone as having their own distinct energy force. Consequently, a person could come in to the clinic with the same “disease or prognosis” as another but would need to be treated independently and uniquely.

Gladys McGarey, MD, MD(H)

Dr. Gladys, as she likes to be known, was born to medical missionaries in India in 1920. Her mother was one of the world’s first female doctors. Dr. Gladys is a pioneer physician herself. She is:

Past President, American Holistic Medical Association
Past President, Arizona Board of Homeopathic Medical Examiners
Founding Diplomat, American Board of Holistic Medicine
Co-Founder, Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine
Co-Founder, A.R.E. Clinic based on Edgar Cayce’s channeled work
Visionary: The International Academy of Clinical Hypnosis was begun in her living room
Awarded for pioneering excellence in homeopathy (1994)
Honored as Pioneer of Holistic Medicine by American Holistic Medical Association (2003)

The Inner Physician

Unity Village in Lee’s Summit MO, site of the ISSSEEM Conference, June 2014

To Gladys, intuition is a given. She said, “We all have it. We just need to discover how it shows up in our lives and how we can work with it.”

Listening is so important – to ourselves, to our intuition, to our patients and to their conditions. Through listening to patients, “their story” is revealed. This story is behind their medical condition. The story reveals the cause of the ailment. Once the deeper issue surfaces, then Gladys and the patient can work together on a plan to start the healing.

She works with “the patient’s inner consultant or inner physician.” This is the part of the patient that knows the reason they are sick and what needs to be done about it. This inner physician can be contacted in many ways. Simply talking about the issue can bring it forward. But, if this does not work, she uses dream work and hypnosis to move beyond the mind to talk to the inner wisdom of the patient.

This is similar to the work we do in Transpersonal Hypnotherapy when we contact the “inner healer” and talk to the body to see what it has to say. We work with the body and all the parts that have “a say” in the illness and the healing process. This is the accessing of intuition.

How Healing Occurs

Dr. Gladys is adamant about how healing occurs.

Anything outside of the person, such as a doctor, medication or energy work is just there to support the client in his or her own healing. A surgeon can only patch up the physical body, and patients do their own healing. Realizing this, and contacting the physician within, is essential in completing the healing process.

Dr. Gladys believes that pain is a messenger. The pain directs us to see what is out of balance. Pain is not the enemy to eliminate. Pain is part of that inner physician that directs and focuses the healing.

From Killing to Living Medicine

Her approach to medicine, as she puts it, reclaims the feminine face of medicine. She views it as a living medicine versus a killing medicine. Health care, in general, has focused on killing disease, killing bacteria, eliminating AIDS, eradicating diabetes. … She wants to shift this attitude and paradigm to a living medicine.

The focus, according to Dr. Gladys, should be on life and not on trying to get rid of something. She gives this example: “You can’t teach a kid not to hit by hitting. You can’t stop war by creating war. But that’s what we have done in medicine.”

Gladys McGarey’s new mission is to change the health care paradigm. She created a foundation to promote this approach: The Foundation for Living Medicine. She also recently released her new book, “The World Needs Old Ladies.”

It is always fun to be with Dr. Gladys, a pioneer in alternative and intuitive thinking. She, along with others, including Norm Shealy, MD, founded the American Holistic Medical Association in 1978. These pioneers are fortunately still contributing to our world today.

Gladys is doing her best to shift the way the world thinks about and practices medicine. She is making a difference to all of us. You can visit her foundation to find out more.

The Secret to Living in Joy

The A.R.E. (Edgar Cayce) Clinic

Gladys McGarey, MD, MD(H)

The Inner Physician

How Healing Occurs

From Killing to Living Medicine

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