Jason Tokumoto, an AIDS clinic physician, says he finally "came out of the closet" in his advocacy for spiritual healing as a complement to conventional therapy two years ago when he admitted to a patient his concern for her spiritual well-being. Tokumoto says the patient reacted first with surprise and then joy and ever since, he has incorporated the spiritual component into his practice.

"Many of my colleagues don't accept it as part of care because it's difficult to define or conduct studies on the role of spirituality," says Tokumoto. "But I can tell you personally that I have 100 patients and those who have this spiritual part seem to do much better."

Tokumoto helped to organize the "Spirituality and HIV Healing Retreat -- the UCSF HIV/AIDS Clinic's first foray into the controversial realm of spiritual health care. About 30 patients from the clinic attended the day-long event, featuring workshops on meditation and attitudinal healing (see previous Daybreak).

"Putting this thing together, we had a talk with the rest of the staff and everyone felt that there was a need," Tokumoto says. "One of the staff members said, 'Jason, I'm glad someone finally broke the ice on this subject'."

Ken Farber, director of the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Well-Being Program -- an eight-week healing-through-meditation workshop at the Institute of Healing Arts and Sciences at UCSF -- echoes those sentiments. He spoke candidly about the challenge of promoting spiritual healing in an institution that only recently announced its decision to study the mind-body connection. Over the last year, Farber has been pleased to see that UCSF has shown signs of a growing interest in the role of spirituality and other so-called "alternative" methods of medicine. (see previous Daybreak)

The latest example of the changing attitude on campus, the June 24 retreat was designed to support the belief that spirituality and alternative therapies can play a significant role in the recovery process. Farber began the healing retreat with an introduction to the principles of mindfulness meditation. He describes it as an "awareness practice" that helps patients manage the stress, pain, and suffering that come with chronic illness.

"It goes way beyond stress reduction," he says. "It's a way to be more deeply in touch with what we feel; to notice ways in which we create suffering for ourselves; and to be able to manage our suffering in a more skillful way."

The second workshop was conducted by Don Goewey, executive director of the Sausalito-based Center for Attitudinal Healing. Goewey teaches that love is the most important healing force in the world and that health is inner peace. Participants of the retreat generally gave the event high marks, although there were a few cynics. Many had no previous experience with either mediation or attitudinal healing techniques and said they just wanted to get their feet wet.

John Embling, a patient at SFGH's Ward 86, called the program "powerful." "I've been skeptical of anything new age, but I have HIV, and medicine hasn't offered me any hope," he said. Another participant and patient of the AIDS clinic, Paul Osowski, said, "It's nice to have a program that isn't frustrating -- that isn't something you're doing to strategize about how you are going to survive against the virus. It's a chance to realize that having AIDS and going through all the crap we do has value on its own. That whether or not we are successful, we can be mindful in our daily lives."

But, some might ask, doesn't that go beyond the scope of health care? Not according to co-organizer, nurse practitioner Susan Shea, who works at the AIDS/HIV Clinic. "We need more humanness in the care that we give. Spirituality is a way to make us feel connected in a world that's difficult to understand. And I think there is research coming out that suggests that if you feel connected, that affects your ability to rebound from illness."

The HIV/AIDS Clinic hopes to make the spirituality retreat an annual event.

By Vince Pearson

1st appeared 7/07/97