We hold this manuscript in heart and hand and give profound thanks to one another for the patience to stay in a relationship for 23 years. Early in our marriage, a spiritual teacher, Reverend Chris Williamson, reminded us that those who wish to make quick spiritual progress don't retire to monasteries, they get into relationships! We thank each other for what we have learned about love, and thus about healing, through the commitment we have made to one another and to our children.
Thanks to Georgene Cevasco of the Nightingale-Conant company, Joan's producer for the audiocassette program The Power of the Mind to Heal, which was the seed from which this book flowered.
Thanks to those who mentored us. Miroslav (Miron) wishes to thank the late Professor William Hildemann, who taught self-respect and kindness, as well as immunology. Other mentors have been Herbert Benson, M.D., who provided the space and interest for both our research in psychoneuroimmunology and Joan's clinical training in behavioral medicine; Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., whose Relaxation and Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center was an inspiration and early model for the Mind/Body Clinic that Joan co-founded with Drs. Ilan Kutz and Herbert Benson; Stephen Maurer, M.A., who added so much to both the Mind/Body program and to my life; David McClelland, Ph.D., whose lively mind was always thinking up the next experiment; Robin Casarjian, M.A., whose teachings on love and forgiveness have been a personal as well as a professional blessing to us both; Rick Ingrasci, M.D., who taught us the power of community healing circles; Sogyal Rinpoche, who re-inspired our meditation practice; Elizabeth Lawrence, M.A., whose Mari-El healing work was very instructive and of great help; Joan Drescher, who taught us so much about beauty and healing; and Rachel Naomi Remen, who has always been both an inspiration and a friend. Our work is very broad-based and synthetic, resting on the shoulders of other colleagues too numerous to mention here. Either you have been cited in the text or you know who you are. Thank you for providing the scaffolding on which we have been privileged to build.
A super-special thanks to our dear friends and colleagues, Barbara Dossey, R.N., and Larry Dossey, M.D. Sometimes we think there is only one of us, occupying four bodies. Larry's work has been an enormous influence and framework for our thinking. Surely he has one of the brightest minds and warmest hearts of our times. Barbie's work on ritual and healing is also exceptional, as is their loving relationship, which continues to inspire our own.
Thanks, too, for the support of the friends who have shared our interest in mind/healing and spiritual growth, taught us new things, and loved us both individually and as a couple: Celia Thaxter Hubbard (a.k.a. Mother Goose), Peggy Taylor, Alan Shackelford, Ursula Reich-Henbest, Loretta and Bob LaRoche, Olivia Hoblitzelle, Roger Paine, Rima Lurie, Kristi Jorde, Rodrigo Rocha, Carolina Clarke, and Renee Summers.
Our children, too, have been wonderful teachers and great friends. Thank you Natalia, Justin, and Andrei. Living in an extended family with Natalia, her husband Shawn Harvey, and their son (yes, we're grandparents!) Aleksandr has brought the psychological construct of “social support” to a very real level. We should all be so fortunate.
We wish to express our deepest gratitude to the people we have been privileged to work with over the years, Joan's clients, and the participants in our workshops. We have learned a great deal from many of you. The stories of clients and friends whose names appear in quotation marks have been changed to protect their anonymity, as have any identifying aspects of their stories. At times, the stories of several people have been combined into a representative composite.
And finally, thanks to Louise Hay and all the wonderful people at Hay House who have been such strong supporters of our work. Without the kindness and commitment of Reid Tracy, in particular, this book would not have come into being.