Carl Hammerschlag

Biography

Carl A. Hammerschlag is a master storyteller and internationally recognized author, physician, speaker and healer. A Yale-trained psychiatrist; he has spent more than twenty years working with Native Americans. He is an expert on how to survive in rapidly changing cultures. Now one of the worlds leading proponents of Psychoneuroimmunology (mind-body-spirit medicine), he is a faculty member at the University of Arizona Medical School. He is a faculty member at the Univ. of Arizona Medical School, and founder of the Turtle Island Project, a non-profit, multidisciplinary organization whose programs integrate the principles of mind/body/spirit medicine with Native American rituals and ceremonies.

Dr. Hammerschlag`s life work has been chronicled in three critically acclaimed books: The Dancing Healers, The Theft of the Spirit, Healing Ceremonies, and two children`s books. He holds the highest honor given in the speaking profession, the CPAE Speakers Hall of Fame Award and is a recipient of the National Caring Award. Selected by the Caring Institute of Washington D.C. from more than a quarter million nominations, the award honors "the ten most caring adults in America." In his presentations, Dr. Carl Hammerschlag brings his gift of storytelling, a wealth of legends, and unique insights which bridge the worlds of science, spirit, and culture. With poignancy and humor, he leads his audiences on a joyful journey that will stimulate and renew their creative potential.

Publications

Healing Ceremonies:
Creating Personal Rituals for Spiritual, Emotional, Physical and Mental Health

This book tells the stories of people who have confronted health problems and life events with powerful personal ceremonies. It reveals how myths and legends reflect our experience and can help us create healing rituals. And it offers simple, step-by-step guidelines for building healing ceremonies of our own-to reflect our own needs and our own beliefs, and to strengthen us in mind, body and spirit.

In addition, Dr. Hammerschlag has authored the following books:
The Theft of the Spirit
Reconnecting to the Magic of Life
The Dancing Healers

Titles

The Visionary Leader
In discussing his own successes, the legendary J. Paul Getty said, "in times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy". Effective leadership in today`s global market has nothing to do with how you once did it, or having access to more information; it has to do with how you process that information, and create an atmosphere that generates new ideas.

Choice, Challenge and Change
The way it was is not the way it is! Rapid changes in economics, technology and culture require transformational thinking. From both personal and organizational perspectives, thriving in the future is based on getting rid of preconceptions that keep us from seeing things from new perspectives. We can learn how to unlearn judgments that inhibit vision.

Shaping the Future of Medicine: Healthcare as Ministry not Industry
The trajectories of culture, economics and technology are colliding to threaten the care of patients. The tail of cost control is wagging the dog of healthcare delivery. The economics of health care is creating a crisis of faith between providers, insurers and patients that threaten to steal our healing spirit. The future of medicine is moving from an interventional model, to one that emphasizes prediction and prevention. Creating such a framework ensures a quality healthcare that sustains its healing ministry.

The Dancing Healers
This is a personal story about the journey from doctor to healer. After completing medical school and internship in the mid-sixties, Dr. H. came to Indian country to serve his military obligation as an alternative to going to Vietnam. There he met an Indian medicine man who taught him how to dance. Like most Western trained physicians, he was an expert in the disease model -- one that emphasized the identification and treatment of pathology. Over the next 40 years, he learned from traditional healers how to expand that disease model to a healing paradigm. This is a story about staying healthy, and the importance of harmony between thoughts, actions and feelings - the foundation of the new science of Psychoneuroimmunology (mind-body-spirit medicine).