There is no end to learning.
Jewish and Comparative Religion Studies
Undergrad degree in Hebraic Studies. Three years in yeshivas (rabbinical academies) in Israel and New York. Several more years in Israel studying Hebrew, Jewish mysticism (kabbala), and related fields.
MA, University of Chicago, Psychology and Comparative Religion with emphasis on kabbala.
Several years practice and study of Buddhism (1975 – on). Participated in the first vipassana meditation retreat in the US taught by Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg. Many, many retreats since then. Mindfulness ( vipassana, satipatthana) clears the mind which, in my case, is desperately needed.
Homeopathy
Seven years study with Paul Herscu, ND. Three years with Andre Saine, ND. Completed advanced, classical training program with Canadian Academy of Homeopathy ( Andre Saine).
Several years ago I came across the work of Prafull Vijayakar, an Indian homeopathic doctor. He has revolutionized homeopathy by making it mathematical so that exact results can be predicted. For this reason, he calls it Predictive Homeopathy. I have taken several courses taught by his students and him in the USA. The American Institute of Homeopathy, the oldest medical organization in the USA (yes, three years older than the AMA), has been so taken by the work of Dr. Vijayakar that we have arranged for him and his faculty to come here over one year and offer six long weekend trainings ending in 2015. I am a participant and am very busy applying this approach to my patient care. So far, the results far surpass those I was previously getting using homeopathy.
Acupuncture
I have been a student of acupuncture since 1991. This is one of my favorite ways of helping patients and it informs me in so many ways. Currently, I am studying Japanese approaches to acupuncture which often avoid the use of needles.
The photo at top of this page was taken in July, 2013 at the Tianjin University Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China where I spent a month training. Dr. Wong, was in charge of an acupuncture specialty clinic where we saw 80 – 100 patients a day. They do things differently there than we do here and I learned a lot to help my patients.
Languages
I love learning and using languages. Since I was a kid this has been a hobby. I am very active in the Yiddish world, Esperanto and learning how to learn and teach languages using innovative approaches.
I am the only person to whom Michel Thomas, probably the most amazing and effective language teacher in recent years, taught his methodology . Following his death in 2005, I was asked to author a series of CD courses by Hodder and Stoughten (UK) to teach spoken Mandarin using his approach.
Books and still more books.
I love books and also got an MA in Library Sciences, University of Chicago, 1977. For many years I worked in various libraries. My personal libraries form the basis for much of my continued studies. What can I say, I am a book nut.