The Surprising New Science 

of Heart Health

A Weekend Symposium Presented By

The Calistoga Institute At Mayacamas Ranch

May 14 – May 16, 2010

Calistoga Institute’s heart symposium takes a look at new paradigms that promise to revolutionize the culture and practice of heart health in America.

Join fellow professionals and health enthusiasts for an intimate and stimulating dialogue. This unique symposium draws on diverse medical perspectives to help bring increasing coherence to our practice of heart health. Space is limited, so register early!

Metaphors transform civilizations. The English physician William Harvey’s description of the heart as a pump may have had as great an impact on society as Copernicus’ revolutionary view that the earth was not the center of the universe. For Harvey’s fateful metaphor led inevitably to the conflict between a now widely accepted scientific principle and our deepest intuition. If the heart is little more than a muscular metronome, then where do love, empathy, and courage live?

New sciences such as chaos and fractal theory provide us with a coherent and resonant model that reflects the heart’s functioning far more accurately than the reductively mechanistic approaches of previous generations. They also open the door to understanding how the health practitioner can play a critical role in the healing process. Contemporary scientific research is bringing us full circle to the ancient understanding that the heart is the true seat of consciousness and the font of health.

In its inaugural symposium, the Calistoga Institute presents exciting new scientific research and time-tested scientific knowledge, both supported by impressive clinical evidence, that confirm our deepest intuition. Knowing that most of the heart’s cells are neural, like those found in the brain, enable us to better appreciate how profoundly the heart influences our perceptions and helps us process information from the world around us.

In The Surprising New Science of Heart Health, a weekend symposium at the Mayacamas Ranch, the Calistoga Institute brings together preeminent practitioners from diverse perspectives to explore:

• Anatomy & Physiology. How chaos and fractal theory are revising physiological explanations of the heart and circulatory system, including the interrelationships between the heart and the hormonal, immune and autonomic nervous systems; the surprising interrelations between the heart and other organ systems revealed in Traditional Chinese, Ayurvedic, Anthroposophic and somatic medical theories .
• The Heart and Our Emotional Life. How negative emotions disorder the heart’s rhythms, while positive emotions support coherence and resonance in the heart, rebalance the nervous system, and entrain heart and brain
• Diet, Exercise and Sexuality. Essential dietary factors behind heart disease, including the controversy between meat-eaters and vegetarians; the optimal exercise program for heart health; the connection between sexual hormones and heart health; and how to clean and detoxify our cardiovascular system
• Lifestyle and Social Factors. The clinical evidence for the importance of lifestyle change in the healing of cardiovascular disease; why social factors such as intimacy and belonging may be even more important to heart 

Presenters, Moderators & Workshop Leaders

Integrative Cardiology

Mark Wexman, MD

Presenter & Workshop Leader

Throughout his medical career Mark Wexman, MD, FACC, has demonstrated a deep and continuous commitment to community service and physician training, both founded in compassionate listening.  Raised in Queens, New York, he graduated summa cum laude from the State University of New York at Binghamton’s Harpur College. He then attended New York University School of Medicine where he received the Alumni award for Scholastic Excellence and the Glover C. Arnold Award on Surgery. Continuing at NYU, Mark was an internal medicine resident at Bellevue and University Hospitals before moving west for his cardiology training at the University of California, San Francisco and a postgraduate fellowship at the San Francisco Heart Institute. He has been on the clinical faculty of UCSF since 1985.

Currently a partner and co-director of Cardiovascular Associates of Marin and San Francisco (where he overseas their Cardiac Rehabilitation Program), Mark is deeply invested in preventive medicine and healthy lifestyle. His community and professional service boards and directorships are too numerous to mention, but include board membership of the Marin Chapter of the American Heart Association (where he was a past president), directorship of the TAM Program for lifestyle leadership for greater cardiac health, and both clinical practice and leadership in complementary education at the Marin General Hospital. Mark counts his wife, Karen, and their two sons as his most inspirational teachers.

Medical Anthropology

Meg Jordan

Presenter & Moderator

http:/www.megjordan.com

Meg Jordan, PhD, RN, department chair and professor of Integrative Health Studies, is one of the most recognized names in health and wellness reporting, Dr. Jordan is known as the "Global Medicine Hunter" for syndicated radio on Health Radio Network and is host of “Healthy Living on Global TV and numerous specials for NBC “Today,” Discovery and CNN. Her books include “The Fitness Instinct” and the forthcoming “Adventures of a Global Medicine Hunter”.

Dr. Jordan is the founder and editor of American Fitness magazine, is a health commentator for radio and TV, serves on the board of trustees for the National Wellness Institute, and is a research consultant for numerous foundations and health care organizations.

Meg searches the globe for healing remedies, traveling to remote and exotic places, confirming the best of traditional practices with modern science. Consulting with numerous companies on the selection and preservation of native plants for natural products, Meg has investigated the therapeutic benefits of  Trumpet Leaf, Red Reishi, Ashwaghanda, and Chinese Club Moss and works with several NGOs in sustaining indigenous culture and native medicine. As president of Global Health Media, a health research and communications firm, she is a sought-after media commentator and seminar presenter for health, fitness, holistic practices and cultural trends.

Integrative Medicine

Len Saputo, MD

Moderator

Len Saputo MD is widely regarded as the godfather of Integrative Medicine in the San Francisco Bay Area. He received his BA at the University of California, Berkeley, and his MD at Duke University Medical School. A board-certified internist with 40 years of experience, Len has pioneered the development of an integrative, holistic, person-centered, preventive health care model called “Health Medicine.” He is the founder of the Health Medicine Forum, a non-profit educational foundation, and the Health Medicine Center in Walnut Creek. Besides maintaining an active clinical practice, Len is also the vice-president of the National Orthomolecular Health Medicine Society. 

In his spare time, Len is a motivational speaker, television and radio personality, and an avid tennis player (the International Tennis Federation ranked him number one in the world in men's senior tennis in 1995 and 2001). His acclaimed book, A Return to Healing: Radical Health Care Reform and the Future of Medicine, published in 2009, is regarded as the blueprint for progressive and fully integrative health care reform.

Traditional Chinese Medicine

Angelo Druda, TCM

Presenter & Workshop Leader

http://www.traditionalbotanicalmedicine.com

As a young man Angelo Druda fell in love with science, chemistry, and medicine. During his pre-medical education in the late 1960's, he discovered the work of early Western naturopaths and turn of the century eclectic herbal doctors who taught the regenerative power of right living and plant medicines. Later on, in 1970, Angelo came under the spell of eastern modalities of healing and rejuvenation and began his formal study and practice of both hatha and kriya yoga.  Some years after concluding his undergraduate education, he studied and was certified in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Angelo began his clinical practice in Melbourne, Australia, where he is a member of The Australian Natural Therapist Association. It was in his Australian clinic that he first witnessed the sudden, profound, and lasting reversal of a chronic condition in which “in a matter of minutes, right before my eyes, a female client went from a deeply exhausted disease condition to one of health and well being”. This incident so impressed him that he thereafter became a serious student of bodily regeneration. This led to the publication, in 2009, of his critically acclaimed book, The Tao of Rejuvenation. In 2000, he moved to Seigler Canyon, in northern California, where he practices today.

Angelo’s clinical experience consistently demonstrates the power of specifically designed complex plant medicines to trigger the body's own regenerative healing chemistry. These have repeatedly proved to be of profound value in relation to cardiovascular disease syndromes, especially when combined with dietary and other lifestyle changes. He is currently the Health and Sexuality editor for DharmaCafe.com. His work has been featured in Alternative Medicine magazine, and most recently in the book Speed Healing, by bestselling author William Gottlieb.  He is an international lecturer and is regularly heard on radio on both the Progressive Radio Network and The Frankie Boyer Show.

Integrative Anthroposophical Medicine

Thomas Cowan, MD

Presenter & Workshop Leader

http://fourfoldhealing.com

Dr. Tom Cowan’s interest in Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston Price, and the arcane principles of Rudolf Steiner’s™ biodynamic agriculture led him to pursue a medical degree. Tom graduated from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in 1984. After his residency in Family Practice at Johnson City Hospital in Johnson City, New York, he set up an anthroposophical medical practice in Peterborough, New Hampshire.

Dr. Cowan has served as vice president of the Physicians Association for Anthroposophical Medicine and is a founding board member of the Weston A. Price Foundation. He is the principal author of the book, The Fourfold Path to Healing, which was published in 2004 by New Trends Publishing. He writes the “Ask the Doctor” column in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the Foundation’s™ quarterly magazine, and has lectured throughout the United States and Canada.

Dr. Cowan sees patients at his office on Chenery Street in San Francisco and consults by telephone and email and he is accepting new patients. He also gives lectures and presentations across North America.

Writer & Editor

Bill Gottlieb

Presenter

Bill Gottlieb is the former editor-in-chief of Rodale Books and Prevention Magazine Health Books, and the author of five books on health and healing, including the 1.5 million-copy bestseller, Alternative Cures (Rodale, 2000).

While at Rodale, Gottlieb was the creator and supervising editor of the mega-selling The Doctors Book of Home Remedies (16 million copies sold), He has appeared as an expert on natural remedies on Good Morning America, CNN, and many other national TV and radio shows. His articles on health and healing have appeared in many magazines and periodicals, including Prevention, Reader’s Digest, Health, Runner’s World, Men’s Health, New Beauty, Natural Health, Self, Alternative Medicine, Bottom Line Personal and Bottom Line Health.

Bill is also a poet, and his work has appeared in more than 20 literary journals.

Yoga Science

Scott Virden Anderson, MD

Presenter & Workshop Leader

http://www.svamd.com/

Fascinated by science and spirit from childhood, Scott Anderson met and became a student of Swami Satchitananda while majoring in biology at Harvard. His spiritual practice, yogic experience and scientific research continued, and he published papers on bacterial genetics and conducted research on the science of meditation. He received his MD from the University of Connecticut in 1980, while teaching yoga and doing research on fasting physiology. Later, he became a student of the spiritual adept Adi Da Samraj and was Director of Research at the Adidam Radiant Life Clinic while continuing his medical practice as a general practitioner. He began practice of Tibetan Buddhism with Namkhai Norbu in the late nineties.

He served on the Board of the Orthomolecular Health Medicine Society, as Medical Director of the Center for Conservative Therapy and transitioned his practice to nutritional medicine.  Retired since 2002, he is currently Chairman of the Program Committee for the 2010 Conference of the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energy and Energy Medicine.  His YogaScience project, including details of a recent presentation at the Science & Nonduality Conference, is described on his website.  Dr. Anderson directs the Yoga Research & Education Foundation (http://www.yref.org) supporting innovative work in the field.

Ayurvedic Medicine

Steven West, ND, Diploma of Ayurveda

Presenter & Workshop Leader

Steven West received his B.A. and his California State Teaching Credential from California State University,  Chico. After spending 25 years both young people and adults, he felt called to the study of natural and alternative medicine. Steven graduated from The Institute for Natural Health Studies, in 1991, as a Naturopathic Doctor. He then went on to intensive study of Ayurvedic medicine in both California and central India, receiving his Diplomat of Ayurveda from the American Ayurvedic Association in 2000.

Biodynamic Cranial Therapy

Executive chef/Lifestyle Educator

 Dennis Malone, MSW

Dennis has been living and working a healthy lifestyle for more than 30 years, most recently for Dr. Dean Ornish as both executive chef and group facilitator for lifestyle modification to address chronic disease.  He has made numerous appearances on local and national television, including Oprah.  Owner of two well-known Marin restaurants, Dennis has taught hundreds of cooking classes and been a team member for many diet and lifestyle retreat programs.  He has a master’s degree in clinical social work from Cal-Berkeley.

Composer & Producer

Gary Malkin  

Gary Malkin is an award-winning composer/producer and public speaker dedicated to catalyzing social change and individual healing through the creation of inspiring, music-infused resources and events.

His passion for the humanizing role that music and the arts can play in society’s institutions – health care, religion, education, philanthropic and corporate cultures – consistently inflames the hearts and minds of his audiences through media projects, keynote presentations, training sessions and performances around the globe.

Gary has enjoyed a highly successful career for nearly 30 years, having received numerous Emmys, ASCAP awards and Clios that have acknowledged his work in film, television, commercials, and CD production.

In 1992, with the birth (and near death) of his daughter, a desire emerged to use his gifts in service to the world in more meaningful ways. Since that time, he has immersed himself in social benefit products, promoting the use of music and transformational media to promote peace, environmental sustainability, and an integration of mind, heart, and spirit in all that we do.

He is founder of Musaic and Wisdom of the World ™, a life-enhancing media production company and web site. He is also the co-founder of Care for the Journey, a groundbreaking care-for-the-caregiver initiative for healthcare professionals.

With Special Guest, Poet Kim Rosen

Kim Rosen, MFA, has touched listeners around the world with poetry’s power to awaken, inspire and heal. She is the author of Saved by a Poem: The Transformative Power of Words (Hay House, 2009) and the co-creator of four CDs of spoken poetry and music, including Only Breath , an interweaving of spoken poems of ancient and modern poets with the music of cellist/composer Jami Sieber. Combining her devotion to poetry with her background as a spiritual teacher and therapist, she gives "Poetry Concerts", inspirational lectures, and workshops throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Somatic/Movement Therapist

Servas Mes

Servaas Mes is the Director of The Somatic Health Center in St. Helena, California. He received his training as a Physical Therapist / Physiotherapist in the Netherlands before moving to Northern British Columbia, Canada in 1989. After being injured, Servaas tried many different ‘experts’ and treatment techniques for over five years, resulting in only temporary relief. In 1996 he experienced his first hands-on session in Hanna Somatic Education®, which not only gave him long term relief, but also strengthened his belief that we have to learn to take responsibility for our own healing. Following the Hanna Somatic Education® training program in California, Servaas opened his own clinic in Somatic Rehabilitation. 
 
Over the years, he has attended many continuing education workshops and studies, both in the field of Physical Therapy (orthopaedic manual therapy, Sahrmann’s Muscle Imbalances, McKenzie, PNF, Butler’s Neural Mobilization Techniques) as well in the field of Somatics (Hanna Somatic Education®, Harriet Goslins’ Cortical Field Re-Education®, Charlotte Selver’s Sensory Awareness). He has also experienced work in ‘Feldenkrais®’, ‘Pilates’, Zero-Balancing®’, Somatic YogaTM, Aston Patterning®, Cranio-Sacral Therapy, BioFeedback, Donna Eden's Energy Medicine, EFT etc and several other somatic modalities.

Being dual trained, he has seen and experienced the advantages of bridging modern medicine with complimentary medicine. He has evolved the somatic model of rehabilitation to a more powerful and easier to teach model: Mobilizing Awareness. Servaas has designed a fitness class based on our natural movement patterns: Somatic Conditioning. He is currently teaching a certification program in Europe (The Netherlands) and can often be found presenting at workshops or conferences worldwide. He also teaches at San Francisco State University.

Schedule

Friday, May 14

5:00        Registration

7:00        Welcome at Mayacamas

After dinner enjoy socializing with fellow practitioners and health enthusiasts in the heated pool, or  sauna or on the beautiful grounds, or take advantage of the peaceful meditation & yoga rooms

Saturday, May 15

7:00        Movement, Servaas Mes

7:30        Breakfast at Mayacamas

8:30        Welcome and Introduction of Presenters

8:45        Presentations: Bill Gottlieb, Mark Wexman, Thomas Cown, Steven West,

10:45      Break

11:00      Panel Discussion:  Bill Gottlieb, Mark Wexman, Thomas Cowan, Steven West

              moderated by Len Saputo

12:30      Lunch at Mayacamas

2:00        Presentations:  Meg Jordan, Angelo Druda,Charles Ridley, Scott V. Anderson,

3:30        Break

3:45        Panel Discussion: Meg Jordan,Angelo Druda, Charles Ridley, Scott V. Anderson,

              moderated by Meg Jordan

5:00        Dinner at Mayacamas

7:30        Evening Program: "The Awakened Heart", Gary Malkin (music) & Kim Rosen (poetry)

Sunday, May 16

7:30          Movement Class, Servaas Mes

8:00          Breakfast at Mayacamas

9:00        Workshops: more details at www.calistogainstitute.org/page.html/heart_workshops

                A   Mark Wexman, MD, FACC: The TAM Program, a model for outpatient integrative

                     cardiac wellness

                B  Thomas Cowan, MD: The Myogenic Theory of Heart Disease

11:00  Break

11:15 Workshops

                C Angelo Druda, TCM: the Traditional Art of Heart Regeneration

                D Scott V. Anderson, MD: Alive in a Heart-Centered Cosmos

 1:15 p.m.  End of Program

Accommodations

The symposium will be held at the beautiful Mayacamas Ranch. Nestled in the scenic hills of Napa Valley wine country, the Ranch offers luxury accommodations with private baths and organic bedding, scenic yoga/meditation studios, a massage room, heated pool and hot tub with panoramic views, hiking trails and spring-fed lake, and organic meals from an onsite garden. Congruent with their values, Mayacamas Ranch has generously offered symposia attendees a very attractive rate. You can learn more about the Ranch’s accomodations and amenities at www.mayacamasranch.com.

Join fellow professionals from diverse medical perspectives for an intimate and stimulating dialogue that will bring increasing coherence to our practice of heart health – May 14-16 at the Mayacamas Ranch. Space is limited, so register early!

Registration

We will be able to accommodate those who register "early" at Mayacamas Ranch. Additional lodging is available in Calistoga for those who register "late". We have included a Mayacamas meal plan for those who are staying in town. Please contact bjpheiffer@calistogainstitute.org if you have questions or need assistance finding accommodations. 

For additional information about the symposium, please email:

Eliot Hurwitz            ehurwitz@calistogainsitute.com

William Stranger      bstranger@calistogainstitute.com

Welcome to the Calistoga Institute. We are very

excited about our inaugural symposium on 

"The New Science of Heart Health" and know

that it will offer you many opportunities to learn

and to connect with others. We welcome your

involvement and support.

 Eliot Hurwitz

Executive Director