On the Road with Dr. Sinatra

There’s always hope in a prayer.

This month, Dr. Sinatra did a full-day fellowship training for physicians working toward certification in anti-aging medicine with the A4M group (American Academy of Anti-Aging). I believe my husband is as energized by the enthusiasm and inquiry of his students as they seem excited and appreciative to hear from him about how to practice metabolic cardiology.

As we reflected on the day during dinner, I asked him if there was one particularly salient and memorable part of his experience with the other MDs. He paused to pick that “one best” thing that made the exchange personally valuable for him, and retold stories that doctors there had shared with the group when he was addressing the topic of energy healing.

In one case, a surgeon described a life-threatening experience in the operating room. His patient was losing blood—a lot of blood—and very rapidly. Everything they tried had been of no avail.  Quietly an OR nurse spoke out loud “please, help us!” gazing at the ceiling—the kind of spontaneous prayer we all do but so often discount. Gradually, the bleeding subsided. The tide had turned, and the patient stabilized and survived.

A second MD had been challenged by a patient who had come to him for a serious and horrible skin rash. Despite all the drugs and creams he offered, the patient begged him to just put his hands on her head and pray over her. He resisted…and resisted…and finally surrendered to her request. That day, her rash started to fade and disappear…without “medicine” per se.

As my husband shared these simple human stories, we were both reminded of the work of Dr. Byrd, who first studied the effects of distant prayer back in the 1990s. He reported that patients hospitalized for heart attacks recovered significantly faster when someone else prayed for them—even when that someone was a total stranger praying for them from a distant location.  

As Dr. Sinatra concluded his stories that day, we realized that the medical profession is so often invested in technological solutions for healthcare problems—or even finding just the right vitamin supplement or mind-body approach—that we forget the power of prayer. 

So remember, whatever your belief system, your answer may only be a thought and a positive intention away…all you need do is ask.

God bless. Namaste.

For more information on Dr. Sinatra, visit www.drsinatra.com.