Ep 54 | Dr. James Duffy, MD: Awakening to the Living Heart of Medicine, Contemplative Practice and Action 1 of 10

The Healthy Peaceful Podcast

Join me as I interview Dr. James Duffy, MD, a psychiatrist who specializes in: Acupuncture, Body-Mind Therapy, Brain Health, Burnout, Herbs & Supplements Guidance, Huntington’s Disease, Integrated Care, Movement Disorders, Neurocognitive Disorders, Parkinson's Disease.

Multi-faceted, Dr. Duffy guides doctors in returning the healer to their work. He currently focuses on working with individuals (including healthcare professionals) to remediate burnout. He transformed the Institute of Spirituality & Health in Texas – to foster the powerful connection between spirituality and health. He is a student of Tibetan Buddhism and speaks regularly about healing as contemplative practice – a unique opportunity to serve others while expanding one’s own heart.

In this interview, Dr. Duffy touches upon:

• The issue of burnout and how it impacts physicians and other medical professionals; how burnout is impacting our collective consciousness.
• The significance of Christine Longaker's book, Facing Death and Finding Hope: A Guide to the Emotional and Spiritual Care of the Dying.
• The significance of Kirsten DeLeo's book, Being Present through the End. Kirsten helped to pioneer Authentic Presence, one of the first contemplative-based programs in end-of-life care in the United States.
• The impact of the Dalai Lama's response to the question of what constituted the essence of Tibetan Medicine: "To have a good heart," accelerated his professional work and commitment to align with the authentic heart of compassion.
• How contemplative practice opens us to the realization that "People do not have ideas, ideas have people," a quote by Carl Jung. It is challenging to wake up to the truth of this and not fall victim to an idea that does not uphold how we aspire to live our lives.
• The book he is currently writing tentatively titled: "The Practice: The Contemplative Heart of Healing."
• How the pervasiveness of burnout in our culture is surfacing as "the inner climate crisis."
• That the healer's job is to identify the shadow of our community and find ways to transcend it through contemplative practice and action.
• How burnout results from the belief that "I am not enough," which in turn results from shame which in turn results from trauma. If shame remains in the shadows, it is impossible to be vulnerable, authentic.
• How his workshop series (7 sessions) titled The Yoga of Medicine is designed to cultivate enlightened healers. The first session is titled Asana is like the physical asanas in yoga practice, clarity and specificity result from intention. When faced with a choice, intention should be the starting point -- if choices and actions are aligned with intention, everything falls into place.
• How modern cultures regularly farm out entropy (including the sick and dying) and indigenous thinking can encourage more holistic and compassionate paradigms. See book by Tyson Yunkaporta titled Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World.
• His talk on the regenerative mind and its connection to other regenerative mediums: regenerative agriculture, regenerative economies.
• How Chinese Medicine nourishes the inner in light of the outer. Books by Lonny Jarrett including Nourishing Destiny: The Inner Tradition of Chinese Medicine. And

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With sincere gratitude,
Noreen