This week I had the opportunity to talk with integrative Family Physician, curandero, author and speaker Dr. Joe Tafur.
Joe is a gifted medicine man, healer, thinker and doer. He is one of the few western-trained doctors who has also completed a full training in traditional amazonian healing. As such he brings a powerful and unique perspective to the work we have to do to heal our culture.
In March of 2017, Joe published his book The Fellowship of the River: A Medical Doctor’s Exploration into Traditional Amazonian Plant Medicine about his unique journey into spiritual healing work. It’s a beautiful book and fully recommended for anyone interested in bridging eastern and western healing.
With his colleagues, Joe also started the nonprofit Modern Spirit, dedicated to demonstrating the value of spiritual healing in modern healthcare. In addition to education and community-building projects, Modern Spirit is currently focused on supporting the Modern Spirit Epigenetics Project, a groundbreaking substudy of the MAPS MDMA-assisted Psychotherapy research trial. Learn more and donate at www.modernspirit.org
In 2019, Dr. Tafur and his colleagues Dr. Amalia Baca ND and Ray Baca opened the Ocotillo Center for Integrative Medicine, an integrative clinic in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. The Ocotillo Center offers naturopathic medical Services, integrative medical consulting, counseling, health education, and hands-on-healing. Joe offers integrative medical services at the Center for Integrative Medicine in Phoenix, Arizona; and is also offering telehealth services to individuals in both Arizona and California.
In this episode, Joe and I discuss the Coronavirus outbreak, and Joe shares his opinions on the current situation from a doctor’s point of view. We talked about how we can help each other and ourselves during this crisis and how our world might look once the pandemic is over.
Besides that, Joe talked about his Modern Spirit Project and the epigenetics research they are conducting alongside MAPS. The hypothesis is that the people that heal from PTSD through MDMA assisted psychotherapy will see shifts in their epigenetics and the way their genes are expressed. The findings would be revolutionary, and the project is raising funds so they can complete their research. You can help them by going to https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/modern-spirit-epigenetics-project.
Please listen and help spread the word by sharing this episode.
Detailed Show Information:
4:50 – Joe on Coronavirus Pandemic in general from the doctor’s point of view
6:52 – How the threat of death affects people to reorient themselves to what’s going on in the world
9:30 – There is some difference in the way people from the US and people from Asia live life. Where does that come from?
16:20 – What should people do to help the world during the outbreak?
23:27 – How will the world look after the pandemic?
32:00 – Our society has become a repository of Trauma
32:40 – What’s keeping you from being able to access joy?
35:56 – Ann Marie Chiasson http://www.annmariechiassonmd.com/Index.html
41:12 – Looking for a healthcare system that is going to address the emotional and spiritual dimensions of illness
48:38 – A Vietnam veteran that made a lot of progress through Ayahuasca healing
49:04 – Modern Spirit Epigenetics Project https://www.modernspirit.org/research donate
50:52 …the memory of trauma is maladaptively imprinted into the system and it stays with the person…
51:34 …we helped open these people’s hearts when we held them in a sacred way. We were able to let go and shed and grieve and transform and forgive and find self-love again, and find gratitude again and find compassion again…
52:28 – Modern Spirit https://www.modernspirit.org/
52:57 – A little bit about the book https://www.drjoetafur.com/the-fellowship-of-the-river
55:26 – Why isn’t more epigenetics research happening around spiritual healing? Because it’s very expensive
58:06 – The hypothesis is that the people that heal from PTSD through MDMA assisted psychotherapy will see shifts in their epigenetics and the way their genes are regulated
59:38 – we’re raising the money for the second half of research which is a laboratory analysis. We have a crowdfund https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/modern-spirit-epigenetics-project
60:40 – Spiritual well-being manifests in emotional health
61:47 – We’re learning that emotional trauma plays a very significant role in depression, anxiety, PTSD, drug addiction…
63:48 – Meditation affects epigenetics
65:24 – “When the emotional body is sick the physical body can not get well” & “In chronic diseases in which the emotional body is ill lasting will not be achieved until we address the needs of a heart and soul”
Episode links
Dr. Joe’s website: https://www.drjoetafur.com/
Modern Spirit project: https://www.modernspirit.org/
Modern Spirit epigenetics research: https://www.modernspirit.org/research
Donate to epigenetics research: https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/modern-spirit-epigenetics-project
The Fellowship of the River: A Medical Doctor’s Exploration into Traditional Amazonian Plant Medicine: https://www.drjoetafur.com/the-fellowship-of-the-riverAnn Marie Chiasson: http://www.annmariechiassonmd.com/Index.html