Is illness really an “opportunity for enlightenment”? According to Lissa Rankin, MD, the answer is yes.

Rankin, an Integrative Nutrition visiting teacher, says that our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs affect every cell in our body, and that Western medicine’s denial of the mind-body connection has led to a society in which prescriptions and surgery prevail over the body’s ability to heal itself. In this video, she explains exactly how mind-body medicine works, why Primary Foods like fulfilling relationships can “make the body ripe for miracles,” and what predatory tigers have to do with it all.

Many in the modern medical world are skeptical of the idea of incorporating spirituality into medicine. Watch the video below, then let us know what you think about these two different philosophies.