Sir Professor Mehran Hakiminegad, MD, is one of the founding members and chair of the International University of Alternative Medicines in Canada. He is also the chair of Yin-Jing University in Beijing, China, as well as the International College of Alternative Medicine (Australia); the International Association of Alternative Medicines (Canada); the International Association of Acupuncture (United States); the Medicina Alternativa Institute A/s (Denmark); and the Open International University of Complementary Medicines for North America, Europe and the Middle East.
Dr. Hakiminegad has studied alternative medicine for the past decade, specializing in acupuncture, with his educational pursuits taking him to China; Japan; India; Sri Lanka; and various European countries. He is also a medical doctor, having completed his training at Odense Hospital in Denmark. Recently he received the Gold Medal of Excellence at the First World Congress of Innovative Medicines in Beijing for his thesis on the Five Element Theory and his discovery of 60 new points. He has also received the Knight Commander Cross of Malta for his humanitarian work in the medical field, as well as the Assyrian Orders Award of Excellence from the Mazdaynie Monasterie and the Award of Excellence from the All India Shah Behram Baug Society (for scientific and educational research).
I was very happy to meet Dr. Hakiminegad in Toronto, Canada. My interview with him follows.
Jennifer Waters (JW): Where are you from?
Mehran Hakiminegad (MH): My father is from Persia and my mother is from Greece.
JW: What schools did you attend?
MH: Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine; Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine; Shanghai Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine; and Fyns Akupur Skole.
JW: Who do you consider your teachers?
MH: I consider my patients to be the best teachers.
JW: How do you define health?
MH: If you categorize health overall, the first step is to have a healthy mind. If one has a healthy mind, one will have a healthy body because the physical and mental are the same aspect. One mental condition of pain and suffering can cause chronic or acute dysfunctions in one part of the body, or the entire body. One pain in the physical body can result in a form of mental dysfunction such as depression. Any type of exercise that is harmful to the body should be avoided. Any type of diet, should the results be harmful to the body, should be avoided. If we breathe properly, eat properly and avoid physically damaging exercise, we will be healthy. Think good things, learn good things and do good things. That is health.
JW: Do you believe that full recovery of any disease is possible?
MH: Yes.
JW: Do you consider yourself a healer?
MH: No; "practitioner" is the best word to use.
JW: How important is it to specialize?
MH: (It is) not (important). When you compartmentalize, you box things off and make them separate. The body is not this way.
JW: What is the best way to promote one's health?
MH: By educating the patient in the way in which one practices and through one's belief system as a practitioner. On the other hand, the patient should avoid a full and "blind" acceptance and feel free to query the practitioner's ideologies. We have to make sure the patient understands (and) is conscious of or open to the Eastern thought process of healing. For example, we cannot expect a patient to understand liver wind, heart fire, etc., so it is important that the practitioner or doctor first educates him/herself to be prepared to answer all the patient's questions in an understandable, uncomplicated way.
JW: What should be required of any practitioner?
MH: First, do no harm. If you don't know what to do, refer the person to someone who does.
Specific Ailments
JW: How would you define the word "allergy?"
MH: I do not believe in allergies. The physical and mental aspects are the same. Often from childhood, many parents or doctors tell children that they are allergic. This stays with them the rest of their lives, as it is encoded in their minds. There is a large percentage of people in the world who are allergic to dust, grass, etc. I believe there are three things that make an "allergy" as we know it: 1) the childhood message encoded by parents or doctors; 2) the immune system is down; and 3) geography - where people live. Often signs and symptoms only show up when people move to a different climate.
JW: How do you define the "immune system?"
MH: There are two types of immune systems. One is the autoimmune system; the second is what we discovered, and what I refer to as the psychoimmuneneurolgia - the "psyche" referring to the brain, and "immunology" and "neuro" to the nervous system. It is using the power of the mind or the "higher order" at the same time as using the nervous system to treat the body.
JW: With so many different diets to chose from for weight loss, what should we eat?
MH: Tell people to eat what they don't like, and they will lose weight.
JW: What is/are the best way to dry dampness?
MH: This would require an entire seminar, but in a sentence, with grain alcohol. Fire puts out fire.
JW: What is your view on addiction?
MH: Again, this would take an entire seminar, but to synopsize, I believe there is nothing called "addiction." If someone consistently repeats the same behavior pattern at the same time every day, the person gets used to it. It becomes a routine. The key to breaking the "addiction" or routine is to break the body's mental and physical dependency on this routine.
JW: How would you treat an open wound?
MH: One can use laser therapy to increase the healing process, or a vitamin B complex to stimulate the immune system. With acupuncture, puncture approximately one cun from the wound in each direction.
JW: If you were to impart one piece of knowledge to a student, what would it be?
MH: That knowledge is ultimate and the universe was not built in a day or a week. One must be prepared to give time and dedicate one's life to understanding all aspects of the disciplines one wishes to practice, and at the same time, be open to new ideas and combine these ideas with old ideologies.
JW: Do you think health care should be free?
MH: Yes. The patient can pay for the needles. I have treated thousands of people in the past few years, and I do not charge. I get paid for giving lectures.
JW: What are some of the major health problems we face today?
MH: One-third of the entire population will die from heart disease, another third from stroke and one-third from cancer, with about 5% of the population dying from infections, viruses and malnutrition and another 5% dying from "old age." My question is, "Which category do we fall into?"
JW: Is it important that the patient believe in the treatment?
MH: No, not at all. You make them believers by going beyond their belief. When they feel well, they will believe.
JW: Thank you.
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