One more thing, I would love to meet you in person or just be invited to one of your speaches. It would truely be one of the greatest gifts if I was to be blessed with such an honor. If only I could have met you years ago(through one of your books) but I believe everything happens for a reason and exactly when it happens. I was suppose to go through all the pain I went through for a reason, I will find out someday, if I haven't already. Bless you my wonderful teacher on how you touch touched my life and gave me wisdom and the courage to live again.

Dear Rachel, I just wanted you you to I just finished reading your book "My Grandfather's Blessings" Rachel thank you. You saved my life, you gave me back my life. I have been in pain for over 10 years now. I was diagnoised with BiPolar, Chronic Depresison. I have been grieving for my brother who passed away 10 years ago and was on a suside mission because I felt guilty all this years because I lived and he died. Your book blessed me and opened my eyes to the real truth. I have 5 days clean today and have been to two 12 step meeting since I read your book. I don't know how to thank you enough. You are truely a blessing and I will bless you every night night for the rest of my life. Thank you over and over.
Kim

I've read three of your books on audio tape and find them very enjoyable. Your seminars should be required for all medical professionals!

Cheryl Switzer
San Francisco

Rachel, you feel like my close friend. With your written words, you came into my heart and my mind with tenderness, wisdom, strength, and love.... and after each story, you left me with a deeper, deeper sense of calm and comfort. Cancer did not win in my body, and I will always be grateful to you for helping me.

I saw a quote of yours at the cancer center in California, and wanted to write it down, it was so on point. Then today I read a quote of yours in the July "Science of Mind" magazine, and felt that I should find out more about you. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and understanding that whatever we are doing in life, we should treat ourselves and others as the vessels of the sacred.

Peace and blessings to you and yours.

Your writings on your web site have touched me and made me cry. They have helped me to remember things I had begun to lose touch with. Thank you!

I have enjoyed everything I have read from you, Rachael. I love to listen to your stories on cassett tape while I drive, or work around the house. They are very comforting. Thank you.
I had endomitrial cancer a few years ago, and am doing fine.

Take care,...Elizabeth(from Wyoming)

I have just finished reading "Kitchen Table Wisdom". I did not want it to end. I only wish I had discovered you sooner! What a wonderful writer you are. I cannot wait to buy and read "My Grandfather's Blessings". You are a blessing to the world Dr. Remen. I have lost my husband, son and mother to cancer all within two years. What I would have given for a physician with a heart like yours. God Bless.

Rachel- Bravo! Bravo! Your talk at Womenspeak 2007 was received fully and appreciatively by so many! Thank you for making the effort when you were still battling the flu...the event would not have been the same without you...Bless you, MB

Dear Rachel:
I just attended the Womenspeak 2007 event in San Antonio. The entire event was filled with such a variety of people, experiences, and speakers. But, without a doubt - your keynote address on Saturday morning was the my favorite and most meaningful time at the conference.
Your dignity, depth of spirit, sense of humor, and compassion blessed me immensely.
I hope that paths cross again in the future.
Smiles and Blessings . . . Donna Neilson

Thank You for sharing your wisdom and experience with the world. It has helped me through hard times, and continues to inspire me through the present. God bless you.

Finally, I see that I am not alone in my journey in healing. I feel I have found my community.

Dear Rachel,

I am living in the East Bay for 18 months (home is Oxford, England). My dream is to work in Medical School training young doctors in developing skills in empathy, compassion and healing. Last year I worked as a 'patient advisor' with GPs in the UK helping them understand that 'they are part of the treatment' and their approach/behaviour can have a positive (or negative effect) on a patients rate of recovery. My area of 'expertise' is in dealing with severe clinical depression (my 'smiling depressive' personality made it hard for doctors to diagnose me) and my aim has been to relay my experience of the illness, highlight factors which helped (and hindered) my recovery and explain/demonstrate the essence of the techniques/teachings I found helped me back to maintaining wellness. Over the last 6 years these include, Integrative yoga (following Thich Nhat Hann's mindfulness teachings), Meditation (specifically the Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy program which Prof Mark Williams et al have adapted from Jon Kabat-Zinn's stress-reduction program) and Spiritual Development (assisted by Carol Banyas M.D. using energy healing). Working with the primary care physicians in the UK, I demonstrated how teaching practical skills such as diaphragmatic/abdominal breathing at the first consultation gives the patient a ‘gift from the heart right’ at the moment they desperately need it. It also starts the process of empowering the patient with some self-help technique to allow them to be less dependent on the doctor to 'cure'. Instead, they learn to trust that through their true self/soul their mind has the power to heal as well as make them sick. I wrote a role-reversal script where I play the part of the M.D. and Prof. Helen Lester (a researcher and community M.D.) is the clinically-depressed patient. In 10 mins I hope I demonstrated how doctors can bridge the doctor-patient gap by hearing the patient (not just listening well) and heal through true human connection by giving knowledgeable options and direction.

Do you think there would be any possibility of me working with you voluntarily as a 'patient advisor' training medical students whilst I am living in the East Bay? Alternatively, do you know anyone connected with teaching medics closer to the Lamorinda area (traveling on the interstates/freeways to Marin is pretty daunting for a UK driver new to the area!)?

Best wishes
Tina

I love your books!! Thank you for sharing the wisdom of your grandfather.

Good evening. I read out loud to my 92 1/2 year old mother who is a dementia patient. The current book is Kitchen Table Wisdom. Tonight she indicated how she liked what she was hearing and wanted to write you and tell you that if she was smarter she would like to have a conversation with you. Somewhere in her fractured state, your words have touched her wholeness. Thank you for letting me see that and for the wonderful words you have put together.

Hi Rachel,
Hope you are well. I am still doing ER and some hospice work in Georgia, and leading yearly volunteer medical trips to a Tibetan settlement in south India.
I have a question about my son. Hobie is a sophomore at Vassar College in New York. He is pursuing premed studies. He is smart and quite creative/intuitive. He is a sensitive and compassionate soul - well aware of the Mystery. His grades are good but not top-of-his class. In your experience of various medical schools, do any stand out as possibly being a good fit for Hobie?
Thank you so much.
Best regards,
Lou Fuerstman

Hi Rachel,

I am soooooo touched by your message "In the Service of Life." This article has whacked me on the side of my head; my ego has diminished; my soul has woken up. You so gently made me realize I have been "fixing" and "helping" all my life, and mistakenly thinking (my ego thinks a lot) I am serving. How timely that I am awake now. My dark alleys are enlightened. Thank you, Rachel. That I've met you in the cyberland is no coincidence; my soul searched you out for me. Thank God! I am gratified. My wholeness is shining, and I see everyone's wholeness shining, too. God bless you! ... Anil

I am the spouse of a physician and your book came to me at a time when I needed to be inspired. I needed to understand some of the struggles my husband went through in his training and why he had changed. I needed to believe that physicians could be whole people, caring for their family as they did their patients and their business and self-image as a physician. I shared some of your stories with my husband as they so moved me. He enjoyed them, but was not motivated to read your book as I hoped he would be. Still, it gave me the hope I needed and some understanding into how medical training had changed my husband. A few years after I read Kitchen Table Wisdom, my husband was diagnosed with esophageal cancer (Feb 2002). He attacked the cancer as he did the other aspects of his life, with determination and grit--even though he knew the probable outcome. I felt he " came home" in many ways and attempted to fill the empty space he had left in our home and with our four children for the past 15 years. He completed chemotherapy, radiation and a huge surgery by Apr 2002. As he began to feel better he began to return to his former pace and the space at home returned. He was fearful with every CT scan, but he continued to show "clean". I encouraged him to have faith and believe he may be the 3% who survive this horrendous cancer, but it was difficult. He was an internist who did many EGD and colonoscopy procedures and leaned toward gastroenterology. One of his favorite speaking/research topics was Barret's esophagus...he knew too much to have peace. The three year mark came April 2005 and I began to see him relax a little and have hope. I was pleased, ofcourse, but still disappointed at the pace he ran his life and his absence in our home. I told him this. As early as July of that year he started having concerning symptoms: nausea, abdominal pain, bloating. By August we decided to run some tests including labs and a swallow study. The labs looked good, the swallow study was very slow to complete but inconclusive. As his symptoms worsened and he became febrial, we did more labs and his surgeon-friend felt he may have appendicitus. On exploration, we found he was full of marble sized tumors throughout his peritoneum and into his pelvis. He had a tumor sitting on his appendix which had eaten through the wall and had ruptured it. He was full of infection and in trouble. His surgeon friend did his best by removing a wad of tumor mass, cleaning and keeping as much healthy looking intestine as possible. He healed well and started a new antiangiogenisis chemo in September. The next 9 months began the real nightmare for me. My husband pulled away from us completely and in January 2006 and moved out. He abandoned his faith completely and began living life for the moment which did not include me, his crush since 13 years old, or any of his four children. He came home May 6th and tried to make ammends. He died May 24th, on our eldest dtrs birthday. Please e-m

Hi,
I'm hoping that you will put Canada, specifically Toronto on you list of public speaking talks/workshops. I would love to attend your talks but you are to inexcessible right now.
Are you working on a new book?
Linda Hazard

I just wanted to say thank you - your books have truly helped me in times of need. In one day, two people recommended your books to me after hearing my story - I have crohn's as well as other autoimmune "issues". Anyways, so much of the book tied in to my own life - when your father asked where the two points when you got a 98% on a test - my father has uttered those words many a time. I've dealt with the many different sizes of clothes in my closet as a result of prednisone use In the end its balance that gets me through, something that took me a long time to find, that I had to fight against everything I had been taught and every ideal that I was raised by. I'm now a second semester freshman pre-med at Johns Hopkins and somehow I made it through 8 years of chronic illness. I just wanted to know how grateful I am - your writing is truly inspiring.

Just completed reading Kitchen Table Wisdom; am very moved.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and special gifts.
Presently, co-chair of the Women's Health Advisory Board of The Cleveland Clinic. Would you be interested in speaking at an event we might sponsor or annual board meeting? Please advise. God Bless you Rachel.

God B

This is the first time I've ever written a fan letter. But I have to say that your books are at the top of my life-time favorite books. They are a constant night table companion and are a tremendous help with the "middle-of-the-night worries". I have learned so much from them and have put them into my daily practice. Currently I'm sharing with all my friends the amazing definitions of Clear and have bought a necklace with it etched on it to keep it close to my heart.

This has been a time filled with with friends who have cancer and I feel helpless in knowing what to do. Gifting them with your books is my way to remind them that there can be some lessons that can come out of the experience.

Thanks you so much for sharing your wisdom with us. I look forward to many more books.

I have tremendously enjoyed your thoughts on life as shared in your books- I am a teacher of teachers and have used many of your stories with my students and even administrators. They really highlight the need to be a human being (not just a technician) and present in one of the most difficult and important jobs. Creating the future through touching the lives of our youngest people is a tremendous responsibility and one that is easy to loose sight of the mission with the increase focus on performing to tests, and other misguided initiatives that are being thrust upon us. Thank you for your light!!

Dear Rachel, Happy New Year!

this is one way to reach you perhaps?
I am going to be in LA on Tues Weds Thurs 1 March--I think I could then fly to Santa Fe and perhaps connect with you to drive to Bluff? Which Jenny has suggested as a possibility? Would that work? Love to you, Josie

I just bought a couple of your "Grandfather"s book to give my daughters as gifts.I heard you on Pharmacy (PBS).

I was amazed when I received your book. I had an idea you were a mrdium of some sort,but loved your stories.

I had no idea that you were a beautiful MD with this huge Web-
site-site

Thank you for allowing me to express my delight in "making your acquaintance".If you are ever lonesome,please E Mail
this recent senior Widower to just chat.

Respectfully,

Bill ,

murphy@stny.rr.com