Greetings from the Las Vegas hermitage,

Today is 7 November 2011, the day after all the racing clocks fell back an hour. Tomorrow at the crack of dawn I head east on the first leg of my trip to central West Africa. Flight AA626 leaves Las Vegas McCarran International Airport at 07:15 with a 5 hour layover in Dallas and then continues on as flight AA36 to Madrid Spain where I will complete arrangements for a third exploration of the Dark Continent.

This past year has been one of compelling personal experiences with mind-body medicine and Africa is the perfect place to continue my quest for answers to questions about the relationship between the body's state of health and the ways we use our minds. For too long modern science has characterized the behavior of "witch doctors" as primitive, as ignorant superstition. But I am now ready to question whether traditional healers in Africa might have discovered therapeutic modalities which while totally different from Western Allopathic medical practices, offer useful alternatives. Certainly, they and others attempt to return patients to a state of health. Ayurveda, a mind-body healing system for example, has ancient roots in India and continues to be enthusiastically practiced into modern times. Wisdom comes in many flavors! So why not the strange tasting offerings of African cultures?

I suspect there may be a quietly growing undercurrent of scientific interest in the role emotions play in governing our physiological and neurological functioning, something well beyond psychotherapy,  "bed side manner" or the placebo effect. So, this time through Africa I'll be looking for relevant evidence supporting the notion that traditional African healing practices are more than mere hocus-pocus. A quick examination of materials available on the Internet dealing with "African healing rituals" turned up a number of items which make it clear the subject deserves serious research. So, come along with me and let's see what we find.

As usual, I'll be sharing my observations in occasional "postcards" with folks who have indicated they enjoy following my follies. Hope you are still one of them.