| EdgeWork Exploring the Psychology of Disease  Edgework provides a concise overview of the research on the mindbody, summarizing the essence of healing at the level of consciousness and guiding readers through the process with detailed exercises that make the concepts a personal reality. Read More….  Dr. Ronald Peters has 30 years of research and experience in holistic medicine. He has studied with enlightened spiritual teachers, leading to a detailed understanding of the formative power of the conscious and unconscious mind, which he summarized in his ground-breaking book, Edgework, Exploring the Psychology of Disease. He empowers people to restore the wisdom of the body using nutritional therapies and then helps them understand the governing influence of consciousness. In this manner, disease becomes a messenger offering greater levels of health both physically and psychologically. Since the publication of Edgework, several popular books have restated this paradigm shifting truth: consciousness creates reality. These include The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne, Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle, and Ask and It is Given, by Esther Hicks, to mention a few. Edgework applies this timeless truth to the world of medicine and healing. Since 2003, many patients have appreciated the life changing guidance that comes from the concepts and exercises in Edgework, thereby heeding the message of disease and creating greater health in their lives. From the Introduction to Edgework: The mind controls the body. We have heard about this paradigm-shifting notion time and time again in the last half of the twentieth century. Research in immunology has contributed to dozens of books telling us about improved immunity based on positive states of mind and, conversely, reduced immune function due to negative states of consciousness. Physicians and psychologists have told us about the hostile aspects of Type A behavior and the epidemic of heart disease that plagues our society. Many other researchers have spoken, a bit more cautiously, about features of the cancer prone personality. Anxiety and depression contribute to numerous other illnesses, and continue to afflict up to one quarter of the American population. Books have been written on the psychosomatic aspects of common diseases like asthma, hypertension, ulcerative colitis, peptic ulcers, and diabetes, just to mention a few. Yet none have stated the essence of the mind/body issue as succinctly as the great psychoanalyst Dr. Franz Alexander, when he wrote: "The fact that the mind rules the body is, in spite of its neglect by biology and medicine, the most fundamental fact which we know about the process of life..." But in spite of this outpouring of information on the mind/body relationship, little has changed in the doctor's office to reflect this new understanding. Doctors still devote most of their time trying to find out what is wrong with the body, and patients still try to get rid of their symptoms with the latest offerings from the drug industry. Many of us take vitamins and minerals, try to exercise and relax more, perhaps meditate occasionally, but really little has changed, and the problems in health care continue on. Indeed, paradigms shift slowly as they bear the weight of institutional, social and personal belief systems. Based on my twenty years of holistic family practice, I too have learned that the origins of most physical disease are within consciousness - the body is the messenger of the conflicts, sustained fears, suppressed emotional traumas, disturbed patterns of thinking, and other imbalances that lie within the conscious and unconscious mind. I have learned this by listening to thousands of patients tell the stories that preceded the onset of their illness. I have heard again and again of childhood patterns of neglect, smothering control, abandonment, and emotional, physical and sexual abuse. I have heard of the failed relationships, years of marital conflict, and the pain of loneliness. I have heard about decades of unfulfilling employment, foiled personal creativity and the quiet desperation of a slowly dying spirit. I have heard about relentless anxiety, depression, denied emotions, destructive beliefs, hopelessness, helplessness, "giving up", and an endless variety of recurrent stresses. Most importantly, I have seen patient after patient backtrack into consciousness and find the dis-ease within the mind that precipitated the dis-ease in the body. The answers may not come quickly as many issues are hidden in the shadow, or unconscious mind, but they do come and the results of such personal in-depth healing are transformational. I have seen cancer, multiple sclerosis, colitis, hepatitis, high blood pressure, heart disease, depression, and all types of chronic and often "incurable" diseases go into remission or quiescence. These are the reasons I have written Edgework. Edgework refers to the edge between what you know about yourself and what you do not know. Dis-ease of any kind is the body's way of getting your attention and inviting this self-exploration, thereby offering true healing. The path maybe scary, as change itself is scary for most of us. It is easy to understand what the noted English poet W. H. Auden meant when he wrote: "We would rather be ruined than changed; we would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the moment and let our illusions die." |
Staff Bio  Integrative and Preventive Medicine Ronald Peters, MD, MPH is trained in family medicine and has earned a Masters of Public Health in the prevention of disease. Dr. Ronald Peters has 30 years of experience in nutritional biochemistry and holistic health care. He has studied with Master teachers, leading to a understanding of the formative power of the conscious and unconscious mind, which he summarized in his ground-breaking book, Edgework, Exploring the Psychology of Disease. His approach to patient care is to restore the natural wisdom of the body and then assist patients in changing the lifestyle and mind-style factors that contribute to illness. Dr. Ronald Peters has had successful medical practices in California and Oregon. Dr. Ronald Peters is an accomplished writer and lecturer and is highly effective in helping people learn from their health problems and restore their health both physically and psychologically. CURRICULUM VITAE - RONALD L PETERS, MD, MPH EDUCATION: He graduated from STANFORD UNIVERSITY in 1966 with Honors in Biology. He then entered the UCLA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE graduating in June of 1970. In 1977, he returned to UCLA, this time to the SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, studying epidemiology and preventive medicine under a post-doctoral training grant from the National Cancer Institute. He received a MASTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH degree in 1978. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Following medical school he began a rotating INTERNSHIP at the US Public Health Service Hospital in Boston, finishing in 1971. In 1972 he served as a general medical officer on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Gallup, New Mexico. After some travel and independent research, he started a private practice in family medicine in Denver, Colorado, in 1974. In 1977, Dr. Peters returned to Los Angeles for studies in disease prevention at the UCLA School of Public Health. During this time he assisted Dean Lester Breslow in research for a book entitled, Control of Non-infectious Disease in Man. During the same year he affiliated with CALIFORNIA PRIMARY PHYSICIANS, a large multi-specialty medical group, as Director of the Emergency Department at Encino Hospital in Encino, California. In 1979, he became the Director of Preventive Medicine, for California Primary Physicians. These activities included medical staffing for the Pritikin Longevity Center in Santa Monica. Between 1980 and 1985, Dr. Peters was staff physician in the Emergency Department of California Hospital in downtown Los Angeles. As a major inner city Trauma Center, he gained valuable experience in the management of all types of medical and surgical emergencies. In 1980, he developed and directed INNERHEALTH PROGRAMS- a physician supervised health promotion program of aerobic fitness, optimal nutrition and stress management. The Innerhealth Program is highly acclaimed and successful in helping people reverse common health problems such as high blood pressure, adult onset diabetes, and coronary artery disease, as well as preventing the development of such problems. Also in 1980, Dr. Peters entered into the private practice of family and preventive medicine in Santa Monica. His practice emphasized behavioral, nutritional and other lifestyle services. In 1990, he moved to Ashland, Oregon, opening a medical practice with appropriate emphasis on nutritional, behavioral and preventive medicine. He offered health promotion seminars under the title of THE PHYSICIAN WITHIN. In 1999, he moved to Scottsdale, Arizona and completed a book titled, EDGEWORK, Exploring the Psychology of Disease, Beyond Diet and Fitness, which was published in 2003. Edgework reviews mindbody research, points to the power of emotions and beliefs on the body and redefines the humans stress response into an ally by marking inner boundaries for personal growth. In 2002, he became Medical Director of New Hope Medical Center, an alternative cancer treatment center. New Hope provided a range of cancer therapies and helped people to reverse the conditions that permitted the cancer to grow in the first place, an important issue for all cancer patients especially for those in remission. Since 2004, he has been in private practice in Scottsdale and continues to offer a variety of seminars on stress management, mindbody medicine, health promotion and cancer prevention. SPECIALTY BOARD: Diplomat, American Board of Family Practice 1976-1983, with re-certification for 1983-1990. MEDICAL LICENSURE: Arizona Board of Medical Examiners Arizona Homeopathic Medical Board |
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