People to Know

What inspired you to found Women to Women, one of the first clinics in the country devoted to providing healthcare for women by women? 

I grew up in Australia, and from a very young age I wanted to be involved in healthcare, and when we came to America that desire deepened. I lived for a time in Virginia Beach, VA, which was home to Edgar Cayce, a medical clairvoyant, and at college I learned about therapeutic touch. By learning various methodologies I realized my interest in integrating the worlds of the East and the West.

Why did you focus on women’s health?

As a feminist in high school and college and as a woman practitioner, I thought it was critically important that women be treated with respect – as a partner in decision-making instead of being dictated to.

How did Women to Women start?

Annie Rafter, another nurse practitioner and I started Women to Women two years before we founded what is our current practice. Annie and I were joined by Christiane Northrop and Ellen Fenn, both obstetrician / gynecologists. Eventually my partners left to do other things, so for the past 12 years I’ve been steering the ship on my own.

Early on you recognized the mind-body-spirit connection. I recall a great quote of yours, “your issues are in your tissues.” How did the awareness start?

My father’s a psychologist and my mother was a social worker, so I knew that emotions were a part of the puzzle.  When I listened to women’s stories in my practice, I noticed that if I asked the right questions, I could hit upon something in which emotions were tied in.  And as the woman healed that particular emotional issue, she improved physically as well.

Do specific emotional issues trigger specific physical ailments?

We noticed and have actual scientific support showing that women with a history of sexual abuse have a much higher incidence of pelvic disorders.  By asking the right questions and listening, we saw connections and understood that there’s a web that relates to the emotional foundation of who a person is.

Has your approach to women’s healthcare changed over the past 25 years?

When we first started the practice it was difficult for us, as a group of women, to have open discussions with others about a synergy between the East and West philosophies and the role of emotions.  Back then Women to Women was laughed at. 

But time has proven you to be at the forefront of medical thought.

A lot of the things we said have proven to be right.  For example, we suggested that hormone replacement therapy was perhaps not the best option for women, and here we are 25 years later and the science supports us.

Where would you like to see women’s healthcare go from here?

I’d like it to combine the philosophies of Eastern and Western medicine more than we do now, because as we do we’ll understand new things. For example, that stress has huge physiological impacts. That the food we eat is extremely important as information, because it can actually change the way our genes express themselves -- so can emotions. That’s gigantic! So what we bathe ourselves with, what we take in as food, how we manage our thoughts and how healthy our environment is, all have direct impact on our health long term.

Are these concepts catching on?

Yes! We’re at the crossroads of a very exciting time and science is starting to catch up.  It’s empowering because instead of saying, “I’ve got this genetic predisposition to heart disease and to diabetes,” it no longer has to be that way…it’s now understood to also be very much a factor of the decisions we make.

Are the women you see interested in alternative healthcare?

Definitely. As they’ve become more educated, they ask for things in a different way, and they’re unwilling to settle for the standard answer, which is great. Also, patients think for themselves rather than taking whatever is said as the gospel.  We should always be asking for better choices and other possibilities.

There’s been tremendous re-sponse to your website and your new book, “The Core Balance Diet.”  Both offer easy-to-follow integrated approaches to women’s wellness, including the many reasons why women gain weight. Why is there a need for your site and your book? 

My goal when we did the website was to help women become more knowledgeable so they could ask questions that are appropriate for them. I believe that medicine today is not personalized enough; the concept of one-size-fits-all is erroneous but that’s how we practice medicine and weight management. Women to Women honors each woman and the power her body has to heal itself — and her place in the mind-body-spirit continuum that makes health an expression of her life

Women to Women has a very large following. What are people looking for?

Many women need help figuring out the pieces to the puzzle. Conventional medicine is fantastic for acute problems, but it doesn’t do as well for chronic issues because it doesn’t fully identify the problem. I practice something called ”functional medicine,” in which I look at what happened to cause some of the symptoms, and what needs to be done to intervene.

Women to Women practices preventative medicine, not reactive medicine. Can you tell us more about it?

Absolutely. There are geographic regions around the world in which you’ll find a high number of people who live to be 100, 105 and they’re still walking, they’re still riding their bikes, they’re still chopping wood. And no matter where in the world these people are, they have certain things in common, including a sense of purpose, a diet of small quantities of healthy food, a strong sense of community and connection to family.

Do they get similar diseases?

What’s incredible is that basically, these people are born and then they die. They don’t have chronic illness, they don’t get sick. And that’s what preventive medicine’s about.  What do we need to do for a person’s physiology to help them stay well and healthy into their nineties?

In addition to being a Process graduate, you’re also a member of the Hoffman Advisory Council. How did you first find Hoffman?

About 16 years ago, I received a brochure in the mail by a writer named Nairavi Payne, who had done the Process several years before.  The premise of her book was that infertility may have some connections with our stories, or patterns. I had so many patients that were infertile at the time, so I called her thinking, “there’s no way a fertility problem has anything to do with a person’s history.”  With that she challenged me to do a training with her. When I did I was floored at the number of women who, when they looked at their relationship to their history also became pregnant.

Did it turn your thinking around?

Yes, and when I went to the Process myself in 2008 I saw how our stories are wedded to our behaviors and very much impacted in our tissues. For example, people with a lot of stress oftentimes have gastrointestinal problems.  As they uncover and address emotional issues, they feel so much better -- their mind is clearer and the interplay between the intellect and emotions just goes away.  That voice is quieted.  That’s what was most astounding for me.

In your book you say that the Process was the most profound emotional healing experience you’ve ever encountered.

It’s true. It stays with you and continues to work on itself year to year to year. I often hear from my patients that the Process opened them in new ways – allowing them to live differently than ever before.

You and your friend, Sally McCue are co-facilitators of the Process graduate group in Maine. What’s your experience of bringing Hoffman graduates together?

For me it’s a reminder, on a monthly basis, to really stay present, to do the recycling, to use the tools.  And it’s fabulous to do it with Sally because we’ve learned so much from each other.

What’s your vision for Women to Women?

People often ask whether I’ll franchise to other locations, but I’m only one person so I can only do so much.  For now my way of getting information out to people is through our website and the articles I write. In September when my last son goes to college I’ll travel more doing workshops and conferences.

How do you incorporate the Process into your daily life?

Bringing the concept of the Process, the Quadrinity, to the world is important to me because it helps people be more accountable.  Instead of blaming others, we are responsible for our own actions, for looking and saying, “I see how this happened for me.”  And for women, especially those that are menopausal, to understand that there is a relationship between our biography and what’s going on for us physically. 

Why so for menopausal women?

Menopause is a developmental milestone. It’s about putting things in perspective, asking who you are, where you’re going and what you will be when you get there. During menopause, unresolved things in our lives have a tendency to tug at us until we address them.

It feels like progress that menopause is no longer spoken about in hushed tones.

The Women’s Movement and Baby Boomers have done a lot to bring it to the forefront by saying, “Big changes go on for women, and we need to talk about what it means and how to help them stay well and vital.” Thankfully, the culture is changing because for our moms’ generation, a menopausal woman might as well just hang it up. It’s quite the opposite for women today.

So many post-menopausal women reinvent themselves and do amazing things.

And they look fabulous -- that’s the other part of it. Yesterday’s forties really are today’s fifties and
sixties.

Let’s not underestimate the power of looking good!  Thank you Marcelle, for sharing with us. The work you do to help women find peace and remain in great health is truly inspiring.

Thank you and to everyone at Hoffman. I got a note the other day from someone who just read my book and said that reading it confirmed for her that the Process is what she needed to do. It felt great, really sweet, to know that I was pointing her toward the Process.