Dr. Li Interviews Lissa Rankin, MD: Sacred Medicine and the Mysteries of Healing

I think my definition of "sacred medicine" really shifted after I started working very deeply in the field of trauma to include basically any medicine that helps peel away the layers of everything that is not our divine essence. And I now think that sacred medicine can happen in the hospital...in the therapy room...in indigenous healing settings...in ritual space. It has much more to do with the presence and consciousness of the person delivering the medicine, whatever that medicine is, than it necessarily has to do with the actual medicine.

Lissa Rankin, MD, is a Western-trained ob-gyn, linear thinker, and evidence-informed scientist. But she also describes herself as a mystic — an open-hearted, spiritually alive, empathic healer who has witnessed countless “miracles” of healing, including her own. Having spent equal time practicing and studying in Western medicine and in complementary and alternative medicine (fourteen years in each), she is careful not to blindly praise one paradigm over another. “You might say I’ve been a doe-eyed devotee of both camps," she says, "but I’ve also been disillusioned by both…both offer gems and garbage.” Her recent book, Sacred Medicine: A Doctor’s Quest to Unravel the Mysteries of Healing, took her from holy mountains, faith healers, and prayer circles to trauma experts, leading scientists, and psychologists. Rankin is a bestselling author, artist, activist, and thought leader in mind-body medicine, dedicated to “healing health care.”

In response to the need for more holistically trained doctors and healthcare professionals, Rankin founded the Whole Health Medicine Institute. She also founded the nonprofit organization Heal At Last, a trauma-informed, physician-designed community wellness program modeled after 12 Step programs, that seeks to provide equal access to spiritual practices, as well as the healing of trauma and the “epidemic of loneliness.”

She is the author of six books, including the New York Times bestseller, Mind Over Medicine. Her work has been featured across national media outlets, including O Magazine, The New York Times, CNN, Health, Women’s Health, and Cosmopolitan. Her TEDx talks have been viewed over 4M times, and she leads workshops online and at retreat centers around the US.