Larry Cohen - Balancing Western Medicine, Eastern Healing & Nature’s Wisdom

Chavie opens the conversation by reflecting on how Dr. Cohen was her doctor since she was just three years old. Dr. Cohen tells the story of his family’s fascinating immigration from Europe to the Texas-Mexican border in the early 1900’s when there was still a lot of resistance to Jewish immigration in the USA. He shares how he began his medical career as an ER doctor on Native American reservations, later exploring homeopathy and alternative healing. He talks about his time living on the road, immersed in nature, and how that experience shaped his desire to integrate the natural world into his healing practice. Dr. Cohen also opens up about his spiritual journey and how his Jewish practice evolved. Chavie recalls when Dr. Cohen moved with his family to San Antonio and helped form the first minyan alongside her father, Rabbi Chaim Block, the founding rabbi of Chabad Lubavitch of South Texas. Chavie and Dr. Cohen explore a wide range of health topics from balancing homeopathy with Western medicine, to finding nuance in vaccine conversations, and most importantly, learning to trust nature as a path to true healing. 

Dr. Larry Cohen was born in Texas and has lived in many other states throughout his life. He earned his MD in 1975, followed by one year of postgraduate work in psychiatry and internal medicine. He then joined the Public Health Service, working on the Navajo Reservation and later with the North Carolina branch of the Cherokee Nation. Afterward, he spent over a year traveling in a VW camper (what else!). He eventually returned to San Antonio to practice emergency medicine before pursuing further study at the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, PA. There, he collaborated with two other physicians and several PhD psychologists in a program that integrated classical homeopathy, nutrition, yoga, breathwork, biofeedback, meditation, and massage therapy. Later in his career, Dr. Cohen studied functional medicine and focused on treating complex chronic illnesses. He incorporated intravenous therapies and established a multidisciplinary clinic that included Chinese medicine, chiropractic care, massage therapy, nutritional counseling, and a PhD clinical psychologist.

Referenced on the Pod

0:08:55 – Hair, the Musical

0:10:25 – The Himalayan Institute

0:10:37 – Biofeedback

0:10:50 – Swami: Encounters with Modern Mystics by Doug Boyd

0:32:30 – Divided Legacy by Harris L. Coulter

0:44:53 – Homeopathic Psychology by Philip M. Bailey, M.D.

0:45:22 – Dr. Samuel Hahnemann

0:46:40 – Good Energy by Dr. Casey Means

0:58:38 – Ayurveda: The Science of Self-Healing by Dr. Vasant Lad

1:14:34 – Homeopathic Remedies: For Health Professionals and Laypeople by Dale Buegel, Dennis Chernin, and Blair Lewis

1:15:06 – Homoeopathy for the First Aider by Dr. Dorothy Shepherd

1:15:35 – Helios Homeopathic Remedy Kits

1:54:58 – Chavie’s Essay: Walking Through the Fire of My Life

 

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