June 2004 | Living Healthy
Uncommon Healer: Daniel Donner
Energy Medicine
by Suzanne Saucy
Traditional Chinese medicine is renowned not only for relieving symptoms but also for strengthening the person against a recurrence of ill health. According to the Chinese cosmology, Qi and blood are the two constituent elements of the body universe and describe the general functioning of the human being. Both periodically need tuning to ensure adaptability and health.
According to Daniel Donner, L.Ac., CCH, it is helpful to apply traditional Chinese medicine in combination with energetic testing of metabolic patterns and then to follow up with laboratory blood tests designed to give a complete picture of the individual. Donner integrates several disciplines in his practice — traditional acupuncture, auricular medicine, homeopathy, and herbal and nutritional supplements. He works with Lynn August, MD, of Health Equations, a Massachusetts-based facility that does a computerized evaluation of a modified Chem 26 and CBC blood test. At his Piedmont Avenue Clinic, he draws from three well-stocked pharmacies for herbal extracts, homeopathic remedies, and nutritional supplements, once the pattern of his patient’s imbalance is uncovered.
Donner uses the information system model of the human being; in disease, the system needs tuning to create a smoother and more efficient flow. Auricular medicine (developed in 1951 by Dr. Nogier in France) is a means of diagnosis and delivery of forgotten information to the brain (the master computer) by applying needles to points on the ear. Similar to foot reflexology, the ear provides a map and pathway to the body’s inner workings. Infrared stimulators are used to detect the area on the ear corresponding to an area of the brain that needs reprogramming.
The energy of recorded folk music and blues captured Donner’s interest in his early years. In high school, the effects of stage lighting on performers’ energy fascinated him. After attending Carnegie-Mellon University, he worked in Israel as an NBC soundman. There he met Moshe Feldenkrais who expanded his understanding of the brain and nervous system. He returned to the states and began studying homeopathy. The study of Chinese and auricular medicine followed. At first skeptical of acupuncture, he later fell in love with its principles and practice, because it gave him such a deep appreciation of the human energy system.
“When you treat patients, you often need to move the energetic focus down to the center of the body. From that level, you can then begin to build a firm foundation and stimulate the body’s own healing,” says Donner. With energy medicine, meditation, and other such spiritual practices can be an integral part of healing. Today, energy medicine is becoming more widely recognized as effective; its resurgence signals a revival of self-healing. Donner recalled the prophecy of a well-known innovator who lit up our world in the 19th century. It was Thomas Edison who said that the future of medicine is energy medicine.
Contact Daniel Donner at 510.655.0555 or email ddonner@piedmontaveclinic.com
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