David Cumes

Biography:

David Cumes, M.D. was born in South Africa and received his medical training in Johannesburg. He taught at Stanford Medical Center and currently has a private practice in Santa Barbara, CA. He is a Western trained surgeon steeped in the allopathic paradigm of medicine and he is also a healer. After extensive travel which included time with the Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert, and shamans in Peru and South Africa, Dr. Cumes explored the role nature plays in personal healing and transformation.

He is a graduate of N.O.L.S. (the National Outdoor Leadership School), founded a company called Inward Bound, and leads groups on healing journeys to remote wilderness areas. Dr. Cumes has published extensively in professional journals and is also the author of three books. In addition, he has been initiated as a sangoma (Zulu for shaman or indigenous healer) and is now qualified to throw divining bones. Dr. Cumes is a bridge between Western medicine and indigenous healing wisdom.

Past Shows:

	Shamanism & Healing
	Tuesday March 29, 2005

Dr. David Cumes discussed his practice of shamanic rituals, during the the middle two hours of the program. A surgeon here in the United States, he is able to act as bridge between Western medicine and ancient healing wisdom, and believes that both methods have their benefits.Cumes said he was inititated as a sangoma (Zulu for shaman or indigenous healer) while in South Africa. The process involved taking part in various rituals such as animal sacrifice, purification and immersion in a river, as well employing drumming and dancing to achieve trance states. Contacting the ancestors or spirit guides is typically done while in a trance, he noted.Establishing a connection with the ancestors is a crucial part of being able to help people, said Cumes, who believes that these spirits are capable of conducting "non-local healing" on patients. He described working with the ancestors in three different ways: dreams, trance and bones.Cumes was taught to use the "divining bones ... More
Host: George Noory