Printable Biography of Paul Brenner

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Widely recognized in both the medical community and self-help field, Dr. Paul Brenner is an obstetrician/gynecologist and psychologist who left his successful clinical and academic practice of obstetrics, gynecology, and female cancer surgery in 1976 to counsel individuals with life-threatening illnesses.

For the past forty years, Dr. Brenner's journey has taken him beyond his own traditional medical practice and led to his study of other healing arts with healers throughout the world. From this exploration, which included holistic medicine, hypnosis, acupuncture, meditation, and energy medicine, he has redefined for himself what health is: no more and no less than the acceptance and appreciation of life. Further, health is not simply the absence of illness, and the key to health and well-being resides in the psycho-dynamics of personal relationships. As Dr. Brenner came to realize that we all have an innate wisdom of what's right for our bodies, he crystallizes the discontent with the medical profession and the hope that there is a better alternative to our definition of heath.

When, in 1976, Dr. Brenner left his traditional medical practice and began counseling individuals with life-threatening illnesses, he began to realize that, contrary to his medical training, he did not have all the answers. He finds, in the individuals he treats, a "Buddha in the waiting room"—and that there is wisdom inherent in each one of them—which he shares in his book, Buddha in the Waiting Room: Simple Truths About Health, Illness, and Healing. The book is written from the often humorous perspective of a logic-driven realist who is reluctantly transformed by the wisdom of alternative therapies, by his acceptance of his own intuition, and by the lessons on health and illness he learns from his patients—patients, who, it turns out, were healing him. It is a tribute to patients everywhere who want their own wisdom and self-knowledge to be used by their practitioners in a partnership of life and health.

Dr. Brenner continues to counsel the chronically ill, maintains an appointment in the Behavioral Studies department at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, and is a corporate consultant. He is the Director of the SafeReach Institute in Idyllwild, California, for the understanding of human relationships and how they affect health and illness. He also holds a Doctorate in Counseling Psychology and is the creator of Family Triangles process.

At the forefront of the alternative medicine movement, Dr. Brenner organized The Mandala Conference in 1974, which featured presentations by the top proponents of the day, including Dr. Bernie Siegel, Dr. Andrew Weil, Dr. Carl Simonton, and Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. The first conference on holistic health, The Mandala Conference led to the formation of the Holistic Medical Association.

Lecturing extensively throughout the United States and Europe, Dr. Brenner has also reached national audiences as moderator of the PBS Series "Healing Through Communication." In addition to his book, Buddha in the Waiting Room, he is the author of Life is a Shared Creation, which was a Rollo May Book of the Year selection, and Seeing Your Life Through New Eyes: InSights to Freedom from Your Past. With audiences across the country and around the world, Dr. Brenner shares his wisdom regarding how addictive behavior takes us out of the experience of life, the creative process of change, and good health.