In this episode of The Healers Cafe, Manon speaks with Dr. Alan Weisser, a JD, attorney, clinical psychologist, and program developer, discussed his unique journey integrating legal, psychological, and organizational expertise to address complex mental health conditions and chronic pain.
For the transcript and full story go to: https://www.drmanonbolliger.com/dr-alan-weisser
Highlights from today's episode include:
Existential Immune System & Human Power – We're not designed to be powerless or just suffer; we have an "existential immune system" that's always trying to heal us if we use our thoughts and feelings correctly.
Living in Inspiration – Healing doesn't mean no pain, but having purpose and inspiration (like his patient rediscovering a love of robotics) gives people a real "fighting chance" to live meaningfully despite pain.
The Body Is Built to Heal – The body (and person) is inherently designed to heal; the key is to stop fighting that capacity and instead support it—physically, emotionally, and energetically
ABOUT DR ALAN WEISSER:Dr. Alan Stephen Weisser, JD, PhD, is a psychologist, attorney, and program developer whose career spans more than five decades across law, behavioral health, and system-level clinical leadership. His work reflects a rare integration of legal, psychological, and organizational expertise, with a sustained focus on complex mental health conditions, chronic pain, and the development of effective, patient-centered systems of care.
Dr. Weisser began his professional career in law, practicing as a trial attorney and later in private practice, specializing in real estate, business development and creation, and organizational structuring in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. His early legal work included service with the Legal Aid Society in New York, where he handled civil, consumer, and poverty law cases, as well as legal defense for underserved populations. This foundation shaped his lifelong understanding of systemic barriers, advocacy, and the structural dimensions of human suffering.
Transitioning into psychology, Dr. Weisser trained and practiced in some of New York's most demanding clinical environments, including Bellevue Hospital, Maimonides Medical Center, and the Einstein/Bronx Psychiatric Center. There, he developed extensive expertise in psychological assessment, inpatient and outpatient treatment, and psychiatric rehabilitation. He played a key role in the transformation of long-term inpatient psychiatric care into community-oriented rehabilitation systems, designing programs that integrated inpatient, transitional, and outpatient services with a focus on autonomy, functional recovery, and reduced recidivism.
Over the course of the 1990s and early 2000s, Dr. Weisser held multiple senior leadership roles, including Program Director, Clinical Team Leader, and ultimately Clinical Director positions within community mental health systems in Washington State. In these roles, he was responsible for large-scale clinical operations, program development, quality assurance, contract compliance, and supervision of multidisciplinary staff. His work involved the design and implementation of integrated service delivery systems, coordination across agencies and stakeholders, and the advancement of innovative approaches to behavioral health care.
Since 2002, Dr. Weisser has been the Founder and Director of New Options, Inc., in Seattle, Washington, where he provides individual, group, family, and couples therapy, as well as specialized chronic pain evaluations and treatment coordination. His work emphasizes integrating psychological, behavioral, and physical health perspectives, particularly in the treatment of chronic pain and medically complex conditions. He has developed psychoeducational programs, clinical interventions, and training materials designed to empower patients and improve treatment outcomes.
Dr. Weisser is also the author of New Possibilities: Unraveling the Mystery and Mastering Chronic Pain and the developer of the Mastery of Chronic Pain program, a structured, curriculum-based approach to helping individuals regain control over their lives. His work combines clinical rigor with practical application, translating complex psychological and medical concepts into accessible tools for both patients and practitioners.
In addition to his clinical and programmatic work, Dr. Weisser has served as an instructor at the university level, teaching in psychology and public administration. His career reflects a consistent commitment to education, system improvement, and the integration of theory and practice.
Across all phases of his work—from law to psychology to organizational leadership—Dr. Alan Stephen Weisser has focused on one central aim: developing meaningful, effective pathways for individuals and systems to move beyond limitation toward recovery, functionality, and sustained well-being.
Core purpose/passion: My mission in life has been to pursue curiosity, understanding, and deep engagement with what it means to be alive and human. At the center of that journey is a desire to help others.
ABOUT MANON BOLLIGER, RBHT, FCAH:
As a retired Naturopath 1992-2021, I saw an average of 150 patients per week and have helped people ranging from rural farmers in Nova Scotia to stressed out CEOs in Toronto to tri-athletes here in Vancouver.
My resolve to educate, empower and engage people to take charge of their own health is evident in my best-selling books: 'What Patients Don't Say if Doctors Don't Ask: The Mindful Patient-Doctor Relationship' and 'A Healer in Every Household: Simple Solutions for Stress'. and What if Your Body is Smarter than You Think? I am the Founder & CEO of The Bowen College Inc. which teaches BowenFirst™ Therapy and holds transformational workshops to achieve these goals.
So, when I share with you that LISTENing to Your body is a game changer in the healing process, I am speaking from expertise and direct experience".
Mission: A Healer in Every Household!
For more great information to go to her weekly blog: http://bowencollege.com/blog.
For tips on health & healing go to: https://www.drmanonbolliger.com/tips
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* De-Registered, revoked & retired naturopathic physician after 30 years of practice in healthcare. Now resourceful & resolved to share with you all the tools to take care of your health & vitality!
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Introduction: Welcome to the Healers Cafe, the #1 show for
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medical practitioners and holistic healers to have heart
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to heart conversations about their day to day lives while
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sharing their expertise for improving your health and
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wellness.
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Manon Bolliger: So welcome to the Healers Cafe today. I have
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with me Dr. Alan Weiser, and he is a JD jury defense, no
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Dr Alan Weisser: juris doctor, just
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Manon Bolliger: doctor, okay,
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Dr Alan Weisser: attorney and clinical psychologist.
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Manon Bolliger: Okay. Thank you for that. A PhD, and you're a
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psychologist, an attorney, and a program developer whose career
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spans more than five decades across law, behavioral health,
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and system level clinical leadership. His work reflects a
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rare integration of legal, psychological, and
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organizational expertise with a sustained focus on complex
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mental health conditions, chronic pain, and the
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development of effective patient-centered systems of
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care. All right, I'm not going to go more into your, your bio
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will be available for everyone to read all the details, but I
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wanted to get to the, to our discussion a little bit. Well, I
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first of all, welcome, and it's so exciting to to meet somebody
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that has that breadth of knowledge, and like it's like a
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high position to look at everything you know and make
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sense of things, because we tend to compartmentize everything,
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and we're not really seeing the bigger picture. So I'm really
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thrilled to have this opportunity. So, thank you.
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Dr Alan Weisser: Yeah, and as I said, thank you as well.
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Manon Bolliger: Yeah, so, well, I'm thinking, why don't we start
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with how, how you got to there? Basically, how did you, you
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know, not just leave one one thing behind and move on? Like,
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how did, how did you organize your life to decide that all of
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it was going to stay, and, and you're just going to work
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bigger. How did all that work?
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Dr Alan Weisser: You might find my answer a little bit different
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than what you'd expect, but I would say it started with comic
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books.
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Manon Bolliger: Okay, go ahead, please.
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Dr Alan Weisser: Growing up, I loved science fiction. I love
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fantasy, and I was one of those people that read superhero comic
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books, and I go, I want to be that, not necessarily somebody
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with powers, but a person who could help other people,
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especially people that could not be helped, right? And that was
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kind of my orientation as a child, and I think that sort of
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set the foundation for what I did, and so, as you know,
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there's lots of ways you can help people, and certainly for
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me personally, I wanted to help people that normally don't get
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the help. I had enough personal experiences with that, that also
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really affirmed that that's what I wanted to do, and that's part
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of how it started my journey, which went through being a
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lawyer, and then eventually it's becoming a clinical psychologist
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and working with the populations I've worked with. So, it started
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with comic books, that's my origin story.
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Manon Bolliger: Okay, and who, who are this population that you
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feel are, yeah, that are not being looked after, that you're,
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you're able to help
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Dr Alan Weisser: the human race.
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Manon Bolliger: Okay, but more specifically, is there a group?
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Dr Alan Weisser: I mean, I mean that with all due respect, I
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mean, certainly don't necessarily need it, but I think
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that, especially now, too many people do not understand their
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own power that they don't understand how to deal with a
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world that has changed so radically in the last 60 or 70
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years, that they don't understand that we don't just
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suffer from those changes, but right now we are, and I, through
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my work and all of it, actually, it all informs you, right, in
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the way you summarize it, all the legal skills that I learned,
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and you know, this made such a difference when I became a
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psychologist. In a way, it's perfect combination. One
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supported the other. I think people in general have always
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needed to know their own power. You understand this in your
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work. I kept looking in psychology, as you know,
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evolves, right? There's been many approaches over the years,
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and current psychology is integrating it, always based on
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the model in physics. So current model is based on quantum
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mechanics, right, and string theory.
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Manon Bolliger: So that's
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Dr Alan Weisser: why creating mindfulness into therapy now,
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so. I was encouraged in my training, and I had a lot of
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really good training supervision to just think beyond what I
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knew, and that has led to the development of something that is
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beyond what I knew. But the legal training, the background
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about wanting to help people was reinforced. You work with the
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chronically mentally ill in the state mental hospital, which was
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what I did in my internship, and then stayed for 10 years. It's a
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very simple choice. You either figure out how you're going to
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help people whose whole lives are trashed, or you just don't
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do
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Manon Bolliger: it.
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Dr Alan Weisser: It's too hard, right? I wish that every
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therapist went through that kind of training, because I learned a
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lot of things about myself and being there for people, but it
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was really understanding how do you empower people that are
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psychotic and institutionalized, and then beyond that work, where
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I developed a lot of ways to do that, beyond what I was taught,
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and I was encouraged to do that. Then I started working with the
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chronic pain population almost by accident. There's a reason
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why I had to stop working with a chronically mentally ill. The
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system was just too broken,
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Manon Bolliger: right? Okay,
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Dr Alan Weisser: I knew, I knew ways well beyond what was being
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done, you know, about institutions and how they get in
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the way.
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Manon Bolliger: Yep, I
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Dr Alan Weisser: get involved with a chronicling mentally, and
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I go, "This is very familiar. These people aren't psychotic,
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but their whole lives are trashed.
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Manon Bolliger: Yeah, yeah,
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Dr Alan Weisser: don't get it. The problem is, we, by
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definition, in my opinion, you don't make it through a day
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without suffering injuries. It's the nature of being human. Being
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alive is dangerous, right? Whether you stub your toe or
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somebody slights you or something bad really happens,
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it's the natural state of affairs, right? Life comes with
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side effects. I go, okay, and I've seen the worst of it, but
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then I'm going, like, okay, well, isn't there some way to
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counter that? Are we designed to suffer, which a lot of people
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believe? I go, like, I don't think so. Digging into all the
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models of healing and being trained in a lot of them,
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eventually I find out there's something called the existential
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immune system that actually is constantly healing as you go
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through the challenges that you're constantly being healed
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as you're being injured, and if this system is working at an
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optimal level, you've got a shot, and I've been through this
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personally as well as professionally. So maybe a
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bigger answer to the question on what you were asking, but no,
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Manon Bolliger: no, no, that's that's exactly, yeah, that's
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what I'm getting to understand, what the scope of it is, and how
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does it make sense, and where the limitations are, which are
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clearly
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Dr Alan Weisser: there's none. You can be chronically mentally
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ill, you can be chronically pained, you can have boss. This
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system started with chronic pain and chronically, it's a way of
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dealing with things that is simply understands the nature of
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your power and how to optimize it. The background and legal
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training, my martial arts, huge influence on this. I don't think
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of what I do so much as therapy, or I think of as you come to the
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dojo and you learn how to defend your emotional, psychological,
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and existential life.
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Manon Bolliger: Okay. Interesting. Well, why don't we,
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or if you're okay with it, either take yourself as an
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example or a client without a name, but I'll ask you to speak
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a little closer to the mic, because I, I'm having some
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issues
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Dr Alan Weisser: about this. Is that closer?
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Manon Bolliger: Yeah, that's better.
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Dr Alan Weisser: Yes, sorry about that. Let me try a quick
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experiment. If I disconnect from my external mic, use the
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computer mic and like clean it up.
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Manon Bolliger: Sure, that's
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Dr Alan Weisser: fine. Try unplugging this and see if it
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works. No,
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Manon Bolliger: okay. No, can't hear
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Dr Alan Weisser: you. Yeah, I about technology is not one of
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my skills.
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Manon Bolliger: Yeah, don't worry, I had my computer not
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start this morning,
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Dr Alan Weisser: so I'm sorry. Go back to your question.
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Manon Bolliger: Yeah, no. So, why don't we start with turning
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this into a person, whether it's you as an example, or anyone
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that should make the point of sort of what is their journey
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through your, your methodology, through your eyes, what is it?
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How does it work?
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Dr Alan Weisser: Great question. I'll give you a quick rundown on
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the technology and connect it to an actual situation.
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Manon Bolliger: Okay,
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Dr Alan Weisser: so as far as I can tell, all human experience
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is translated by thoughts and feelings. That's kind of where
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the rubber hits the road. We have things happen, we
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experience it through our thinking and feeling, right?
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That suggested thought and feeling is very important. And
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then the question was, if you think of them as systems, are
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they working in the way they were designed? For example, if
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you put regular gas in a $2 million car, what's going to
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happen? It may run, but not well, and eventually it's
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damaged, right. So I won't get into this, the mechanics of the
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system, but there's a technology for doing this to optimize the
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thinking process and. Feeling process, for example, if you
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suppress your emotions, you are not working them with them.
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They're tools, all right. You engage in judgmental thinking,
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assumptions, generalizations, rationalizations, that is, not
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using thinking in a way that represents the truth. A goal in
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this technology is to bring people into using these systems
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the way they were designed, and optimizing them. Give you an
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example. I'll tell you, there's a lot of ways I could talk about
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it, but I think the number one tool in helping people heal and
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stay in healing is to live in inspiration,
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Manon Bolliger: is to, is to,
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Dr Alan Weisser: in inspiration,
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Manon Bolliger: live in inspiration. Okay,
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Dr Alan Weisser: you understand that you're obviously a really
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inspired person. Case in point, I have a patient who suffered
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some of the worst neck injuries I've ever seen, multiple
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surgeries. He's involved in the workers' comp system, incredibly
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depressed, on the verge of killing himself, but kind of has
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fighting spirit, which I understand from the martial
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arts, and I'm trying to help him, so he's in a position where
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he's not going to return to the work he did before, physically
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can't do it anymore. When I met him, he's over, he's done, he's
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ready to die. His life has no purpose, it has no meaning. I
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go, okay, maybe he had an opportunity to do retraining.
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All right, you can go back to school, get it paid for. And I
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go, so let's talk about your life. Before you took on
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responsibilities, did you want to do what you were doing? He
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says, no. I said, well, what was the fantasy? What really always
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appealed to you? It turned out it was robotics. Always
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fascinated since he was a little kid, right? So we tap into what
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really motivates him, what he loves, and I said, "Well, you
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have no choice, you have to change, you can get it paid for.
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When I tell you that he's one of the worst cases of pain I've
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ever seen, that how this guy could sit at a computer or go to
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a classroom, impossible. He went through the program with an
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average, because we tapped into what really mattered to him.
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Manon Bolliger: Yeah,
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Dr Alan Weisser: I have overcome things in my life personally,
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because I love being alive, and I do not like a threat to that,
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and I don't take it lying down. And I hit the fan with that one
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when I was 12 and a half. If you may know from my bio, 12 and a
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half, I broken my neck, and I was told that I would be a
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cripple for the rest of my life,
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Manon Bolliger: right?
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Dr Alan Weisser: You know, I've done martial arts over 50 years,
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didn't turn out to be a problem, but that was because I go, like,
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maybe that's my story, but I get to choose, right, and I made a
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choice, so the power in being human has to do with the
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intention you set and the choices you make and what your
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purpose is. If you know what matters to you, that is
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incredibly motivating. And then, if you develop that around the
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different skills and tools to use your system, you put those
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two together, inspiration and number two support emotional
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connectivity, not being alone in it. And then you build the tools
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around that power and show people that you may think you
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run out of choices, you may think that your life is over,
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you're a one trick pony, and I go, there's no such thing. How
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many lives have you already lived? I believed, I don't know,
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20 lives already. They're all me, but they're all different,
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Manon Bolliger: right?
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Dr Alan Weisser: So, I don't know if I'm saying more than you
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need to hear about, but I took on the challenge of my own
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disability. I've taken it with 1000s of patients, and I go,
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like, maybe, maybe it's not possible to thrive, but you
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could,
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Manon Bolliger: right?
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Dr Alan Weisser: It's always about possible, and there may be
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things where you go like that's it, maybe, but how about you?
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I'm not interested in that,
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Manon Bolliger: right? So I don't want to diminish what
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you're saying, I'm picking on a small part of what you're saying
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for you to expand on it when you say, or how I'm taking what
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you're saying. Let's put it this way, it's like there has to be a
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little gap of possibility, just that that openness that you can
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then get in, like otherwise the person's like a no, I've done my
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life, I have no purpose. So is part of it finding through your
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questioning, you know, like, like with this fellow you
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mentioned, you ask them what did they really do, what they wanted
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to do, and then boom, you've got that window, and then it's a
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question of bringing that out and turning that into something
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feasible, even though he's in chronic pain, he can't sit
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somehow, all of that doesn't matter now that he's connected
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to his goal or action. Goes away, like, what? What's the
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process that you're seeing
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Dr Alan Weisser: doesn't go away. If you look at the book
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title, it talks about mastery, not managing. All right, in the
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martial arts, I'm very skilled. Does that mean I can never be
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hurt? Absolutely not. It means I've got a fighting chance,
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Manon Bolliger: a fighting chance. Yeah,
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Dr Alan Weisser: and you know this. If something really
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matters to you, it's it's the person who lifts the car up when
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their child's injured, right? It's things people do that are
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exceptional. Stephen Hawking, I can't do. Stephen Hawking did, I
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would love to. Like, how did you do that?
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Manon Bolliger: Yeah,
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Dr Alan Weisser: right. I don't know that everybody will find
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their way. We are not designed to be done. We're designed to
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evolve, and I say, look, maybe you can't find your way into
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something that would balance. It's about balance. I don't tell
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people you're not going to care about your pain anymore, but
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that you're going to be cured. I do tell people that if you can
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find enough purpose and meaning and connectivity, it might make
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it worthwhile to stick around and to find way to be in the
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world. Part of the problem is, you know, this people don't get
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it. It's dangerous to be alive,
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Manon Bolliger: right? Don't
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Dr Alan Weisser: mean out there vulnerable. Well, I never had a
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choice at 12 and a half, like it or not, right?
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Manon Bolliger: Yeah, yeah,
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Dr Alan Weisser: shock to the system. It's an existential
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crush, and I go once you get used to the idea that you can,
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but you're designed to find a way through this. They don't,
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they don't. I just want to give people a fighting chance.
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Manon Bolliger: Yeah,
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Dr Alan Weisser: and suddenly you have no pain, or you don't
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have whatever challenges you have, but you have more power
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than you think you do.
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Manon Bolliger: Yeah, you'd be the nemesis of the maid system
00:16:42
here in Canada. I'm sure you've heard of it. In Canada, the maid
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system, medically assisted death.
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Dr Alan Weisser: If a person wants to do that, there's no
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judgment here.
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Manon Bolliger: No, it's not. It's not about judgment at all.
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It's the fact that it's the biggest industry we have in
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Canada, and we have there's more people killed in that
00:17:07
methodology propagated by our government than any other way,
00:17:13
so it's, you know, it's it's the hopelessness they bring to
00:17:18
people. Oh, you can't pay your rent, it's really a problem, you
00:17:24
know. And sorry, but you know, you do have a way out. You can
00:17:28
use this. I mean, I'm mocking it slightly, but not much, you
00:17:33
know. And so I was gonna say that's why you'd be not very
00:17:38
popular in that organization, trying to find a little bit of
00:17:41
hope for people
00:17:45
Dr Alan Weisser: situations where it's really not worth
00:17:48
Manon Bolliger: it. Sure,
00:17:49
Dr Alan Weisser: I both know that that would have to be
00:17:51
something so extreme where there's no other logic, right?
00:17:55
Manon Bolliger: That, but it's not how it's implemented. Yeah,
00:17:58
Dr Alan Weisser: it's been abused, that's that's
00:18:00
Manon Bolliger: absolutely, yeah,
00:18:01
Dr Alan Weisser: completely. So, look, I'm not, I'm not doing
00:18:04
something that's Pollyannaish, pie in the sky. I've been at
00:18:08
this for a long time, and frankly, I, in the beginning, go
00:18:12
like, really, I'm going to do something about this level of
00:18:14
suffering, and then, but I'm not the kind of person to go, like,
00:18:18
there's nothing you can do, that's just me, right. I'm
00:18:22
creative. I got into doing a lot of program development, even in
00:18:27
the law. All right, when I was in law school, I had a study
00:18:30
group. You know how every person in the study group has a job. My
00:18:34
job was to come up with an innovative way to do the case.
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00:19:47
Dr Alan Weisser: Oh, yeah, let's use insurance law in the
00:19:49
criminal case, right? Just I feel very grateful, because when
00:19:54
I look at any situation, they usually find some more effective
00:19:57
and efficient ways, so I'm just. Saying, and don't get me wrong,
00:20:01
I don't believe in hope, right? It's magical thinking. What I
00:20:05
believe is, if you know how much power you have as a human, and I
00:20:09
mean real power, maybe in power, you were not designed to be
00:20:14
powerless. You can never be powerless as a human. Well, what
00:20:18
does that mean,
00:20:19
Manon Bolliger: and
00:20:19
Dr Alan Weisser: how do you connect to that, the work you
00:20:21
do. Actually, I think is probably based on helping to
00:20:23
connect to an aspect of that power, and that's used for the
00:20:27
healing process. I'm just saying, find out what you really
00:20:31
got going for you.
00:20:33
Manon Bolliger: Yeah,
00:20:33
Dr Alan Weisser: or you decide that you have no power, and that
00:20:35
you're
00:20:35
Manon Bolliger: done. Right? Right.
00:20:39
Dr Alan Weisser: Well, I probably go like, oh, well, if I
00:20:41
can learn to live with it, learn to deal with
00:20:44
Manon Bolliger: it,
00:20:45
Dr Alan Weisser: and still have a life,
00:20:47
Manon Bolliger: yeah. Then, if
00:20:48
Dr Alan Weisser: we go like, I've lost it all, there's no
00:20:50
point never getting back. Okay.
00:20:54
Manon Bolliger: So, how was it for you, like, as a 12 year old
00:20:58
with, you know, such a serious injury, and how did you, how did
00:21:05
you get to the next step? Like, what was the process for you
00:21:10
to..
00:21:12
Dr Alan Weisser: it nearly destroyed my life.
00:21:14
Manon Bolliger: Yeah,
00:21:15
Dr Alan Weisser: I'll tell you why, because I just shut down
00:21:21
nobody. If you talk to me during that whole healing period, I
00:21:24
mean, I was on my back in the bed for a year in a brace, not
00:21:26
allowed to move, and to learn how to walk again, even though I
00:21:29
wasn't paralyzed. But nobody knew I'd crack jokes, nobody
00:21:34
knew. I didn't let myself know how I was feeling. But here's
00:21:36
the interesting part: I've got advanced degrees, right, and
00:21:41
picture that I'm flunking out of high school. Remember, this
00:21:45
happened through junior high,
00:21:47
Manon Bolliger: right?
00:21:48
Dr Alan Weisser: If you asked me at the time why I'm not doing
00:21:50
well, I would have said I'm not very smart. And then I ran into
00:21:55
a chemistry teacher in junior year, was a young, very
00:22:00
enthusiastic, funny guy, like to blow things up. So, I liked him.
00:22:05
Manon Bolliger: Yeah.
00:22:06
Dr Alan Weisser: Halfway through the quarter, he's going, 'You're
00:22:07
failing my course. Why are you failing? I go, 'What are you
00:22:10
talking about? He says, 'You're smart. Like, no, I'm not. I
00:22:13
literally debated with him.
00:22:15
Manon Bolliger: Well,
00:22:16
Dr Alan Weisser: he said, 'You know what? I don't care. He made
00:22:18
me come after school. I got through the course with a C
00:22:22
didn't convince me that I was smart, but it made me wonder
00:22:25
that maybe if I worked hard enough, right,
00:22:27
Manon Bolliger: there
00:22:28
Dr Alan Weisser: were people along the way, and that
00:22:30
continued. I got through high school, then I got into college
00:22:33
the hard way. There were people that come along and go like, you
00:22:37
don't really know who you really are, but here's the part that is
00:22:41
really important. I didn't know until 30 years later why I
00:22:46
always thought I was stupid in high school. I never asked
00:22:49
myself, why did you think you weren't smart? I was busy
00:22:53
proving that I was smart most of life. Law school, that was a
00:22:58
test. Graduate school, that was a bigger test that was part of
00:23:03
in law school until 30 years ago. 30 years later, in a
00:23:08
session with a patient, I'm reflecting back on that moment,
00:23:12
and something surfaced that I completely buried was what I
00:23:16
thought when the doctor came in the room and said what he did. I
00:23:21
thought, stupid, stupid, stupid. Look what you did to yourself.
00:23:28
Manon Bolliger: Wow.
00:23:29
Dr Alan Weisser: 30 years later, my whole life was plagued by
00:23:33
this. I'm smart. I was able to be accomplished on the surface.
00:23:36
I look fine. I was not there. Was nothing about my life that
00:23:40
wasn't questioned. There was no real confidence behind the
00:23:43
bravado.
00:23:44
Manon Bolliger: Right,
00:23:45
Dr Alan Weisser: I soldiered my way through it, but I kept
00:23:47
meeting people who reflected, who said, "You need to know who
00:23:51
you really are through this life safely, unless we have people to
00:23:55
help
00:23:56
Manon Bolliger: us,
00:23:58
Dr Alan Weisser: whether it was in law school or friendships, so
00:24:00
when I traveled out in the world and ended up living with better
00:24:03
for a while, there was people who go like you don't seem to
00:24:07
know who you really are,
00:24:10
Manon Bolliger: but
00:24:10
Dr Alan Weisser: I work with people, I'm trying to pass that
00:24:11
along and go like you may think you know who you are, what you
00:24:14
are, actually you don't, so I'm very grateful for that, and I
00:24:20
also understood why, if you don't look at the whole life of
00:24:23
a person, everything that's been affected. Nobody was asking
00:24:28
Manon Bolliger: me,
00:24:28
Dr Alan Weisser: and I actually checked in with family after
00:24:31
this, and I said, like, how did I seem during that time, which
00:24:34
I'd never asked, by the way. My two brothers had family, they
00:24:38
go, you seem to be fine, take the doctors asked me how I was
00:24:43
feeling about what happened to me. You think the doctors even
00:24:46
bothered to check up on me to see if maybe I could cover more.
00:24:50
Never happened, so this is personal for me.
00:24:56
Manon Bolliger: Yeah, no, I mean, that's that's the most.
00:25:00
Critical part of any care, right? Like any connection, it's
00:25:05
the connection that allows the healing in that sense to take
00:25:09
place, and it's, it's, it's so beautiful, the way, like, in
00:25:13
your life, it's.. it just.. it happens along the path, and I
00:25:17
think that's what it is, you know, in everybody's life, in a
00:25:21
sense, you know, and, but to take the moment to notice that
00:25:26
is also important, right? Because I think sometimes these
00:25:31
statements are at least, if I reflect in my life, I've heard
00:25:36
such things like, oh, you haven't figured out who you are
00:25:40
yet, yeah, sure, you got three degrees, and blah blah blah, you
00:25:43
know, and but, and it's like, yeah, I know who I am, as ego
00:25:48
goes forward, you know, but but it wasn't fully all ego, I
00:25:52
really wanted to help people, that was the driver, so I was
00:25:55
doing what I loved, but it's the, it's really the power of
00:26:00
understanding the inner power that everyone has, like, like
00:26:06
when I tell my patients, your body can heal, like it, it's
00:26:11
made to heal, it's almost like we have to appreciate that it
00:26:17
can, it's built this way, let's not fight it, you know, how can
00:26:21
we contribute to this? How can we notice it? How can we, you
00:26:25
know, work with it, right? And, and I think that's, and I'm only
00:26:29
at the beginning of this journey, but it's, it's, and
00:26:34
maybe when you say that the real power that we have, it's, it
00:26:39
goes beyond also the physical, it's, you know, you could call
00:26:45
it spiritual, that's one way, but you know, I'm not trying to
00:26:49
put any religion in there either.
00:26:52
Dr Alan Weisser: I think you can say that it's string theory for
00:26:54
the human being, because what is the equivalent of string theory
00:26:57
for humans?
00:26:59
Manon Bolliger: String theory, okay,
00:27:02
Dr Alan Weisser: string theory is about everything is made up
00:27:03
of energy, right?
00:27:04
Manon Bolliger: Right, yeah.
00:27:05
Dr Alan Weisser: We are energy,
00:27:07
Manon Bolliger: exactly. Yeah,
00:27:10
Dr Alan Weisser: and what you do and what I do says you are an
00:27:12
energetic being.
00:27:14
Manon Bolliger: Yeah, exactly
00:27:16
Dr Alan Weisser: through your intention, through your choices,
00:27:19
through your. you do that, I don't know about you, but I
00:27:24
believe that humans don't need machines, and they don't need
00:27:27
doctors, but we are not raised to understand the power that we
00:27:30
have innately to heal, and then people like yourself come
00:27:33
Manon Bolliger: along and go,
00:27:34
Dr Alan Weisser: no, actually you can, and here's how you do
00:27:38
it, all right, like I said, humans are wonderful creatures.
00:27:41
They just don't know it, and they could destroy themselves,
00:27:44
not even standing. Right,
00:27:46
Manon Bolliger: right. Yeah, very interesting. What a
00:27:53
profound morning conversation. Oh, wow, that's quite, quite
00:27:59
something. Yeah, and also, just like, how you know that just
00:28:05
because nobody asked you how you were, and you didn't think about
00:28:09
asking how you were, because at that age you didn't have that,
00:28:14
like you have no context to understand how you could
00:28:17
understand, right? It's like you're just the end, there you
00:28:21
are, you know,
00:28:24
Dr Alan Weisser: just you know, even physically I found out
00:28:26
years later why I was okay. Actually, got to see a
00:28:30
chiropractor who took X-rays, and he goes, "You know, I've
00:28:33
never seen this before. He said, "You seem to have experienced a
00:28:36
natural fusion, which might have been the result of the
00:28:40
treatment, but if I could have experienced that the doctors
00:28:43
never said that could happen, or what I need to do, I suspect
00:28:47
that part of it was just physical, but I think some of it
00:28:50
was my intention. Remember, I was not going to be held back by
00:28:53
this,
00:28:54
Manon Bolliger: right?
00:28:55
Dr Alan Weisser: And you see this with people you work with,
00:28:58
if you are, if your person's intention is said on healing,
00:29:02
they're more likely to heal.
00:29:03
Manon Bolliger: Absolutely,
00:29:04
Dr Alan Weisser: the placebo effect, I mean, under the..
00:29:07
these are not magic. This is people tapping into that power.
00:29:10
The problem is a lot of educated to not even understand that.
00:29:14
Manon Bolliger: Yeah, yeah,
00:29:15
Dr Alan Weisser: a dependent on a system that's more about
00:29:18
profit than it is about cure.
00:29:21
Manon Bolliger: Yep, I and hopefully we're changing that
00:29:24
system as we speak,
00:29:28
Dr Alan Weisser: and is probably got a better shot at it compared
00:29:30
to what's going on here right now.
00:29:32
Manon Bolliger: I don't know, you know, like honestly, we're
00:29:36
so bureaucratically, technocratically stuffed up that
00:29:43
we don't know who's like there's a lot of, there's a lot of soul
00:29:48
missing in in what's happening here, so I'm not so sure about
00:29:52
that, you know.
00:29:54
Dr Alan Weisser: Okay, this way I crave bureaucracy for what's
00:29:56
going on here, right?
00:29:58
Manon Bolliger: You see, the bureaucracy. To hear, yeah,
00:30:02
Dr Alan Weisser: what's going on in this country right now?
00:30:04
Manon Bolliger: Yeah,
00:30:05
Dr Alan Weisser: I know about bureaucracy and the problems
00:30:06
with it. And by the way, just go back to what you started with
00:30:09
about being a
00:30:10
Manon Bolliger: lawyer, right?
00:30:11
Dr Alan Weisser: Being a lawyer means advocating.
00:30:14
Manon Bolliger: Yes,
00:30:14
Dr Alan Weisser: I think that part of the journey that I went
00:30:16
through was having to advocate for other people. You can do
00:30:20
that if you're not willing to know, you can do that.
00:30:23
Manon Bolliger: Correct.
00:30:24
Dr Alan Weisser: It was part of the healing journey for me to
00:30:26
actually help other people. I started out at Legal Aid
00:30:28
Society. I was
00:30:30
Manon Bolliger: working
00:30:30
Dr Alan Weisser: people that had no resources, all right, and
00:30:32
going up against systems, and
00:30:35
Manon Bolliger: yeah,
00:30:37
Dr Alan Weisser: what's going on right now in the world, we both
00:30:39
know is something that was inevitable. Human races do for a
00:30:44
reset, but the good news is there are people like yourself,
00:30:48
me, other people I know, probably you know, there may be
00:30:53
a soft landing down the road a piece, but there was things
00:30:56
needed to reshuffle.
00:30:58
Manon Bolliger: Absolutely,
00:30:59
Dr Alan Weisser: just as you do in treatment, I'm doing, and
00:31:01
what I do is better mousetraps. I know a lot of people, I bet
00:31:05
you do that. Go give us the opportunity. FDR in the 30s, the
00:31:11
New Deal.
00:31:12
Manon Bolliger: Yeah,
00:31:13
Dr Alan Weisser: but he did. He took the smartest minds in the
00:31:15
country, they came up with a brand new, totally innovative
00:31:17
program, and saved the country. Right. Well, where's the,
00:31:21
where's the kitchen cabinet now, right? So I think that that's
00:31:26
why I am not pessimistic about what happens next. No, I think I
00:31:32
think, well, I think there's going to be a tremendous amount
00:31:35
of pain to go through, but I think the human race may be
00:31:39
ready to hear a message, which is very simple, you come
00:31:42
together when wonderful things happen, you pull apart and
00:31:45
terrible things happen, you get to choose. Yeah,
00:31:49
Manon Bolliger: now
00:31:50
Dr Alan Weisser: does it have to get before you go? Like, enough,
00:31:52
right? Violence has never ever helped the human race, right?
00:31:58
Gandhi, take your pick, right? That's a good speech, but that's
00:32:03
how I see the current state of things. If Canada is caught in
00:32:07
that situation, but Canada is being confronted now with having
00:32:11
to change, whether it wants to or not.
00:32:13
Manon Bolliger: Oh, absolutely, but I feel like it's almost, you
00:32:16
know, the new world order protocols, you know, and like it
00:32:21
managed to exist visibly and tangibly here, whereas in some
00:32:29
countries, not that aspects of it haven't, but people have, you
00:32:34
know, kind of well, or they're more concentrated, like in
00:32:38
Europe, or they fought against it, or they're more separated,
00:32:42
and therefore more politics comes into play, like you know,
00:32:46
there's all kinds of reasons, but I feel like, yeah, it's
00:32:50
inevitable in Canada, but it's going to be a shocker this
00:32:56
waking, you know, because I mean, that's where, you know,
00:32:58
advocacy I ended up not being able to keep my license because
00:33:05
of you, have you had to choose between freedom of speech or or
00:33:11
protocols that were believed wrongly believed, but I think
00:33:17
it's even more dirty than that, you know, necessary for human
00:33:23
safety and health, you know, which freedom to choose and
00:33:30
ethics, you know, you can't come from law without going, no, no,
00:33:35
no way. I need to know what's in here before I get informed
00:33:40
consent, you know, informed consent means informed, you
00:33:42
know, so I mean, I couldn't do this, so the, the advocacy part,
00:33:48
you know, came out loudest, actually, in the health
00:33:53
department, but it really, it comes back to wait a minute,
00:33:57
here everyone has got to wake up, you know, individually,
00:34:02
everyone's got to not believe that these systems that are
00:34:06
supposed to serve us, they're not supposed to control us, you
00:34:10
know, we're paying for management of sorts, but we're
00:34:15
not, like, I think there was a 400% increase in people working
00:34:21
for the government during Trudeau's time, you know, and
00:34:26
now there's.. we're just like it's those who have a job are on
00:34:31
one side and those who are self-employed or losing their
00:34:34
jobs are on the other side, like that's our.. it's a fine, you
00:34:38
know, fine line. I'm everything's a little grain of
00:34:41
salt, because once you make a generalization, there's always
00:34:45
untruths, but generally that's kind of where the advocacy is
00:34:50
necessary here, but I do, I do think that sometimes you have to
00:34:55
show how extreme it could be for people to go wait a. That this
00:35:00
is not, not okay, you know. So I think it's going to be exciting.
00:35:06
Dr Alan Weisser: Yeah. Well, too many people have been asleep at
00:35:08
the wheel, but
00:35:09
Manon Bolliger: yeah,
00:35:10
Dr Alan Weisser: I think that's the result of too much change,
00:35:12
too fast. The world has not adjusted to automation,
00:35:17
globalism, technology, AI is now jumping into the middle of all
00:35:21
of that, which is profound. I trust in the human race. I trust
00:35:26
in evolution.
00:35:28
Manon Bolliger: Yeah,
00:35:28
Dr Alan Weisser: maybe we survived it, maybe we don't, but
00:35:32
I think we could, and I think that there were a lot of people
00:35:34
who know that, and like I said, I think that people in general,
00:35:37
at least in this country, are getting tired of being divided,
00:35:42
Manon Bolliger: yeah, yeah.
00:35:43
Dr Alan Weisser: I think you're beginning to understand where's
00:35:45
that really taking you. This is the Pied Piper, right? Sounds
00:35:48
good, but you're going off a cliff.
00:35:50
Manon Bolliger: Yeah,
00:35:51
Dr Alan Weisser: right now it could be, but I've lived through
00:35:54
the 60s and 70s. I know a little bit about risking your license.
00:35:58
I came really close more than once,
00:36:01
Manon Bolliger: because,
00:36:02
Dr Alan Weisser: as you said, you either stand up or you
00:36:04
don't.
00:36:05
Manon Bolliger: Yeah,
00:36:06
Dr Alan Weisser: as much as I'd like to resist doing that, every
00:36:10
system I've ever been involved in, which is why I ended up
00:36:13
doing what I do now,
00:36:16
Manon Bolliger: which
00:36:16
Dr Alan Weisser: is I will now be able to be setting a
00:36:20
different tone in all systems. I'm not here to change systems,
00:36:24
but I am here to help people who, in the moment when they're
00:36:27
dealing with the problem, they are empowered to deal with
00:36:31
Manon Bolliger: it, right?
00:36:32
Dr Alan Weisser: More people who realize you've got a
00:36:34
responsibility, you know that in this country with a presidential
00:36:37
election, less than half the population votes.
00:36:41
Manon Bolliger: Yeah, people
00:36:42
Unknown: do not
00:36:42
Dr Alan Weisser: understand, and people say, Why should I vote?
00:36:44
It's only one vote I get. How did that ever happen? Think
00:36:48
about that, right? And I think people are going out because
00:36:50
what's going to happen, and you and I know this, in this next
00:36:53
election, people are going to have to really ask themselves,
00:36:56
How important it is that they have a right to vote. I don't
00:37:01
like the fact that there has to be pain before gain, but I'm not
00:37:03
sure it could have happened any other way.
00:37:05
Manon Bolliger: From
00:37:06
Dr Alan Weisser: it's not the problem, he's a symptom, you
00:37:10
know. Canada is its own life. I don't know Canada well enough,
00:37:13
although my best friend in life is from Canada. I, and I
00:37:16
traveled with him for a long time. I actually had a bag that
00:37:19
had a Canadian flag. I prefer to be Canadian at that point. I
00:37:26
spent a lot of time in British Columbia and Vancouver Island.
00:37:30
Listen, it's changing, but this conversation, people knowing
00:37:34
that there's other options, that there's ways through this that
00:37:37
people need to know.
00:37:39
Manon Bolliger: Yeah, definitely. Well, our time is
00:37:42
up, Ellen. And anyway, this is sort of the way I see the
00:37:46
contribution is putting discussions like this things
00:37:50
that matter really to people who are in healthcare, and so I'm
00:37:55
really thrilled that we were able to, yeah, to have this
00:37:59
conversation. So, thank you so much for taking
00:38:01
Dr Alan Weisser: me too, because we're going to be launching an
00:38:03
educational program, so you don't just have to see me as a
00:38:06
therapist. There'll be a lot of things available that you'll,
00:38:09
you'll hear more about, and most likely be doing my own podcast.
00:38:13
I want to just extend an invite in advance.
00:38:16
Manon Bolliger: Oh, fantastic, I'd love to be part of that.
00:38:18
Dr Alan Weisser: I'll get you posted, but probably by the end
00:38:21
of the summer.
00:38:22
Manon Bolliger: Okay, that'll be perfect timing.
00:38:25
Dr Alan Weisser: I really truly appreciate the conversation.
00:38:29
Like I said, people need to know there's possibilities.
00:38:32
Manon Bolliger: Yes. Yeah. Well, thank you.
00:38:36
Ending: Thank you for joining us at the Healers Cafe. If you
00:38:40
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