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This month's Spotlight Member has a rich and fascinating background. He rarely talks about himself. The interview he gave for this article is the first time he's publicly told the story of his life and what makes him tick. I think you'll be amazed. Miles Reid was born and spent his early years in Baltimore, Maryland. His father is Argentinean and his mother is German. When he was five, the family moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina. As a child, Miles was interested in animals and biology. He had a burning curiosity about the diversity of life and how life and nature worked together. In first grade, while most kids were drawing rudimentary stick figures and square houses, Miles created a drawing of an ecosystem. Miles comes from a long line of physicians. His uncles are doctors and his father is a renowned pediatric endocrinologist. In Argentina, students can apply to an intensive medical school program right out of high school. Miles took the qualification exam and ranked in the top 10 out of 11,000 applicants. He started medical school in Buenos Aires at 19 and earned straight As his first year. In order to be a good and well-rounded doctor, Miles felt he needed more life experience. After his first year of medical school, he took a two-year backpacking sabbatical. He wanted to trace his western roots so he traveled through the Americas, Western Europe, Greece, and the Middle East. After two years of travel, Miles returned to medical school. He experienced a seminal moment during his second year of medical school: His teacher, who was a physician, smoked a cigarette while teaching a class on the human respiratory system. Miles realized that traditional western medical training lacked any discussion about doctors' accountability and role-modeling as healers. After the third year of medical school, Miles took another two-year backpacking sabbatical-this time to India, South East Asia, and Africa. Part of his journey included studying animals in their natural habitats. There and since then he has spent time observing chimpanzees with Jane Goodall in Tanzania and orangutans in Borneo. He had a harrowing experience while observing gorillas in the Congo. A massive Silverback alpha-male gorilla, the leader of the pack, approached Miles so closely they were literally nose-to-nose. He sniffed Miles and sized him up for several minutes. The gorilla could have easily snapped his neck with one blow. Once the gorilla sensed that Miles posed no threat, he sauntered off back into the jungle. Miles took diverse jobs along the way to pay for his travels: He worked as an actor in Bollywood (the Hollywood of Bombay). He made cappuccinos at a well-known café in Sydney, Australia. He worked as a health program designer and therapist at a high-end French health resort in the Caribbean. He even worked as a commercial fisherman off the coast of New Jersey in the freezing winter. All his travel and work experiences broadened his worldview and paved the way for his integration of diverse cultures and medical systems into his professional practice. Miles has always felt a deep respect for women, their capacities, and their leadership capabilities, a view that was cemented though his travels and his life. Miles' interest in medicine sprang from his awe of the miracle of the human body and how it works so elegantly and efficiently on its own. He became fascinated with methods for helping the body heal and promote optimal functioning, without external interventions such as surgery and western pharmacology. While still in medical school, he observed and studied with various non-western healers and practitioners. Miles graduated from medical school, Suma cum Laude (with highest honors) and entered a residence as a general practitioner in Argentina. In his spare time, he apprenticed with a Chinese medicine doctor and developed a strong interest in acupuncture and oriental medicine. After three years of western medical practice, Miles decided to go to China and India to plunge deeper into the study of eastern medicine. On the way, he stopped in Los Angeles and was introduced to the renowned Mexican anthropologist and author, Carlos Castaneda. He spent the next ten years as a disciple of Castaneda in Los Angeles and Mexico. He never made it to China or India. Castaneda instructed Miles in the shamanistic tradition of ancient Mexico. He became part of a group of fellow-apprentices given the task to bridge that ancient tradition into today's modern setting. Castaneda taught them a traditional system of physical movements and breathing that promote healing, vitality, and well-being. The system is called Tensegrity and is in some ways similar to yoga in that it involves lifestyle guidelines, ethics, and the care of the physical body. For the past 10 years, Miles has been teaching Tensegrity classes and workshops around the world. Every year, he and his colleagues personally lead half a dozen or more worklshops in countries such as Germany, Spain and Russia. These workshops are attended by as many as 400 people. In addition, he helps supervise the instruction of Tensegrity groups in over 35 countries. His involvement in this practice comes from his heart-he does all this work to help people and keep the tradition alive and feels more than compensated through all the things he continues to learn by doing it. During his apprenticeship, Carlos Castaneda felt that Miles needed to grasp the impact of early child development on the rest of life. He dispatched Miles to Marin County as a health consultant to live and work with SED (severely emotionally disturbed) children. For a year and a half, Miles worked with these children, socially, emotionally, and medically. From this experience, he learned to work as part of a team, and about the critical role of love, affection and limits in caring for children. Miles returned to Los Angeles and attended Yo San University for training in acupuncture and herbology. Because he was already a doctor, he was hired to teach the required medical classes at the university at the same time. Some of his classmates were also his students in other classes. At times, he had to decide whether to hang out in the student or the faculty lounge. He graduated Suma Cum Laude with a degree in Oriental Medicine, and then opened his own acupuncture and herbology practice in Beverly Hills. The theme of Miles practice is promoting the body's innate healing mechanism. He believes in always using natural treatments, as the first line of intervention in any health issue. Miles practices integrative medicine-that is, medicine that integrates different systems of treatment and healing. Miles grasps the value of both western medicine and the other healing traditions. Each has its place and its applications. Because of his background in western medicine, he knows when it's advisable for patients to seek out western treatments. He sees his main strength as the ability to bridge diverse healing systems and points of view in order to promote understanding and healing. Miles is passionate about his practice of integrative medicine. Every day is a new adventure--he never knows what he'll encounter. He sees his practice as a "space of trust" where he can really listen to patients. He loves witnessing change--seeing the body's miraculous healing mechanism at work. Since 2005, Miles has attended the prestigious Aspen Institute, a renowned center for the gathering of luminaries in the fields of politics, economics, technology, science, medicine, and religion. Among the attendees are the founders of Google and Yahoo, the Clintons, Colin Powell, Dr Mehmet Oz and Queen Noor of Jordan. Every year the Institute hosts an Ideas Festival to discuss ideas for bringing change to the planet. Miles was invited as a speaker on the topic of health and the mind-body connection. Miles loves nature, wildlife and animals and being part of the community of life on this planet. He sees himself as a citizen of the world and peace as a common thread in everything he does. In keeping with his love of nature, Miles is an ardent supporter of the environmental group, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Geographic Society. Miles cites his parents and his grandmother as his underlying sources of inspiration. His grandmother loved life and culture and taught him the three As: adventure, appreciation, and abundance. He has also been inspired by his main teachers, Carlos Castaneda and Carol Tiggs, as well as by the Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, the Dali Lama, and the holistic doctor and author, Andrew Weil. Miles is also inspired by the focused and driven business people of the professional organization Le Tip International. His focus in the group is giving. He has been Top Tipper of the Month nine times and was voted Member of the Year in 2005. He feels that receiving is a byproduct of his contributions to the group. His favorite book is The Wheel of Time by Carlos Castaneda. His favorite music is Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, and his favorite movie is 2001: A Space Odyssey. Miles has received numerous honors, but one stands out for him: In 4th grade he won first prize for all Latin America in an art contest sponsored by the Untied Nations. His entry was a drawing of children of different races holding hands circling the earth. The caption was "The Time for World Peace Has Arrived." Last December, Miles married Aerin. He describes her as an incredible companion, who is intelligent and whose interests are aligned with his. She is a movement therapist and is also a student of Carlos Castaneda. In August, they will become parents to a baby boy. Miles sees fatherhood as his biggest adventure yet. Miles named his practice Tilo Medical. Tilo is Spanish for Linden, a tree whose blossoms are used to calm the mind and promote digestion. For Miles, Tilo represents the healing capacity of nature. The Linden's heart-shaped leaves represent a medicine of heart. The tree, with its many branches converging into a common trunk, signifies the bringing together of diverse disciplines for a common purpose: health, well-being, and peace. Dr. Miles Reid is an inspiration and force for the integration of peace, harmony, well-being, and planetary change.
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