We’ll cover the following:

• Ancient Greek Healing Center Development: Asklepois and Hippocrates
• Ancient Greek dream interpretation and the healing process
• Ancient Greek ideas of the immortal soul and reincarnation
• How Plato and Pythagoras’ thought was absorbed into Christianity
• The life and teachings of Apollonius of Tyana
• Socrates’ development of logical reasoning and wisdom
• How to put teachings into practice for wellbeing

The Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus built around the fourth century BC in the Peloponnese region of Greece, was the main site for holy pilgrimage from the ancient world. In ancient Greece, hundreds of healing temples were dedicated to the healer Asklepios, known as Asclepieia. They functioned as centers of medical advice, prognosis, and spiritual and holistic healing. At these healing centers, patients would take a bath, detox with a healthy diet, make flower offerings, pray. In dreams they received guidance from the deity, and based on it would be prescribed cures by the priests, herbal and other therapies. In the Asclepieion of Epidaurus, three large marble boards dated to 350 BC preserve the names, case histories, and cures of about 70 patients. The dogs in the temples were healers, protectors, and communicators between humans and gods. In the legends, Asklepios was considered the son of Apollo, the Greek god of healing, light, prophecy and art and Koronis, a mortal woman. Asklepios had children dedicated to the healing aspect of the medical arts. His daughters, the Asclepiades, are: Hygieia- prevention through cleanliness and balanced living, Iaso- recovering, recuperation, Aceso- the healing process, Aegle- vibrant health, and Panacea- universal remedy. His sons were practicing doctors with two primary approaches to medicine: Machaon to surgery and Podalirius to internal medicine. The rod of Asclepius is the predominant symbol for medicine and health care even today.

We’ll explore teachings given at the ancient school of Pythagoras for well-being. Pythagoras is known for his mathematical achievement of the Pythagorean theorem. He established the academy and community in Italy, where he taught science, the notion of one God, harmony with nature, spirituality, meditation, healing with energy, herbs and music, vegetarianism, immortality of the soul, and reincarnation. He equally accepted men and women as students. Instead of sage, he preferred to be called a philosopher, from the word philos– to love, and sophia– wisdom. The Oracle of Delphi (at first called Pytho), is said to have predicted the birth of Pythagoras, and his immense contributions to mankind. The moral and ethical teachings of Pythagorean influenced Socrates, Plato’s, and Aristotle’s views and were assimilated into early Christian texts. We’ll look at Apollonius of Tyana, an ancient Greek philosopher, a follower of Pythagoras, known for healing and prophetic miracles, who was a contemporary of Jesus Christ. Apollonius is believed to be part of the ancient Essenes.

Socrates was a Greek philosopher and the main source of Western thought. Socrates is why we still praise the ability of reason in human affairs today. He is recognized for inventing the teaching practice, wherein a teacher questions a student in a manner that draws out the correct response, used in the logical and critical thinking development training to this day. In his work the Republic, Plato has Socrates describe a gathering of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. Socrates asks his listeners, “would they not assume that the shadows they saw were the real things and the whole truth?” “Then think what would happen to them if they were released of their bonds and cured of their delusions,” he says. Classical Greek ideas about the chakras are contained in the writings of Plato. Plato taught that our soul consists of:
1-Epithymia: desire, appetite (masses, stomach- 1st and 2nd chakras);
2-Thymos: spirit (warriors, chest- 3rd, 4th and 5th chakras);
3-Logos: wisdom, reason (philosophers, head- 6th and 7th chakras). The third eye chakra was called in Greek Enkephalos. This center Plato considered to be the seat of the psyche, or immortal soul.

The Hippocratic Corpus, the collected writings attributed to Hippocrates, contains works on a variety of medical topics. The Hippocratic Oath is perhaps the most widely known of Greek medical texts. According to the literature, “healthy mind in a healthy body” was the main component of the Hippocratic philosophy, which was also the principle applied at the Asclepieia temples. Plato in his works refers to Hippocrates as the priest of Asclepion. The original Hippocratic Oath began with the invocation “I swear by Apollo the Healer and by Asclepius and by Hygieia and Panacea”. Over the centuries, it has been rewritten often in order to suit the values of different cultures influenced by Greek medicine. Hippocrates is generally credited with using observation of the body as a basis for medical knowledge. Central to his physiology was the humoral theory of health, whereby the four bodily fluids, or humors, needed to be kept in balance.