I’ll never forget in one of our interviews with Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, she told the story of walking down a hallway with a host of a “live” program she was about to appear on to talk about her book “Kitchen Table Wisdom”, and the host said “It’s a cookbook, right?” This book is NOT a cookbook, it is about the philosophy that healing and curing are not the same thing. She has brought spirituality, meaning, and compassion into modern medicine for millions. And we have been honored to host her many times on New Dimensions.
Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D. was a pioneering physician, author, and mind-body medicine teacher. She died peacefully at her home on August 8, 2026, at age 88, following a decades-long struggle with breast cancer and Crohn’s disease — the same illness doctors once told her would kill her by 40. She was surrounded by loved ones, who sang at her bedside as she passed under hospice care. Please see below a list of her timeless wisdom contained in programs we did with Rachel through the years.
Would you rather live from the heart or live from the intellect? Inspired by stories from her grandfather, an orthodox rabbi and Kabbalah scholar, Rachel Naomi Remen tells of emerging from a socialistic, atheistic upbringing to a life of grace, mystery, and wonder. “We may all need to know less and wonder more.” She shows how we move from helping and fixing to serving. Read more »
Our culture trains us to scorn the unknown as a problem to overcome. The soul craves the awe and wonder of life’s mystery. In this New Dimensions 25th-anniversary talk, Remen shares wisdom gained as a physician working with cancer patients: honoring mystery brings strength, healing, and hope. “Life is not a problem to be solved,” she says. “It’s a mystery to be lived.” Read more »
Remen’s insights from over forty years as a physician, as well as her personal experience of living with a chronic disease, will change the way you think and your ability to cope with illness in yourself or your loved ones. She suggests we can live well despite our illness and that there is a difference between being cured and being healed. Read more »
Where Medicine Meets Art
A doctor and an artist join talents in therapy where pain becomes art and art becomes medicine. Through the sand tray–a spontaneous arrangement of miscellaneous objects–patients access their unconscious nonverbally, gaining a symbolic voice that gives meaning to their lives. “Each of us is moving towards wholeness,” says Remen. Weber agrees: “Life is a sand tray.” Read more »
