The interplay between energy and matter, or mind and body was increasingly accepted. No medical eyebrows would be raised by the suggestion that stress was a cause of cardiac arrest or that anxiety could lead to digestive problems. It was accepted that dis-ease of the mind could manifest in physical form.

What if all disease originated in the mind? What if illness wasn’t random or accidental, but had come about because something in our inner state was out of kilter?

Wouldn’t it be extraordinary if imbalances could be treated as soon as they arose in the mind, before they became physically manifest? If we could use non-invasive, energetic methods to manage disease after it occurred? That was the purpose of Information Medicine.

As I studied the small photo of Alice at the top of the page – exactly the same one she had used for her ‘Introduction to Buddhism’ classes at the West Hollywood center – I thought how typically Alice the blog was. She’d always had the gift of being able to explain complex ideas in a simple yet compelling way. And at the same time, to arouse your curiosity so that you wanted to know more. Like what were these ‘non-invasive methods’ of information medicine? And, the question that made me personally curious: exactly what practice had she spent the past five years researching?

As I continued searching for Alice Weisenstein and Information Medicine, I was surprised to find nothing at all. No papers in academic journals or conference presentations. Looking up ‘Institute of Information Medicine,’ I was taken to an ‘Under Construction’ notice. Most research institutes I knew, like the one I used to work for in London, were engaged in an ongoing war for funding. They were out there banging their drums, showcasing their research, doing whatever they could to emphasize the importance of their work.

Not the Institute of Information Medicine. Too early in its development? Organizational introversion? Or was something else going on? How did the Institute pay its bills if it didn’t put itself out there?

Not being able to track down any information made me only the more curious. I tried plenty of different search options. Before eventually coming across an interview with Alice. Not in a high brow academic journal from the last two years. But in a staff newsletter called Synapse published by the neuroscience team at UCLA—before she left Los Angeles for Dublin. It was only half a page long, under the headline ‘Farewell Alice!’.

‘What have you been working on at UCLA?’ began the Q and A style interview.

‘I’ve been studying the impact of meditation on the brain. Specifically, how the practice affects our capacity for wellbeing.’

‘And does it?’

‘In many ways. The relationship is direct and can be very powerful. What’s especially interesting is how different types of meditation have different impacts. ‘Meditation’ is like the word ‘sport’—there are so many different meditation types. One of the most exciting findings has been discovering how different types of meditation have a variety of corresponding states of wellbeing.’