How do you think this Russian man cures addictions?

Are there some things you find hard to stop doing? Did you succeed to stop doing them? How?

Yefim Shubentsov is known as “The Mad Russian.” He is described as a hybrid mixture of shaman, doctor, and therapist who has a mysterious "cure" for most addictions. He came to the US from Moscow in 1979. It is said he has helped cure more than 165,000 people of addiction, fears, eating problems, and “bad habits,” with his unique answers. He charges $65 for a group session, which includes giving group advice and individual healing.

In the session, Yefim walks around the room of his old house pointing and making large body expressions, but he does not touch anyone. After a single session, most of his clients say they feel freed from addiction, pain, or mental problems. Yefim says that he uses energy “like an instrument, like a hammer,” to eliminate a problem. He says his method is different from hypnotism because he cures people whether they believe or not.

Robin, 65 quit smoking six years ago with Yefim’s help after trying to stop for 40 years. Robin says she can’t explain what the magic was but she hasn’t craved a cigarette since her session in 2007. But his methods aren’t successful for everyone. William, from New York City, says he attended a session in 2001. He said Yefim yelled a lot about not drinking soda or using elevators. Afterwards, William says he only lasted three hours without a smoke and then smoked five cigarettes at one time.

Yefim has never advertised his service, but is famous in the local medical community. Last year, Dr. Douglas Powell, of the Harvard University health service, invited Yefim to help a group of his patients who were not successful with normal medicine. About half of the patients said they had a reduction in pain or other problems after a session. Yefim tells us that his success comes from doing this kind of healing for over 40 years. He began in Moscow by studying ancient Chinese medicine. He reads the "flow of energy." His book called Cure Your Cravings: Learn to Use this Revolutionary System to Conquer Compulsions, explains his ideas. The ideas are that you use inner toughness, logic, creativity, cleverness, patience, and endurance. With these anyone can free themselves from an addiction

Try to guess the meaning of the words in bold and match them with their closest meaning from the choices in the right. Some of the answers are very close and have similar meaning. The meaning of these words is how they are used in the reading. Some of these words have different meanings in the dictionary depending on how they are used.

 The answers are below the table.

hybrid	A	1	Secretive, not easy to know, hidden, unknown
mysterious	B	2	To destroy, remove
unique	C	3	Can’t control desire to do something
eliminate	D	4	Strength to keep doing something, keep going and not give up
craved	E	5	Unusual, one of kind
reduction	F	6	To make something smaller
Compulsions	G	7	To strongly desire/want something
endurance	H	8	A mixture between two or more things

 A=8, B=1, C=5, D=2, E=7, F=6, G=3, H=4

Some example sentences using the new words or phrases from the meaning of how they are used in the reading to help you understand better.

1. The fog and mist makes this place look mysterious.

2. This food is unique to South Korea.

3. The police are trying to eliminate illegal drugs.

4. I craved chocolate too much.

5. To lose weight we must reduce eating so much sugar.

6. I have compulsions to eat late at night but I must stop these cravings.

7. To succeed we must endure difficulty.

    

Some questions using the new words/phrases. Try to use the words/phrases in your answer.

Do you have cravings? If you did, how would you reduce them?

1. Do you think that doctors need to be a hybrid of many skills, or should they do only one thing very well?

2. Do you think Yefim’s skills are mysterious or do you think they are logical? Why or why not?

3. Is this story unique to you, or have you hear of other people like him?

4. Some people say if you have a craving for something such as sweet foods then you need to eliminate them from your house? How easy or hard is that for you?

5. Do you think some people are more compulsive than others?

6. If you have a habit, how hard is it to endure and to stop doing it?