May 29, 2025

Watch for Free Bill Moyers 5-Part Documentary Series Healing and the Mind

In 1993, journalist Bill Moyers created a five-part documentary series looking to explain aspects of the mind-body connection and ways it can be applied in alternative healthcare. This series won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series and had a lasting impact on new ways people thought about healing and health. Two of the parts of the documentary are available on Vimeo and the other three parts available on the American Archive of Public Broadcasting. You can check them all out at the links below:

1. Healing and the Mind: The Mind Body Connection

In this introduction to his 5-part series Healing and the Mind, Bill Moyers takes a look at the mind-body connection and why separating the mind and body in medicine may be neglecting a powerful tool in staying healthy. Research has come a long way since this 1993 documentary in proving the importance of the mind-body connection for various illnesses. In this documentary, Moyers asks doctors and scientists fundamental questions about the mind and emotions and the role they play in our physical health. He follows patients who’ve tried Western medicine like medications without success and are turning to alternative treatments that relate to the power of the mind. Moyers even connects with a young Dr. Dean Ornish, who is utilizing diet, meditation, and group therapy to help treat heart disease. This is a good introduction to Moyers’ popular series.

2. Healing and the Mind: The Art of Healing

In this episode of the Healing and the Mind series, Bill Moyers goes into hospitals and interviews the doctors and patients involved in medical care in the United States. He explores the connection of mind and body through the relationships a patient has with his doctor and his support network of friends and family. He goes into a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and shows the bonding necessary to nurture a preterm baby. Moyers also is told again and again how a patient and their family need to take initiative in their own healing for the best outcomes. With the modern technology and busyness of today’s hospitals, they can often feel cold and intimidating, and Moyers seeks out a hospital that is looking to change this viewpoint with the help of mind-body medicine.

3. Healing and the Mind: Wounded Healers

In this episode of the Healing and the Mind series, Bill Moyers visits a one-week retreat for people who have cancer called the Commonweal Program in Bolinas, California. The program was founded by Rachel Naomi Remen and Michael Lerner who are both interviewed by Moyers in this documentary. They make no claims that alternative health can cure cancer, but they exist to deal with the holistic health of individuals. Most of the film focuses on a single group of people with cancer who are talking about their emotions over the course of a week. Along with talking about their disease, they participate in massage, yoga, creative arts, and other activities. This community-based approach seems to help the well-being of the group, even if some of them are preparing to die.

4. Healing and the Mind: Healing from Within

Bill Moyers investigates the connection between peace of mind and physical illness in this documentary that takes a look at the innovative work of Jon Kabat-Zinn and Dr. David Spiegel. We follow Kabat-Zinn as he leads a group of every day people dealing with chronic pain in guided mindfulness meditation at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Moyers also delves into a study Dr. Spiegel conducts with cancer patients on the emotional benefits of group psychotherapy. Both Kabat-Zinn and Spiegel approach these concepts of inner healing with a mainstream medical training background, but are open to finding new ways to help their patients heal, cope, grieve, and live with the stress of serious illness.

5. Healing and the Mind: The Mystery of Chi

In this hour-long episode of Bill Moyers’ Healing and the Mind series, Moyers travels to China to discover healing power of Chinese medicine and the mystery of Chi. Moyers is joined by Dr. David Eisenberg who served as the first U.S. medical exchange student to the People’s Republic of China and spent over 10 years there. Dr. Eisenberg teaches Moyers about Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, Chinese massage, tai chi, chi gung, martial arts, and the ideas of Taoism. Learn about Chinese medicine and health practices that have been around for thousands of years.

If you want to explore Moyers’s programs further, you can view a collection of over 800 programs in the Bill Moyers Collection on the American Archive of Public Broadcasting website:

Browse Over 800 Video Programs in the Bill Moyers Collection on the American Archive of Public Broadcasting