Ivan Figueroa-Otero, M.D. has practiced and studied medicine for over 40 years. He had a lengthy career as a successful pediatric surgeon, retiring in 2009. He then became certified in the practice of acupuncture and applies traditional Chinese medicine techniques to treating his patients. Now, at age 73, he has released a series of award-winning, Amazon best-sellers that explore the depths of the mind-body- spirit connection and offers insightful advice on how we can lead fulfilling, balanced, and productive lives. It’s a bit of Buddhism meets Western medicine, where the healing solutions come to us not only with pills or surgeries, but from within each of us.
He wrote books that not only help others but assist him along the path of self-discovery and coping with daily challenges. Life in Puerto Rico has paid a toll on him. He notes: “Having lived through the severe economic depression and bond market failure here, coupled with the recent hurricane crisis on the island, I have lost over 80% of my life’s savings.”
The doctor says his non-fiction books are a trilogy on learning or remembering our spiritual origins, addressing some of the big questions, including: Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I heading? How shall I live my life?
In his newest book, Spirituality 103: The Forgiveness Code-Finding the Light in Our Shadows, we discover new approaches to living a life at its maximum potential. He discusses useful techniques that help us to efficiently tackle the heavy issue of guilt and shows us the key to moving past our emotional scars to embrace what he calls a “forgiveness code,” a prescription to address past hurts and suffering.
He shares the following positive messages:
- Which steps we can take to improve our physical health that will also boost our mental state of mind.
- Why the power of forgiveness to eliminate guilt is the most important pathogen to eliminate disease in our bodies.
- How there’s a connection between faith, the placebo effect, and healing – and how to activate faith in our therapeutic roles.
- The ways we can learn to understand the love lessons hidden within every experience of suffering.
- How we can discover our universal life purpose without a co-dependent relationship to money, education, religion, politics or drugs.
- How we can tap into our Warrior of Light (wisdom) to defeat our inner battles with the Warrior of Shadows (ignorance and fear).
Dr. Figueroa-Otero, who was named Holistic Physician of the year in 2011 by Natural Awakening Magazine, offers books that delve into human nature, exploring what constitutes human brokenness and shows how to heal from it. His writings help anyone to understand why they feel sick, bitter, or in pain, revealing an approach to rise above those feelings. Additionally, he offers a genuine roadmap to experiencing real forgiveness and sheds a light on what we can do to find happiness.
Chosen as a Global Change Maker by Ghandi’s Be Magazine, Spirituality 103 provides a journey of love, compassion, and forgiveness that helps us transform how we live our lives.
In his first book, he emphasized that every failure always results in a learning process, which allows us to restructure our study plan to keep taking the tests unceasingly until we learn the lesson. “These tests shouldn’t be construed as a punishment from the regents of our universal school, but rather as a loving act of patience and trust in our capacity to ace them,” says the author. “Remember that the dropouts were those who gave up and stopped taking their tests.”
In the second book he addresses younger minds, whose daily perspective depends more upon modern technology. He transformed the traditional scientific and religious viewpoint into a more cybernetic one. In this one, he discusses how we become programmers and cyber domain browsers, varying in personal experiences according to program purity and their degree of corruption. “Therefore,” he says, “we concluded the best way to improve our individual browsing experience is by reprogramming, updating our “software” and purging our operating systems from all viral invasions.”
“He says that sometimes we lose our way in the journey of life. His books give insight on how to rebuild our lives from a foundation of balance physical-mental-spiritual health. It may not cure us of life’s ills, but it helps us handle them and to find our true purpose in life.
About Ivan Figueroa-Otero M.D., FACS, FAAMA
After decades of practice as a pediatric surgeon and nearly a decade of practicing holistic medicine, Dr. Ivan Figueroa-Otero now heals people through the guiding principles and empowering words of his successful series of self-improvement books.
His books include Amazon best-selling and award-winning titles:
Spirituality 103 The Forgiveness Code: Finding the Light in Our Shadows.
Spirituality 1.2, For the Disconnected from the School of Life.
Spirituality 101 For the Dropouts of the School of Life Review for the Final Exam
In 2009, Dr. Figueroa-Otero became certified in anti-aging medicine and he retired from the practice of pediatric surgery, focusing instead on a holistic medical practice with an emphasis on disease prevention and modification of lifestyles. In 2011, he was invited to become a Trustee of the American Board of Medical Acupuncture, which is the national body responsible for certifying physicians in the field of acupuncture. In that same year he was recognized by Natural Awakenings magazine as Holistic Physician of the Year.
Dr. Figueroa-Otero has received the Doctor’s Choice Award for pediatric surgery three times. Bilingual in English and Spanish, he was a member of the Puerto Rico Medical Association, American Academy of Medical Acupuncture, American Pediatric Surgical Association, and Fellow American Academy of Medical Acupuncture
After graduating from the School of Medicine of the University of PR in 1970, Dr. Figueroa Otero trained as a general surgeon at the University Hospital of the UPR School of Medicine, integrating a one-year fellowship in the study of cancer, and one year in experimental research. Post-graduate studies in pediatric surgery then follow at Miami Children’s Hospital and at the San Juan Municipal Hospital.
Looking for non-surgical or less invasive options for pediatric conditions, Dr. Figueroa-Otero explores Eastern philosophies that emphasize a holistic concept of disease. He was one of the first physicians to become certified in medical acupuncture in Puerto Rico, training in traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture with professors from the University of Seville. He is certified in medical acupuncture nationally.
Dr. Figueroa Otero is currently engaged in his private practice and continues in his role as an educator, trying to achieve full integration of traditional Chinese acupuncture courses in the curriculum of medical schools. He wants physicians to be certified both locally and nationally, and to establish clinical research protocols on the use of acupuncture in known conditions compared to the methodology established by modern medicine. Another immediate priority of his is to have meditation techniques and incorporated into preventive and therapeutic medicine.
He resides in Puerto Rico. For more information, please consult www.ifigueroa.allauthor.com.
