BIOGRAPHY OF DR. YUSUF QUDDUS ERSKINE 

“In 1981, Mother Theresa gave me a few clean rags, a bucket partially filled with clean water, and instructions for me to go into the hospice room (a previously abandoned Kali temple in Calcutta) and provide succor**. I attempt to make good on her instructions to this day.”

“The fervent desire to promote optimal health and not just treat disease is my compelling goal.”

Doctor Yusuf Erskine is sincerely committed to guiding and supporting his client-patients to achieve their full expression of health; to ease or erase their pain; and by promoting the vitality, enable the pursuit of their human destiny.

Are you looking for a proven medical professional who can help you, through focused healing intention and strong holistic skills, grounded in traditional Osteopathic medicine and Homeopathic expertise, to address the health concerns standing in your way of fully expressing your life?

I began my studies as a physician in Osteopathic medicine in 1985; followed by a three year UCSF based MD-Family Practice Residency. Then, to assist locally with the ravages of the AIDS epidemic, I completed a one year public health fellowship in HIV and AIDS care. I opened my medical practice in Sebastopol, California, twenty-three years ago.

My path to become an osteopathic physician and homeopathic practitioner was catalyzed by an opportunity to do volunteer work with Mother Theresa in Calcutta, India, in February, 1981. With no training and minimal on-site orientation, she welcomed me briefly to her Home for the dying and the Orphanage for abandoned children. Taking me into the vast hall for the dying which was previously a Kali Temple, she handed me a bucket of water, a couple of rags and pointing to the cots filled with gravely ill and dying individuals, “ the forgotten, rejected, unwanted, and dying alone” and instructed me “Go provide succor!” This transforming experience was, for me, a paradoxical calling to my vocation to help people to truly live; as was the culmination of a nine year human growth process working with Hatha Yoga, karma yoga, and meditation practices to promote health and consciousness.

It was also during the 1970s that Doctor Erskine was first introduced to homeopathy as an alternative approach to health care. Observing a chronically ill friend respond well to Homeopathic treatment, he began to home study homeopathy. In that decade there were few formal learning opportunities in homeopathy in the USA; unless you already had a MD degree, the only path was to be a lay homeopath. Attending a 1974 conference sponsored by the National Center for Homeopathy, he was inspired to begin a lifelong course in homeopathy starting with a recommended reading syllabus. In 1981, Yusuf Erskine was able to spend time at a homeopathic clinic in New Dehli, India observing case taking and management of a multitude common chronic and acute diseases: Diabetes, Hypertension, Arthritis, Bronchitis, ulcerations. It was truly inspiring to see excellent responses in difficult circumstances.

What sets me apart from other health care providers? 

1. My dedication to promote my patient’s health in the full-spectrum: physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual. 

2. My consistent abilities, through the lens of osteopathy and homeopathy, to work through the embodied structural restrictions, imbalances, and imprints of trauma and illness and liberate greater health. 

3. Promote patient empowerment and personal participation in their healing process through Therapeutic Exercise with individual ‘homework’ and group ONE YOGA classes and seminars.

After 32 years of full time practice, Dr. J Yusuf Q. Erskine, D.O is now offering in semi-retirement: his holistic practice specializing in Osteopathy, Homeopathy and O.N.E. Yoga Classes (Osteopathic Neuromusculoskeletal Exercise). He promotes “Living Osteopathy” a mentoring program for physicians interested in personal coaching support for professional and personal development. Hand tailored to promote optimal expression of Self and fulfillment as practicing osteopaths.