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Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009
Why is all of Hollywood flocking to Yefim Shubentsov, a self-proclaimed healer, to rid them of their bad habits?
Jan 24, 2000 | When I worked at Condi Nast, a clique of glamorous fashion editors would periodically dash off to Boston to see a Rasputin-like Russian healer who could supposedly banish cravings with a wave of his hand. The fashionistas believed he could make them quit smoking without gaining weight -- a feat, in their eyes, to rival the human genome project. Some of them did quit smoking. And their flanks stayed cellulite-free. Mind you, these women are just as passionate about their bimonthly appointments to get their upper arms waxed. I was more than skeptical.
Then I began hearing the Russian's name dropped in marginally smarter circles, at gallery openings, restaurant launches, anywhere the rich and addicted flock. How did you quit smoking? someone would ask. I went to the Russian, the other would reply in a hushed, knowing way. (His real name, Yefim Shubentsov, was too complicated for most people to pronounce or remember.)
That's how I learned that Jann Wenner quit smoking after one session, though Wenner's pal Fran Leibovitz, who tagged along, is still puffing. It was whispered that Courteney Cox and David Arquette celebrated their engagement with a pilgrimage to the Russian's unmarked Brookline, Mass., office, where they emerged giddy nonsmokers. Even novelists Amy Tan and Alice Hoffman gushed their gratitude on the back of his incoherent, endlessly repetitive 1998 book, "Cure Your Cravings," co-authored by Barbara "I'm Dancing As Fast As I Can" Gordon. It was like Dostoevski plugging "Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul."
But my curiosity about the Russian's methods was piqued. Especially after I met a sensible, skeptical Midwestern woman -- someone just like me except her teeth were brown from decades of chain-smoking. Her nicotine cravings were so intense she had started lighting up in the shower. At her husband's pleading, she saw the Russian. Now she is a nonsmoker. I'm not crippled by deadly habits, but I'd love to effortlessly lose a few unwanted pounds that landed in my midsection when I hit 30. So I packed my bags and headed for Boston to find out if what I had heard of the Russian shaman was true.
There are no glamourpusses in Yefim Shubentsov's waiting room. Some are bloated and flushed, others pale and skinny in all the wrong places. The stench of stale cigarettes is acute. I settle in for an evening observing two sessions, one for smokers, the other for weight loss. The too-warm waiting area is filled with glimmering seascapes. (Shubentsov, an artist in the former Soviet Union, painted them all.) A quick tally reveals that about 80 percent of the group had traveled from out of state, mostly from Florida, New York, Pennsylvania and California. Word of mouth, they say, brought them here; the famously reclusive Russian doesn't advertise.
A young Russian woman summons us through a hallway into a smaller room. We sit in a circle in plastic chairs. The Russian walks in, closes the door behind him with a thud and steps to the front of the room.
Dapper, bespectacled and compactly built, Shubentsov looks more like Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan than a New Age healer. His accent is so thick he sounds like he is speaking into a bowl of oatmeal. "I am the eraser," he announces to the 25 people slumped in plastic chairs in a circle around him. "The ERASER," he repeats, meaning he will erase the cravings that torment his patients. Eyes lock around the room in confusion. "I am your last chance," he finally says, turning to face his flock. All 25 heads bob.
