This is hardly a comparison, but I know exactly where I was sitting on that beach in Aquinnah when without thinking, I had my first taste of cocaine - I mean sugar - in more than three years.Д«efore I beat myself up for falling off the wagon onto this soft puffy white bed of spun sweet substance, I must remind myself as I was downing my eighth вЂ™smellow, I had been living a rigid life. The texture, the melt in your mouth, bubblegum-like swallow going down.Д®veryone knows where they were when JFK got shot, and everyone knows where they were at 9/11. When it comes to sвЂ™mores, IвЂ™m one of the few who doesnвЂ™t really care about chocolate, and I donвЂ™t really care about the graham crackers either, but I love marshmallows. I hadnвЂ™t touched fructose or sucrose or ordinary turbinado sugar in ages. I know now that a part of my brain had been hijacked, and with his help I was able to rein it back in.Д«ut the Buddhists are right everything is temporary.ДЄ few years ago I was invited to a clambake, and they had sвЂ™mores. There have been countless studies done about addiction. How could this have happened? What magic did that man do! I went and stood in front of those extra-massive large plastic bags, and instead of grabbing one or even just salivating, my husband, two aisles away, said he heard me loud and clear saying, вЂњEeegnore, eeegnore.вЂќ I didnвЂ™t even care that I sounded like an insane person talking to myself in a thick Russian accent. The Twizzlers aisle has always been my go-to, so it was the perfect time to test the Mad RussianвЂ™s mettle.

Interestingly, I had an errand to do at CVS. I luff kendy.вЂ™ When you want to eat kendy, say вЂEeeegnore, eeeegnore.вЂ™вЂќ And that was that. IвЂ™d like to give up candy.вЂќ He didnвЂ™t do anything physical, but when I had my two minutes in private with him he said, вЂњEvery morning when you get up, you say, вЂI luff kendy. When he gets to me, am I really going to say, I want to give up Twizzlers? Most of these people have real problems, and all I have is a socially acceptable addiction.ДЄs he went around the room I kept rehearsing what I was going to say, and when it was finally my turn, I kind of whispered, вЂњCandy. IвЂ™m sitting there thinking, IвЂ™m in the wrong group. The woman next to him said her back has been out since as long as she can remember, and she wants to give up heroin. The next guy said, Yes, he has pain in his right shoulder and has had it forever, and wants to give up booze. вЂњDo you have pain? Where? How long pain? And what do you want to stop today?вЂќ The first guy said, Yes, he has pain in his knees and has had for 14 years, and wants to stop smoking. I sat and watched as he went from person to person asking in his thick Russian accent the same questions.

There were 30 of us tentatively gathering in a huge room where we took our seats in a large semicircle. I had read about him and watched YouTube videos, and heard testimonial after testimonial from people who said the same thing: вЂњI donвЂ™t know what he did, but I havenвЂ™t picked up a cigarette in five years,вЂќ or вЂњI watched him doing these crazy arm motions and I almost laughed, but I havenвЂ™t used drugs since the day I met him.вЂќ So armed with all the stories I had heard and my desire to quit candy, I was ready for whatever was in store for me. He doesnвЂ™t touch or prescribe, but the word on the street is that he has вЂњcuredвЂќ over 167,000 clients. Puff Daddy, as he has been called, because so many thousands of people stopped smoking after they saw him, is a mix of shaman, doctor, and therapist, with no credentials, no plaques on his walls, no degrees from Harvard Medical School. But he was unhappy under the Communist regime, so he came to America in 1980 and opened up a practice in Brookline. It turns out he had a natural ability, and helped to treat medical patients. When Yefim Shubentsov (the Mad Russian) lived in the Soviet Union, he was invited to take part in a government-conducted scientific experiment with bioenergetics. Finally, one day I said, Enough is enough.

Mv the day you went away