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Knowledge
About KnowledgeInformation, research, and current news about Mind Body medicine, and answers to frequently asked questions about relaxation, guided imagery, and self-healing with mind/body approaches.
Read an excellent overview of Mind/Body Medicine from the NCCAM at the National Institutes of Health. This overview reviews mind/body findings in immunity, Parkinson’s disease, surgical preparation, and more, as well as brain research that is demonstrating the mechanisms of mind/body practices.
The non-profit Center for the Advancement of Health provides an excellent review of mind/body approaches in chronic pain
Read the NIH Technology Assessment Statement on the Integration of Behavioral and Relaxation Approaches into the Treatment of Chronic Pain and Insomnia.
The RealAge website reports that managing your stress through simple imagery techniques can reduce your physiologic age by as much as 16 years.
FAQ's
Wellness and Mind/Body Health
Wellness is a term that can be interpreted in many ways. Usually we think of wellness as a state of both mental and physical health, the classical “sound mind in a sound body.” More expanded notions would include a healthy sense of place in the world, and healthy relationships. We believe that there is a spectrum from illness to wellness, and that people can help themselves move along that spectrum no matter where they start.
Stress and Stress Relief
Stress is an unavoidable part of modern life and research shows that excessive stress, or poor stress coping, is part of every major or chronic illness. The National Institutes of Health estimate that somewhere between 75 and 90% of all visits to primary care doctors are primarily stress-related.
The relationship between stress and illness is often misunderstood in that it is not so much what happens to you as how you deal with it that makes the difference in health. This is where learning relaxation, imagery, and other mind/body skills can be so helpful.
Healing Wisdom
Think about this: at one time in this life, you were a single microscopic cell in your mother's uterus.. This fertilized cell divided into two identical cells. Then those two divided into four, then eight, then sixteen and so on, until you were a tiny microscopic ball of cells, each identical to all the others. Then, for reasons that no scientist yet understands, one line of cells becomes different than the rest -- a pale streak forms on one side of the ball. This line of cells, the "neural crest", will eventually become your brain, your nervous system and your skin. The side of the ball away from the neural crest folds into itself and then seals over, forming a tube that runs through the ball. The cells of this tube will become your heart, blood vessels, lungs, stomach, intestines, liver, kidneys, pancreas, reproductive and other internal organs, while the middle cells between the inside and outside become your spine, muscles, and connective tissue. All of this happens in an intricately coordinated dance with no visible choreographer, yet it happens perfectly more than 95% of the time. As an embryo, your tiny body goes through phases that mimic earlier stages of evolutionary development, looking at various times like a fish, a chicken, a pig, a monkey, and finally little baby you. After birth you continue to grow and develop new skills and abilities, meeting challenges, infections, injuries, and recovering from the vast majority of illnesses without ever having to consciously know how.
Sound Medicine
The spoken word. The human voice. Neonatologists (doctors that care for newborns) say that the sound of mother’s voice, as well as that of others, affects fetal development, and certainly the sound of loving voices is a powerful way that we welcome and acclimate an infant into this world. It is also a way that we comfort, encourage, and support one another throughout the course of life.
Science and Mind/Body Healing
Literally thousands of scientific studies have demonstrated the attitudinal, emotional, and behavioral effects on physiology and healing. There remains, nevertheless, especially in the medical community, resistance to the idea that people can do anything to influence their own healing. Skeptics claim that many of the methods I will teach you have not been scientifically proven, and to an extent they are right. In considering their role in healing, however, we need to take a closer look at the relationship between scientific proof and the clinical practice of medicine.
Celebrex, Glucosamine, Imagery, and Pain relief
A recent study of glucosamine for osteoarthritis was reported in news media as being both effective and not effective, which illustrates that we really need to look at studies with some depth in order to tell what they really show.
The Power of Positive Expectant Faith
Like most physicians, I have many times witnessed the placebo effect on many occasions. It wasn’t uncommon at the county hospital where I trained to give water injections to overly dramatic patients complaining of pain, while telling them it was a powerful pain medication. Often a shot of placebo solution relieved pain as effectively as if it had been morphine. At the time, we thought that this kind of response to placebos could tell us if the pain was “real” or not. As we’ll see, the issue is not that simple.
Addictions
Guided imagery can help in many ways with addictions and changing health damaging habits. "Relaxing Into Healing" helps relieve tension that often triggers cravings, and helps relieve withdrawal symptoms. teaches you to go inside and listen to your body and inner wisdom, identifying other ways to fill the needs that may surface after you are drug, smoke, or alcohol free. "Tools to Change Your Life" teaches you a remarkably effective way to make the changes you want to make in your life to turn your desire to quit into reality, and "Creating Wellness" helps you form a vision of yourself enjoying high level wellness that can inspire, and motivate you throughout the process. The Guided Imagery for Self-Healing book gives you the information you need to work effectively with the CDs, and the book and the 4 CD set of the same title will teach you all of the above skills and provide in-depth guidance through the process of using your imagination to help you get clean and sober. For a quick start, especially if you find reading difficult or inconvenient, try ,"Self-Healing with Guided Imagery", a 2 CD set featuring Dr. Andrew Weil, that explains guided imagery on one CD then teaches you three fundamental imagery skills that can give you a taste of what guided imagery can do for you. If anxiety is a big problem for you, you may also want to try "Anxiety Relief", or our "Stress Relief" CD that will teach you additional imagery skills to keep your stress or anxiety to a more manageable level. All the guided imagery processes are compatible and complementary to 12-step and other addiction recovery programs, and help you work from within to change your life for the better.
Angiogram
Angiography is an important medical procedure for diagnosing and treating blockage of the arteries, especially the coronary (heart) arteries. Angiography is frequently accompanied by anxiety before the procedure and research shows that pre-angiography preparation with relaxation and guided imagery reduces anxiety and complication rates from the procedures. To be more relaxed and allow the procedure to go more easily, use our “Preparing for Surgery” or “Anxiety Relief” CD once or twice a day for 5 days or so before your procedure.