The Mind-Body Connection and Healing

I’m writing about a very personal topic today, the mind and healing. I believe that there’s a powerful connection between these two, one that is not understood by Western medicine. Why personal? My little sister was in a horrific car accident this week, and it was touch and go as to her very survival. But she is surviving. And healing. She’s in a coma, and on life support, with serious head and body injuries. I sat by her bedside in the critical care unit this week, and delivered healing suggestions to her. And she’s improving every day. “Stellar,” as one of her RNs put it. Mere coincidence? Or can we activate the power of her mind to accellerate healing? This is not a scientific study, and I don’t have “proof” of any linkage, I just know that it’s there. Faith. She’s accepted my suggestions and now her body is working on it. I love you, Marci! This issue of my newsletter is for you.

Miracles do happen.

(Update: I wrote the above in 2007, well now it’s 2015 and Marci has her life back. The doctors at the time called her “The Miracle Girl.” Yes, she is. She recovered amazing well, from brain and body injury. She moved home to Seattle, got a job, raised her two kids alone, and now has found love again and is re-marrying this year. Life is good for Marci, and so it should be. She’s amazing, and strong, and my inspiration in life!)

More about the mind and healing. What is the placebo effect? That’s when the mind believes a drug or medical intervention WILL help (even though there’s nothing–no drug–actually being introduced into the body–it may be a sugar pill rather than the actual medicine being tested) and then it DOES help. The placebo may cause negative side effects as well, because the mind believes that it will. Last visit to my doctor, he gave me a prescription for a drug for pain all the while informing me that I didn’t have to actually consume the drug–that just having the bottle in my possession would help with the pain. It did. I never took any of those pills. This is an example of the power of suggestion. PS: I LOVE my doctor, he’s more enlightened that most.

For an interesting series of stories on spontaneous healing and the mind/body connection, check out the issue of “Bottom Line Personal.” Volume 28, Number 23, December 1, 2007.

We in our own lives can enhance this connection, the mind and physical well-being. DECIDE that you’re not going to catch a cold this winter. I know I’m not! Avoid language to yourself such as “That makes me sick!” If you say so, and repeatedly, it will. “He’s a pain in the neck!” Guess where on your body it might start hurting? “Wow! She’s a pain in the butt.” “She makes me crazy!” (dimentia, here we come! One of my students came up with that one.) “She makes me so mad I can’t stand it!” (foot or leg problems) “She makes me so mad I can’t see straight!” (potential eye problems) Say something positive to yourself instead. One of my brilliant teachers suggested saying instead: “That just UPS my metabolism!” I like that one. Try some positive healthy well-being language on for size in your own head. It can’t hurt!