Why don’t all people fall ill in epidemics, or catch cold in the flu season?
Why don’t identical twins show same pattern of cancer, allergies, hypertension, diabetes, or heart problems if these, as we use to think, are gene related?
Why not all women who carry the BRCA genes fall pray to breast cancer and many women who do not have the genes get the cancer?
For every illness, there is a mental pattern. The vulnerability could be there in the genes and the virus and bacteria could surely be there in the air, but they need a fertile land to grow and manifest their symptoms. They need a trigger.
Whenever you feel a physical symptom creeping in, look for the mental pattern that triggered it, teaches Dr. Deepack Chopra.
Beliefs and thinking patterns are reflected onto our physical health. Our thoughts are stored somehow in all our cells. They dictate cells’ actions and reactions; they relate happiness and health or condemn misery and disease. Dr. Candice Pert, the internationally recognized pharmacologist who discovered the opiate receptor in the brain, spent years researching and exploring neuropeptides. She calls them ‘molecules of emotions’. These are chemical messengers circulating in our body connecting our systems, organs and cells. They have receptors on all body cells. The receptors for neuropeptides that signal brain happiness, elevated mood, or motivation, for instance, can also be found on our white blood cells (the cells of our immune system), stomach and intestine lining, and sexual organs… Does this mean that our immune cells, our stomach, and all our organs feel and understand our mood and emotions as well as our brain can perceive them? Dr. Pert surely believes so.
When you are sad, every cell in your body feels sad: your stomach is sad, your immune cells are sad, your liver is sad, your gallbladder is sad… When you are depressed, angry, frustrated, motivated, joyful, hopeful, grateful… all these emotions are converted into ‘molecules of emotions’ that deliver the message all over your body to every cell of your being.
Why don’t identical twins show same pattern of cancer, allergies, hypertension, diabetes, or heart problems if these, as we use to think, are gene related?
Why not all women who carry the BRCA genes fall pray to breast cancer and many women who do not have the genes get the cancer?
For every illness, there is a mental pattern. The vulnerability could be there in the genes and the virus and bacteria could surely be there in the air, but they need a fertile land to grow and manifest their symptoms. They need a trigger.
Whenever you feel a physical symptom creeping in, look for the mental pattern that triggered it, teaches Dr. Deepack Chopra.
Beliefs and thinking patterns are reflected onto our physical health. Our thoughts are stored somehow in all our cells. They dictate cells’ actions and reactions; they relate happiness and health or condemn misery and disease. Dr. Candice Pert, the internationally recognized pharmacologist who discovered the opiate receptor in the brain, spent years researching and exploring neuropeptides. She calls them ‘molecules of emotions’. These are chemical messengers circulating in our body connecting our systems, organs and cells. They have receptors on all body cells. The receptors for neuropeptides that signal brain happiness, elevated mood, or motivation, for instance, can also be found on our white blood cells (the cells of our immune system), stomach and intestine lining, and sexual organs… Does this mean that our immune cells, our stomach, and all our organs feel and understand our mood and emotions as well as our brain can perceive them? Dr. Pert surely believes so.
When you are sad, every cell in your body feels sad: your stomach is sad, your immune cells are sad, your liver is sad, your gallbladder is sad… When you are depressed, angry, frustrated, motivated, joyful, hopeful, grateful… all these emotions are converted into ‘molecules of emotions’ that deliver the message all over your body to every cell of your being.
Stress: The ailment of our modern society
When we are under stress or in emotional distress, when we hold anger, envy, fear or grudge… these feelings are translated in our body into chemical reactions led by a series of hormones, neuropeptides, and neurotransmitters.
Our brain does not differentiate between real or hypothetical danger. Whether you are attacked by a tiger or by the stock market index, the same stress hormones are released in your system: A blast of adrenaline that activates a fight or flight response. It raises your blood pressure, pumps sugar into your blood, speeds up your heart rate and slows down your digestion. The difference here is that in case of an attacking tiger, your running, fighting or fleeing dissipate the excess sugar in your blood and use up the extra energy, and as you retreat away from the danger, your whole system can rest and restore its natural state.
On the other hand, when the attacking agent is an unfair boss, a global economy crisis, a disturbing teenager or an abusing spouse, you cannot run for your life, you swallow your fears and worries and just sit on your sofa suffering in silence. The triggered fight and flight response is thus here to stay and your adrenals keep pumping more hormones into your system; you stay alarmed, your cortisol level rises and with it comes further increase in blood sugar levels and reduction of immune response.
Chronic stress down regulates our immune system ability to fight invaders and infections. It suppresses immune cells proliferation, hinders antibodies production, and suppresses the function of natural killer cells, the cells responsible for attacking tumor (including cancer cells), viruses and abnormal growth.
Our brain does not differentiate between real or hypothetical danger. Whether you are attacked by a tiger or by the stock market index, the same stress hormones are released in your system: A blast of adrenaline that activates a fight or flight response. It raises your blood pressure, pumps sugar into your blood, speeds up your heart rate and slows down your digestion. The difference here is that in case of an attacking tiger, your running, fighting or fleeing dissipate the excess sugar in your blood and use up the extra energy, and as you retreat away from the danger, your whole system can rest and restore its natural state.
On the other hand, when the attacking agent is an unfair boss, a global economy crisis, a disturbing teenager or an abusing spouse, you cannot run for your life, you swallow your fears and worries and just sit on your sofa suffering in silence. The triggered fight and flight response is thus here to stay and your adrenals keep pumping more hormones into your system; you stay alarmed, your cortisol level rises and with it comes further increase in blood sugar levels and reduction of immune response.
Chronic stress down regulates our immune system ability to fight invaders and infections. It suppresses immune cells proliferation, hinders antibodies production, and suppresses the function of natural killer cells, the cells responsible for attacking tumor (including cancer cells), viruses and abnormal growth.
Mind-Body connection
Science is increasingly proving the connection between mind and body. Rheovirus, for instance, the causative agent for common cold, is believed to use the receptor of norepinephrine to enter into the body cells. Norepinephrine is a neurotransmitter that increases in our body when we are happy and fulfilled. When the levels of this neurotransmitter are elevated, it occupies its receptors rendering them unavailable for use by the virus. That’s why we rarely catch cold when we are in a good mood, satisfied and cheerful.
The idea of mind/body connection is as old as the famous Pavlov dogs of the 1920s that were conditioned to salivate upon hearing the bell without even seeing the food. Later, In the 30s Russian scientists proved that not only our digestive system, but our immune system could also be voluntarily conditioned. They injected rabbits and guinea pigs with mild bacterial shot to boost their immune system and coupled this immune boosting function with a physical stimulus such as trumpet blast. With time, animals have been able to boost their immunity upon hearing the trumpet sound alone.
Researches show that a mere dummy pill (placebo) can reduce pain, adjust blood pressure, and even dissolve tumors, if the patient really believes in its effect. Scientists now know that the placebo pill actually achieves its effect through triggering the body to release its ‘endogenous pharmaceutics’.
Our body has an amazing internal pharmacy with cure for every condition and mal function. It secretes it in the precise needed dose, and in the perfect time and location. It has the power to reduce hypertension, alleviate pain, prevent platelet aggregation that blocks arteries… and the list goes on. An adjusted state of mind coupled with unconditioned belief is all it takes to claim your internal medicine. But the question remains: How easy could it be?
The idea of mind/body connection is as old as the famous Pavlov dogs of the 1920s that were conditioned to salivate upon hearing the bell without even seeing the food. Later, In the 30s Russian scientists proved that not only our digestive system, but our immune system could also be voluntarily conditioned. They injected rabbits and guinea pigs with mild bacterial shot to boost their immune system and coupled this immune boosting function with a physical stimulus such as trumpet blast. With time, animals have been able to boost their immunity upon hearing the trumpet sound alone.
Researches show that a mere dummy pill (placebo) can reduce pain, adjust blood pressure, and even dissolve tumors, if the patient really believes in its effect. Scientists now know that the placebo pill actually achieves its effect through triggering the body to release its ‘endogenous pharmaceutics’.
Our body has an amazing internal pharmacy with cure for every condition and mal function. It secretes it in the precise needed dose, and in the perfect time and location. It has the power to reduce hypertension, alleviate pain, prevent platelet aggregation that blocks arteries… and the list goes on. An adjusted state of mind coupled with unconditioned belief is all it takes to claim your internal medicine. But the question remains: How easy could it be?
How easy could it be?
The access to our ‘endogenous pharmaceutics’ is not as easy as it might seem. It is not just a matter of meditation, relaxation, positive thinking, or mental affirmations. For deep healing, we need to reverse a pattern engraved in every cell of our body. We need to reach each and every cell and talk to it in the language that it understands, in a higher ‘intelligence’, as Dr. Chopra calls it, which is delivered in the form of molecules: ‘molecules of emotions’.
Thousands of cases of spontaneous healing have been recorded, but still, according to Dr. Chopra, the rate of spontaneous remission in cancer patients (this is cancer dissipating on its own without any medical intervention) is as low as one in twenty thousand cases.
In order for you to change your molecules of emotions, you need to change not only your life style and thinking mode, but most importantly, your deeply held beliefs. You need to dig deeply enough to reach beyond the casual surface. You need to work on your subconscious as well as your conscious mind.
Thousands of cases of spontaneous healing have been recorded, but still, according to Dr. Chopra, the rate of spontaneous remission in cancer patients (this is cancer dissipating on its own without any medical intervention) is as low as one in twenty thousand cases.
In order for you to change your molecules of emotions, you need to change not only your life style and thinking mode, but most importantly, your deeply held beliefs. You need to dig deeply enough to reach beyond the casual surface. You need to work on your subconscious as well as your conscious mind.
Psychoneuroimmunology: The healing power of the mind
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is a relatively new, yet rapidly growing field of science. The name PNI was coined in 1975, by Dr. Robert Ader, director of the division of behavioral and psychosocial medicine at New York's University of Rochester, to denote the relation between the psyche (our feelings, moods, and emotions), the nervous system (our thoughts and perceptions), and our physical health (immune system and hormonal production).
In the 70s, Robert Ader and Nicholas Cohen studied the subconscious ability of conditioning our immune system. Laboratory animals were given an immune-suppressive drug in saccharine sweetened solutions. Later, when the drug wasn’t administered, it only took the sweet taste to reduce their immunity.
It wasn’t until the 90s, though, that science could finally prove that we could actually control our immune functions consciously. Self-hypnosis, guided imagery, biofeedback, and visualization have been shown, without doubt, to boost immune system performance, increase white blood cell count, decrease plaque formation, and reduce hypertension.
Today, we know that tiny cancerous growths are continuously formed in our body and it is the job of a healthy immune system with its natural killer cells to surround and eliminate these tumors. Since our emotions can be physiologically regarded as body release of specific chemicals (molecules of emotions), thus, depression, chronic stress or suppression of emotions result in massive disturbance of these chemicals’ natural flow. And, this in turn affects the performance of our immune system. Could this trigger cancer formation? Many physicians and naturopaths believe so.
Now, let’s get practical!
All honest emotions are healthy emotions. There are no good or bad emotions. How we express them and act upon them is what matters. A spiritual guru asking an oppressed man, an abused teenager, a rape victim, or a cancer patient to look in the mirror every morning and repeat “I love and forgive” or “I am whole and healthy”, is missing the whole point.
But, how can you reach it? According to Dr. Bruce Lipton, the subconscious mind is a habit mind, it understands by repetition. Sincerely repeat, repeat and repeat the same action, belief and thought pattern over and over and over again until it becomes a habit.
Two key words here: Repeat & Sincerely
- The first step in dealing with stress, releasing negative emotions and/or changing a belief pattern is acknowledgement. We need to acknowledge our human needs and vulnerabilities… we need to acknowledge our right to feel angry, hurt, frustrated, anxious, or disappointed.
- Next we need to take control of our own action, assume responsibility for our life, and choose the appropriate way of reaction. Learn and heed the lesson then let it go. Only then we can genuinely replace our distorted feelings with positive image of love and care and achieve our true healing be it physical, emotional or spiritual.
But, how can you reach it? According to Dr. Bruce Lipton, the subconscious mind is a habit mind, it understands by repetition. Sincerely repeat, repeat and repeat the same action, belief and thought pattern over and over and over again until it becomes a habit.
Two key words here: Repeat & Sincerely
- Only by repeating the act or thought pattern over and over again, your subconscious mind will ‘get it’ and you will start to see some changes. Ask anyone who tried to change his eating habits, exercise pattern, or lifestyle… it is never easy. In general it is a 6, 6, 36 rule. We need 6 weeks to abort a bad habit, 6 weeks to adopt a new one, and 36 weeks for it to become part of our new life style.
- ‘Sincerely’ is another key here… If your action or thought defy logic… that’s to say if you do not deep inside believe that the change, the healing or the success is possible, then you are wasting your time… You need to sincerely believe that you are able to execute those change sin your life… You need to sincerely believe that you are loved, you are guided, you are protected by a Higher Power, by God, who has all the Power, Wisdom and Mercy to guide you in your life path.
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