Learning to relax to reduce stress is the second step towards healing anything that ails you.   About 80 percent of illnesses are the result of the long-standing physiological changes caused by chronic stress.  Deep relaxation can help heal illness by reversing the physiological changes and teaching the body to react differently to situations seen as stressful.

Stress is caused by activation of the autonomic nervous system through the body’s flight-or-flight response.  This helps in a true emergency when fighting or fleeing the danger are the only sensible options. However, because the fight-or-flight response is activated by any situation seen as stressful, including those where fighting or fleeing are not sensible options, the body ends up being flooded by stress hormones much of the time.  Consequently, it never gets a chance to return to the state of equilibrium known as homeostasis.  Constant stress increases blood pressure, blood sugar and abdominal fat storage, and decreases thyroid function, immunity, bone density and muscle tissue.  Over time these changes can lead to conditions such as hypertension, heart disease, stroke, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, hypothyroidism, cancer, auto-immune disease, and irritable bowel syndrome – to name but a few.

In homeostasis,  all body systems are working normally, and fostering health and healing by releasing chemicals that counteract those released by stress.   There are a number of techniques that can be used bring forth the relaxation response that indicates the body’s return to a state of equilibrium.  Not surprisingly, the level of relaxation required to make these deep changes does not come from activities, such as reading a book or watching television, that we normally see as relaxing.  Special deep relaxation techniques are required.

One of the simplest techniques was developed by Dr. Herbert Benson, a physician at Harvard Medical School, who observed that people practicing transcendental meditation (TM) reduced the activity of their autonomic nervous system.  Dr. Benson called the reduced autonomic activity ‘the relaxation response’ and gave this name to the simplified form of TM  he developed.  The Relaxation Response technique involves sitting quietly once or twice a day for 15 to 20 minutes and repeating a calming word or phrase in your mind.  Words such as ‘one’ or ‘peace,’ or phrases that express your religious or philosophical beliefs such as ‘In God I trust’ are best.  When distracting thoughts arise, just return to your chosen word or phrase.

Other forms of meditation will also achieve the same results as will almost any regular activity that quiets and focuses the mind.  Yoga, chanting, and repetitive prayer are some other examples of activities that also elicit the relaxation response.  The key to success in bringing about homeostasis and staying in, or returning quickly to, that state during a potentially stressful situation is to practice your chosen activity at least once a day for about 20 minutes.  Just as you would not expect to build muscle by only exercising once a week, you cannot train your body to choose the relaxation response over the fight-and-flight response by practicing infrequently or irregularly.

Learning to relax in a way that will reduce physiological stress is one of the most helpful steps you can take to create health and healing.

The healing power of emotion has been recognized as playing a critical role in transforming some psychiatric conditions and post-traumatic stress disorder, but is rarely acknowledged as a natural cure for cancer or other diseases of the physical body.  In the video below, Greg Braden shows how emotions deliberately cultivated by healers in their own bodies. caused a patient’s cancerous bladder tumour to  shrink and disappear within three minutes.

The exciting aspect of this demonstration is that the healing power of emotion can potentially heal anything.  It is a natural cure for more than cancer.  One important aspect of this healing that Braden does not mention, is the importance of the patient’s belief that she will be healed.  I think that belief that healing is possible, together with a strong hope that it will happen,  is critical.  Another important aspect is that the healers held the emotions they would feel if the patiuent were already cured.

In the New Testament, Matthew 21, v 21 – 22, Christ said “If ye have faith and doubt not, ye shall…say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”  Christianity is the only religion I am familiar with (though I’m not up-to-date as I only have the King James version  of the bible), but I suspect that other religions have similar beliefs stated in their holy books.

It is important to recognise that healing may not mean cure.  Healing may result in a change in a patient’s reaction to their illness, or to themselves, even though their physical condition does not change.  In these cases healing generally results in a cessation of suffering even though the illness is still present.,