The answer is YES!
But don’t just take my word for it. Science has weighed in and so has the US Government. That’s right, they are allocating money for more research to understand the mechanisms of actions of various mind/body treatments.
This has happened because of people like you who have consistently searched out self-care and alternative medicine and gotten great results. This pressure caused Congress in 1992 to open an Office of Alternative Medicine and gave it a budget of 2 million. Today that budget is 154 million!
Your mind and body are very powerful when working in harmony. How you think can influence how your body feels. And how you feel can influence how you think. An apt example of the mind-body connection is your body’s response to stress. Constant anxiety and stress over money, work, family or other problems tenses muscles and this can cause pain, headaches, gut problems and high blood pressure.
According to the American Medical Association, two-thirds of all office visits to family physicians are due to stress-related symptoms.
For example, has your stomach ever tightened up when you were anxious about something? I wish I had known about mind/body techniques when I had exams in college. Now I realize that I didn’t have to get so unnerved by the anticipation of them.
And perhaps you may have noticed that you have caught colds more easily when you were in a stressful period. There are many solutions to the unavoidable stresses of life.
Hypnosis, for example, is a proven relaxation technique that also puts you in charge of the problems which can cause stress.
It does this through a safe, focused state of awareness where your unconscious mind is accessed to instill the positive suggestions for change. You are led through relaxing, guided imagery that allows the mind to influence the body. The unconscious mind regulates the nervous system and controls every organ and gland. That means it can affect the immune system and why it is used to control pain, lessen anxiety and increase the rate of healing.
What enables these claims to be made?
Current studies using brain scans have verified that stimulating the brain with imagery can have a direct effect on the nervous and endocrine systems.
Researchers are studying how hypnosis alters the chemical levels that affect the nervous system, hormone production, and the immune system. It may even influence how particular genes in cells express themselves, turning certain functions on and others off.
In one experiment, school children were asked under hypnosis to imagine many strong white knights inside their blood stream. Measurements of their salivary immunoglobulin levels showed a significant increase.
I have often used hypnosis with clients before a surgery and, in every case, there was less anesthetic need, less bleeding and quicker recoveries.
Ultimately, self-care gives you a tool that enables you to feel more successful in handling your own health. That’s why I like to teach clients self-hypnosis and Emotional Freedom Technique if they want to be more active in their own mental and physical healing.