| – Newsweek | – US News and World Report | ||
| – Time Magazine | – Newsweek | ||
| – Washington Post | – Time Magazine | ||
| – Time Magazine | – Healing Revelations | ||
Newsweek :
“The relationship between emotion and health is turning out to be more interesting, and more important, than most of us could have imagined.”
“Hospitals, for their part, are opening mind-body clinics-and yoga classes are spreading from health clubs into shopping malls .”
“According to a recent government survey, nearly half of all Americans used mind-body interventions in 2002.”
“Mounting evidence suggests that any number of soothing emotional experiences can improve our physical health.”
“Research at Harvard suggests that the “relaxation response” – the deep sense of calm we can achieve through yoga, prayer or simple deep-breathing exercises- can help counter the effects of chronic stress.”
“We now believe that the body produces more nitric oxide when deeply relaxed, and that this molecule acts as an antidote to cortisol and other potentially toxic stress hormones.”
“Stress-related illness often defies conventional remedies, and when we persist with high-tech pills and procedures, the costs of treatment can easily outweigh the benefits. Mind-body medicine offers a saner starting place. if it fulfills half its promise, it could reduce medical costs while improving our health and our lives. And whatever its limitations, it has the advantage of doing no harm.”
“”People in the scientific community used to think that this was a lot of mystical mumbo jumbo,” says psychologist Ruth Baer , of the University of Kentucky. “Now they’re saying; ‘Hey, we should start paying attention’.”
“The keystone of mindfulness is daily medication, but the practice is intended to become a way of life.”
“The biological impact of mindfulness on the brain, the blood, the immune system-is the next frontier in scientific research.”
” Harvard study showed that medication lowered heart rate and blood pressure and reduced stress hormones.”
“Cancer patients in Ohio who learned conscious relaxation are better, stopped smoking and showed marked improvement in immune function.”
Time Magazine :
“”Scientists study it. Doctors recommend it. Millions of Americans- many of whom don’t even own crystals- practice it everyday. Why? Because meditation works.”
“Meditation is a smart person’s bubble bath.”
“In fact, it is becoming increasingly hard to avoid meditation. It’s offered in schools, hospitals, law firms, government building, corporate offices and prisons.”
“Meditation is being recommended by more and more physicians as a way to prevent, slow or at least control the pain of chronic diseases like heart conditions, AIDS, cancer and infertility. It is also being used to restore balance in the face of such psychiatric disturbances as depression, hyperactivity and ADD.”
“Doctors are embracing meditation not because they think it’s hip or cool but because scientific studies are beginning to show that it works, particularly for stress-related conditions.”
“Meditation can retrain the mind and reshape the brain.”
“The brain, like the body, also undergoes subtle changes during deep meditation.”
“By meditating regularly, the brain is reoriented from a stressful fight-or-flight mode to one of acceptance, a shift that increases contentment.”
“Meditation may slow prostate cancer.”
“Women who meditateand use guided imagery have higher levels of the immune cells known to combat tumors in the breast.”
Washington Post :
“Mind-Focusing Benefits Found People who practice “mindfulness” — focusing their minds through techniques such as meditation — have quantifiable increases in their psychological well-being and an increased sense of autonomy, new research has found. Buddhist and Hindu techniques to focus the mind have long been touted as improving mood and heightening perception, and four studies have now confirmed this, said Kirk Warren Brown, a psychologist at the University of Rochester.”
“In a series of studies, Brown found that university students, working adults and cancer patients all showed more vitality, optimism and happiness, and reduced depression, stress and anxiety, after regularly focusing their minds by paying attention to breathing and similar techniques. Mindfulness also helped people take charge of their lives — from day-to-day events to life-altering decisions, “they were doing more things they felt good about,” said Brown, who published his findings in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.”
Time Magazine :
“Rene Descarte, the great 17th century French mathematician and philosopher, enshrined his metaphysical divide in what came to be known in western philosophy as mind-body dualism. Many Eastern mystical traditions, contemplating the same inner space, have come to the opposite conclusion. They teach that the mind and the body belong to an indivisible continuum. In the past, doctors and scientists have tended to dismiss that view as bunk, but the more they learn about inner workings of the mind, the more they realise that in this regard at least, the mystics are right and Descarte was dead wrong.”
“Scientists are also learning something else. Not only is the mind like the rest of the body, but the well-being of one is intimately intertwined with that of the other.”
“….scientists, having left Descarte’s great mistake far behind, are exploring how the brain works, how it malfunctions, and what can be done when it goes awry.”
“More and more doctors and patients recognise that mental states and physical wellbeing are intimately connected.”
“….mind and body aren’t separate at all; they are part of a single system.”
“Meditation, mindfulness training and biofeedback have long been championed as proven stress relievers. [They] may also provide relief to people with depression by lowering levels of cortisol.”
“It shouldn’t come as a surprise that stress-reduction strategies that take pressure off the mind- meditation, Yoga, relaxation and such- can take the heat off the body as well.”
“But if meditation, prayer, exercise and relaxation techniques take even a little pressure off the immune system, that could add up over decades to a significantly healthier life.”
“….education is a key part of what we need to be doing. The essence of that education: cure the mind and you might just help save the body.”
“Breath control is the most powerful method to reduce anxiety… and panic disorder.”
“The association of meditation with Eastern religion is an obstacle for some Americans, but many nonreligious forms exist. In essence, meditation is nothing other than focused awareness. Over time it can provide great mental-health benefits: relief from ordinary anxiety and depression, better rest and sleep, and increased resistance. Meditation has also proven quite valuable in preparing patients for surgery.”
“Every patient who come to Columbia Medical Center in New York City for a heart operation, is offered an optional program of massage, Yoga and meditation….Patients who meditated experienced less operative bleeding than controls given placebos.”
“Meditation also reduces the impact of several peculiarly Western diseases, such as high BP, heart disease, anxiety, stress, depression., chronic pain, prostate cancer, etc.”
“In one study meditating 15 minutes twice daily reduced physician visits.”
“Medical community has a tendency to study pathology, not normality. NIH Institute of Mental Health has always been NIH Institute of Mental Illness.”
“The medical establishment continues to pooh-pooh hapiness, because there is no money in it.”
“Happy people are very good at managing emotion. Happiness is an exercise for smart people.”
“With or without clinical studies, the idea that mind is a deep, mysterious place is too powerful to go away by itself.”
US News and World Report :
“When done properly Yoga is a healthy and effective fitness option say participants and a growing number of doctors.”
“Yoga booms in popularity as a way to highten flexibility, improve breathing, and gain sanity.”
Newsweek :
“Yoga may be here to stay. Developed over centuries, it promises to reduce stress, improve flexibility, and perhaps provide some mental clarity in these hectic times.”
“The medical researchers around the country who are examining these nonconventional approaches are revolutionising clinical practice and giving birth to a new kind of integrative medicine.”
“Nearly half of all US adults now go outside the health system for some of their care.”
“Complementary therapies….. can make both the disease and the treatment more bearable.”
“In short, complementary therapies can make cancer a less daunting adversary by nurturing hope and improving quality of life.”
“What draws people to CAM and integrative medicine is not a desire for efficiency, but a longing to be cared for.”
“After a century of pill and scalpel medicine, we have discovered that fighting disease and restoring health are not the same.”
“When combined with conventional treatment, mind-body therapies… can improve both clinical status and quality of life.”
Time Magazine :
“Testimonials from everyday yogis and yoginis clogged the hour: I lost weight; I quit smoking; I conquered my fear of flying; I can sleep again; it saved my marriage; it improved my daughter’s grade and attitude; we are more centered as a team….”
“East treats the person, West treats the disease. our system of medicine is very fragmented. We send you to dofferent specialists to look at different parts of you. Yoga is more holistic; it’s interested in the integration of body, breath and mind.”
“Yoga has endured more evolution of popular conciousness than a morphing movie monster. First, it signaled spiritual cleansing and rebirth, a nontoxic way to get high. Then it was seen as a kind of preventive medicine that helped managed and reduce stress. The third wave was the fitness wave – and that’s about the strenght and flexibility and endurance.”
“….the root Yoga has dug into America’s cultural life – deep enough for open-minded researchers to consider how it might bloom into a therapy to treat or prevent disease.”
“Yoga relaxes you and, by relaxing, heals….that has a dramatic effect on the body: the heart beat slows, respiration decreases, blood pressure decreases. The body seizes this chance to turn on the healing mechanism.”
“Yoga is not a struggle but a surrender.”
“All the drugs have side effects. Well Yoga has side effects too: better strength, better balance, peace of mind, stronger bones and cardiovascular conditioning.”
“Patients opting for Yoga do show tremendous benefits. These include lower cholesterol levels and blood pressure, increased cardiovascular circulation, and reversal of artery blockage in some cases.”
“Yoga may help post-menopausal women.”
“A Yoga based regimen was more effective than wrist splinting or no treatment in relieving some symptoms and signs of carpal tunnel syndrome.”
Healing Revelations:
“Doctors put drugs, of which they know little, into our bodies, of which they know less, to cure our disease, of which they know nothing at all.” – Voltaire
“Each disease bears its own remedy within itself. Health must grow from the same root as disease.” – Paracelsus
“Each patient carries his own doctor inside him. We are best when we give the doctor who resides within each patient a chance to go to work.” – Albert Schweitzer
“Fear, anger, resentment, guilt and anxiety are all inner stresses that show up as bodily illnesses such as ulcers, hypertension, skin eruptions, and other disorders.” – M.J. Abadie
“For some inexplicable reason, the mind can influence the body by changing the bio-chemistry of blood.” – Howard Hall
“Illness does not occur in a vacuum, nor does healing. If your inner self controls all physical functions, it also controls all dysfunctions. It is the whole person who become ill, and only restoration of wholeness can bring healing.” – M.J. Abadie
“Psyche strives for wholeness; illness is merely its way of correcting imbalance.” – Carl Jung
“There is no disease of the body apart from the mind.” – Socrates
“Without knowledge of what disease means, rational therapy can not be chosen and cure is unthinkable.” – Larry Dossey
“You have the power to heal yourself because the body does not know what is “real” and what is imagined.” – M.J. Abadie
“Depression can be a symptom of physical imbalance. Similarly, a physical impairment can be the symptom of an underlying problem such as depression.” – M.J. Abadie
“Enactment of the great themes of our life drama structures our personality and character, and becomes our physical constitution and its illness.” – Edward Whitmont
“Healing occurs when you align with the pure, positive energy that created the planet – and that keeps your heart beating and your blood chemistry normal. Healing occurs when you are in harmony with your life’s purpose and those who are meant to accompany you on this path. Healing occurs when you’ve created a sense of safety and security in your life. Healing is a major leap of faith in this culture.” – Christiane Northrup
“Healing seems to be a function of restoring or reweaving the torn fabric of life in some way. The vital factors in the healing process include intention, motivation, trust, and something as ineffable as passion for living. When suffering and tragedy are transformed and colored with meaning and purpose, healing has surely occured by whatever means and under whatever circumstances.” – Jeanne Achtenberg
“In order to heal, one must learn on what one depends, to whom one belongs, and to what end one has been created.” – Gerhard Dorn
“Just as scientists have found that positive beliefs can engender wellness, they have also found that negative beliefs and influences can induce illness. The brain sends messages througout the body via neurotransmitters that signal the body to respond as if the thought were a real event.” – Herbert Benson
“Mind and body are not two separate entities interacting like dance partners, but work as one indivisible entity, in and through one another.” – David Bohm
“Mind can play a powerful role in combatting an infectious disease.” – M.J. Abadie
“People who have cynical hostility are at greater risk for developing heart-tissue damage than are their non- hostile colleagues.” – Tilmer Engebretson
“Spiritual factors are associated with increased survival and a reduction of anxiety, depression and anger, reduced blood pressure, and improved quality of life for patients with cancer and heart disease.” – John Templeton Foundation
“What we call stress might really be spiritual isolation. It might really be an insensitivity to, or a lack of recognition of our spiritual needs.” – Rachel Naomi Remen