Category Archives: Healing

Basic Principles of Reiki

Posted on by David Lawrence Preston
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Reiki is an ancient healing art rediscovered and popularised by Dr Mikao Usui in the early years of the last century. Reiki is a form of energy healing. Anyone can use it, and it is easily learned. It involves the practitioner ‘channelling’ energy into the biofield of the patient, thereby restoring the flow of energy and information to support healing and wellbeing.

One of the most important principles of Reiki is that the practitioner must set aside their own desires, will and ego aside, and allow the Reiki energy to direct itself to where it is most needed. The giver is never drained, because it is not their energy: this is the secret. The energy flows through not from the healer into the person being healed.

Healers often report feeling ‘at one’ with their clients, of being with the client in an energy field that transcends their physical presence. Patients too often report a feeling that they are in the presence of a third party, something bigger than themselves.

You can also draw on this energy for yourself, whether you’re ill or in need of a boost, by learning Reiki.

Training is normally given by a Reiki Master, who gives the basic instruction and attunes the students to the Reiki energy. Reiki 1 enables the student to practice on themselves, family and friends; Reiki 2 qualifies him or her to practise professionally.

Scientific Explanation for Reiki

Scientific studies provide an explanation for Reiki. This explanation has been presented as a testable hypothesis by Dr James Oschman, a scientist with a conventional background who became interested in the practice of energy medicine. In the Winter 2002 issue of Reiki News Magazine, he discussed a number of studies that point to a scientific basis for energy medicine based on the laws of physics and biology.

The basis of Dr. Oschman’s hypothesis is the electrical currents that run through every part of the human body. These currents are present in the nervous system, organs, and cells of the body. For instance, the electrical signals that trigger the heartbeat travel throughout all the tissues and can be detected anywhere on the body.

Ampere’s law indicates that when an electrical current flows through a conductor, an electromagnetic field is produced that reflects the nature of the current that created it. Tests with scientific instruments indicate that electromagnetic fields exist around the body and around each of the organs of the body, including the brain, heart, kidneys, liver, stomach, etc. The heart has the strongest field, which has been measured at a distance of 15 feet from the body.

The fields around each of the organs pulse at different frequencies and stay within a specific frequency range when they are healthy, but move out of this range when they are unhealthy. The hands of healers produce pulsing electromagnetic fields when they are in the process of healing, whereas the hands of non-healer do not produce these fields. When a healer places his or her hands on or near a person in need of healing, the electromagnetic field of the healer’s hands sweeps through a range of frequencies based on the needs of the part of the body being treated.

Faraday’s law indicates that one electromagnetic field can induce currents into a nearby conductor and through this process, induce a similar field around it. In this way, a healer induces a healthy electromagnetic field around an unhealthy organ, thus inducing a healthy state in the organ. A detailed explanation of Oschman’s hypothesis, including descriptions of the scientific studies, diagrams, and references is presented in the journal cited above.

Five Principles for Happiness

Usui believed that the recipe for a happy life is to work on what could be improved and accept what can’t be changed. He wrote:

‘The secret art of inviting happiness, the miraculous medicine for all diseases:

At least for today, do not be angry.

Do not worry.

Be grateful.

Work with diligence.

Be kind to people.

For improvement of mind and body.’

Dr Mikao Usui.

 

©David L Preston, 18.3.2017

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Bach Flower Remedies: Vibrational Medicine Par Excellence!

Posted on by David Lawrence Preston
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There’s nothing strange about healing with plants; even most pharmaceuticals are plant-based. Plant remedies are highly effective and their use goes back millennia. The ancient Chinese, Egyptians and Sumerians were skilled users. But Dr Edward Bach’s use of plants in healing at the beginning of the last century was truly revolutionary.

Bach is best known for exploring the relationship between flowers and humans. He was born in the English Midlands in 1886 and trained as a bacteriologist. He worked briefly at University College Hospital in London, then at the London Homeopathic Hospital. In the 1920’s he ran a clinic in London’s Harley Street but gave this up to pursue his studies of plants and trees and their psychological effects.

He did not agree with the conventional wisdom that illness was a result of microbes and/or defective organs and tissues, but a result of an inner conflict between the deepest self and the needs of the personality. This internal war, according to Bach, leads to negative moods, blocked energy and a lack of harmony which leads to physical diseases.

Bach’s remedies were based on his psychic connection to the plants. His approach was to use the vibrational character of plants, which he believed was strongest in their flowers. Working intuitively, he ‘attuned’ himself to the subtle vibrations of particular plants, picking up on their unique characteristics, which he then used for healing. If he felt a negative emotion, he held his hand over different plants, and if one alleviated the emotion he deduced that the plant had the power to relieve that particular emotion. By the time of his death in 1936, he had developed thirty-eight remedies.

His original method for producing flower tinctures was to collect dew drops from the plants in the early morning and preserve them in a diluted alcohol solution. He believed that morning sunlight passing through dew-drops on flower petals transferred the healing power of the flower into the water. The water, flowers and sun combined to make the essence which he believed contained the healing properties of the plant. Just holding the bottle has brought about emotional release in some people!

Bach’s flower remedies, as you would expect, do not enjoy universal approval. Critics point out that the essences, like homeopathic remedies, include no part of the plant. Bach retorted that they contain the healing energy imprint of the flower.

‘The action of the flower essences raises the vibration of the being. They cure by flooding the body with the beautiful vibrations of the highest nature – in whose presence there is the opportunity for disease to melt away like snow in sunshine’.

Dr Edward Bach

Bach’s methods of course drew the condemnation of the UK General Medical Council, who tried to stop him advertising. He wrote[1]:

‘Disease will never be cured or eradicated by materialistic methods, for the simple reason that disease in its origin is not material. It is in essence the result of conflict between the Soul and Mind and will never be eradicated except by spiritual and mental effort.’

Others have followed where he led, for example, Australian Bush Flower Essences and California Essences are also popular in healing circles.

Bach’s Flower Remedies are not biochemical in nature; they are bio-information medicines par excellence. The mainstream medical establishment have been slow to embrace them since those trained in biology and chemistry have no explanation for how they work. But they do: millions of beneficiaries swear that vibrational medicine works. Perhaps in finding an explanation lies the future!

©Feeling Good All The Time, 12.3.2017

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[1] In his book, ‘Heal Thyself’

The Jury Is Out

Posted on by David Lawrence Preston
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The debate over homeopathy continues and the jury is out. On the one hand, homeopaths point to their success in curing a wide range of conditions for millions of people and cite studies that have demonstrated that homeopathy can have a positive effect – including conditions where conventional medicine has failed.

But is homeopathy placebo, as is often claimed? A 1997 conducted a meta-analysis examined 105 clinical trials on homeopathic therapies. 81 presented positive results. The authors concluded that, ‘the results of this meta-analysis are incompatible with the hypothesis that the clinical effects of homeopathy are due exclusively to a placebo effect.’ [1]

In truth, no amount of negative research could topple the profession’s belief in homeopathy, and no amount of positive research would change the minds of those set against it. However, many researchers accept that the randomised controlled trial – comparing placebos with test remedies – favoured by the pharmaceutical industry is not a fitting research tool with which to test homeopathy.[2]

Chemistry and biology say that homeopathy can’t work, but homeopathy is a vibrational medicine which works through the body’s energy fields, not its biochemistry. It works with the body, not against it (as with most drugs), and is tailor-made to the individual. It uses very dilute substances to trigger the body to heal itself.

Is homeopathy humbug? Does it deserve the scorn to which it is subjected?

The jury is out and the lines are drawn between (1) those who mistrust allopathic medicine and who believe that our bodies, when susceptible to illness, react to a homeopathic remedy as if it were causing a similar problem, and to recognise that the body cures itself by this reaction, because the remedy it has been given is similar to the disease, and (2) medical scientists searching in vain with the limited tools available to them from Newtonian chemistry and biology for an explanation of how it works.  If homeopathy is indeed an energy and informational medicine they won’t find one there.

Pharmaceutical medicines have too many drawbacks to rely on them entirely. Isn’t it time for a more enlightened approach?

©FGATT, 8.3.2017

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[1] K. Linde and W. Jonas, Alternative Medicine Evaluation Department, US National Institute of Health.

[2] Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4183916.stm

Does water have a memory?

Posted on by David Lawrence Preston
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Homeopaths argue that homeopathic remedies, like water, contain a ‘memory’ of the active ingredient from which they are prepared. Is this true?

Most scientists say this is nonsense. However, there is evidence that this could be so. An intriguing study by a French immunologist, Professor Jacques Benveniste, was published by the scientific journal, ‘Nature’, in 1988.  He described how an allergy test worked even when the substance tested was so diluted with water that there was little chance of a single molecule remaining. He argued that the water ‘remembered’ the allergen substance.

Later, he claimed that that this ‘memory’ could be digitised, transmitted, and reinserted into another sample of water, which would then contain the same active qualities as the first sample.

This seemed to confirm the very basis upon which homeopathy rested. However, his peers did not agree. It went against everything they thought they knew about how biological material was transmitted and exchanged, based on ideas dating back to Descartes in the 17th-century.

‘Nature’ concluded that Benveniste’s research was impossible to reproduce. His funding was withdrawn and his laboratory closed. Undeterred, he and his team continued to investigate the biological effects of agitated, highly dilute solutions.

His explanation began with a musical analogy. Two vibrating strings close together in frequency will produce a ‘beat’. The length of this beat increases as the two frequencies approach each other. Eventually, when they are the same, the beat disappears. This is the way musicians tune their instruments, and how, according to Benveniste, his water-memory theory works. All molecules are made from atoms which constantly vibrate and emit infrared radiation. These vibrations have been detected for years by scientists, and are a vital part of their armoury of methods for identifying molecules[1].

Chemistry says that homeopathy can’t work. Biology has no explanation either. But millions of patients and homeopaths know it does. Does quantum theory and holography explain it? Is homeopathy actually an energy and informational medicine that should be evaluated as such?

Surely the open-minded approach is to call for scientific research and evidence gathering on the efficacy of homeopathic medicines that would help patients and doctors make informed choices about homeopathic medicines. Pharmaceutical remedies have too many drawbacks to rely on them entirely. Isn’t it time for a more enlightened approach?

©FGATT, 8.3.2017

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[1] For more information visit http://twm.co.nz/Benv_memwtr.html

Infinitesimals, Miasms and Similars: Principles of Homeopathy

Posted on by David Lawrence Preston
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Homeopathic remedies are designed to gently prompt the immune system into fighting a health problem by giving it the necessary information to do so.  They are based on the notion that a diluted preparation of a substance that causes symptoms in a healthy person can cure diseases that cause the same symptoms in a sick person.

It is a holistic approach to healing in that it seeks to treat the whole person, not just the symptoms. Every remedy is tailor-made to suit the individual once the homeopath has carried out their diagnosis, which includes mental and emotional issues as well as physical problems.

Although homeopathy uses common substances mainly from plants and minerals, it is quite different to herbal medicine and the mechanisms by which they work are completely different.

The founder of homeopathy, Dr Samuel Hahnemann, identified ‘natural laws’ on which the method is founded:

The ‘Law of Similars’

The Law of Similars states that a disease can be cured by a substance that produces similar symptoms in healthy people, in other words, like cures like.

For example:

  • Raw onions cause sore, tearful eyes. Extremely diluted extract of raw onion can be used in a remedy to treat colds, flu, or other illnesses that produce the same symptoms.
  • Caffeine can be used in homeopathic dilution to help patients suffering from insomnia.
  • Nettles can be used homeopathically if the skin has symptoms similar to a nettle sting.

Critics of homeopathy are derisory about the Law of Similars. They say there’s no scientific evidence that it works. Indeed, it directly contradicts Western medical practice which tends to use substances which are opposite to the problem to suppress it, thus preventing rather than supporting the body’s normal reaction. But homeopathy is non-suppressive. Practitioners believe that suppressing the symptoms doesn’t deal with the cause, and unless the cause is treated, the condition is likely to get worse.

The Law of Minimal Dose (Theory of Infinitesimals)

The debate around the Law of Similars pales into insignificance compared to the controversy surrounding the Law of Minimal Dose. This states that the lower the dose of a homeopathic medicine, the greater its effectiveness. Most homeopathic remedies are so dilute, they contain little or no ‘active’ ingredients, just an energy blueprint.

When preparing a homeopathic remedy, substances are dissolved in water or alcohol, then repeatedly diluted and vigorously shaken between each dilution. First, the ‘mother tincture’ is diluted by 1 part in 100 or 1000, and shaken. Then it is diluted again to produce a 1 part in 10,000 or 1,000,000 and shaken again. A one-in-a-million dilution gives only a 60% chance that a single molecule of the original mother tincture remains in the solution. Critics argue that this merely adds more water to what is just water, but homeopaths believe that this process transfers the information, energy or ‘essence’ of the substance into the diluted remedy. The body is naturally responsive when ill, so that it is able to respond to these otherwise undetectable amounts.

Homeopathic remedies usually come in the form of a small sugar pill. Once the remedy has been diluted to the required degree, sugar pills are dipped in the remedy and allowed to dry. The essence of the tincture is now believed to have been transferred to the pill. But detractors say they are just sugar pills that have been dipped in water, no more, no less.

Conventional science holds that the more there is of a substance, the greater its effect. Homeopathy contradicts the belief of the pharmaceutical industry that increasing the dosage increases the effect of a drug.

Miasms

Homeopathy achieved good results in Hahnemann’s day, but it wasn’t one hundred percent successful. At first, he couldn’t understand why, then after twenty years in practice he deduced that there must some blockage that must be addressed before a cure can be achieved with the usual homeopathic remedy. He called these deep-seated causal influences ‘Miasms.’

He identified three chronic miasms – Psora (which causes under-functioning), Leutic (self-destruction) and Sycosis (over-functioning). He associated each miasm with specific diseases. For example, Psora is associated with Scabies and any condition that erupts on the skin and itches, hence the homeopathic remedy to address Psora should be produced from scabies itself.

Modern practitioners test for miasms and treat them with homeopathy or other methods such as EDS (electro-dermal screening).

Why the scepticism?

When something that has helped so many appears to have no value according to the scientific method, then surely it is the prevailing scientific method that is flawed!

The problem is, homeopathy’s key concepts are simply not consistent with our current understanding of science and is consequently difficult to study using current scientific methods. It has more in common philosophically with Oriental than Western practice. Each remedy is individually tailored to the patient, so it cannot be tested in random controlled trials, and because it is based on one remedy for one person, it is difficult to construct studies using standard scientific methods.

Hence critics argue that homeopathy relies largely on anecdotes rather than evidence and any success is mainly due to the beliefs of its followers. In other words, placebo. There are still those who consider the use of placebos as ‘fooling’ patients by giving them ‘useless’ pills and potions, even if they help bring about a cure.

Even so, the BBC report still refers to ‘sham’ treatments’ and ‘unproven treatments’ as if the author, Michelle Roberts, is still not really convinced.  She writes that three quarters of doctors claimed to offer ‘unproven treatments’ such as complementary therapies on a daily or weekly basis, and even refers to ‘fake’ acupuncture (which has been used successfully for over five thousand years)  in such terms. She misses the point – in most cases it is not the medicine that brings about healing, but the patient’s own healing abilities restoring equilibrium and removing the resistance to full health.

Research shows that placebos are most effective a relieving subjective conditions such as pain, and their effect is based on cultivating the patient’s expectations of a cure. Hence the size, colour and packaging of placebos all play a role, as does the presentation and manner of the practitioner who prescribes them.

Homeopathy has helped millions of people. The Law of Similars, Infinitesimals and the Principle of Miasms have proved their worth over and over again. It’s about time ‘science’ caught up!

©FGATT, 8.3.2017

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Chemistry says that homeopathy can’t work. Patients and homeopaths know it does. Does quantum theory and holography explain it?

Homeopathy: Mystical Medicine, Science or Quackery?

Posted on by David Lawrence Preston
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Samuel Hahnemann was born in Eastern Germany, in 1755.  At age 23 he decided to study medicine and become a doctor. He established a village practice in 1780, and eventually moved to the regional centre, Dresden.

It wasn’t long before he became disillusioned with the therapies he was expected to offer to his patients. Medicine had moved on little since Hippocrates. Many treatments involved brutal, inhumane methods. Bloodletting and purges were common, and various substances including mercury, arsenic and lead were used which often poisoned patients. He began a lifelong quest to find kinder, more natural ways of treating illnesses.

From 1789, now living in Leipzig, he devoted himself to the study of chemistry and medicine.  Hahnemann was no witch doctor. He believed in the scientific method. He was a keen experimenter, observer and documenter of his findings. He experimented using various substances on healthy subjects to see what effect they would have, and discovered that even poisonous substances could have curative properties.

One experiment used cinchona bark extract, which yields quinine, a known treatment for malaria. Puzzled by his findings, he repeatedly took it himself. That confirmed his suspicions – cinchona bark extract caused him to develop fever-like symptoms similar to those caused by malaria. He surmised that if a substance could cause disease symptoms in a healthy subject, small amounts could cure a sick person who had similar symptoms. He called his system ‘homeopathy’.

Proving

He then developed a testing method called ‘proving’ to determine which substances could be used as remedies and which medical conditions they could be used to treat. Healthy volunteers took highly diluted potions of the test remedy for several weeks and recorded any physical or emotional symptoms they felt. If a patient later presented the same symptoms, Dr Hahnemann prescribed a substance that had caused the same symptoms in the healthy volunteers. The ‘proving’ method is still used by homeopaths today.

Potentisation

Another innovation was the process of ‘potentisation’ derived from his theory of ‘infinitesimals.’ Hahnemann used many dangerous ingredients in his research, but he realised that such compounds needed to be diluted to ‘safe’ levels before use. Potentisation involved dissolving the active ingredient in water and repeatedly diluting and shaking it vigorously. He believed that the more a remedy was diluted, the more powerful it became.

‘Firsts’

Dr Hahnemann was responsible for several other ‘firsts’. He was the first to prepare medicines in a systematic way and test them on healthy human beings to determine how they acted to cure disease – previously medicines were prescribed on the basis of trial and error and tradition without experimental corroboration.

He was the first to differentiate between ‘acute’ and ‘chronic’ diseases. Acute diseases are serious but transitory; they have a beginning and an end. Chronic diseases are ongoing. They could be lying latent and made manifest at any time in a variety of ways.

He identified poor hygiene as a contributory cause in the spread of disease, and his success with cholera and typhoid fever was in part due to this. He recognised the healing contribution made by a balanced diet, rest, and isolating patients during epidemics. He became known for his work with people with mental health problems, regarding their treatment in his day as cruel and harmful, and urging a more humane approach. He was famous for his success with insane patients using homeopathy.

Publications

He published his first treatise in 1810 – The Organon of the Healing Art – in which he explained the fundamentals of homeopathic medicine and guidelines for practice. He later published Pure Materia Medica which included details of his research and the remedy provings. In Chronic Diseases, Their Peculiar Nature and Their Homeopathic Cure, he explained how natural diseases become chronic in nature when suppressed by improper treatment.

Dr. Hahnemann treated thousands of difficult cases. Many had defied medical practitioners all over Europe. Physicians from the Old and New Worlds flocked to him for training in his methods, but they were in the minority. The majority of his contemporaries saw this giant of medicine as a quack of the first order! His theories and practices were derided by most medical practitioners of his day, and still are.

The ‘Scientific’ Verdict

Frankly, the scientific evidence is inconclusive, but this doesn’t prevent most doctors and medical researchers regard homeopathic remedies as placebos at best and quackery at worst. They point out that most studies have concluded that there is no evidence to support homeopathy as an effective treatment for any particular condition. Where studies report positive findings, they dismiss them as flawed: flawed sampling, flawed methodology, flawed conclusions and so on. Homeopathic medicines are infamous for containing no active chemical ingredients. Conventional bio-chemical science has no explanation for their efficacy. It can’t be true, they say, therefore it isn’t.

The ruling pharmaceutical-based medical establishment delight in attacking homeopathy. For example, in 2009, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned, with Africa’s rural poor in mind, that homeopathy should not be used for conditions such as HIV, TB, infant diarrhoea, influenza and malaria. Under a banner headline, ‘Homeopathy not a cure,’ they wrote, ‘We hope that by raising awareness of the WHO’s position on homeopathy we will be supporting those people who are taking a stand against these potentially disastrous practices.’ (Please note: the authors were referring to a handful of conditions; the headline gave the impression homeopathy could not cure anything at all!)

In the same report, a specialist in infectious diseases at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, was quoted as saying: ‘I think it is irresponsible for a healthcare worker to promote the use of homeopathy in place of proven treatment for any life-threatening illness.’

Needless to say, the Society of Homeopaths strongly disagreed. ‘This is just another poorly wrapped attempt to discredit homeopathy,’ said their Chief Executive. ‘The irony is that in their efforts to promote evidence in medicine, they have failed to do their homework. There is a strong and growing evidence base for homeopathy and this also includes childhood diarrhoea.’

Choice

Surely, in view of its positive track record, it is reasonable to consider what beneficial role homeopathy can play in any circumstances. What is needed is not crude dismissal but further research and investment into homeopathy.

So what’s the truth? Hahnemann was, above all, a man of integrity who devoted his life to rigorous testing of homeopathic cures. It has benefited millions since and continues to do so, but there are  no recent large scale studies that show homeopathy as conveying any benefit over and above the placebo effect, only small scale observational studies and laboratory research.

What’s wrong with the science?

In science, if something cannot pass a controlled trial using conventional methods, it is assumed not to work. With homeopathy (and other alternative medicines) even though practitioners know it works because they have seen it with their patients, when it fails in scientifically controlled trials they conclude that the trial must be flawed. Conventional methods are not the way to prove it.

According to mainstream science the humble bee is incapable of flight. Its wings are too small, its body too cumbersome. Similarly, there is a strong and growing evidence base for homeopathy. Let’s hope homeopathy can take its place as a scientifically proven and properly understood therapy in the future, helping lots of people. Then we will know for sure whether Hahnemann was truly an idiot, importer or genius!

©FGATT 8.3.2017

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Herbal medicine: does it work?

Posted on by David Lawrence Preston
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Most healing approaches involve ingesting various substances that alter the biochemistry of the body in some way. Humans have always taken various substances believing they have a remedial effect. In times gone by, most of these were found in the natural world. Nowadays they are equally as likely to have been conjured up in a laboratory.

Herbal medicine

Herbs have always played a role in physical and emotional wellbeing. Many well known herbs have been found to have potent antiseptic, antibacterial and medicinal qualities. They can help prevent ill health, cure minor ailments, bring about a feeling of wellbeing, energise and relax. Some have great nutritional value too, e.g. containing vitamins, minerals and trace elements, easing digestion and elimination. Many are easily grown in a garden or window box.

Herbs can be used in many ways – infusions, tisanes, tinctures, creams, poultices and ointments etc. Their oil is extracted for massage, aromatherapy and inhalations or simply a pleasant, relaxing bath.

Herbal medicine uses exclusively plants and plant extracts – or does it? Not totally. Most come from flowers, stems, root, bark and so on, but Chinese herbs can also include animal and reptile parts including tusks, horns and hoofs and the much-prized seahorses.

Does it work?

A 2007 study by Guo et al [1] began by stating that ‘evidence of efficacy for some herbal medicines, but by no means all those in common use, has increased substantially in the past 29 years.’

The authors went on to point out that most studies were of the classic type where standard doses of single herbs are administered and results compared with a control group given a placebo. But herbal medicine, like most holistic medicines, is simply not prescribed in this way. It is holistic in approach. It aims to treat the whole person and repair the underlying causes of disease, not just deal with symptoms.

It is widely recognised that the sorts of trials used by the pharmaceutical industry and endorsed by governments around the world are unfair on holistic medicine precisely for this reason.

‘There is a sparsity of evidence regarding the effectiveness of individualised herbal medicine,’ write Mr Guo and his colleagues as if they have proven that herbal medicine is useless. But they did not. They could equally have written that there is a sparsity of evidence that it doesn’t work, and plenty of evidence from centuries of use that is does. For example, everyone knows rubbing a nettle sting with a dock leaf brings relief, camomile or valerian are great for disturbed sleep, St John’s Wort is clinically proven to help with depression, garlic for colds, lavender and eucalyptus for blocked noses, peppermint as a pick-me-up, fennel seed for digestive troubles, licorice for constipation and so on.

The burden of proof is much greater for natural medicines than for the pharmaceutical industry. Personal experience is mistrusted as if it counts for nothing. You can imagine what would happen if a group of herbal practitioners published a study on such flimsy foundations and concluded that herbal medicine is effective and can be highly recommended!

Herbal medicine can be powerful, effective and side-effect-free in trained hands, but of course there are no profits to be had by the big pharmaceutical companies for products that can be found in the natural environment or grown in a window box!

©FGATT, 6.3.2017

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[1] R Guo, PH Canter and E Ernst, ‘A systematic review of randomised clinical trials of individualised herbal medicine in any indication,’ Postgrad Med J 2007; 83:633-637 (at www.postgradmedj.com)

Are you sure you want to be well? The problem of ‘secondary gains’.

Posted on by David Lawrence Preston
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When a patient fails to recover even when receiving the best possible treatment, we must question whether they really want to get well. Why? Some people like being ill. They enjoy the attention that comes with it. It may be the only time anyone takes an interest in them.

When a person subconsciously depends on their illness for sympathy, security and so on, we allude to ‘secondary gains.’  Secondary gains are the hidden or not-so-hidden benefits of staying ill. They hinder recovery because without the desire to be well, healing forces remain dormant.

I once had a client whose ex-husband allowed her to stay in the former marital home until she recovered from a debilitating illness. Years of treatment had brought no improvement – but where was the incentive to get well? She would have lost her home, her welfare benefits and not least all that sympathy and attention.

If you are suffering from a chronic illness and have tried everything you know to get well, ask yourself if you really want to recover and why. Be honest with yourself. The answer may be revealing.

 

©David Lawrence Preston, 15.11.2016

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Healing and Creative Imagery

Posted on by David Lawrence Preston
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Creative Imagery (visualization) is an invaluable healing tool with proven health benefits. It can reduce chronic pain, anxiety, high blood pressure, cholesterol and the stress hormone cortisol. It boosts brain function, the immune system and the heart and circulation. When we relax and focus our minds, we stimulate the life forces within, allowing the body to regenerate itself.

Moreover, when we send loving thoughts to a body part and affirm life flowing through it, we direct healing forces to it. A gentle focus of attention is all it takes to free the body of minor ailments, and more serious conditions can be relieved with regular practice. It can also prevent medical problems.

Try this: when in a relaxed state, take your awareness to your body and notice any pain or discomfort – you’ll find your attention wants to go there. There are lessons to be learned, so ask your Higher Self what your body trying to tell you. Then make the necessary adjustments to your habits or lifestyle.

How to use Creative Imagery for healing

Creative Imagery has been used for decades by eminent doctors such as Dr Carl Simonton, Dr Bernie Segal, Dr Milton Erickson and Dr Dean Ornish. They have written extensively about their techniques.

The following is typical of the type of healing routines they employ:

  1. Thoroughly relax your body and mind. Focus on your breath; imagine it as a form of healing energy. As you exhale, mentally direct this healing energy to the injured part., Affirm, ‘My …. Is healed and strong.’
  2. Next, visualise the part as already healed. If it is a cut, see the flesh smooth and unscarred; if a break, see the bone neatly knitted together. If there is any swelling, see the joint back to its normal size. Don’t worry if you’re not sure what a broken bone or sprained muscle looks like – imagine how it will look once healed and let your unconscious take care of the rest.
  3. Thirdly, visualise yourself doing all the things you will be able to do once you have fully recovered. Remember, focus your mind on what you want, not what you don’t, and you will be surprised how the healing process is speeded up.

Healing with white light

Healing energies are often visualised as white light. White light symbolises loving, healing energy. For example:

  1. Imagine yourself resting in a sanctuary bathed in pure white light. Go within and release your inner healing energies.
  1. See the symptoms clearing, the light of pure love working on the body, strengthening and supporting, mending the joints and muscles, disease and negativity flowing out of the body.
  1. Visualise your body bathed in light, strong, healthy, doing everything you want it to.
  1. See the body infused with light and affirm: My body is strong and healthy. All my muscles and organs work in perfect harmony. Vitalizing energy floods my whole consciousness and I am healed.

With proper self-management, doctors would rarely be required, but you must adopt good habits or sooner of later the body will demand attention and force you to change. Remember, good habits are not just to be adopted when you are ill. Prevention is better than cure, and positive attitudes, wise words, creative imagery and loving actions are among the best form of prevention.

 

©David Lawrence Preston, 15.11.2016

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Don’t judge by appearances – an important holistic healing principle

Posted on by David Lawrence Preston
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We live in two worlds simultaneously – the physical world bounded by time and space; and the invisible, formless world of energy, intelligence and information. In the quantum world where our consciousness resides we are always well; only in the physical world of matter do we vacillate between sickness and health. When we buy into destructive beliefs we risk suffering the appearance of ill health.

Focus your thoughts on mind on what is true:

  • You are a manifestation of Spirit, the only power working in the universe.
  • There is no absence of life, love or intelligence anywhere.
  • Every moment life, wisdom and power flow into and through you.
  • Pain, sickness and old age cannot master the essence of you, whatever the appearances.

Turning your attention to the in-dwelling Life Force fills mind and body with new energies. Talk to your mind and body as you would talk to a patient. The Intelligence within will do the rest.

Use affirmations such as:

  • Health and well-being flow into every cell of my body.
  • Love fills my whole being and dissolves anything detrimental to my health.
  • I am a child of the universe and it is right for me to have perfect health. I claim it now.
  • Every day in every way I’m getting better and better.

Health and healing are your birthright. Your worthiness to be healed is never in question. Believe in your recovery. If doubt gets in the way, the healing flow is blocked.

 

©David Lawrence Preston, 14.11.2016

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