Healing the body with the mind

Posted on March 28, 2017 by David Lawrence Preston

Following the success of Barbara Mohr’s ‘Cosmic Ordering’[1] and Rhonda Byrne’s ‘The Secret’[2] in 2006, the ancient spiritual Law known as the Law of Attraction has come to the fore. It is enshrined in Buddhism, Taoism and the Vedic and Hebrew scriptures. In the Hebrew Scriptures King Solomon went so far as to say, ‘For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he,’[3] a message constantly reiterated in the New Testament.

At first glance these modern interpretations appear to suggest that you can enjoy perfect health, acquire massive riches and perform miracles just by asking the ‘universe’ for what you want and believing without question that it’s already yours – despite any appearances to the contrary. Don’t concern yourself with the ‘how’ – let the universe take care of the details. When the time is right, you will receive exactly what you asked for.

In the context of healing, this recipe has appeared to work for some people, but, of course, nothing is ever that simple. Sure, the same universe that makes a person unwell also has the means to cure them, as long as they are willing to do something for themselves. When the right causes are laid, the right effects surely follow.

The problem is, we are never in control of all the causes. You can eat all the right foods, exercise, regularly detox, control your thoughts by denying illness and affirming health, constantly assure yourself that you are fit and well, young and healthy, and still contract a seriously illness.

Research has revealed correlations between certain ways of thinking and believing and the restoration of good health after illness. For example, the Institute of Noetic Sciences identified the factors that characterise ‘spontaneous remissions’. Among them were taking full personal responsibility, facing up to the crisis, looking for meaning in the illness, choosing a new, more fulfilling way of life, learning to express their emotions, close family relationships, setting one’s own goals and reappraising old beliefs that are no longer helpful or appropriate to their situation. Emphasis was also placed on relieving stress and seeking a renewed spiritual awareness through a spiritual practice such as prayer or meditation.

These are correlations; nothing is certain. These physical and mental disciplines massively increase your chances of good health, but they can never guarantee it. Because life’s not like that!

©Feelinggoodallthetime 28.3.2017

How to Books, 2007

[1] Barbara Mohr, The Cosmic Ordering Service, Mobius, 2006, ISBN 978-0340933329

[2] Rhonda Byrne, The Secret, Simon and Schuster, 2006, ISBN 978-0340933329

[3] Proverbs 23: 7 KJV

Healing and the Imagination

Posted on March 27, 2017 by David Lawrence Preston

The imagination can be a potent force in healing.

It’s no exaggeration that patients who cannot imagine themselves well are unlikely to be or stay so, and an increasing number of doctors and complementary practitioners agree. For example, in pain control clinics patients are taught to imagine the sore area going cool and numb, and visualise a dial or slide control representing the degree of pain and turn it down. It works because pain is a subjective experience highly susceptible to mental processes.

Try this: sit down comfortably, take a few deep breaths and focus your attention on your dominant hand. Imagine it getting warmer. What’s happening? Now imagine it getting cooler. Any difference? Experiments using sophisticated measuring equipment have registered significant changes in skin temperature when people use their imagination in this way.

Leading physicians such as Dr Carl Simonton, Dr Bernie Segal and Dr Dean Ornish have written and lectured widely about their experiences using the imagination to assist the healing process. Dr Simonton teaches his patients to visualise tumours shrinking and the cancer disappearing. Dr Ornish uses creative imagery, nutrition, exercise and group therapy to clear coronary heart blockages. Dr Segal uses a range of techniques to galvanise the healing power of the mind, including visualisation. In each case, the results are well documented. This author, too, has used it (with hypnosis) to relieve a range of conditions including eczema, frozen shoulder, muscular aches and pains, blushing, allergies, eczema, headaches, obesity, bed wetting and a variety of fears and phobias.

Using the imagination, especially the creative visual imagination, works because of two quirks of the unconscious mind (where the body’s automatic regulation systems are located). The first is, the unconscious processes pictures and feelings better than words and ideas. Tell your heart to speed up and nothing happens. Imagine yourself waking down a dark alley with the sound of footsteps getting louder behind you and suddenly a heavy hand on your shoulder…..

The other is even quirkier: the unconscious can’t distinguish between fact and fantasy, ‘real’ and imagined. That’s why people wake in a sweat after a bad dream and cry at the cinema. So if you create a mental image of yourself healthy and healed, your unconscious works to make it a reality.

Creative imagery has proved its worth in healing time and time again. Katy came to see me after suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) for many years. It made her days miserable and kept her awake at night. IBS is a stress-related condition exacerbated by poor diet.

I took her through a couple of guided visualisations and encouraged her to practise at home. She relaxed deeply and imagined she was examining her bowel from the inside. In her imagination she created a vivid mental picture of the problem area. It looked rough, angry, red and sore. She then imagined herself smearing the affected area with healing oils and balms, sensing the discomfort melting away, seeing the angry red change to a healthy pink. Finally, she turned on a make-believe tap in the bloodstream which provided extra nutrients and oxygen, to encourage healthy bacteria to flow in.

Within two weeks the IBS had almost disappeared. After a month, it was completely clear.

Try it yourself, but first a word of warning: no amount of creative imagery alone will cure you unless you change bad habits and take necessary action in other areas (e.g. diet, exercise, rest etc.) too.

©Feelinggoodallthetime, 27.3.2017

How to Books, 2007

Illness, Health and Self-Awareness

Posted on March 27, 2017 by David Lawrence Preston

Scientific research increasingly shows that negative thoughts and emotions can make us ill and positive thoughts and emotions help to keep us well. Happy, contented, emotionally well-adjusted and optimistic people have more energy and get ill less often. They also live longer. How, then, can we use these insights to heal our bodies and stay healed?

The starting point is self-awareness. Every great teacher, from Lao Tsu, the Buddha, Socrates, King Solomon to modern day gurus like Dr Deepak Chopra and Osho have agreed.

Most illnesses arise from miscommunication between the body and unconscious mind, telling us that some issues in our lives need to be addressed. Often, when we address an issue, the problem clears up without further intervention.

Correctly handled, illness can be the trigger for personal development and the gateway to spiritual growth. Along with the pain and suffering comes the opportunity to change. Many health problems are primarily due to poor self-management.

If you think this is an exaggeration, here’s an example. Mick was a wealthy businessman, forty-three years old. He was diagnosed as suffering from gout, a disease in which an excess of uric acid in the blood causes excruciatingly painful swelling in the joints. On some days, he could only walk using crutches.

For several years he relied on medication but had no idea what was causing. Then one day a health practitioner told him the main cause of gout was opulent living – especially a poor diet. Mick was certainly guilty of that. His alcohol consumption was well over the recommended limit, and he loved high fat, sweetened, refined foods, especially generous helpings of meat, blue cheeses and desserts.

The practitioner gave him a diet sheet which prohibited (among other things) red meat, dairy foods and alcohol, and advised an increase in salads, fresh fruit and vegetables. ‘Sod this,’ he said. ‘I’m not a flamin’ rabbit! If I follow this I’ll starve.’ So he carried on as before. Needless to say, the condition did not improve.

In time the agony got worse and he came round to following the practitioner’s advice. He made a full recovery.

Mick’s was a very obvious wake-up call. Usually, though, the problem is not so apparent. The sufferer may have adopted a lifestyle that harms them physically, mentally, emotional and/or spiritually without being aware. But if they ask themselves, ‘What could I learn from this? What needs to be addressed? What is it telling me about my lifestyle, my way of thinking, my hopes and fears, beliefs, values and personal relationships?’ the answers may be revealing. Then changes can be made.

Self-awareness includes:

Intention: Do you want to be well? To be healed? If this sounds like a silly question, be aware that some people would rather stay ill! Why? Because illness can itself be the solution to other problems. It can provide justification for failure, avoiding responsibility and inability to cope. It attracts sympathy and attention. Practitioners can quickly spot such people because they know that if the patient does not want to be healed, their healing efforts will be in vain.
Habitual thinking patterns can block the healing process. Every thought you entertain affects every cell of your body and can weaken the healing process.
Beliefs are powerful thought-forms that deliver a direct command to the nervous system. Author Norman Cousins (who cured himself of a terminal illness after doctors had given up on him) wrote: ‘Drugs are not always necessary. Belief in recovery always is.’ Beliefs do not have to be conscious; they continue to influence you even when you’re not thinking about them and affect us whether they are true or false.
Recurrent emotions that need to be addressed.
Faith: another word for total belief. People with faith in a positive outcome are often the best fighters.

Self-awareness and mindfulness are the starting points for all progress, from confidence building and self-esteem to physical wellness.

©Feelinggoodallthetime, 27.3.2017

How to Books, 2007

Toxic thoughts and emotions create illness

Posted on March 24, 2017 by David Lawrence Preston

We’ve always known that there’s a close connection between the body and the mind. We’ve all experienced it. That’s why more and more sufferers of chronic physical conditions are referred for counselling, and why, in the UK at least, the ‘talking therapies’ are over subscribed.

Some experts predict that they’ll soon be able to identify people at risk of contracting serious diseases such as cancer from their psychological profiles – others claim they already can.

For instance, in her book, ‘Your Body Speaks Your Mind’[1], Debbie Shapiro suggests there is a direct link between specific attitudes and emotions, and afflictions in specific parts of the body. For example, if you have problems with your ears, it’s because you cannot accept what you’re hearing and subconsciously withdraw energy from the hearing ability. Ear infections denote irritability with what you’re hearing. Eye problems, she writes, indicate that you’re having difficulty accepting what you’re seeing. Short-sightedness suggests introversion; long-sightedness extroversion. Blurred vision denotes confusion, and so on.

She is not alone in believing that it’s possible to link thinking and behaviour patterns to specific parts of the body:

‘Any distress of the mind slows down the liver. Living in the past, condemning one’s self, and regret of the past affects the liver…. Resentment and pettiness are reflected in the liver, since a healthy liver casts out the untrue and holds fast to the good.’ Catherine Ponder[2]

‘The lungs represent our capacity to take in and give out life. Problems with the lungs usually mean we are afraid to take in life, or perhaps we feel we do not have the right to live fully.’ Louise Hay[3]

‘There’s a surprising correlation between one’s choice of words and the ailments one suffers: ‘That makes me sick!’ (linked to ulcers); ‘I made a rash decision (linked to skin problems); ‘It’s doing my head in’ (headaches)….’ Arielle Essex[4]

Far fetched? Then consider this:

The body is constantly regenerating itself. Every second more than a million cells in your body die and are replaced with new cells. The cells of your heart, skeleton, liver, skin and digestive system are replaced every three to six months, and even the cells in your brain are constantly regenerating. Some say that every cell is replaced at least every two years – some say it’s more frequent than that.

We know through the work of cellular biologist Bruce Lipton[5] and others that every cell in the body has intelligence and responds to our ‘instructions’ (thoughts, mental images and beliefs). As they reproduce, they respond to the pattern we give them. This way, every emotion is locked into our physical makeup.

‘I’ve hurt my arm’ could be reinterpreted as ‘A hurt inside me is manifesting in my arm’. If you notice yourself thinking, ‘You’re a pain in the neck’ or ‘this is a real headache’, don’t be surprised if you get one. Phrases like, I can’t stomach this,’ and ‘It’s too much for me to shoulder’ have obvious repercussions. When you talk like this you’re sending a direct message from the brain to that part of the body via the nervous system.

If you’re a generally positive person, the new cells are likely to be healthy and you’re improving your chances of a vibrant good health. If you’re generally negative in outlook, the new cells are weakened and you may even be curtaining your lifespan.

Over time, your body becomes a walking autobiography, because every physical state has an underlying non-physical state. One’s thought affect the shape of your face! The ancient art of physiognomy (face reading) is based on this premise. Indeed, the idea that a person’s character can be seen in his face is more or less taken as given around the world. Research shows that such traits as honesty, social dominance and aggression are indeed linked to facial features[6].

Over a hundred years ago, Sigmund Freud wrote: ‘Often repressed emotions will manifest either as behavioural problems or physical problems’. Although widely derided at the time, the evidence is now overwhelming.

©David L. Preston 24.3.2017

How to Books, 2007

[1] Deb Shapiro, Your Body Speaks Your Mind, 1996, Piatkus Books, ISBN 978-0749915957

[2] The Healing Secrets of the Ages, pg 240, De Vorss Publications, 1967, ISBN 0-875 16-550-8

[3] You Can Heal Your Life, pg 128, Axis Publishing, 1987, ISBN 1 870845 01 3

[4] The Eight Factors of Healing, pg 30, www.practicalmiracles.com, 2009

[5] Bruce Lipton, The Biology of Belief, Hay House Inc, 2008, ISBN 978-1401923112

[6] See The Economist, 21^st August 2008

Usui Reiki

Posted on March 18, 2017 by David Lawrence Preston

Dr Mikao Usui was born in the small village of Yago, Southern Japan, in 1865 into a prosperous family. A keen and talented student, he travelled widely, including to Europe and China, and studied history, medicine, psychology and the Taoist, Buddhist and Christian scriptures. In young manhood, be became a successful businessman. But in his fifties, his health and his businesses began to fail.

Legend has it that Mikao Usui discovered the Reiki principles while meditating and fasting on top of Mount Kurama, believed to be a sacred mountain. He felt an incredible energy, and soon after found he could heal himself and others by laying his hands on them. This led to his rediscovery of the ancient hands-on healing method that he named ‘Reiki.’ Reiki means ‘universal life energy’.

He opened a clinic in Tokyo in April 1921.People came from far and wide. He also gave workshops to spread the knowledge. In 1923 a dreadful earthquake shook the city, and he gave Reiki treatments to the survivors. The clinic became so popular that it couldn’t handle the numbers, so he built a larger one and was honoured by the Emperor for his work.

He founded an association called Usui Shiki Reiki Ryoho. It had 2,000 students and 21 trained Masters by the time of his death.

Usui was said to be a warm and gentle man, modest, humble and courageous. Contemporaries said that people were drawn to him for his charisma and wisdom. He did not see healing as separate from his spiritual teachings.

In 1926, at 61, he suffered a fatal stroke. By then, there were Reiki centres throughout Japan.

Dr Hayashi

One of Usui’s students was a medical doctor and retired naval officer, Churijo Hayashi. He was initiated as a Reiki Master in 1925. He opened a clinic and adopted a scientific method to his practice. He carefully logged his treatments and results and used this information to create the ‘Hayashi Healing Guide’ which included detailed treatments for specific conditions. These included specific positions on the body on which the hands re to be placed to facilitate flow.

Mrs Takata

One of Hayashi’s patients was a Hawaiian, Hawayo Takata (1900-1980). By her mid-thirties she was desperately ill. On a visit to Japan she was taken into hospital to be treated for gallstones, a tumour and emphysema, but she claimed she heard a voice telling her that the operation was unnecessary, discharged herself and consulted Dr Hayashi. She received daily treatments for four months as was completely cured. Impressed, she persuaded Dr Hayashi to teach her Reiki and was initiated as a Reiki Master in 1938[1].

She worked tirelessly to take Reiki to the USA, from where it spread to Europe and around the world. She initiated 22 Reiki Masters, who taught others and spread the teachings.

There are now an estimated million Reiki Masters in the world. The Reiki taught by Mrs Takata was a somewhat watered-down version of Usui’s original methods, designed to be more palatable to the West. Many Reiki practitioners regard Hayashi and Takata as a kind of lineage; others set up splinter groups of their own, each claiming to be the authentic successors of Usui. However, there is no evidence that Usui himself intended to initiate such a line.

Today’s Reiki is much more structured than the intuitive method practised by Usui, for example, the hand positions now taught originated with Dr Hayashi and were developed by Mrs Takata.

Moreover, Usui did not approve of taking a fee for giving Reiki – Mrs Takata overturned that and spawned a whole industry. Even Reiki Masters have to make a living!

©David Lawrence Preston, 18.3.2017

[1] For further details, see William Rand, The Healing Touch, Vision Publications, Southfield MI, 1991

Basic Principles of Reiki

Posted on March 18, 2017 by David Lawrence Preston

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.

206 bones, 640 muscles, 60 hormones and 70 trillion cells!

Posted on February 18, 2017 by David Lawrence Preston

Do you ever stop to think about how amazing and wonderful your body is?

We have 206 bones, 640 muscles and 60 different hormones. On average, the heart beats 101,000 times a day and circulates 6,800 litres of blood. We breathe in 23,000 times a day, excrete half a ton of waste per year, and are constantly shedding and replacing our cells. The reproductive system alone produces 500 billion new cells per day. In total, it takes around 70,000,000,000,000 cells to make an adult human – and there are 200 different types of cell in the body.

The body lives around 70 years on average, but not uncommonly over a century. It can survive in the Arctic, the marshes, the mountains and the Sahara. Usually it lives in communities, but can also survive alone. It’s a truly miraculous thing!

Moreover, human beings have consciousness, intelligence and memory, thoughts (60,000 per day), emotions and dreams. We are much more than collections of bones, muscles and organs enclosed within a stretchy membrane (skin). And our functions are governed by much more than a mass of grey matter housed in the space between our ears. We stay alive because the body’s metabolism provides physical and chemical energy, and because different systems in the body work together in harmony, each depending on the other, perfectly regulated.

Can you imagine 200,000 chemical reactions taking place every second in every single cell? The body is not just an assembly of cells, it is a complex system of tissues with different tasks and functions. It also contains – or is part of – the most complex information system. Every single function is ruled by complex information exchange processes.

Alarmingly – the medical fraternity has not yet come to terms with it! AcuPearl uses the latest knowledge of the biofield, that field of energy and information that regulates the body’s functioning, to support health and wellbeing. Research is ongoing. We are about to enter a new era of advanced energy medicine!

Visit www.AcuPearl.co.uk for further information.

Prosperity theology

Posted on February 4, 2017 by David Lawrence Preston

It is popular in some religious circles (especially in the USA) to argue that accumulating wealth is not only a worthy pursuit but also a spiritual activity. I disagree.

I attended a seminar some years ago given by a minister of a ‘prosperity church’ from the USA. She argued that it is OK to acquire as much as you can because when you take more, supply expands and there is more to go round.

This argument contains a glimmer of truth; it’s true there is plenty for everyone’s needs (although as Gandhi pointed out, not for our greed). The universe teems with energy and intelligence, all capable of manifesting into physical form. However, until we harness it and use it to provide for all in an equitable manner, we risk ignoring the less well-off, squandering resources and destroying the life support systems of the planet, all of which are consequences of pursuing narrow self-interest.

Today, half the world’s population is undernourished while the other half suffers from excess. Every year, more people are born into absolute poverty and ever-increasing areas of land become infertile due to soil erosion and global warning. Poverty breeds crime, violence and war – they’re the price we all have to pay.

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter @David_L_Preston

How to Books 2007

Everything material is impermanent

Posted on February 2, 2017 by David Lawrence Preston

Every material thing you have will one day cease to exist in its present form. Even your body will return to the dust from which it was made.

The consequence is clear: if you chase after possessions, hoard them and rely on them for security, you make yourself a slave to things that inexorably deteriorate. They are not a stable basis on which to build your happiness.

People who are highly acquisitive are often too busy or stressed to enjoy life. Think of the effort and expenditure to which some go to ensure that they are up to date with the latest fashion trends so they can win the admiration of others similarly inclined – and yet in a very short time, the items on which they relied for their feelings of pleasure lose their appeal.

Wouldn’t it be better to attend to something that brings lasting benefit – the qualities of consciousness that bring lasting security, happiness, love and peace of mind?

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter @David_L_Preston

How to Books, 2007

Universal Intelligence – however you conceive it – loves all its children equally

Posted on January 30, 2017 by David Lawrence Preston

Not long ago a local Councillor from Northern Ireland stated his belief on UK national radio that Hurricane Katrina was God’s retribution against gay people in New Orleans (apparently a gay festival would have taken place in the city two days later had the hurricane not happened) and added that the Tsunami in December 2004 was due to God punishing Asia for not being predominantly Christian.

What do you think? Do you agree with the Councillor, or would you rather heed the words of Gene Robinson, the openly gay man who was elected Bishop of the New Hampshire in June 2003, sparking off a heated debate between conservatives and liberals within the Church over whether he should be allowed to serve.

Said Robinson, ‘The nature of G_d must take precedence over the affairs of the church, and the nature of G_d is to love all His children equally.’

Whether you see G_d as a man in the sky, an Intelligence, a quantum information field or whatever I think you can be pretty certain that it doesn’t discriminate. However you conceive it, it loves all its children equally.

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter @David_L_Preston

How to Books, 2007

David Lawrence Preston

Dedicated to creating a kinder, happier, healthier world

Tag Archives: consciousness

Healing the body with the mind

Healing and the Imagination

Illness, Health and Self-Awareness

Toxic thoughts and emotions create illness

Usui Reiki

Dr Hayashi

Mrs Takata

Basic Principles of Reiki

Scientific Explanation for Reiki

Five Principles for Happiness

206 bones, 640 muscles, 60 hormones and 70 trillion cells!

Prosperity theology

Everything material is impermanent

Universal Intelligence – however you conceive it – loves all its children equally