Tag Archives: health

Healing and the Imagination

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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

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How to Books, 2007

Illness, Health and Self-Awareness

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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

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How to Books, 2007

Can Positive Emotions Keep You Well?

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There’s no doubt that negative emotions can create and sustain illness. It’s been known intuitively and written about for thousands of years and increasingly recognised medically and scientifically over the last century. For example, Dr Sigmund Freud wrote: ‘Often repressed emotions will manifest either as behavioural problems or physical problems’. Although widely derided at the time and since, the evidence is now overwhelming.

Cellular biologist Bruce Lipton[1] and others have shown that every cell in the body has intelligence and responds to our ‘instructions’ (thoughts, mental images, attitudes and beliefs). As cells reproduce, they respond to the patterns we give them. This way, over time every emotion is locked into our physical makeup. New cells reflect the predominant emotions currently experiences, thus negative emotions – especially anger and fear – can create illness.

Can positive emotions keep you well?

The question arises, if ‘negative’ thoughts and emotions can make you ill, can ‘positive’ thoughts and emotions make – and keep – you well? Can positive emotions improve your chances of good mental and physical health? The answer is a qualified ‘yes’.

Dr Norman Cousins became an internationally known speaker and author after restoring himself to health using ‘laughter therapy’ – watching funny movies to help him maintain a sunny disposition. Others (but not everyone) who tried it had similar results.

Research by the Institute of Noetic Sciences shows that taking personal responsibility, learning to express our emotions constructively and reappraising old beliefs that are unhelpful or inappropriate certainly helps. Seeking spiritual awareness through a practice such as prayer, mindfulness or meditation also help.

Happy, enthusiastic, optimistic, go-ahead people do have more energy and get ill less often. In addition, many studies have concluded that people who are well adjusted emotionally and socially are healthier and live longer.

For example:

  • A research team at the University of Michigan studied 2,700 people for fourteen years, and found that regular social contact significantly increased life expectancy, particularly among men. The death rate among people who did not have close relationships was 250% higher during the study period.
  • A random sample of 7,000 adults in California revealed that adults with strong family bonds, good social relationships and a happy, outgoing attitude had half the mortality rate of those without such ties, irrespective of their smoking, drinking, exercise and eating habits.
  • In another experiment, records were kept of a hundred factory workers in the UK. Those reporting a supportive home, work and social life stayed healthier than who were dissatisfied with their domestic and working lives. The incidence of arthritis in the least contented group was ten times higher than in the most contented.

How, then, can we use these insights to heal out bodies and stay healed? By cultivating:

  • Self-awareness.
  • Positive intentions.
  • Positive thoughts and beliefs.
  • Health imagination.
  • Constructive actions.

This is the I-T-I-A Formula©. These four letters hold the key to health, happiness and prosperity, provided they are consistently applied. I’ve written widely on them elsewhere. Take a look!

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

 

©David L Preston, 24.3.2017

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How to Books, 2007

Toxic thoughts and emotions create illness

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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

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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, 21st August 2008

A Close Relationship Between Stress and Illness

Posted on by David Lawrence Preston
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Studies have consistently shown a close relationship between stress and illness. Stressed people get ill more often and when they do, on average the illness is more serious.

Twenty years ago stress was said by doctors to be responsible for at least two-thirds of all illness; nowadays, the most often quoted figure is around 90%.

Stress arises from a mis-perception or mismatch of the demands made upon us and our ability to meet those demands. It can be physical, mental or emotional. When the body and/or mind have been taxed to the limit without sufficient nourishment, rest and recuperation we get stressed.

It affects the immune system and creates physiological changes such as increased heart rate, higher blood pressure and sweating. These changes can be beneficial if you’re running away from danger, but only if they’re of limited duration. If they continue too long the body’s ability to regain and maintain equilibrium is compromised. For example, there’s a direct link between stress and lower back pain, a tight jaw and clenched teeth, which lead to neck and shoulder pain, headaches and tension around the eyes.

There’s little doubt that people who feel stressed or under threat (real or imagined) are at greater risk of becoming ill, which may be why the number of heart attacks on Monday mornings is statistically higher than could be predicted by chance alone. Children are more likely to develop a temperature or sore throat on the day of a school test and those terrified of bullying often developing eczema, asthma or some other condition to avoid going to school. One shy little girl I met was so scared of attending birthday parties she develops a balloon phobia.

Sometimes the effect is even more dramatic. I knew a woman whose 40 year-old husband, a keen runner, dropped dead a few seconds after opening a malicious letter – the emotional shock literally killed him.

Since most illnesses have a psycho-somatic component, it follows that any diagnosis, treatment or therapy which doesn’t take mental and emotional factors into account is likely to fail or be impermanent. Fortunately many doctors are waking up – but there’s still an awfully long way to go!

 

©David L Preston, 24.3.2017

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How to Books, 2007

 

 

 

Psycho-neuro immunology

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We’ve always known that there’s a connection between the body and the mind – if indeed they are separate at all. But for hundreds of years Western medicine ignored – even denied – this connection. But since the 1980s all this has changed thanks to the relatively new science of Psycho-Neuro Immunology or PNI. The term ‘psychoneuroimmunology’ was coined in 1975 by two researchers at New York’s University of Rochester, psychologist Robert Adey and Nicholas Cohen, an immunologist.

PNI researchers study the interactions between the nervous system and immune systems and the relationships between mental processes and health. They look for the exact mechanisms by which specific brain-immunity effects are achieved. And they’re finding them – tiny contacts which connect the nerves of the brain directly to the immune system through the nervous system. This is physical, biochemical proof that our thoughts and emotions are communicated straight to the immune system.

Science is telling us that the central nervous system extends to every cell in the body via chemical receptors and neurotransmitters. It no longer makes sense to think in terms of the traditional mind-body split.

The evidence exists at several biological levels. The immune system and the brain – the two major biological adaptive systems of the body – talk to each other through signalling pathways during an immune response. Two major pathway systems are involved in this cross-talk: the hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenal axis) and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). This process is essential for maintaining equilibrium.

Their preliminary research showed that a signal via the nervous system affected immune function in rats. In 1981 Dr David Felten discovered a network of nerves in humans leading to blood vessels as well as cells of the immune system. This discovery provided one of the first indications of how neuro-immune interaction occurs. Ader, Cohen and Felten went on to edit the groundbreaking book Psychoneuroimmunology in 1981, which presented the evidence that the brain and immune system represent a single, integrated system of defence.

In 1985, neuropharmacologist Dr Candace Pert showed that neuropeptides and neurotransmitters act directly upon the immune system in close association with emotions, and suggested mechanisms through which emotions and immunology are interdependent. Showing that the immune and endocrine systems are modulated not only by the brain but also by the central nervous system has had an enormous impact on how we understand emotions, as well as disease.

PNI has continued to develop. There is now sufficient data to conclude that psychological and social factors such as stress lead to actual health changes by altering the immune function. The strongest evidence is in the areas of wounds and infections and evidence across other health conditions and diseases is growing.

Influencing the body using the mind

Following the success of two global best sellers, ‘Cosmic Ordering’[1] and ‘The Secret’[2], there’s been a great deal of discussion in the media about an ancient spiritual Law commonly called the Law of Attraction. It is enshrined in Buddhism, Taoism and both the Vedic and Hebrew scriptures. King Solomon is quoted, ‘For as <a man> thinketh in his heart, so is he,’[3] a message reiterated in the New Testament.

At first glance the impression given by these modern versions is that you can eradicate disease, 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. 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, of course, nothing is ever that simple. Sure, the same universe that makes a person unwell also has the means to cure them. When the right causes are laid, the right effects surely follow.

The problem is, we are never in control of all the causes. Some, yes. Others, no. You can eat nothing but 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 or die in an accident or terrorist attack. The physical and mental disciplines you follow will massively increase your chances of good health, but they can’t guarantee it.

Give yourself the best chance. Adopt a positive, cheerful frame of mind. ‘See’ yourself happy and kind. Adopt sensible habits. PNI shows that this is the best way of enjoying optimum health and dying young at a great age!

[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

 

©Feelinggoodallthetime, 23.3.2017

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The Mind-Body Connection

Posted on by David Lawrence Preston
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We’ve always known that there’s a connection between the body and the mind – if indeed they are separate at all. For instance, anxious feelings can give rise to headaches, loss of appetite and an upset stomach – we’ve all experienced it. Sad thoughts bring on tiredness and lethargy, anger energizes, fear brings tension and can immobilize, and so on.

In contrast, a lover’s glance can send shivers down the spine and make the heart race, a relaxed mood calms the body, and when we’re happy, we feel more alive and have more energy.

Of course, anyone who has ever done a fire walk cannot fail to wonder how a pair of human feet can walk over burning coals without feeling any pain, or how someone can undergo open heart surgery or give birth by caesarean section under hypnosis (with no anaesthetic) and feel no pain. Or why one person reacts to an injury with little pain while another experiences excruciating, unbearable pain from the same injury.

In his book, Love and Survival: The Scientific Basis for the Healing Power of Intimacy[1], Dr Dean Ornish, a respected heart surgeon, gives the following examples of the mind-body connection taken from academic studies:

  • Passive negative emotions like grief and despair, and feelings of loss or failure, throw the auto-immune system out of gear, reduce the body’s natural defences against infections and increase the likelihood of degenerative conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.
  • The most dangerous emotions from a health point of view are fear, anger and hostility. Prolonged aggression causes changes in the immune system and autonomic nervous system, increases the heart rate, blood pressure and breathing, tenses the muscles, and raises the level of free fatty acids in the blood – all of which can lead to migraines, hypertension, coronary heart disease and strokes.
  • In one study, researchers found that young people who were beset with anger were seven times more likely to be dead by the age of fifty. Low frustration tolerance is a better predictor of an early death than smoking, high cholesterol or high blood pressure.

We know that a single thought can bring about over a hundred biochemical changes in your body – instantly. Every thought, every emotion, and every change of thought or emotion, affects the body. A sudden fright, a burst of anger, a fit of jealousy all immediately impacts on the body. So do moments of pleasure, feelings of love and contentment, expressions of appreciation, gratitude and joy.

Why, then, did Western doctors once regard the mind-body relationship as relatively unimportant?

Long ago the Chinese, Hebrews, Greeks and many other cultures were well aware that our thoughts impacted on our health. So were Muslim doctors around 1000 CE. Why, then, for several centuries did Western doctors regard the relationship as relatively unimportant? What made them believe that they could fix bodies without taking the mind into account?

The idea that mind and body were quite separate is usually, and perhaps unfairly, attributed to the influence of Rene Descartes (1596 -1650). Then Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727) built a model of the universe which dominated the scientific view of the universe for the next 250 years. There was no place in Newtonian science for the mind as non-physical and unseen, although, ironically, his major interest – magic and the occult – certainly did involve the human mind.

This suspicion lasted into our own era. As recently as the 1970s, few reputable doctors argued that our thoughts and emotions had a direct physical effect on the body. Without observable, measurable physical connections between the brain and the body’s immune system and nervous system, they said, the idea that thoughts and unresolved emotional pain can manifest as physical problems was just humbug. There was no concrete evidence, they said, just anecdotes.

But this is rapidly changing. Scientists such as Dr Candace Pert and the founders of PNI (psycho-neuro immunology) have discovered the exact mechanisms by which it functions and how to influence it. Nowadays all doctors are fully aware of the mind-body connection; once again science has finally caught up with the ancients!

[1] Dr Dean Ornish, Love and Survival: The Scientific Basis for the Healing Power of Intimacy, Harper Perennial, 1999, ISBN: 978-0060930202

 

©FGATT, 1.4.2017

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Usui Reiki

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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

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

Basic Principles of Reiki

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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’