Guided imagery has been used for years by holistically oriented practitioners to relieve pain, speed healing and alleviate anxiety and depression.The power of the mind to influence the body is a remarkable and potent force in achieving and maintaining wellness.

There are numerous sources for guided imagery CDs and instant MP3 downloads on the web which makes these techniques easily available, inexpensively, to anyone who wants to try it.

Guided imagery has not only been used for healing but also to improve athletic performance and to overcome mental hurdles in business and other areas.

I am reading a great book which I highly recommend called Guided Imagery for Self Healing by Dr Martin Rossman. Dr Rossman has also teamed up with Dr. Andrew Weil to produce a CD version entitled Self Healing With Guided Imagery.

From the book’s promo: “Using methods he has taught to thousands of patients and health-care professionals since 1972, Dr. Rossman teaches a step-by-step method of harnessing the power of the mind to further one’s own physical healing. Versatile and easy-to-learn, mental imagery as explained by Dr. Rossman, can be used to:

• Achieve deep physiological relaxation
• Stimulate healing responses in the body
• Create an inner dialogue and gain a better understanding of one’s health
• Improve health and general wellbeing.
  

The idea of guided imagery as an aid to the healing process is a recognized key component in the health care equation of mind/body healing.”

There is a video from Light Bridge Media about Dr Rossman’s technique on YouTube which is included below:

Intro to Video From Light Bridge Media: The Academy for Guided Imagery is harnessing the mind’s awesome power to speed healing. We meet Dr. Martin Rossman, the physician who founded the Academy and has trained thousands of practitioners. And we take a look at how guided imagery is being used at a major medical center.

For a more indepth review of Dr Rossman’s ideas, a lecture by Dr Rossman (approx 90 min) from a UC San Francisco Medical School class, courtesy of You Tube, is posted below. If you have time, its worth watching in order to get a better idea of what happens to a person’s body under stress and what you can do about it.

Technorati Tags: Andrew Weil, Guided imagery, guided imagery for healing, holistic, Martin Rossman, wellness

Energy healing is an ancient practice in Eastern medicine which is being explored with great interest in the West. Follow the links provided for indepth information on each chakra and its role in healing. This is an easy to read introduction to the concepts.

If interested in exploring energy healing in your area, there are many resources on the web including this one: http://energyhealers.meetup.com/. This site allows you to put in your U.S. Zip Code to find practitioners and interest groups in your area. There are also links for 12 other countries and the site boasts over 38,000 members. Worth a look.

Your 7 Energy Centers Understanding how energy works in your body can help you decipher your individual body’s unique language. The chakras are the energy centers in the physical body where your beliefs and emotions are transformed into your state of health. As you study each of your chakras, you’ll discover how your family legacy together with your current thoughts, feelings, and beliefs can directly affect the health of your tissues and organs. Whether you believe in chakras as literal places in the body or as metaphoric ones, they can help you activate mind/body connections to help you heal. Each of the seven chakras of the human body is associated with specific organ systems and specific emotional states:

The SeVenth cHakra ANY ORGAN SYSTEM The connection to your Divine purpose and spirituality.

The Sixth cHakra BRAIN, EYES, EARS, NOSE, PINEAL GLAND The third eye and the center of your intuition.

The FIFTH cHakra THYROID, TRACHEA, THROAT, MOUTH The communication and expression of your inner will.

The FOURTH cHakra HEART, LUNGS, SHOULDERS, RIBS, BREAST, DIAPHRAGM The heart of your emotional energy powered by love.

The THIRD cHakra ABDOMEN, LIVER, GALL BLADDER, STOMACH, KIDNEYS The emergence of your personality and identity.

The SECOND cHakra UTERUS, OVARIES, VAGINA, CERVIX, PELVIS, APPENDIX The center of your relationships.

The FIRST cHakra PHYSICAL BODY SUPPORT, BLOOD, IMMUNE SYSTEM The foundation of your emotional health.

Technorati Tags: chakras, Dr Christaine Northrup, Eastern medicine, energy healing

A book that has been out for a while, EAT THIS, NOT THAT is an easy to read, informative book that is a real eye opener as to what the true caloric and sodium content is of some of our favorite restaurant foods. Big Mac vs. The Whopper? The book covers everything from burgers (beef, turkey or veggie) to banana splits, salads to milkshakes and Starbucks.

The goal of the book is not to tell everyone to avoid eating out, but to make smarter choices with the information provided. A lot of it will shock you as many things you think would be lighter in calories are actually the worst offenders.

The co-authors of the book, David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding have made many appearances promoting the book on several media outlets and several are posted on YouTube. CBN gave Matt Goulding the longest segment (almost 14 min) to discuss the book and it is included below.

In this segment, he names the 5 worst dishes on the menus of restaurants across the U.S. and its entertaining as well as informative…personal deep dish pizza=2310 calories and 162 grams of fat? See more…

Technorati Tags: diet, Eat This Not That, eating out, healthy eating, Matt Goulding, nutrition

I recently read an article from a site called Minnesota Medicine authored by 2 RN/PhDs who cover a lot of the points I am advocating.

It appears that many health care organizations are now taking notice of this important movement and are incorporating the suggested changes into their hospital environments.

I have provided clips here with a link to the entire article.

Creating Optimal Healing Environments in a Health Care Setting

By Terri Zborowsky, R.N., Ph.D., and Mary Jo Kreitzer, Ph.D., R.N.

When you think of a healing environment, what comes to mind? A spa? A Japanese garden? Perhaps a corner of your house? Few of us would immediately think of a clinic or hospital.

But that view is beginning to change as health care organizations are becoming aware of the growing body of evidence that shows the benefits of a healing environment, and are incorporating ideas generated by such studies into new facilities.

Among other things, they’re taking to heart ideas from environmental psychology, sociology, geography, architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, nursing, medicine, and public health research that demonstrate how specific design changes in health care environments can reduce stress and alleviate the physical outcomes associated with it. These changes also can help prevent medical errors and hospital-acquired infections, while improving staff morale and efficiency.

As Jain Malkin, a founding member of the Center for Health Design’s board of directors and an authority on healing environments, says, “the environment can influence the healing process.”

But what exactly contributes to a healing environment? The answer is complex in part because it can vary based on a person’s culture and preferences.

The Healing Environment

The word “healing” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word haelen, which means to make whole. One way to understand the term is as harmony of mind, body, and spirit.

Healing is not the same as curing, which is about fixing problems, eradicating disease, and decreasing symptoms. People can be healed even if they are not cured. For example, those with a chronic disease can learn to be at peace despite their condition. Conversely, people may be cured but not healed. For example, a woman whose breast cancer had gone into remission could find herself grieving and angry about her losses and unable to function.

Thus, healing environments are designed to promote harmony of mind, body, and spirit.

Such environments can reduce stress and anxiety, which positively affects our health in a number of ways. Neuroscience is showing that our brain and nervous, endocrine, and immune systems are constantly interacting. As neuroscientist Candace Pert said, “What you are thinking at any moment is changing your biochemistry.”^3…

Evidence for Creating a Healing Environment

Park Nicollet Heart and Vascular Center, St. Louis Park

The patient and waiting areas on Park Nicollet’s Methodist Hospital campus were designed to look out over a wetland, which is part of the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, and bring in daylight.

Photo by George Heinrich, courtesy of Ellerbe Becket

Evidence that good design can have the opposite effect (to hampering healing) is mounting. Malkin has identified the following ways research is showing how organizations can adapt health care facilities in order to alleviate stress and ultimately improve patient outcomes:⁷

Increase connection to nature. A number of studies have presented strong evidence that even 3 to 5 minutes of contact with nature can significantly decrease stress, reduce anger and fear, and increase pleasant feelings.^8-11 This calming effect can be achieved by providing views to the outside, interior gardens or aquariums, or artwork with a nature theme.

Offer options and choices. Giving patients a sense of control can significantly decrease stress. Hospitals can do this by allowing them to adjust lighting and temperature, choose the music they want to listen to, select where they would like to sit, and control the timing of meals. In addition, better wayfinding (signs and information about where to go) lessens disorientation. Also, a thoughtful layout that makes it easier for frail patients to get around by themselves increases their independence, giving them a greater feeling of control.

Provide positive diversions. A study by Ulrich showed that heart surgery patients in intensive care units who viewed landscape scenes reported less anxiety and stress and needed fewer pain medications than a control group that was not exposed to the pictures.¹² Diversions that have a calming effect may include artwork depicting scenes of nature (not abstract art, which has actually proved to have the opposite effect), fireplaces, videos of nature, and aquariums.

Provide access to social support. An extensive amount of research has shown that support from family and close friends can help in healing. For example, Uchino and Garvey found that having social support accelerates recovery in heart patients and improves the emotional well-being and quality of life of late-stage cancer patients.¹³ Hospitals can promote social support by providing waiting rooms and lounges with comfortable furniture, designing patient rooms that accommodate visitors, and providing amenities that make it easier for family members to stay overnight.

Reduce environmental stressors. Recent studies have shown that excessive noise, glare, and poor air quality can create stress as is evidenced by increased heart rate and blood pressure and reduced oxygen levels in the blood in both adults and babies who are exposed to these environmental concerns.^4,14-16 Good design can dampen noise from paging systems, equipment, alarms, roommates, and staff, making hospitalization less stressful and more restful for patients…

Read the entire article HERE and when asked, participate in giving input on any experiences you may have had with hospitals or health care providers who ask you to weigh in after your treatment on how they did. Lobby for the the types of changes noted above. Your opinion and input counts and can help turn the tide towards optimizing the healing environments of the future.

Technorati Tags: environmental psychology, healing environments, hospital design, optimal healing environments