Effective & Trusted Medications Guide

Mind-body techniques, both in theory and practical implementation, rely on a belief that mental factors (e.g., a thought, thinking patterns) and emotional factors (e.g., feelings) can directly influence the physical, bodily factors. Psychological, behavioural, spiritual and social treatment approaches are used to reprogram health mechanisms in order to prevent or cure diseases and ailments of all kinds. 

“Human body possesses a unique ability to self-heal”

… a Belief, a Law and a Truth among mind-body techniques’ practitioners and followers.

Mind-Body Techniques have accumulated throughout the years an abundant number of scientific and clinical evidence that has gradually grown into a solid and indisputable back-up, backbone and proof of their effectiveness. As a result Mind-Body Techniques are now considered mainstream treatment approaches.

Relaxation technique, Meditation, Hypnosis, Cognitive-behavioural therapy, Biofeedback and Imagery are widely used to treat:

•  chronic headaches and migraines;
•  coronary artery disease;
•  sleep disturbances;
•  urinary incontinence;
•  hypertension or high blood pressure;
•  arthritis;
•  asthma;
•  etc… 

These same methods have also proven to be helpful in:

• childbirth pain management;
• coping with disease-induced and treatment-induced cancer symptoms;
• pre-surgical management of patients;
• stress, depression and anger management.

Potential risks and dangers are minor and minimal when it comes to the use of mind-body techniques.

Meditation – is a technique that allows to enter the state of “disciplined & thoughtless consciousness” by using the power of focusing on mind-stilling. The increased level of self-awareness meditation provides is usually achieved by sitting or resting quietly in a quiet place, with the eyes closed and breathing deeply. Sometimes this state is accompanied by repetitive pronouncing of a mantra - a religious/mystical syllable or poem that, when repetitively voiced, is supposed to help the person focus and bring about the physical realization (in a form of sensation or feeling) of information the spoken mantra holds, such as wealth, self-confidence, fearlessness etc.

Most meditation practices originated from religious and spiritual concepts. They were initially used in the context of spiritual growth as one of many tools allowing to experience personal transformation and enter a transcendental state of consciousness.  However, meditation as treatment technique and a healthcare intervention has proven to be effective no matter the religious and cultural preferences if any at all.

Practicing of regular meditation sessions has been shown to affect health in many beneficial ways - by providing stress and pain relief for instance.    

Relaxation Techniques are de-stressing techniques practiced to relieve body and mind strain and tension. Each specific relaxation technique has pursues a specific goal, such as blood pressure lowering, muscle tension release, altering of rain wave activity or slowing down of metabolic processes.  

Guided Imagery – is an effective stress management, anxiety reduction and tension releasing tool that uses mental images and daydreaming-like state to promote relaxation and an overall sense of well-being. It is especially helpful when attempting to target and heal a particular illness, such as psychological trauma or cancer. The process of image creation and further mental contemplation/feeling can involve any of the 5 human senses or a combination of a few or all of them.

A Guided Imagery session may be directed by the patient himself or by a licensed practitioner and sometimes even in a group. To give you an example of what Guided Imagery working mechanism is like… a cancer patient is told to close his/her eyes and create a moving picture in the head - imagining an army of white blood cells fighting and triumphing over the cancer cells.

Hypnotherapy implies sending the patient into a hypnotic state where his memories and perceptions can be easily altered and the proposed suggestions apprehended as truth. A hypnotic state means an advanced state of relaxation, a trance-like hanging in between asleep and awake worlds. A hypnotized person gets easily absorbed in the image presented and the story told by the hypnotherapist… he/she tends to live through the guided experiences almost unconsciously and unawarely. Hypnosis has proven to be effective in treating psychosomatic conditions, i.e., conversion disorders and pain syndromes generated “mentally” due to psycho-stress and/or psycho-conflict. Hypnotherapy has also been successfully used as an anti-smoking and weight loss program.

Self-hypnosis is becoming more and more popular among people who are able to hypnotize themselves. It usually involves lying on the bed and listening to self-hypnosis tapes or CDs.

Biofeedback – is another ‘mind-over-matter’ treatment technique that uses measure readings on specific electronic devices to report information about a person’s quantifiable biologic functions, such as body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate and muscle tension. The gathered information is then used to understand why changes in these functions occur and how one can learn to regulate and control them.  Biofeedback is typically used to treat pain, sleep disturbances, stress, headaches and muscle injuries.