{"id":1989,"date":"2011-04-11T15:50:15","date_gmt":"2011-04-11T15:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carolbilich.com\/?p=1989"},"modified":"2014-09-08T08:09:40","modified_gmt":"2014-09-08T08:09:40","slug":"ultrawellness-lesson-7-the-mindbody-bodymind-effect-by-dr-mark-hyman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carolbilich.com\/ultrawellness-lesson-7-the-mindbody-bodymind-effect-by-dr-mark-hyman","title":{"rendered":"UltraWellness Lesson 7: The Mind\/Body & Body\/Mind Effect by Dr. Mark Hyman"},"content":{"rendered":"

IN LESSON 6 WE reviewed\u00a0how important energy is for life<\/a>\u00a0and for UltraWellness. You learned why we lose it and how to make it! But what is more important than almost any other factor in heath? What is the cause or worsens ninety-five percent of all illnesses? What has been associated with dramatic reductions in disease and increased longevity? In fact what is the one thing that is more important than cholesterol, blood sugar or blood pressure or any other risk factor in determining whether you will live a long and healthy life?<\/p>\n

It is your attitudes, your social network, community and spiritual beliefs. Oddly, the biggest predictors of longevity are eating breakfast and psychological resiliency, being able to roll with the punches life throws at us.<\/p>\n

I was browsing my old library (I hate throwing away books because they are like treasures), and found an old book I read in college called\u00a0Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer<\/em>, by a friend and leader in the field of Mind Body Medicine, Kenneth Pelletier, Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California (UCSF) and University of Arizona Schools of Medicine.<\/p>\n

It was published in 1977. I wish I could say that a lot has changed since the book was published. We have filled in the gaps, learn more about the mechanisms through which the body affects the mind and the mind affects the body, but the basic truths remain the same.<\/p>\n

There is a dramatic and powerful connection between our mind and body, and of our body on our mind, in fact it really should not be called a connection because it is just one bidirectional system. Hans Selye, MD, the man who coined the word\u00a0stress<\/a>\u00a0and first mapped out it biological effects said, \u201cThe modern physician should know as much about emotions and thoughts as about disease symptoms and drugs. This approach would appear to hold more promise of cure than anything medicine has given us to date.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is true. The most powerful pharmacy in the world is right between your ears!<\/p>\n

Imagine if you could turn on fat burning\u2013and lose weight\u2013by using only your mind!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We are seeing an epidemic of stress related disorders. Americans live on caffeine and Prozac. We use substances to manage our moods. In fact the four top selling items in grocery stores are all drugs we use to manage our mood and energy \u2013 caffeine, sugar, alcohol and nicotine.<\/p>\n

Depression<\/a>, anxiety,\u00a0autism<\/a>, attention deficit disorder, memory disorders and dementia are epidemics in our society. They are making the pharmaceutical industry highly profitable. But how do we really deal with the root of this problem?<\/p>\n

I will tell you what the causes of brain problems are and how to fix them a little later. But first let\u2019s look at the power of the mind to harm or heal.<\/p>\n

How to use your head to heal<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of my long-term patients came to see me after his wife died. He\u2019d suddenly developed heart failure. His heart just wouldn\u2019t pump. It was flooded with grief molecules, hormones like adrenalin, noradrenalin, cortisol and more.\u00a0The New England Journal of Medicine<\/em>\u00a0recently published a study about how grief or emotional trauma can cause heart failure, literally a broken heart.<\/p>\n

Rather than give him drugs for \u201cheart failure\u201d as I was taught, I suggested he have healing touch, a form of energy and emotional healing. He did and dramatically recovered. Touch, not medication, healed his heart.<\/p>\n

We all learned how to read and write in school but never learned how to use our minds to help us with the most important survival skills\u2013staying happy and healthy\u2013that other cultures differ in their training. Herbert Benson M.D., from Harvard Medical School has demonstrated the amazing power of trained meditators from Tibet to control their physiology to slow their metabolism, change their heart rates, brain waves, raise or lower their body temperature.<\/p>\n

He even documented on film an ancient practice called tumo, the generating of internal heat, performed by initiated Tibetan monks. They are wrapped in icy cold sheets and must dry them from their internal heat. It is speculated that they do this by actively burning fat \u2013 something called brown fat. They can sit naked on a snowy mountaintop all night and not freeze, keeping themselves warm from their internal heat.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s something most of us don\u2019t have any consciousness of, or control over. Imagine if you could turn on fat burning and lose weight through your mind!<\/p>\n

That is ultimately the power of our mind and beliefs. Unfortunately we are not trained to address the stressful psychic loads that are the burden of the 21st century. And they are killing us.<\/p>\n

Just consider these facts:<\/p>\n