My notes from the book
Healing and the Mind
The Mind & Body Connection
Author: Bill
Moyers
By Marvin Heikkila
Bio-chemicals called peptides
from the brain are sent out throughout the body to latch onto proteins and
cells to act as receptors (like a satellite dish) to communicate with the rest
of the body.
Emotion is within, throughout the whole body and has a big
impact on the ability of these receptors to communicate which can affect our
immune system’s response to disease.
Depression is an EMPTY feeling. When you are in the midst of depression, you
feel empty of all emotion, completely drained.
Grief can result in sadness or depression. Each thought we think has a bio-chemical
effect on the body – creating many hormones from our own pharmacy in our brain.
People who feel isolated have 3-5 times more heart disease
than those who feel a part of a group.
Thoughts, feelings and our very personality can affect our
personal health.
Why is it in a world full of pathologists, some people
become sick while others do not?
The immune system is directly connected to our emotions and
feelings. The nerves control our immune
system. Controlled by emotion, our
immune system has a memory of past insults that have
come in as a defense
system and our brain has a memory of past experiences. The two great memory systems are not
independent, but talk to each other extensively, meaning the things that affect
our mind or brain have a direct effect on our health.
Our mind can be conditioned to control our health. Taste and smell can be utilized to condition
our minds to react as if we were getting medication to control sickness.
For example:
Introduce a potent taste or smell (such as cod liver oil or rose
perfume)
with medication and after a time, the medication can be
reduced to zero while the mind and body will still react as if the medication
were still being received, even though only the taste or smell are
being used.
Another example was an experiment done with five groups of
similarly clinically depressed patients.
One group was given a standard dose of anti-depression medication, the
second group was given a
placebo (just a sugar pill or nothing of any medical
value), the third group was given nothing, the fourth group was required to
stand in front of a mirror and smile at themselves for five minutes each day,
and the fifth group was required to meet as a group and discuss their past
and/or present troubles. Only three of
the five groups showed improvement. The
group who talked about their problems
showed a small improvement, while the
group on medication and the group who smiled
at themselves for five minutes had the same dramatic
improvement. See the power of the
brain!
The mind and body are inseparable components.
Neuro-peptides – strings of amino acids (like a string of
pearls) diffuse throughout the body –binding and tickling the receptors on the
surface of every cell.
They are messenger molecules – they direct where the body
should put its attention at each moment.
These are bio-chemicals of emotion.
They are released in response to emotional states. I as a
whole person am talking to myself as a
sending and receiving device – intelligence is in every cell of our body. The mind is more than the brain – it is
enlivening energy that allows the body to talk to
every cell.
Emotions are stored in the body. Our emotions come rising from the trumpet
sounding from our mind.
Our peptides are always changing shape, wiggling and vibrating the molecules of each cell or
protein they are coupled up to each moment.
They are very dynamic, fluid energy molecules changing
each millisecond
– sending chemical messages throughout the body.
Biofeedback is an excellent demonstration of this action.
Emotional support of patients plays an important fact in
their recovery from illness.
The attitude with which you confront your illness and what
you go home with will affect your recovery.
Technology tends to distance the patients from doctors.
People who have a lot of education about their operation,
what to expect during and after the operation have a great deal to do with
their recuperation.
Bonding with a baby that is expected to die has to come
before grieving of its death.