I strongly recommend reading the January 2011 issue of The Sun magazine. I have been reading this great, truly honest and open journal for years but this issue is their first that is devoted to health and healing. The lead article is an interview with Andrew Weil. There are many very real and true stories in this magazine as well as an excerpt from Norman Cousins book Anatomy of an Illness on the power of placebo.
What I enjoyed the most was Weil's and Cousins' talk about the power of placebo. They both speak of placebo not as a sugar pill but as the power of relationship (doctor/patient) and belief to initiate and sustain the body's own innate healing system. This power is so great and so powerful but we mostly talk about it being something next to nothing. This is the magic of the art of medicine; the power of one to influence another for higher good. We in America speak negatively about placebo but it is so positive and so real.
The power of our own consciousness to influence our bodies is vast. Weil speaks of the visible and invisible worlds. The current medical paradigm only addresses the material (visible world). There is SO much to be gained from working with the invisible world. In the end of the interview, Weil quotes Laotzu who saw that "the empty space inside a vessel is what makes it valuable". He says further, that "our consciousness modifies reality". I believe that belief is the mechanism for modifying our reality. Change a belief and change a physical reality. Next we will get to the how to of changing a belief.
What I enjoyed the most was Weil's and Cousins' talk about the power of placebo. They both speak of placebo not as a sugar pill but as the power of relationship (doctor/patient) and belief to initiate and sustain the body's own innate healing system. This power is so great and so powerful but we mostly talk about it being something next to nothing. This is the magic of the art of medicine; the power of one to influence another for higher good. We in America speak negatively about placebo but it is so positive and so real.
The power of our own consciousness to influence our bodies is vast. Weil speaks of the visible and invisible worlds. The current medical paradigm only addresses the material (visible world). There is SO much to be gained from working with the invisible world. In the end of the interview, Weil quotes Laotzu who saw that "the empty space inside a vessel is what makes it valuable". He says further, that "our consciousness modifies reality". I believe that belief is the mechanism for modifying our reality. Change a belief and change a physical reality. Next we will get to the how to of changing a belief.
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