I came across this article in Shinichi Tohei's Ki Weblog. I found it unexpectedly, and was surprised (because its rare to see this view) and moved by it because it echoes what I feel about the connection between our mental and physical health. As I've mentioned before, I've found from experience that when we suffer from a chronic condition, or are dealing with injury, we should immediately examine our emotional state; that is where the solution lies. After having realized this, unfortunately, its impossible not to try to convert everyone you see suffering to this point of view. I say unfortunately because one is mostly met with rejection or indifference. I let this affect me, and I've often thought, 'why do I bother', and so I was moved to see the article, because it offers all of us much hope.
I don't know how to "extend my ki" as the article recommends, but I think just being aware of such a possibility, that we are not doomed to ill health and injury, is the first step.
Here's wishing everyone good health and happiness.
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8 comments:
Interesting article, with a lot of good points. You are right in saying that there is a connection between mental health, and how you deal with an injury. I know that if I have an injury, if I focus on it, it hurts more. If I forget it, it doesn't hurt as bad.
However, I do not believe every problem can be solved by examining our emotional state. Granted, your mind can hinder you, but if your saying all chronic conditions are entirely pschyologicaly based, then I will have to disagree. Where is the evidence?
If your saying that chronic conditions can be made worse by how you view your situation, then as I said before, I can see your point.
Brittney
Yes, I am definitely saying that the cause of many chronic conditions is psychological.
There *is* evidence -- people have rid themselves of illness by learning the cause of it (there is a forum online at www.tmshelp.com). John Sarno's book, The Mindbody Prescription has his findings on this accumulated since the 70's. For those who care about such things, he is a doctor and professor at a reputed school, the New York University School of Medicine and the Rusk Institute.
I also want to point out that biology does not seem to me (yet) to be an exact science, and much is still unknown. So if there is less evidence, it is because this aspect has not been researched with the same meticulousness (not to mention the same amount of funding) as other theories about the mechanism of chronic illness.
And of course, for me, my personal experience was the greatest evidence of all. I was able to rid myself of chronic conditions which have bothered me since I was a child. I understand that this may not be a convincing argument for someone else. I believe that when one's time is right, one realizes these things, but not before.
I think one of the reasons its hard for people to even start accepting that psychological causes underlie illness is because the cure entails a great deal of psychological exploration of one's self. In our society, where it is not acceptable to appear 'out of control' and one always has to remain calm and focussed in the face of great stresses, we feel there is just no time to let ourselves feel the pressure. We fear seeming out of control or giving the impression we are unable to handle what life throws at us. And this is what is repressed inside us daily, until finally we accumulate a great storehouse of pressure!
Thanks
I hope you didn't take me the wrong way, I was just curious as to what your exact stand point was. I was in no way trying to say you were wrong. There is a lot I don't know.
Biology isn't an exact science, no science is exact due to the fact you can not prove a theory. You can only find evidence that explain a phenomenon.
I also figured there was not much hard evidence you could point to, and I know that is because there isn't much research into that area, as you pointed out. I was curious to find out if you had some on hand for me to read. If you do run across literature from reliable sources would you let me know?
I believe people when they say "this is what helped me," but that doesn't give me solid proof of the cause. I believe whatever it was helped them overcome their illness, but I don't understand how. I need to see hard facts.
Now, if you don't mind I'd like to pose a quesiton. Since my major knowledge is the area of veterinary medicine, I'm curious as to your thoughts on the subject. If a person's chronic illness (say an autoimmune anemia) is caused by psycological factors, how do you explain a dog/cat/horse/cow etc. having the same disorder, caused by the same physiologial mechanism as the person's?
Brittney
I really welcome your thoughts on all this. My point was that there *is* reliable literature.
You should read Mindbody Prescription, and the newer book The Divided Mind (from these, you should be able to find more references). Though these are written as popular books, I think the reason for his work not being in mainstream journals is that for the most part that community doesn't wish to promote work in this direction. My point is that you shouldn't think of it as unreliable just because its not in a journal; I'm in mathematics, which you would think would be very cut and dried, but when I see some of the things that get past journal publication, it doesn't inspire me with a lot of faith in the conclusions drawn by somebody just because they are published in a journal. I also tend to believe that in medicine there are many vested interests that control what kind of research is promoted/published/rejected for publication. Imagine the billions of dollars the medical industry and chiropractors etc. would lose if everybody 'thought' themselves out of back pain.
As for illness in animals, why should we assume that their psychology is not connected to their physical health? We hear stories of dogs who died within a few weeks of their owners dying, doesn't this point to their great capability for feeling emotions and its effect on their health? I don't see that these connections in animals, or humans have been ruled out for some reason as impossible. Also, to repeat, we don't yet fully understand even how the connection between psychology and chronic illness works, so questions like..'children don't feel pressure like adults, why should they get asthma' are moot, since we do not know for sure that children do not feel anger and sadness, even at a very young age, and in my experience, they do.
Sorry I didn't mean 'these questions are *moot*', I meant, 'these questions are posed assuming something that is not necessarily a given'.
I want to clarify another thing I said earlier. Its not that I think that the current methods of treatment which are published are 'wrong'. Rather, I mean that they are not treating the cause of the illness, only the symptoms. Their error is in claiming that by treating the symptom, they are eliminating the cause.
Take for an example depression. In mainstream medicine, the view held is that this is caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain, from experimental observation. Naturally, based on this conclusion, the treatment is in great part to prescribe drugs which restore the balance of these chemicals. My point is that the conclusion that depression is *caused* by chemical imbalance is unfounded. How does observing chemical imbalance rule out the emotional factors which are *cause* for the symptom? If depression is treated with drugs, the psychological causes remain untreated.
Its these types of assumptions which I want to caution against. Scientists like to think they employ a healthy skepticism when told about the connection of mind with body. My argument is that the conclusions upon which they base their skepticism are possibly erroneous, and they should be careful to reexamine these.
Good points :-)
I was just curious as to your thoughts regarding the animal/human thing. I came up with my own ideas based off of the stuff I read (from your links)before going to class this afternoon. I can see how some of this theory could translate to animals. I'll keep pondering it. Thanks for bring it up.
Thanks for the discussion! I'd like to know your thoughts anytime.
Have a good class.
LC
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