“If I told patients to raise their blood levels of immunoglobulins or killer T-cells, no one would know how. But if I can teach them to love themselves and others fully, the same change happens automatically. The truth is: Love heals.”
Bernie Siegel, M.D., Love, Medicine and Miracles
What epigenetics and the new brain science are telling us:
• The most powerful influences over your biochemistry are programmed by your mind: perceptions and expectations.
• All that ‘emotional stuff’ that’s been swept under the rug may be programming your biology to create illness. That’s what the new science is telling us. Maybe it’s out of sight or out of mind …. but it’s not out of the body.
• Of course diet and nutrition are very important factors that we want to include in an effective healing program …. but it’s the ‘stuff of mind’ that’s exerting the most powerful biological programming over your health.
Here’s a sampling of the new science:
Bruce Lipton, Ph.D. is a cell biologist who authored the bestselling book, The Biology of Belief. His book summarizes the new biology that’s confirming the link between gene expression and belief. Essentially, what we feel and what we believe (unconsciously) are the primary determinants of gene expression and the biochemistry that results.
Meta-Medicine has its roots in the work of the German physician, Dr. Ryke Geerd Hamer. What distinguishes his work from other systems that suggest a correlation between suppressed emotion and illness is his use of Computed Tomography (CT) scans of the brain to confirm the link between emotional experience, brain relays, and body tissues and organs.
His scans were used to document the consistency with which specific disease processes are triggered by the same emotional shock. Emotional shock is visualized in the CT scan as a circular ring. Through thousands of case studies he found that patients sharing the same intense emotional shocks and unresolved conflicts, also shared the same disease patterns, and the same CT scan markings. We use the mind-body maps discovered by Dr. Hamer, his colleague Dr. Claude Sabbah, and others involved in this work to identify the likely conflicts that are related to individual disease states. A CT scan is not necessary.
A 2004 meta-analysis by Segerstrom and Miller at the University of Kentucky examined 30 years of research involving over 300 empirical articles and concluded that 85% of primary care physician visits was due to the results of unconscious stress. The stress response is triggered, and then chronically activated, by the emotional insults, traumas, and unresolved conflicts that we’ve buried over the course of our lives.
Chronically hidden emotion upsets the natural balance of your autonomic nervous system, disturbing your body’s natural ability to maintain and repair itself, making you even more vulnerable to the effects of poor diet, environmental toxins, and microbes.
Manhattan Orthopedist Dr. John Sarno has written a number of popular books about pain and its relationship to the psyche. His research and clinical experience support the notion that a significant number of painful conditions, ranging from carpal tunnel syndrome to fibromyalgia, are best treated by addressing buried emotions. His rationale is that the psyche is attempting to protect us from overwhelming or unacceptable emotions by distracting us with physical pain.
When put into practice this realization allowed him to achieve a success rate of 85% when treating patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Dr. Sarno’s most recent book, The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders offers compelling evidence for the therapeutic benefit of treating the mind and emotions when addressing a wide variety of chronic illnesses.
An enlightening Kaiser Permanente study involving over 70,000 individuals showed that childhood emotional trauma was a significant factor in the development of chronic disease later in life. This type of information is showing us that for the most part, illness results from unresolved emotional stressors and conflicts and that effective treatment must address these buried issues.
Institute of HeartMath research demonstrating the powerful influence that our emotions have in regulating our biochemistry.
In a group study conducted over a 30 day period participants instructed in the HeartMath techniques were on average able to double their serum levels of DHEA (the anti-aging hormone) and reduce cortisol (the stress hormone) levels by 23%. These hormone changes are evidence of glandular repair and system wide healing.
IgA (immunoglobulin A) is an immune system antibody and one of the body’s first lines of defense against colds, flu and infections of the respiratory and urinary tracts. In a group study it was found that one five-minute episode of mentally and emotionally recalling an experience of anger caused an immediate short-term rise in IgA, followed by a depletion that was so severe it took the body more than six hours to restore normal production of IgA. What this study showed is that even a single episode of recalling an experience of anger and frustration can depress your immune system for almost an entire day.
This same IgA study also showed that one five-minute episode of mentally and emotionally experiencing the emotions of care and compassion caused a much larger, immediate rise in IgA–an average of 34%–followed by a return to normal (baseline). However, the IgA levels then gradually climbed above baseline throughout the next six hours. Learning to manage the moment and increase the ratio of your positive attitudes and feelings can improve your quality of life and well-being.
Other studies also show that feelings of happiness and joy increase white blood cell counts needed for healing and defend against invading pathogens, including cancer and virus-infected cells. o HeartMath experiments have shown that measurable molecular changes in the DNA molecule can result from human desires, intention and emotions.
Steven Templin, D.O.M., Dipl. Ac., is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine and nationally certified acupuncturist, specializing in Self-Regulation Training (to resolve the omnipresent stress-induced component of illness), Energy Medicine, Mind-Body Medicine, and Diet and Nutrition to repair the Gut-Immune-Brain Axis.
In his Self-Regulation training program he shares the science and most importantly the effective practices for transforming physical health and emotional well-being. Self-Regulation practices will greatly enhance the effectiveness of other therapeutic interventions, like diet and lifestyle modifications.
He teaches and consults online, and sees patients at the Natural Medicine Center in Lakeland, Florida. You can learn more about Dr. Templin and his healing program by visiting www.stevetemplin.com.
Steve is a retired Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Acupuncture Physician, and HeartMath Trauma-Sensitive Certified Practitioner with over 35 years of clinical experience in Energy Medicine, Energy Psychology, and Biofeedback.