Mind Body Healing Practices

Mind Body Healing

Mind body healing consists of healing practices that use the power of the mind to heal the body.  Some of the aspects of mind body healing involve bringing the body and mind into a deep state of relaxation, reducing stress, utilizing deep breathing, movement, stretching, visualization, releasing limiting beliefs, past traumas and negative emotions, and positive thinking.  I will be expanding on all of the below mind body techniques in upcoming posts.

The following are different types of mind body healing practices:

1.  Mind Body Healing Practices – Meditation.

Meditation is probably the most well known mind body healing technique.   The purpose is to clear your mind of thoughts, be in a place of stillness and develop a deep sense of calm and relaxation.  It involves sitting, either cross legged on the floor or in a chair, letting all thoughts go and focusing on one of the following; 1.  your breath, 2.  the present moment, 3.  a positive word or phrase, called a mantra, 4. a positive emotion such as love, gratitude or compassion, 5.  a peaceful scene in nature or a happy past memory, or 6.  focusing on a saint or deity.  The benefits of meditation are to cultivate mindfulness, gain mental clarity and focus, develop a deep sense of peace and calm, reduce stress, anxiety and worrying, lower blood pressure, more easily connect to spirit (God, Universal Energy, your higher self, spirit guides, angels, etc.), and feel a sense of oneness and connection with everyone any everything.  For more information about this mind body healing technique, go to www.gaiam.com.

2. Mind Body Healing Practices – Hypnosis.

Hypnosis is a mind body healing therapy that uses the power of your subconscious mind to heal your body and to make positive changes in your life.  First, you are guided into a deep state of relaxation and are given positive suggestions to heal your body or improve some area of your life.  When the mind is in this deep state of relaxation, it is much more open and positive suggestions can more easily take root.  The three ways that you can use Hypnosis are to work with a professional Hypnotherapist, listen to hypnosis CDs or recordings or do self-hypnosis.  I am a certified Hypnotherapist and will have recordings and CDs available here soon.  To learn more about this mind body healing practice, got to http://www.sanfranciscohypnosisclinic.com/san-francisco-hypnotherapy.html.

3. Mind Body Healing Practices – Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).

EFT is a mind body healing technique that is based on the principles of Chinese Medicine.  It has been around for about 25 years and has been used on Vietnam Vets and 911 victims and was one of the few therapies that worked to get rid of their trauma.  In Chinese Medicine, the premise is that we have 14 meridians, also called energy pathways, running through our bodies.  When you think a negative thought or experience a trauma, these pathways get blocked.  EFT involves doing a series of tapping on different points on the head and body while repeating certain words and phrases to unblock these pathways.  It works quickly and easily gets rid of negative emotions, limiting beliefs, food cravings, addictions and past traumas.  I work with this extensively with my Hypnotherapy clients and have had amazing results.  To learn more about this mind body healing practice, go to http://www.sanfranciscohypnosisclinic.com/EFT.html.  You can either work with an EFT Practitioner or learn this technique and do it yourself.

4. Mind Body Healing Practices – Reiki.

Reiki is a mind body healing therapy that involves the laying of hands on the body to bring it into balance.  Reiki acts on the chakra system.  Chakras are the main energy centers of the body and their are seven of them.

The first chakra is located at the base of your spine.  This chakra relates to grounding and survival issues.  The second chakra is located in your lower abdomen.  This chakra is about sensuality and creativity.  The third chakra is about personal power and is located in your stomach area.  The fourth chakra is about love and opening your heart.  This chakra is located in your chest area.  The fifth chakra is related to communication and speaking your truth.  This chakra is located in your throat area.  The sixth chakra is located between your eyebrows.  This chakra relates to intuition.  The 7th chakra is located at the crown of your head and relates to spirituality and your connection to source energy.

Reiki involves the laying of hands on each of these points as well as a few others.  The hands are held on these points for 3-5 minutes while the practitioner focuses on certain healing Reiki symbols and takes in energy from the Universe and directs it outward through their hands and into the person’s body.  The purpose is to bring balance to these energy centers and take the person into a state of peace and calm.  When these energy centers are out of balance, illness and emotional problems can result.

Reiki can be done in three ways.  You can work with a Reiki Master or Practitioner, get certification and learn how to do Reiki on yourself, or do Reiki remotely on other people once you are trained.  To learn more about this mind body practice, this post has a lot more information on Reiki.

5. Mind Body Healing Practices – Yoga.

Yoga is a well known mind body healing modality.  It involves stretching, breathing, posture, movement and balance.  The benefits of yoga are that it increases flexibility and range of motion, decreases stress and anxiety, increases focus and memory, decreases blood pressure, decreases chronic pain, increases balance, strengthens your core muscles, and improves posture.

Some of the more popular types of yoga are Hatha, Ashtanga, Bikram, Restorative, and Vinyasa. Hatha yoga is a gentle form of yoga that focuses on basic postures performed at a moderate pace.  It leaves you feeling looser and relaxed.  It is great for beginners and people who have physical challenges.  Restorative yoga is an easy, gentle form of yoga that is rejuvenating and restful.  This style is good for beginners, people with injuries and elderly people.  Bikram yoga is a more intense style of yoga done in a heated room of about 100 degrees.  It has all the same benefits as other styles of yoga but the heat makes it more detoxifying.  Ashtanga yoga is an intense style of yoga that focuses on specific sequences of postures and breathing techniques.  It is more of an intermediate style and can be physically demanding.  Vinyasa yoga is an intense style with very flowing, choreographed movements.

You can practice this mind body healing technique by going to a class or using a yoga DVD.  For more information about yoga, go to www.gaiam.com.

6. Mind Body Healing Practices – Sound Healing.

Sound Healing is a mind body healing modality that involves using sound, in the form of toning, chanting, singing, music, the use of healing frequencies, crystal, tibetan bowls, as well as other musical instruments, to bring you into a state of peace and calm.  The main foundation of sound healing is that all matter is vibrating at certain frequencies.  Chanting, toning and singing are some of the most powerful ways to move sound through the body.  Drumming often takes people into an altered state of consciousness.  Many people have difficulty quieting their minds and getting into a deep state of meditation.  Meditating while playing a crystal bowl is one of the best ways to quiet your mind and enter into a deeply relaxed state.  To learn more about this mind body healing practice, go to www.soundhealingcenter.com.

7. Mind Body Healing Practices – Qi Gong.

Qi Gong is a powerful mind body healing technique that combines gentle flowing movements with breathing and the focus of moving energy or qi through the body.  Qi is the life force energy that moves through all living things. Qi Gong is a moving meditation.  Some practices of Qi Gong are designed to increase the amount of qi within the body, some circulate it through the body, some are for cleansing, and some store the qi within the body.  The benefits are that is decreases stress and anxiety, improves vitality, improves immune functioning, increases focus and mental clarity and increases stamina.  To learn more about this mind body healing practice, go to www.gaiam.com.

8. Mind Body Healing Practices – The Emotion Code.

The emotion code is a mind body healing technique that enables you to remove trapped emotions from the body.  It was invented by Dr. Bradley Nelson, a Holistic Chiropractic Physician, and is a relatively new technique.  Past traumas can cause negative emotions to become trapped in the body.  Often these trapped emotions can occur so early in life, even in the womb, that we don’t even remember.  They can even be passed down from parents, ancestors, or originate in a past life.

This technique is done by asking a series of yes or no questions using either muscle testing or a pendulum.  Muscle testing and pendulums are ways of accessing the subconscious mind to get answers.  The premise behind these two techniques is that the subconscious mind is wise and all knowing and contains all the answers we need to heal ourselves.  Muscle testing is a technique of asking a question while applying pressure to a muscle in your body, usually your arms or hands.  If the muscle stays strong, the answer is yes and if the muscle goes weak, the answer is no.  A pendulum is an object, usually a stone or a crystal, that is hung from a chain.  You hold the chain steady with your hand and let the object hang straight down.  You ask a question and wait for the pendulum to move.  If it swings clockwise, the answer is yes, and if it swings counter-clockwise, the answer is no.

You ask a series of questions while either using muscle testing or a pendulum to determine exactly what the trapped emotion is, where it is being held in the body, when it occurred, who was involved, and whether or not you need to know more details about the situation before you can release it.  I prefer to use a pendulum while asking these questions.  Once you have narrowed it down, you can release the emotion by using an ordinary magnet and swiping over your forehead and down your back as far you can reach, 3 times over the governing meridian.  A trapped emotion is an energy and magnets are used to release them because a magnet is a powerful energy.  The governing meridian is one of the most powerful meridians and it connects to all the other meridians in the body, allowing the release of the emotion to travel through the entire body.

I was definitely skeptical about this whole thing at first.  I learned about from my mother who is a powerful energy healer.  One night I decided to try it.  I had this weird pain in my left side for several weeks.  I used a pendulum and asked the series of questions and determined that it was caused by a trapped emotion.  Once I released it, the pain disappeared and never came back.  I am excited to work more with this technique.  This whole mind body healing procedure is laid out in Bradley Nelson’s book which you can check out here, The Emotion Code.

9. Mind Body Healing Practices – Guided Imagery.

Guided imagery is a mind body healing technique that involves visualizing beautiful images and scenes to bring you into a deep state of relaxation.  You can either go to a Guided Imagery Practitioner, use a guided imagery CD or recording, or do it on your own.  To do guided imagery on your own, you would close your eyes, focus on your breathing, and use your imagination to visualize a beautiful scene.  It is usually easier to visualize a place that you have been to before rather than to create a scene that you have never been to before.  You should visualize in all five senses to make it more real.  I will have guided imagery CDs and recordings available here soon.  For more information about this mind body healing technique, check out Creative Imagery.

10. Mind Body Healing Practices – Law of Attraction.

The law of attraction is a powerful mind body technique.  It involves using the power of your thoughts to create your reality.  Our minds are very powerful, and we tend to get what we focus on.  If you are constantly complaining about being tired, being overweight, or having digestive problems, the constant focus on these negative things only brings more of them into your life.  When your change your focus to more positive things, your life improves.  This does not mean that you should deny the negative or ignore it when you are in pain or have discomfort.  Denying the negative only drives it deeper into your subconscious where it is much harder to heal.  What you want to do instead is acknowledge the discomfort or problem, and trust that you will find a solution and that things will get better.

The law of attraction also involves visualization so if you have digestive problems, you can visualize them being healed.  Please be advised that this should never take the place of medical care.  If you have a health problem, you can visualize yourself getting better and you should at the same time, go to the doctor and/or other healing professionals.

The law of attraction is also about maintaining a high vibration which basically means staying in a state of joy, love and happiness as much as possible.  I have studied the law of attraction for many years and will be expanding on this in upcoming posts.   To learn more about this mind body healing technique, the books that I recommend you start with are Law of Attraction: The Science of Attracting More of What You Want and Less of What You Don’t by Michael Losier, Ask and It is Given by Esther Hicks, and The Nature of Personal Reality by Jane Roberts.

Please Note:  None of these mind body healing practices are a replacement for proper medical care.  If you have a health problem, definitely go to your doctor.