Mind Body Healing

At An Oasis of Healing we know true healing requires addressing the mind. We believe that if you master your mind, you master your healing. The mind is conditioned since birth to believe and think in certain ways. Some of these patterns of thinking can adversely affect the health within our body. It is important that we become aware of these ways of thinking and being and how they impact us and address them.

At first this may seem like a foreign and distant concept, but it has been scientifically and timely proven that the mind plays a determinant role in health – the dis-ease process in the body and what is needed for healing. Our mental state affects our health, how else can we explain the cases of spontaneous healing.

What you eat can affect how you feel. And how you feel can affect your thinking. How you think can affect how you feel…so all are interrelated and all must be included in the healing journey.

We know that certain personalities are more prone to cancer, and the same with certain families, communities, or situations. We know that emotions such as depression, resentment, repressed anger, and ongoing hostility make us more prone to illness and cancer. Positive attitudes such as hope, joy, optimism, and faith strengthen our immune system and therefore make us less susceptible.

Psychologists have listed certain traits that characterize people who are more prone to cancer and those that are less prone to cancer – as published in Psychology Today.

Cancer-Prone Personality Type

• Represses both positive and negative emotions
• Shows anger, resentment, or hostility towards others
• Takes on extra duties and responsibilities, even when they cause stress
• Reacts adversely to and does not cope well with life changes
• Is negative or pessimistic
• Becomes easily depressed or has feelings of hopelessness
• Worries often and excessively about others
• Feels the need for approval and to please others

Cancer-Resistant Personality Type

• Expresses emotions in a positive and constructive way
• Controls anger and resolves anger issues positively
• Knows when to say no
• Copes well with stress and feels in control of situations
• Is optimistic and hopeful
• Does not become easily depressed
• Seeks out and maintains social support networks
• Does not worry excessively
• Likes to please but does not seek approval as an emotional crutch

Knowing this we have developed an integrative approach to cancer that includes mind-body modalities that have a positive impact on healing and therefore treatment outcomes. Mind-body techniques such as meditation, cranial sacral therapy, guided imagery, breathing techniques and psycho-emotional support. Not one patient is the same as the other, hence the combination and application of these techniques may vary. But one thing we know for sure: there is a strong link between mind and body and the effectiveness of cancer therapies.

These factors are related to the effectiveness of treatment, life expectancy and recurrence. Positive factors include having a social support network, the ability to cope, the feelings and behavior towards cancer, the recovery strategy, stress management and relaxation techniques.

At our center, we employ various mind-body techniques which we teach you how to use during your time at the center and after your return home.

What is the difference between mindfulness and meditation you ask?  One easy way to understand the difference is with this description: mindfulness is the awareness of “some-thing,” while meditation is the awareness of “no-thing.”

Mindfulness

• Practice being aware of where you are and what you’re doing, without becoming overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around you.
• Mindfulness is simply awareness, something you don’t have to practice for 20 minutes at a time.
• You can be mindful anywhere, anytime and with anyone you like.
• Use breathing methods, guided visualization, and other techniques that help relax the body and mind and reduce stress.

Meditation

• Meditation is a means of transforming the mind.
• Techniques that encourage and develop focus, clarity, emotional positivity, and a calming view of the true nature of things.
• By engaging in meditation practice, you learn the patterns and habits of your mind, and the practice offers a means to cultivate new, more positive ways of being.
• With regular work and patience these nourishing, focused states of mind can deepen into profoundly peaceful and energized states of mind.
• Such experiences can have a transformative effect, and can lead to a new understanding of life.
• Practice silent meditation daily or use guided meditation to get started.

Breathing Techniques

• Practice deep breathing whenever you remember (use your belly and thorax both when inhaling and exhaling).
• Other techniques can be learned with certified practitioners.
• Breathing will help you stay present, improve your immune system and stress response, increase the oxygenation of your body, among many other benefits.

Psycho-Emotional Development

• Our therapists work on various aspects of your mind, emotions, coping mechanisms, relationships, etc.
• This is a very individual approach and requires one-on-one interaction.

If researchers have learned anything it is that even a condition like cancer is much more easily healed when we address the mind-body connection and its impact on the body.  And that by strengthening and conditioning the mind part of the mind-body connection, we can extend life and optimize the chances of full recovery of your health.