Heal thyself

[Luc]

I came across this today. You may find it interesting.

Proto Magazine

Fall 2010

"In the early 1970s, in the very laboratory at Harvard Medical School where physiologist Walter Cannon discovered the fight-or-flight response, a young cardiologist named Herbert Benson tested 36 devoted practitioners of meditation, monitoring changes in their oxygen consumption, heart rate, blood pressure and rate of breathing that exactly opposed those of the fight-or-flight response. His 1975 book describing the phenomenon, The Relaxation Response, rocketed to the top of the New York Times bestseller list, and Benson became famous as one of the first Western physicians to stress the importance of the mind in modern medicine.

Benson is the founder and director emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, where a recent study has shown that meditation, tai chi, yoga, exercise, prayer and a variety of similar practices can alter a person’s gene activity, changing the expression of genes related to stress and inflammation..."

http://protomag.com/assets/herbert-b...-healing-power

[stan]

the relaxation, meditation, exercise play a part in genes, as all is connected, it helps to heal,
about 'all is in our head' i remember a sentence from Buxy's back from PP, it was something as 'if thinking could heal us, i would be already healed'
so i will say it cannot harm, espescially exercise when we are able, but it has his limits
this is maybe more effective on bodys who have not been poisoned by SRIs, and there we can more play on stress/inflammation

[Luc]

Yes, that's precisely the point, Stan. The crucial part of WD is simply time, and when we're in early WD, it's the only thing we can count on. And it needs to be always kept in mind. I, too, remember when some people would tell those in excrutiating WD to push it, to expose themselves to the source of fear, phobia, OCD, until those would no longer hurt. The problem is that such approach is unbeliavably harmful. Trying it earlier on will only worsen the situation. Desensitizing doesn't not work when in the early, cold turkey WD. It's physiologically impossible. Many people gave up and went back on the drugs thinking that "if no therapy helped, then there is no other way to alleviate this inhuman suffering". I know of such folks... You can always try, that's ok, but it usually will work only later on, or simply when we're already healed...

[Sheila]

The Middle Way – It’s absolutely true that in early w/d, a lot of techniques are simply not going to work.

I once heard a neuropsychologist say aptly that those of us with dysautonomia would benefit the most from meditation, but are the least able to do it.

OTOH, it’s also absolutely true that I would still not be able to sleep due to neuro damage if I had not learned to meditate (in my 3rd or 4th year of w/d). It’s the only way I can fall asleep. Also, my dreams have changed exactly the way that is predicted if you do a lot of theta brain wave entrainment CDs.

So, from middle w/d onwards, many techniques can help, even if they’re not panaceas.

It’s important to keep an open mind, and to re-try things as you progress through recovery. Things that did not work before may help now. I have also had the experience of things working before, and now they don’t! Ah, the complexity! Ah, the challenge! Blech!