More Mind Power Teleseminar 4

More Mind Power Teleseminar 4/13/08

We light ourselves, The Earth, & Loved Ones.

To accept and knowingly use the power of the mind the conscious self must first become convinced of that power. Which is why articles such as: Thoughts Can Heal Your Body, by Robert Moss, are important.

(Parade Magazine, 3/9/2008.) Mr. Moss Writes: “Thoughts can make us sick, and they can help us get well . . . medical research increasingly supports the role played by the mind in physical health.
Excerpts From This Article:

“Scientists first proved a link between stress and disease in the early half of the last century. Since then, researchers . . . providing new clinical evidence of the connection between thoughts and health,” notes Dr. Herbert Benson, founder of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.

“The body responds to mental input as if it were physically real,” explains Larry Dossey, M.D. “Images create bodily changes—just as if the experience were really happening. For example, if you imagine yourself lying on a beach in the sun, you become relaxed, your peripheral blood vessels dilate, and your hands become warm, as in the real thing.”

“Brain scans show that when we imagine an event, our thoughts “light up” the areas of the brain that are triggered during the actual event. . . .In one study, skiers were wired to EMG monitors (which record electrical impulses sent to the muscles) while they mentally rehearsed their downhill runs. The skiers’ brains sent the same instructions.”

Pamela and Dr. Hugh Discussion: Can you get a sun burn or tan your skin from imagining – imaging – yourself lying in the sun? Can you break a leg mentally rehearsing a downhill run, then mentally falling and breaking your leg?

Case 1: Before being hypnotized subject is shown matches and a straight pin. Subject is told the straight pin will be heated with the match and then pin will briefly placed on subject’s skin to demonstrate ability of subject to numb pain while in hypnosis. When subject is in hypnosis, the match is lit in subject’s presence so subject can smell and hear match being lit. An unheated, cool bobby pin is then placed briefly on subject’s skin. A red mark appears on subject’s skin as though it had been burned by a heated pin.

Case 2: Man hypnotized to somnambulistic level by team of medical doctor/researchers seeking to determine if this level of hypnosis is dangerous to a person’s welfare. Man was told a fire in the room and he needed to rouse himself immediately and get out. Man did not do so. Team therefore determined the somnambulistic level to be dangerous. When man came out of hypnosis, he said he had heard them discussing this and he disagreed with them. He said: “I smelled no smoke, heard no fire alarm and none of you were leaving the room. Therefore, I did not think I was in any danger and saw no good reason to leave that incredibly great state I was in.” So the next day the team repeated the experiment only this time they started a fire in a hidden waste paper basket, rang the fire alarm bell and all hurriedly left the room to hide in the hall and see what happened. Hypnotized subject got up, left room, (team following him), left building, at street looked both ways, crossed the street, found a shady spot on the grass, laid down on the grass, and remained in or went right back to somnambulistic state, saying later he figured he’d just wait for the doctors in that feeling great feeling. He said he knew they would look for him after the commotion died down.

Case 3: Pamela – whom had not previously been able to be hypnotized to numb pain in hypnosis - hypnotized by dentist student and told she was receiving a shot of Novocain. Hand and arm became completely numb and paralyzed and remained so even when she was brought out of hypnosis. Paralysis ended when she saw ink mark on the spot where the phony injection was given and she realized had not received a shot of Novocain but had been poked by a pen.

What do all three cases share in common?

Case 1: Subject physically heard and smelled a match being lit which convinced subject the skin was being burned by a heated pin.

Case 2: Subject physically smelled smoke, heard fire alarm, heard the team of doctors rush out of the room which convinced subject there was a fire or a very real threat of fire.

Case 3: Subject – Pamela – knew student to be a dentist who could conceivably be carrying around a needle and Novocain in a medical bag. That, together with the physical feeling of receiving a shot, convinced her she’d gotten a shot.

Before we point out what each of these cases have in common, consider what is commonly called the Placebo Effect:

It has been demonstrated that when a patient believes something will relieve pain, the body actually releases endorphins that do so. In a recent study, Parkinson’s patients who were given fake surgery or fake drug treatments produced dopamine (a chemical their bodies lack) in quantities similar to those they might have received in a genuine intervention. Medical research has suggested that 30% to 70% of successful treatments may be the result of the patient’s belief that the treatment will work.

In a study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association researchers found that people given identical pills got greater pain relief from the one they were told cost $2.50 than from the one supposedly costing 10 Cents. “We all know that we expect more from products with high prices and good names,” said MIT behavioral economist, Dan Ariely, who led the research “and we wanted to see if these things could change how we react to pain medication. The answer seems to be yes.” In an earlier study, Ariely found that people given inexpensive energy drinks felt more tired and worked out less than those who received identical energy drinks that cost more. Researchers at Caltech have reported in a study in January expensive wine was experienced as being more pleasant tasting than identical wine that supposedly cost less. And in a recent study funded by MIT, 82 volunteers were asked to rate the intensity of electric shocks, administered to their wrists before and after they received a dummy pain pill. They were told the pill was a new opioid painkiller similar to codeine but faster acting. Each participant received a colorful brochure touting the new drug as an exciting new medication that could provide up to 8 hours of pain relief. Half the study participants were told the drug had a regular price of $2.50 a pill. The other half were told the new medication had been discounted to 10 cents a pill. No explanation was given for the price cut. Researchers found 85% of subjects who received the regular priced pill reported feeling less pain after taking the dummy medication compared with 61% of those receiving the supposedly discounted pills.

Question: What do the three cases we outlined have in common with the placebo effect?

Answer: In each of these cases the subjects were consciously convinced something real, not something imaginary, was happening.

The subject in case 1 heard and smelled the match being lit. The subject in case 2 smelled the smoke, heard the fire alarm, was aware of everyone hurriedly leaving the room. In case 3, Pamela knew the student to be a dentist so to her conscious mind he could conceivably have a needle and Novocain with him. When she felt the physical sensation of being injected by a needle she became consciously convinced he really had given her a shot, which convinced the subconscious.

So what has this to do with the power of the mind and questions such as:

Can you get a sun burn or sun tan by mentally imaging yourself lying in the sun?

Can you break a bone by mentally imaging yourself doing so?

Answer: Yes, that is the power of the mind. However, this power is tempered by what the soul and spirit allow it to do. The subconscious can do what the conscious does not think is possible, but only if it is convinced doing so is acceptable to the conscious. Which rules out breaking bones mentally. While the conscious self might find a mental suntan acceptable, it is likely the spirit of the body would not be accepting of this in its desire to have real sun light

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