Читать книгу Summary: Full Catastrophe Living. Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. Jon Kabat-Zinn - Smart Reading, Ольга Ганкова - Страница 4

When thanks to meditation we begin feeling our wholeness and, at the same time, part of a larger whole, our conscious starts changing and transforming, which leads to the path of healing.

Healing achieved through meditation is not actually the treatment of a physical illnesses. Nonetheless, many medical studies prove that there is a connection between our psychological and physical state. Our actions are based on thinking patterns. We use patterns when we make decisions, and these very patterns form our attitude toward ourselves and the world around us.

Dr. Martin Seligman, University of Pennsylvania professor and founder of the positive psychology school of thought, discovered that a pessimistic mindset puts people at risk of disease while an optimistic mindset has a protective effect against disease and premature death. Lifestyle, thoughts and actions may have a huge impact on people’s health. Moreover, scientists have proved that a predisposition to certain diseases depends on a person’s thought patterns. For instance, some studies show that a tendency to feel anger may lead to hypertension, and others traits like hostility and cynicism may lead to ischemic atrophy of the heart. While, at the same time, such psychological traits as optimism, empathy, and the perception that one’s life is full and manageable are associated with good health.

Naturally, such conclusions are based on statistical data and represent probability. We can only state that a greater number of people get sick and die prematurely with the abovementioned behavioral and thinking patterns.

Scientists have also proved that our immune system, which is in charge of protecting our organism from cancerous diseases and viral infections (among other things), is partially regulated by our nervous system. That’s why people’s thoughts, attitudes and emotions can bring on disease or vice versa, help with recovery. Reaching a state of relaxation regularly may have a positive impact on health and protect people from the harmful influence of negative psychological factors.

One of the most frequently mentioned examples of how one’s mind can affect physical health is the placebo effect. This occurs when patients are convinced they are taking strong medicine, and their body demonstrates respective clinical changes even though they received a sugar pill (known as placebo) instead of the actual medicine. Over the history of medicine doctors have seen the opposite as well: physically healthy people convincing themselves that they were suffering from a specific illness and then suddenly developing it in reality.

Multiple medical studies have demonstrated that many physiological functions like heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and thermal conductivity of the skin are in fact not involuntary and that it’s possible to control them. And this is where meditation can play its part: regularly reaching a state of relaxation may have a positive impact on health and protect people from the harmful influence of negative psychological factors.