I am amazed at the number of articles lately in the magazines about pain and how it can be treated. When I say I am amazed, it is that all the articles talk about how the medical system can do things to you to help your pain such as: injections, new medications, implanted nerve stimulators and surgeries. If you read the articles carefully, they all say that these are new ways modern medicine can cure you, but it only works for some and many patients are not better or worse.

Left out of these articles is the fact that patients can often help themselves, and if not completely, they can at least enhance the effectiveness of the medications or surgeries. We have used relaxation and biofeedback, tai chi, yoga and hypnosis in our practice for close to 20 years. I used to wonder why my patients required surgery so much less than my colleagues. I know they have been just as happy and often have avoided the pain and complications that come with surgery or extensive medication use. Now I don’t wonder anymore; it is because our patients are self empowered. They maintain control over their healing and their bodies.

In many cases of pain or medical disease, no one is considering the PEOPLE and from where their pain or pathology is coming. There are many causes for pain, from a splinter, nerve injury, cancer, broken bones to stress and suffering brought on us all from the daily stresses of life. Many times, left unchecked, these stresses cause real physiologic effects and pain. Headaches are often brought on by stress, muscle tightness about the back of the neck and pressure on the nerves. If we relax, get a hot shower, massage, jacuzzi or meditate, it often addresses the problem.

The use of medical self hypnosis, yoga, tai chi, meditation, prayer and other self healing techniques simply allows them to place their bodies and minds in a relaxed state, and the body knows how to heal itself. This is the key to healing. Not what is done to you or your body, but rather whether what Candice Peart refers to as the "mind-body", can be placed in a state that allows your body to heal itself. This is no different than how your body heals a cut or gets rid of a cold. It knows how to take care of you as long as you let your mind-body rest and get quiet. When you rest and take care of you, eat right, and exercise, the healing has no choice but to happen.