​The Power of the Mind

I think it’s clear that the most underutilized medical intervention we have is the power of the brain and mind. Your brain is, after all, the central control unit of your body, and your body always tries to do what your mind asks it to do. It can’t always do it, but it always tries.

Life brings with it stressful events, and the way we respond to them can either amplify or reduce the amount of distress we experience. Your mind can create or relieve stress and anxiety, and our internal contribution to stress is modifiable, sometimes more easily than you would imagine.

Imagination, along with proper breathing, is the key to mind/body medicine, and I have studied, researched and taught the public and professionals alike how to use imagination for health for most of my career. I have written three popular books on the subject, over a dozen medical textbook chapters, and have created over 100 audio guided imagery programs that guide people in using imagery to improve their health in a wide variety of situations. You can find and download many of these self-care audios at my other website, The Healing Mind.

At the Academy for Guided Imagery, a postgraduate training institute I co-founded and led for 15 years, I taught over 10,000 doctors, nurses, and psychotherapists to work with a powerful individualized form of mind/body work called Interactive Guided Imagery.

I work this way with motivated patients who have serious and complex illness, either in person, or through a coaching arrangement on the phone, or with Skype or Facetime.

Contact me for more information about this very powerful internal way to work with self-healing.

Here is a lecture I gave at the University of California, San Francisco Medical School on Turning Anxiety and Worry into Calmness