Body/Mind Healing: Bernie S. Siegel, MD
Bernie S. Siegel M.D. on Meditation and Healing
Bernie S. Siegel from the book: Love, Medicine and Miracles: Lessons Learned about Self-Healing from a Surgeon's Experience with Exceptional Patients
"The Simple truth is, happy people don't get sick. One's attitude toward oneself is the single most important factor in healing or staying well. Those who are at peace with themselves and their immediate surroundings have far fewer serious illnesses than those who are not.
In one of the most thorough studies of this "contentment factor," psychiatrist George Vaillant followed two hundred Harvard graduates for thirty years, correlating health surveys with psychological tests each year. Comparing the happiest with the unhappiest group, he reported: "Of 59 men with the best mental health assessed from the age of 21 to 46 years, only two became chronically ill or died by the age 53. Of the 48 men with the worst mental health from the age of 21 to 46, 18 became chronically ill or died."
Those who were extremely satisfied with their lives had one tenth the rate of serious illness and death suffered by their thoroughly dissatisfied peers. The findings remained valid when the effects of alcohol, tobacco, obesity, and ancestral longevity were statistically eliminated- even though unhappiness can contribute to all but the last variable. Mental health, Vaillant found, retards mid-life deterioration in physical health."
Suggested link: Osho Active Meditation CD
for Destressing the body/mind.
Body/Mind Healing articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5