Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of BeliefLearn how the mind shapes the body, and take charge of your health and wellness with the science and power of belief. In this life-changing book, Dr. Herbert Benson draws on his twenty-five years as a physician and researcher to reveal how affirming beliefs, particularly belief in a higher power, make an important contribution to our physical health. We are not simply nourished by meditation and prayer, but are, in essence, "wired for God." Combining the wisdom of modem medicine and of age-old faith. Dr. Benson shows how anyone can, with the aid of a caring physician or healer, use their beliefs and other self-care methods to heal over 60 percent of medical problems. As practical as it is spiritual, Timeless Healing is a blueprint for healing and transforming your life. |
Contents
| 11 | |
| 13 | |
| 25 | |
| 47 | |
The Brains Prerogative | 65 |
Medicines Spiritual Crisis | 97 |
The Relaxation Response | 123 |
The Faith Factor and the Spiritual Experience | 149 |
Optimal Medicine Optimal Health | 219 |
Trust Your Instincts Trust Your Doctor | 241 |
The Ills of Information | 257 |
Timeless Healing | 283 |
A Disclosure of Belief | 305 |
Relaxation Audio and Videotapes | 307 |
References | 313 |
Index | 341 |
Other editions - View all
Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief Herbert Benson,Marg Stark No preview available - 1996 |
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Popular passages
Page 296 - For the philosophy which is so important in each of us is not a technical matter; it is our more or less dumb sense of what life honestly and deeply means.
Page 40 - ... the lethal medium, which he imagines is pouring into his body. His cheeks blanch and his eyes become glassy and the expression of his face becomes horribly distorted . . . He attempts to shriek but usually the sound chokes in his throat, and all that one might see is froth at his mouth. His body begins to tremble and the muscles twist involuntarily.
Page 248 - One of the essential qualities of the clinician is interest in humanity, for the secret of the care of the patient is in caring for the patient.
Page 118 - ... the Bowie-knife and the revolver, which has chewed the juice out of all the superlatives in the language in Fourth of July orations, and so used up its epithets in the rhetoric of abuse that it takes two great quarto dictionaries to supply the demand ; which insists in sending out yachts and horses and boys to out-sail, out-run, out-fight, and checkmate all the rest of creation ; how could such a people be content with any but
Page 40 - The man who discovers that he is being boned by any enemy is, indeed, a pitiable sight. He stands aghast, with his eyes staring at the treacherous pointer, and with his hands lifted as though to ward off the lethal medium, which he imagines is pouring into his body. His cheeks blanch and his eyes become glassy and the expression of his face becomes horribly distorted...
Page 67 - ... if there is anything which human history demonstrates, it is the extreme slowness with which the ordinary academic and critical mind acknowledges facts to exist which present themselves as wild facts with no stall or pigeon-hole, or as facts which threaten to break up the accepted system.
Page 171 - For reason is the greatest enemy that faith has: it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but — more frequently than not — struggles against the Divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God.
Page 136 - Throughout, assume a passive attitude. Don't worry about how well you're doing. When other thoughts come to mind, simply say to yourself, "Oh, well," and gently return to the repetition.
Page 68 - Descartes' error: the abyssal separation between body and mind, between the sizable, dimensioned, mechanically operated infinitely divisible body stuff, on the one hand, and the unsizable, undimensioned, un-pushpullable, nondivisible mind stuff; the suggestion that reasoning, and moral judgment, and the suffering that comes from physical pain or emotional upheaval might exist separately from the body.
Page 136 - Step 2. Sit quietly in a comfortable position. Step 3. Close your eyes. Step 4. Relax your muscles. Step 5. Breathe slowly and naturally, and as you do, repeat your focus word, phrase or prayer silently to yourself as you exhale.