Physician Healer
Mindsets and Paradigms
Before I deep dive into today’s topic, I just wanted to thank the readers who reached out with virtual hugs last week after reading the issue. Thank you for your overwhelming support and thank you for allowing me to also provide guidance for those who found themselves in similar waters. I appreciate all of you!
Now, for this week’s issue —
In the last several weeks I was thinking about all the patients I encountered and the differences between individuals taking on the sick role and those who represented the wellness model. You may be wondering,
“Well, that’s obvious, one group has illness and the other does not.”
At first glance, it appears to be true. But, the more I observed those who were perpetually healthy vs those who were not, some distinct contrasts really stood out between the 2 groups. Interestingly, genetics did not figure into this as much as we would all assume. This is also shown in recent medical research into epigenetics. In the 2 groups, there were healthy individuals who had significant family history for various diseases and there were sick individuals who had healthy family members. What I observed was that the contrasts could be explained by the differences in their mindset, meaning the quality of their thoughts.
Quite simply, those who were taking few to no medications reported being in a more positive disposition for most of each day. It’s not that unpleasant events did not happen to these individuals; it’s that they can turn their mindset around quickly and thus decrease the stress response and as such, remove the inflammatory response, which has been shown to cause the majority of the human disease process. When I asked these patients what they did, they invariably answered that they just remembered what they were grateful for and that quickly shifted their mood. Many of them practiced meditation daily and journaled on a daily basis.
On the contrary, with the sick group, they were mostly focused on the illnesses. Even if on the day of their visit they were, in fact, feeling quite well, they would spend mere seconds to acknowledge that very fact and then quickly spend the rest of the visit time talking about every date of every illness and all the circumstantial events surrounding the illness (how poorly they were treated by specific physicians, their staff, the hospital personnel, and so on). And, the way they spoke, sometimes I would think it was just yesterday. No, many times, it would be a decade ago, 2 decades ago. Knowing the importance of a positive mindset on health, I quickly try to turn the conversation around and confirm they were feeling well now, right? They would nod dismissively and then inevitably return to the past.
I realized that the subconscious programming in the mind starts at age 0 to 7 and then we build on that as we grow into adulthood, which controls how we perceive the world. Since the body is the instrument of the mind, whatever the mind believes, the body follows. This means, if the mind spends most of its time wallowing in sickness and illness, the body assumes that very role. If the mind focuses on wellness, the body follows accordingly.
A fascinating experiment done some years back enrolled football players in a room and connected them to monitors to record their blood pressure, heart rate and sweat gland activity. They were instructed to close their eyes and visualize running a touch down. Now, they were not outside actually running the field, but just in a room imagining that they were. Their blood pressure went up, their heart rate went up, and their sweat glands actively produced sweat. The body believed what the mind told it. The body was unable to distinguish what was real and what was imagined. So, now if we extrapolate this phenomenon to health and illness, it is no wonder that if the mind is consumed in illness, the body follows in assuming that very role. On the other hand, if the mind imagined excellent health, the body would believe it and would heal in such a way to attain that goal.
Some of you may know the famous story of Anita Moorjani (author of Dying to Be Me and Sensitive is the New Strong), a woman with stage 4 (endstage) lymphoma who had a near-death experience (NDE) and 3 weeks after she came back, there were no signs of cancer and she was discharged from the hospital. For those of you who are interested, check out the HEAL podcast interview on YouTube, where she sits down with Kelly Noonan Gores and discusses her story. I have been familiar with her story for some years but recently something struck me as curious specifically about Moorjani’s story and I began to wonder if there was so much more to the power of mindset.
When she initially returned to her body, her body was still consumed with massive tumor load as she described. The only change after her NDE was that her mindset had done a massive overhaul. Her new mindset believed that she had come back to give us gifts of knowledge and in return, she would receive the gifts that life would bring her. She lived with immense gratitude everyday for the bad and for the good. She even found blessings in experiencing being financially poor. After all, she spent 4 years with cancer and at the end, the finances were drained. At the same time, her family was so thrilled that she was alive that they were not devastated by their situation.
Moorjani goes on to tell Kelly Gores that she even laughed and said,
“So, this is what it’s like.”
She admitted that if she didn’t have the NDE, she would’ve been like anyone else, stressed and frantic, pacing about what to do next and acting as if it were the end of the world. At this point, she just surrendered to what was happening and just felt grateful to be able to feel this unpleasantness. No sooner than she felt this gratitude, motivation speaker Wayne Dyer (author of The Shift) discovered her story and wanted to interview her. She is currently still one of the most sought after international speakers.
In speaking to the power of mindset, I had a patient last year who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and was told to schedule for surgery to remove the thyroid. She decided to wait 4 months before committing to surgery. During the 4 months, she decided to change her lifestyle through taking on a meditative practice, an organic diet and yoga. After 4 months, her imaging tests did not detect any cancer. Her ENT specialist told her that disappearance of cancer was impossible and wrote that he made an error in diagnosis.
She then went to the pathologist who performed her biopsy. He could not locate the nodule. He confirmed the initial diagnosis, standing by his finding and then told her that whatever she did seemed to be linked to the disappearance of the cancer. This patient believed wholeheartedly that when she changed her mindset and convinced herself that she had control of her health, that was the pivotal moment that subsequently influenced her outcome.
On days when I encounter individuals who are so emotionally invested in their disease state, I still try and encourage them to exercise a different and more positive mindset and to repeatedly and consistently use Meridian techniques and meditation to change old I-am-ill paradigms. My explanation is that the worst case scenario is that they won’t be any worse than where they are now but it is worth trying if they are serious about wanting to get better. Just try to shift the mindset and engage the body fully in feeling deeply and emotionally how it would feel if the disease were not there. Remember the experiment with the football players? The body believes what the mind imagines and if you tell it enough what you really want, perhaps as Kelly Noonan Gores always says,
“What’s possible for one is possible for all.”
Relaxation and Meditation
1) Sit comfortably and close your eyes gently. Take a deep breath in through your nose (5-7 seconds) and track the breath down into the belly. Then, sigh into the exhale through your mouth (5-7 seconds). Repeat 2-3 more times or more
(The following are the Meridian points we will use today. Feel free to rotate through all the points for 8-10 seconds, while saying the intentional statements below this section. I will include again diagrams to remind you the points. Also, previous issues will have other statements you can use)
2) Begin by accessing the Meridian points on the chest by using gentle repetitive pressure with the finger tips or “tapping” action (8-10 seconds)
—Switch now to the Meridian points on both sides at the beginning of the brow near the forehead and gently tap with the finger tips (8-10 seconds)
—Switch now to the Meridian points on both bony corners of the eyes and gently tap with the finger tips (8-10 seconds)
—Switch now to the Meridian points under both eyes at the top of the cheek bone and gently tap with the finger tips (8-10 seconds)
—Switch now to the Meridian points under the nose and gently tap with the finger tips (8-10 seconds)
—Switch now to the Meridian points under the lower lip at the dip and gently tap with the finger tips (8-10 seconds)
—Return to the Meridian points on the chest
3) Intentional Statements
—Why do I feel so strong now no matter what’s happening?
—Why do I feel so healthy now no matter what’s happening?
—Why do I heal so quickly now no matter what’s happening?
—Why do I feel so energetic now no matter what’s happening?
—Why do I let go of things that don’t serve me no matter what’s happening?
—Why do I let go of heaviness no matter what’s happening?
—Why do I let go of fear no matter what’s happening?
—Why am I more than enough no matter what’s happening?
—Why do I have more than enough no matter what’s happening?
4) An important reminder—the more you repeat the above, the more you will be able to change your paradigms, your beliefs of whether or not you allow your health or disease to define you. Repetition is key for your health to sometimes change.
5) Finish off with the breathing exercises from 1) and then remember to journal your 5-10 gratitudes and then start your day or if it is at bedtime, just go to bed.
Of note, I’ve had several patients who have reported being able to discontinue their long-time sleep medications and are able to sleep on their own now. Kudos!
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Thank you for reading. Until next time, may you have much to be grateful for!
Sending you love, peace and gratitude,
Celeste Amaya, MD 🙌♥️
