How To Improve Your State of Mind

"Casting aside the extreme point of view that all illness originates in the mind, we are nonetheless left with the fact that what we think (and how we think) unequivocally affects our health. Or as Dr. John Christopher, one of America's foremost naturopaths, was fond of saying, 'Most people need a colonic between the ears.' If you want to make your mind a partner in health, you need to work at it. Make the effort to move your mind out of stress and/or depression and into relaxation. Listed below are ways to begin the process.

• Learn to meditate - If nothing else, just try watching your breath. Sit down, with your back straight, close your eyes, and concentrate on your breathing. Watch as your breath goes in and your lungs fill, and watch as it goes out and your lungs empty. Don't force; just watch. Enjoy the spaces between inhalation and exhalation.
• Learn to visualize - After you've meditated for a few minutes and calmed down, practice a visualization. See your body as made of healing light and imagine this light penetrating and soothing every cell in your body. If you are sick, focus the light on the diseased area.
• Practice alternate nostril breathing as described in last Monday's Book Excerpt email (Daily Tip).
• Practice affirmation - What we say matters. We all probably know, for example, someone who uses the word "afraid" all the time. As in: 'I'm afraid I won't be able to go tonight' or 'I'm afraid I've eaten too much; I'm absolutely stuffed.' Is it any wonder that eventually they're afraid all the time? Dr. Bernie Siegel includes several examples of this negative thinking in his book Love, Medicine, and Miracles, such as the man who said "he was always considered spineless" and in the end developed multiple myeloma in his backbone to support his contention. Or the woman who had had a mastectomy who kept telling Dr. Siegel that she "needed to get something off her chest.'

Instead of being controlled by the things we say, instead of having our health compromised by idle words, we should put words to work for us. Try repeating to yourself over and over with each step you take when you walk, or while you're driving, something like "'I'm joy. I'm peace. I'm health. I'm light.' Or make up your own affirmation -- make it short and rhythmic, so that it almost says itself to a walking cadence. It really works magic. I once hiked the John Muir Trail, starting in the Yosemite Valley in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains, about 237 miles in all, silently reciting a similar affirmation every step of the way. By the end of the trip, I had repeated the affirmation over 500,000 times, and I had sailed over 10,000-foot passes and up and down the 14,500 feet of Mt. Whitney.

• Take an herbal/nutraceutical break - Use a nerve tonic formulation that contains herbs such as valerian root, mulungu, ashwagandha, passionflower, chamomile, lavender, bergamot, St. John's wort, and lobelia, and/or nutraceuticals such as phenylalanine and theanine.
• Try using SAMe - 200–1,600 mg a day

As you can see, there are many alternatives to try. Using antidepressants before looking to address possible underlying causes by trying these options first is not a healthy way to go. Only when all other options have been tried first, should you turn to pharmaceutical solutions."

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