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Hypnosis and Meditation … Their Use in the Treatment of Cancer and Disease

Hypnosis and Meditation … Their Use in the Treatment of Cancer and Disease

Philosopher Benedetto Croce once wrote, “True happiness is to be won by learning to love with such elevation of spirit as to attain the power to stand up to grief … Surpass the old love with an even greater new love.”

From the time we enter this world, we are taught to associate sickness with rewards.  When ill, we get to stay in bed and relax … people send us cards and flowers … friends visit and tell us how much they love us … parents and spouses bring us food to make us healthy.  I remember my mother used to make me chicken soup, and I too learned to associate receiving love and attention with being ill. 

Even our present day insurance system rewards illness by taking a stance of penalizing those who choose to take care of themselves.  What would happen if we were to receive reductions in our premiums because we controlled our weight, followed a healthy diet, quit smoking, exercised on a regular basis, and chose to practice an idea of preventative care?

I am a believer that psychological shaping during the formative years of our life will play a part in determining who will develop a serious illness.  And because of this learned association with disease and illness, many illnesses do seemingly take on a psychological component, do they not? 

What would happen if we were to ask a person who was ill to take a deep look inside … to take that journey deep inside one’s self and look into the mirror of life and ask if there is some emotional need being met by having their illness?  Or perhaps ask them what is it in your life that needs to change so that you no longer need this illness?

This paradox is wonderfully expressed by a story I heard a while back.

A stranger comes upon a man who is on his hands and knees under a street lamp in front of his house.  When asked, it is learned that this man is looking for his keys … so the stranger gets down on all fours and begins crawling around to help the man look for the keys.  After a period of time, the stranger asks the man, “Where exactly is it that you lost your keys?”

“In my house,” the man replies.

Shaking his head in disbelief, the stranger asks, “Then why are you looking out here?”

“Because it is dark in the house,” the man replied.

The light may seem better in our conscious mind, but the mind itself does not act solely thorough conscious choices.  Many effects of the body are achieved directly on the body’s tissues, without any conscious awareness on our part; and the remarkable thing is the body will respond to the mind’s messages whether they are received consciously or subconsciously.

Our conscious mind is that area of the mind considered to be the “filter of the brain”.  This is the area we most utilize during our waking hours. This is where we learn, listen, reason, judge, and analyze … tools we use to make our day to day decisions, and those decisions are based in part on the information contained in our perceptions of the experiences that are stored in our subconscious.   

The subconscious mind (sometimes referred to as the unconscious) is that creative part of the mind.  It is essentially our data base for every past experience that we have had in our life; and our subconscious is where our perceptions of those past experiences are stored away.  This is where those “pictures” of our past are tucked away, and one might consider this to be the darkness of the mind because we are not always aware of our memories, or the perception of those memories as many of those memories and beliefs were formed when we were very young, long before we had the abilities of adulthood to reason and analyze and make sense of the actions of ourselves and others.

Every tissue and organ in our body is controlled by a complex interaction among chemicals circulating in our blood. Located just below the brain, the pituitary gland is the master gland of the body.  The output of pituitary hormones is controlled by both the chemical secretions and nerve impulses from the brain, namely that part of the brain called the hypothalamus.  The hypothalamus regulates most of the body’s subconscious maintenance, such as controlling your heartbeat, breathing, blood pressure, temperature, etc.

The immune system of the body consists of different types of white blood cells concentrated in the spleen, the thymus gland, and the lymph nodes.  These white cells travel throughout our body in our blood and lymphatic system.  They are divided into two main groups, called B cells and T cells. 

B cells in essence are the protectors of the body as they neutralize poisons made by disease organisms entering the body.  T cells consist of helper cells, and killer T cells.  When the B cells locate a suspected hazard in the body, it sends out signals to the helper cells.  Helper cells are basically the investigators, and if a suspected hazard is determined to be detrimental to the body, it sends signals to the killer T cells to go to work to destroy invading bacteria, viruses, and disease.

The immune system is controlled by the brain, either indirectly thorough hormones in the bloodstream, or directly though the nerves and chemicals of the body.  Essentially, the immune system is influenced by the messages it receives from the body, as well as those messages it receives from the conscious and subconscious mind.  What we believe and tell our body influences how our immune system responds to the needs of our body.

One of the theories related to cancer is that cancer cells are developing in our bodies all the time, but because of our immune system, the cancer cells are destroyed by our white blood cells.  But what happens when our immune system becomes depressed?

Passive emotions such as grief, feelings of failure, and suppression of anger produce and release over secretions of chemicals into our system.  These chemicals appear to be related to our emotions, thoughts, and beliefs.  Essentially, what happens is we become what we think and feel, both on a conscious and subconscious level. 

When we ignore our despair and emotional pain, essentially when we “stuff our feelings back down” and refuse to deal with them, subconsciously our body receives a “die” message.  Over time, our body responds to these chemical changes and messages, often times transgressing into disease and illness, one of which is cancer.  It is the body’s way of saying to you that you need to pay attention to me, and take care of me.  Our body sends us signals, often times in the way of pain, to let us know that we need to pay attention, and just as one would pay attention to an obvious injury such as a cut or a broken bone, one needs to address emotional pain in a similar fashion. 

Now, this may sound somewhat sinister, but I actually wish there was more pain involved with cancer.  Think about it.  If cancer was more painful early on, people would report it much sooner, doctors would catch it and diagnose it much sooner, and less and less people would die from its effects.   

Sharing healthy emotions and using guided imagery (meditation and hypnosis) are two ways we can let our minds and bodies communicate with each other in a healthy way.  Both emotions and imagery are transmitted through the central nervous system to the brain and organs of the body.  Our emotions tell the body what we expect of it, and by visualizing certain changes, we help the body to bring about those positive changes.  Essentially we send the body an “I want to live” message.

When we enter into a meditative state of mind, especially where hypnosis is concerned, we experience an extremely pleasant journey into deep mental and physical relaxation.  When you are relaxed you can accomplish twice as much as you can when you are tense or nervous – and with half the amount of effort.

Hypnosis opens the lines of communication directly with the subconscious.  When a person allows themselves to enter into a state of hypnosis, they allow the critical mind (consciousness) to become bypassed in such a way that they become more receptive to change.  They no longer judge and analyze every thought, and they become more open to new ideas and beliefs.

In order for us to enter on a path of true creative and spiritual growth, we must learn to move past our fears and negative beliefs.  The deep feelings of love and caring are incredibly powerful in the face of conflict. 

When we choose to hang onto resentments, anger, and hate all we accomplish is to prevent ourselves from clearing up our unfinished emotional business, thus disallowing our ability in achieving the harmony we all seek from life.

Your emotions, your feelings, and your beliefs dictate who you are and who you will become.

About the Author

Dennis is a Clinical Hypnotherapist, a practitioner of Neuro-Linguistics Programming, and a Professional Life Coach.

Dennis is certified by the American Council of Hypnotist Examiners, the National Guild of Hypnotists, the International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association, and the International Certification Board of Clinical Hypnotherapy.

If you wish to find out more, I can be contacted at 707 474-9230, or you can visit my website at http://www.mytrance.net

Is there any scientific evidence that hypnosis can retrieve forgotten memories?

For my psychology assignment, I have to write up about whether any academic research has been found to prove or disprove how effective hypnosis is, what methods are used to research these areas and what was found out.

It’s a matter of opinion, really. There is no factual evidence supporting either side of the spectrum. I often use hypnotherapy during sessions, and never have my patients recalled “forgotten memories.” I do believe hypnotherapy is extremely beneficial for positive suggestions, but clients are still conscious of what is going on. If you’re not aware of what the hypnotherapist is saying, there’s no possible way for you to use the suggestions. Throughout undergraduate psychology courses, most of my professors believed that using hypnosis to make you remember things was not reliable. As far as past-life regression and what not, again, it’s a matter of belief and opinion.

Best of luck with your research.

Derren Brown – How To Lose Your Memory

psychology hypnosis memory