PART 1: MINDPOWER IN THEORY

1. The birth of an idea: The origins of Mindpower

"I realised that the human minds has powers which are far more remarkable than I had ever before imagined.. That single, isolated and in a way, I suppose, faintly insignificant, had opened my eyes to the fact that the mind has powers we have not yet begun to tap: powers that can control the way our bodies respond to disease and infection and powers that can controlled in order to improve our health and well-being. Suddenly, all sorts of things started to fall into place and make sense."

Human mind can have a great influence on the things we do and the way we live.

To start with, much of the materials I'd read had been anecdotal and fairly easy to dismiss. Together with most other doctors, I'd been sceptical of stories of Eastern yogis stopping their hearts beating or walking on beds of red-hot coals. I'd been intrigued but not convinced. Doctors are taught to be cynical and sceptical and I'd majored in both specialities. I wouldn't believe anything until I'd seen it proved beyond doubt."

In 1972, for example, two American researchers, one the Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, published results which showed that during meditation, oxygen consumption and metabolic rated markedly decreased and that it was possible to measure a reduction in the level of anxiety recorded by people meditating.

From France there was evidence from physiologist to prove that some people can slow or even stop their hearts while meditating.

In 1970, The Lancet had published research showing that breathing rates per minute drop significantly during meditation.

German research workers at the University of Cologne showed that people meditating reduced their levels of aggression, depression, irritability and nervousness. All around the world, researchers were finding that the human mind have all sorts of positive effect on the body and that by learning to control the mind it is possible to control the way the body responds.

"People had been arguing that the mind can effect the body for decades. It was just that the more I looked around, the clearer became the signs that this wasn't just hypothetical nonsense; it was valuable material that the medical profession was choosing to ignore."

The power of the mind over the body can be quite dramatic.
In India, for example, four or five thousand years ago, flowers, perfume and music therapy were used to make convalescence more enjoyable and successful.

The Greek physician, Hippocrates, frequently described as the father of modern medicine, understood that the individual's mind has a tremendous influence over what illnesses he develops and what happens to him when he develops those illnesses. Living over two thousand years ago, Hippocrates had understood the value of meditation and mental relaxation. He had recognised that the mind can have a tremendous, positive power over the body.

Doctors who work with patients suffering from other infectious diseases rarely seem to develop those diseases. Missionaries who work with patients suffering from all sorts of horrible bugs stay remarkably healthy when they should be following sick. Why?

"By the early 1080s I felt I was getting close to an explanation that would solve all those unanswered questions and unable me to understand just how patients like Pam had managed to stay alive when they should have died, just why I'd been able to throw off 'flu bug while on my book promotion tour, and why patients with apparently identical bodies and apparently similar stress would thrive and suffer in such b=very different ways.

I began to suspect that something had sadly gone wrong with orthodox medicine, that my training had been misleading and that all of us, doctors and patients, have become so obsessed with the mechanical wonders of modern science that we have lost our way.