It works: meditation, yoga and prayer heal a person

The medical benefits of meditation and yoga are now firmly embedded in the scientific literature. One of the latest studies on this topic was conducted by Harvard students who worked in a hospital in Massachusetts. They determined that meditation literally rebuilds the gray matter in the human brain in just eight weeks. And this was the first study, as a result of which it was documented that meditation can directly affect the human brain.

Relaxation response and its progress in modern times

Moreover, another recent study was recently published - it was conducted in the same hospital in Massachusetts, as well as in another medical center. These scientists conducted the first ever study of the action of the "relaxation response" in irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease, and also investigated the genomic effects of the "relaxation response" in any disease. When it comes to prayer or remote treatment, that is, the direction of human attention to physical systems, recent studies show impressive results that merit further consideration. Scientists have demonstrated that when a person feels really good and full of positive emotions, such as love, gratitude, approval, his heart "knocks out" a completely different message that is encoded in the electromagnetic field - and this has a significant positive impact on the human body as a whole. Factors that are associated with the human consciousness (thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensations, intentions) have been studied for quite some time - with the aim of discovering how they affect the physical world and interact with it.

The techniques of the "relaxation response"

Meditation, yoga and prayer are approaches that are collected in one group of techniques of "relaxation response". These techniques have been the subject of many studies, the purpose of which was to demonstrate that the regular practice of these techniques can directly affect many factors such as heart rate, blood pressure, stress, anxiety, oxygen consumption and so on. For the first time, the "relaxation response" was described more than forty years ago by the scientist Herbert Benson.

New research

A new study found that people who participated in the "Response Response Program", in years after the program, were much less likely to go to hospitals and clinics compared to how often they did in the years prior to participating in the program. The study sums up the results, which say that the "relaxation response" techniques, such as meditation, yoga and prayer, can reduce the need for medical care, even by 43 percent. "The main finding of our study is that programs that force participants to demonstrate a relaxation response can dramatically reduce the need for health services. These programs contribute to a healthy lifestyle and, in the face of the limited resources of medicine available in the world today, can significantly reduce the burden on the health care system with minimum costs and a complete lack of risk, "said lead author James Stahl.

The research process

How did the team of researchers study and analyze the impact of the techniques of mind-body interaction on modern medicine? The researchers collected data on those people who participated in the programs of the relaxation response in the last eight years. After analyzing the data of more than four thousand participants and comparing them with a control group of more than fourteen thousand people (taking into account various other factors that are described in detail in the text of the study itself), it became clear that the participants in these programs demonstrated a 43 percent reduction Use of health services within a year after taking part in the "Relaxation Response Program".

Herbert Benson's thoughts on the "relaxation response"

"I think about this as follows: there are many roads to a healthy lifestyle, but not everyone is ready to go on any particular path at a certain point in time. From the point of view of healthcare, it is much better to give a person the necessary tools in a ready configuration, rather than wait until people find their way themselves. That is why we believe that the "mind and body" techniques, which are both free and absolutely free of risk, should be introduced as a permanent preventive measure, "said Herbert Benson, the author of the initial research on the" relaxation response ".