By Penelope A. Domogo, MD
For the past two issues we discussed the incredible healing power inside our bodies. “Incredible” because many times this power is beyond our limited human understanding so it takes faith to believe in it. We don’t have to understand it, we just believe it because we believe that our loving Creator, whom we also call God, is good. God is good to everyone- male or female, young or old, believer or unbeliever, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim or unchurched. He gifted each one of us with an amazing self-healing mechanism inside our bodies since the day we were conceived. “Unfortunately, most people have not known about this gift; it has been a secret.” wrote Roger Jahnke, internationally renowned author of The Healer Within, and doctor of traditional Chinese medicine. Well, he has shared this secret with us and let us also share the good news with everybody.
Earlier, we discussed the built-in healing machine in our bodies. Next we discussed how to harness this healing power within us, meaning it is up to us now to act. God gave us the machine, how now do we use it? So we discussed the three interconnected areas of our life which are all dependent on our personal choice and personal actions, that maximize the activity of our naturally occurring self-healing capability.” We discussed two areas last week. First is our choice of attitudes, knowledge, beliefs and values. Of course there’s a difference between the attitude of “adola-amin sa” or “ay kadya ta ilan tako” versus an attitude of “kasiyana” or “Thank you, God!”. The other good news is that these are personal choices- you are free to believe or not, to be grateful or not. Second area is our lifestyle – diet and activity. What we do and what we do not do in the 24 hours a day that our Maker gives us. We all know that this second area is very dependent on the first area. For example, what you eat and how you eat depends on your beliefs and attitude about food and eating and depends whether you value convenience over health, health over money or other things, etc. Geez, sometimes life is complicated.
The third interconnected area for self-healing that we need to do is is the focus of this week’s issue – self-applied healing techniques or self-applied health enhancing methods (SAHEM). Again we quote from the book The Healer Within by R. Jahnke. These are:
Gentle movement of the body
Self-applied massage
Breath practice
Deep relaxation or meditation
As stated above, these methods are self-applied and even those who are bound to the wheelchair or bed can do these. These methods are ancient, drawing from many traditions all over the world including our indigenous Igorot traditions, so don’t you worry- these have been tried and tested and found to be beneficial for our health and wellness.
GENTLE MOVEMENT
Good news – you don’t have to be an athlete to be strong and physically fit. Many studies show that long, low-intensity physical activities are better than short, vigorous exercises. These have good health benefits and at the same time, less risk of injuries. For example, daily walking is preferred to once a week intense jogging. Those in offices can just stretch their limbs and neck every so often. Those in bed can daily move their hands and feet. Please read the book The Healer Within for easy-to-do specific movements which anybody, well or unwell, can do.
SELF-MASSAGE
You don’t have to pay P300 or more to experience the benefits of massage. Our automatic reaction to a painful area of the body is to touch it or massage it – like when you have a headache, you massage the temples and scalp and you get relief. God also has designed our body such that there are pressure points in our palms (adpa), our ears and our soles (dapan). These body parts are very accessible to our fingers so our forefathers have already discovered these magic points. Ever heard of ear acupuncture/acupressure, hand and foot reflexology? I am sure these were discovered through trial and error as these are not written anywhere by God. These were discovered even before the Bible was written, more than 4,000 years ago. I really believe God loved us since the beginning of time!
Some people may be overwhelmed by the many points and organs written in the reflexology maps. But take heart, one practical thing to do is just to massage the whole palm or sole in a circular motion from out to in and press all parts of the palm mindfully, taking note of any painful area. After you have massaged the whole palm or sole, go back to the painful area massaging it gently until the pain is gone or minimized. Do all these in a relaxed manner and breathing well.
BREATH PRACTICE
Breath practice is another “tried and true” practice for health and well-being. This is breathing deeply- you do this not by pushing your shoulders up but by pushing your diaphragm down and expanding your abdomen, just like a baby. It takes practice and good posture. You can’t breathe deeply in a slouching position. Breath in through the nose, filling the lower portion of the lungs first. Your abdomen will expand as the diaphragm drops and compresses the internal organs. Then allow the upper lobes of your lungs to fill and you will feel your chest expand. Then exhale slowly through your nose. Repeat 10 times or as you find comfortable and anytime during the day.
Unlike the first two self-applied health enhancing methods mentioned, deep breathing can be done without anybody noticing you doing it. You can do it sitting or standing or lying down, while attending a meeting, riding a bus or typing.
With just deep slow breathing, several other self-healing mechanisms in our body are activated. These are the movement of lymphatic fluid throughout the body, relaxation, and release of healing chemicals from the brain. Truly amazing!
DEEP RELAXATION OR MEDITATION
Relaxation is the opposite of stress. Occasional stress is okay but prolonged stress exhausts our body’s resources and overworks our body systems causing ill health and disease. In this fourth self-applied method, we train our mind to be empty of any thought or to focus on one thing like breathing. It is training ourselves to let go of our concerns and trust that the world will not stop turning if we relaxed for some minutes. Some people need to take a vacation and spend money to have relaxation but you can do it in the privacy of your house or in the parlor while your hair is cut. It is your choice.
Prayer is one form of meditation and prayer has been proven to cause healing, which we see as miraculous. You will learn that to meditate deeply, you need to relax. Many studies show that deep meditation causes many natural mechanisms in our body to work well. For example, relaxation expands the size of our capillaries letting the blood flow freely thus blood pressure is lowered and there is better flow of nutrients and oxygen to all parts of our body. Naturally, we would feel better and damaged parts are healed as there is good supply of oxygen and nutrients. Complementary to this inflow, there is easier elimination of toxins from our body. It is like good roads without slides- there is good flow of farm produce to the market and an equally good flow of junk food from the market to the village.
We will benefit from doing all the four methods mentioned above. Learning yoga will help a lot in improving our practice. You can learn from our local yoga teachers.
With all strong faith, healthy attitude and lifestyle and self-applied health enhancing methods, we harness the powerful healer within us. I hope you have experienced and will continue to experience this wonderful expression of God’s love for us- natural healing, wellness and vitality For more inspiration, please read also the book Awaken the Healer in You by one of my favorite Pinoy authors, Bo Sanchez.**
“There are two ways to live your life. One is as though there are no miracles. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” Albert Einstein
