Individuals visit self-healing therapists to learn how to use their mind to help themselves heal all types of unresolved, unmanageable, or prolonged illnesses. Illness is a physical disorder that is often caused by "dis-ease". The earliest definition of "dis-ease" is a "lack of ease" or, more specifically, a state of deep emotional disharmony. Interestingly, when the word disease was coined, health practitioners wisely realized that much illness was indeed the result of emotional disharmony. It is now estimated that 80-95% of all illness is caused, facilitated, or prolonged by emotional distress or deep inner tension. Much of this damaging emotional stress is repressed which means that our mind has hidden it so well that we are longer aware it exists. It remains inside of us, however, but outside the awareness of the conscious mind. Unfortunately many modern health practitioners, for a variety of reasons, are ignoring the underlying stress which significantly contributes to many of our illnesses. The brilliant Canadian physician, Hans Selye, spent more than fifty years on stress research. Going beyond traditional estimates, he was convinced that most illness is precipitated by deep internal stress, either emotional or biologic. Newer studies indicate that it is primarily the unrecognized, repressed, subconscious emotional stress which actually precipitates that deep biologic stress which inhibits our immune system & in turn permits the development of the physical disorders which we call illness. In this lengthy article, you will learn about all the different types of difficulties that lead to unrecognized inner stress that can eventually bring about "dis-ease" and illness. (Then read the article entitled, "Extraordinary Healing Of Illness & Physical Disorders".)

Some people are coming to realize that many of their illnesses, at the most basic level, are truly facilitated by various types of tension such as worry, anxiety, apprehension, frustration, personal conflict, and troubling thoughts. However, the most damaging form of internal tension is the repressed emotional stress hidden within the subconscious mind & body that has continued for years or even decades. This is the old stress that we thought was truly gone. We mistakenly assume that when sufficient time has elapsed, or when we no longer think about it, our deep inner stress will no longer affect us. However that stress never dissipates on its own; instead it remains within us, eventually ravaging the body. Over a period of time, there is an increasing accumulation of all that unrelieved tension, which slowly and successfully damages numerous internal systems & organs of our body. Once the body is sufficiently damaged then various forms of illness have the opportunity to develop. So when illness finally occurs it is not something new; it is the result of a long period of inner disharmony. Since all, or most, of our long-lasting inner tension is hidden from our conscious perception, we then blame just the body when illness occurs. Instead of looking at our repressed emotions, our deep internal stress, and the eventual physical dysfunction that it causes, we mistakenly search for a cure for just our physical disturbances.

However, people who have been observing the newest advances in contemporary health care are now taking a wiser approach. More & more individuals are beginning to consult self-healing therapists to help themselves heal all the inner elements that contribute to the development of serious or prolonged physical disorders. People are using self-healing in inner awareness and achieving wonderful improvements for conditions such as asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, digestive disorders, ulcers, acid reflux, colitis/irritable bowel syndrome, Epstein-Barr, mononucleosis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, urinary disorders, muscle spasm & tics, back pain, joint pain, irregular heart beat, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, stress disorders, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, PMS, infertility, chronic gynecological disorders, morning sickness, frequent miscarriages, unresponsive physical disorders, recurring or frequent illness, pain, incomplete physical healing after surgery, recovery from stroke, and much, much more.

Immediately you may wonder how a specialist, who helps a person to heal the elements of the inner mind, may contribute to the restoration of an individual's health & wellness? The self-healing therapist brings certain advantages to the restoration of health & wellness. First, the therapist knows that you, the individual, are primarily responsible for your own health & healing. The therapist guides you so that you take control of your own healing. Secondly, to properly heal you must uncover & eradicate any inner stress that has been going on inside your body and your subconscious mind. Third, the therapist realizes that to restore your health, you must heal all of the essential elements of which you are fundamentally comprised- your Mind, Body, Feelings, & Spirit. The healing therapist is the one specialist who can most effectively help you to transform, balance & restore these natural inner components that contribute to your health & wellness.

If you stop to think about it, you will realize that there have been many gaps in our knowledge of "dis-ease", things that have gone unanswered. There are many questions that some scientists have been unwilling or unable to confront. For example, can you develop so much stress within the deepest parts of your mind that your immune system is seriously impaired? Is it possible for you to undergo deep, long lasting & damaging physical changes of which you are completely unaware until you are suddenly struck with illness? Can the systems of your body begin to abruptly malfunction because of the hidden inner tension you've accumulated over decades of your life? Are there emotional or psychological factors which "decisively" influence your health? On the other hand, is it possible that a person's thoughts, desires, inner spirit, & feelings might encourage, maintain & even protect their good health? Could these same factors under different circumstances sometimes sabotage your health? Is there more to good health & healing than the traditional germ, virus, genetic models of illness & disease? Is there a part of you that chooses to remain healthy, or can there be a part of you that sometimes chooses to be ill?

Self-healing therapy is one specialty that is providing some of the missing answers regarding the deep elements contributing to the onset of disease & physical ailments. During research, some very unusual & unexpected answers begin to emerge when a healing specialist begins to access the subconscious mind of a person with serious illness & physical disorders. In the vast majority of cases, the therapist will uncover subconscious feelings, adverse thoughts, emotional suppression; deep protracted, hidden stress; self-perceptions of helplessness, troublesome beliefs, hopeless attitudes, obstructive beliefs, and persistent fears that help foster the development of physical illness and prolong the conditions of poor health. Moreover, since these elements are located in the subconscious mind, the individual is never fully aware of their existence until undergoing self-healing in inner awareness. Reading all this, one might wonder how is it possible that feeling, thoughts & beliefs occurring at the inner levels of awareness can cause you to become seriously ill or, better yet, to remain healthy?

To answer these questions, let's look at some facts! To investigate illness & physical disorders, researchers previously concentrated almost exclusively on studying just the Body which included studies of bacteria, viruses, vaccines, surgery, and drugs. However, health scientists have been markedly expanding their areas of scientific investigation over the last four decades. Modern research is now being conducted on "all" of the essential elements that make up our total human system.

These essential elements of which we are all comprised are our Mind, our Body, our Feelings, & our Spirit. Healing therapists & many others are making profound discoveries about the role of each of these elements. Since mind healing therapists are more proficient than any other professional at working with the deepest parts of the mind, they are better able than any others to understand the interrelationship of Mind, Body, Feelings, & Spirit. Based on ongoing studies by researchers, along with extensive experience of clinical healing therapists, we have now come to know more more about each of these human elements than ever before. We truly understand that the Mind, Body, Feelings, & Spirit do not function separately, but are actually the interdependent components of our total human system. That means that each separate element affects all of the other elements. For example, the basic functioning of our heart not only depends upon nerve impulses, oxygen & blood, electrolytes, & certain biochemicals, but also upon the thoughts, perceptions, emotions, beliefs & fears occurring in our inner mind. Very sound investigations have confirmed these facts. This same interdependence of elements applies to every other area of our body as well. Today, we finally understand that good health depends equally upon the inner workings of each person's Mind, Body, Feelings, & Spirit. Each element must be functioning well or the entire system will eventually deteriorate leading to illness.

On the most basic level, the mind consists of numerous components- the conscious, subconscious, unconscious, affective mind©, eternal or soul mind©, ego and the subego©. The unconscious mind is responsible for the routine, automatic, physical functions in our bodies, like heartbeat, digestion, the secretion of hormones, maintaining body temperature, and so on. The conscious mind is our analytic or rational mind that gathers data, solves problems, and initiates speech. We pay the greatest attention to our conscious mind since we use the conscious mind most of the day. The eternal mind is related to our spiritual and intuitive beliefs, and will be discussed in more detail later. The affective mind actually produces our emotions & creates their physical sensations within the body. However those feelings are triggered by thoughts from the conscious & subconscious mind. The affective & subconscious portions of the mind are intimately related in many ways. However, for the sake of simplicity, we will refer to just the subconscious mind when discussing our emotions.

The subconscious is far more important & much more powerful than the conscious mind. The subconscious is the creative portion of our mind. It provides our imagination, our dreams and fantasies, our artistic abilities, our creativity & our resourcefulness. The subconscious mind has been delegated by nature to help protect the individual. So it monitors, and when deemed necessary, purposely modifies or transforms the inner functions & systems of our bodies to keep the body functioning properly. The subconscious mind also manages routine skills, personality traits, and forms habits.

Thoughts & reasoning occur in both the conscious and subconscious minds, but when presented with the exact same information, the conscious and subconscious minds may come to quite different conclusions. As will be explained, this basic difference in the ability to understand & reason is responsible for much of the hidden interplay that can lead to illness & physical disorders.

Our Mind, Body, Feelings, & Spirit are designed by nature to individually function at their very best. Also, each of these elements must communicate freely, and beneficially influence, all of the other elements to create an overall balance & tranquility within the human system. When these conditions occur, then we naturally experience good health. On the other hand, when Mind, Body, Feelings, & Spirit are not all functioning properly, or if communication between these components is obstructed, then there is systemic disharmony or "dis-ease", causing the development of illness, and physical disorders. So, when a healing therapist encounters an individual who is ill, he or she will set about to discover the cause of the individual's inner disharmony. Using highly specialized methods of inquiry, the causes of inner disharmony are revealed by the subconscious mind within various states of deep relaxation. With this diagnostic information, the healing therapist is able to teach individuals to comfortably dissolve away any troubling emotions or fears, and transform & improve any thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, that might have caused the inner stress that might contribute to disease or physical infirmities.

How can our thoughts, emotions, perceptions, beliefs, attitudes, desires, or fears actually affect our bodies? The answer was discovered during the 1980's when it was learned that Our Mind, Body, Feelings, & Spirit elements all have the natural ability to directly communicate with each other. A thought in our subconscious Mind, for example, will directly affect our Body and our Spirit. A powerful Feeling will be communicated to every part of the Body, thereby transforming to varying degrees, all of the organs and systems within our Body. This intercommunication between elements occurs through a biochemical network which disseminates essential information to all areas of the mind & body. The information is conveyed through nerve transmitter substances, steroids & hormones, growth factors, cells with memory, and messenger polypeptides. Our internal information network is constantly sending vital messages back & forth between all of our network elements twenty-four hours a day.

So our basic health is governed by all the elements of the Mind, Body, Feelings, & Spirit network. Since the subconscious mind is more powerful than the conscious mind, the inner workings of the subconscious have the greatest impact on the Body. Let us now examine the Mind, Body, Feelings, & Spirit network to discover how the system can get off course, leading to disharmony, and eventual illness. We will discuss those human network factors that influence, for better or worse, the state of our health. These include repressed emotions, deep inner stress, subconscious thoughts & desires, implanted thoughts, attitude conditioning, conditioned (emotional) stress, conflicts of emotional energy, informational distress, and a diminished inner Spirit. Following that we will focus on the process of healing these elements with self-healing in inner awareness to rapidly restore our inner harmony and good health.

As already mentioned, thoughts are occurring all day long in our conscious mind. Simultaneously, there are other thoughts taking place in the subconscious mind. Because of the mental barrier between our conscious & subconscious minds, we are never directly aware of the thoughts occurring in the subconscious mind. Depending on circumstances, subconscious thoughts can be similar to, or sometimes can be quite different, than our conscious thoughts. Subconscious thoughts include our fundamental or "intuitive" interpretation of life events, our fundamental perceptions of the world, our inner self-image, as well as our deepest inner desires & motivation. It is these inner thoughts and perceptions that often arouse our emotions. Since emotions are produced at such a deep level, we may not fully know why we are experiencing a particular emotional reaction to either a person or situation.

We may say that emotions are bundles of energy created by our inner thoughts. Emotions act as subconscious messages sent to the conscious mind via the body. We perceive our feelings by experiencing the physical sensations felt in our body. These sensations are a mixture of the emotional energy and the physical changes occurring in specific areas of our body. Emotions are transmitted throughout the entire body by informational substances called polypeptides which contain and circulate the energy. In addition, polypeptides contain & transmit very detailed facts, sort of an "informational label", regarding the original cause & circumstances surrounding the development of our emotions. When we fully express our feelings, we are discharging our emotions. Expressing our feelings causes the emotional energy to be dissolved away and our bodies return to a normal state of balanced energy, comfort and relaxation. However if we ignore, hide, or partially express our troubled feelings, then that excess emotional energy, along with its "informational label", accumulates & remains indefinitely in specific areas of the body, causing a state of continuous tension & discomfort that ultimately injures the body & brings illness or physical disorders.

We often judge our emotions based on the physical sensations they produce. If an emotion causes pleasant sensations within the body, then we say that we are experiencing a "good" feeling. However if the emotion produces very uncomfortable physical sensations, then we say that we are experiencing a "bad" feeling. In reality, emotions are neither good nor bad, they are just natural energy occurring within our mind & body. We can and do store both "positive" and "negative" emotions within the body. To remain healthy, it is necessary both to acknowledge and then fully express all of our feelings. People usually have little difficulty perceiving and expressing their "positive" emotions. Individuals, however, often do not wish to consciously experience the unpleasant sensations of "negative" emotions. Over time they consciously learn to ignore, deny, push aside & conceal their uncomfortable emotions. Additionally, some people are taught not to acknowledge and express their negative feelings because being "emotional" may not be socially acceptable. When we thus ignore our uncomfortable feelings, we are actually pushing them deeper & deeper out of our awareness, and deeper & deeper into our bodies. Denying one's feelings over a long period of time eventually removes them from immediate conscious awareness. We no longer recognize, or consciously feel, those deep emotions that still exist within the body. As already mentioned, this emotion that has become completely hidden from our conscious mind is called "repressed" emotion.

Even though we may adamantly believe it is gone, any unexpressed emotion is still stored away deep within our body, exerting its negative effects, and causing a cumulative impact upon the entire body. At first this may not be noticed by the conscious mind. However, the hidden or repressed emotion causes the entire body to function in a continual, accelerated state of activity. The internal functions of our bodies occur at a faster, more intense, & longer pace than normal. Our physical processes & internal organs take much longer to relax and calm down. Excessive amounts of energy are consumed throughout the body. Contrary to popular belief, the body does not truly adapt to continuing stress. It endures it for a period of time, attempts to defend against it, and then it deteriorates until it reaches a state of utter exhaustion. So repressed emotion puts the organs & systems of the body into continual overdrive. The cells, organs & systems of the body then function less & less efficiently over time. Our body is not able to produce the proper quantities of internal chemicals. The body cannot relax properly and restore itself. This causes a physical imbalance in various organs & systems of the body. The overactivity of the body, combined with little opportunity to restore itself, will eventually cause some form of physical breakdown. So repressed emotion causes a state of "repressed stress" which leads to illness. The individual doesn't know the repressed stress is there nor does their physician. The eventual consequences of the stress is illness & physical disorders.

The therapist will discover the presence of the "repressed emotional stress" when a person comes in with a severe or prolonged illness that has not adequately responded to standard treatments. During healing, the individual will become aware of this intense, and very damaging, repressed stress. As the self-healing in inner awareness continues, the individual will realizes that the deep emotional stress is the actual underlying cause of the illness. Prior to this realization, the disease that is present will usually be blamed on a new strain of "super" bacteria, bad family genes, a mysterious virus, or exposure to something harmful in the environment.

Just about every portion of our bodies is adversely affected by stress. Depending upon which area of the body we are considering, stress manifests itself by the development of markedly different types of physical disorders.

1. Our immune system consists of many types of white blood cells and chemical substances that are found in our bone marrow, lymph glands, and in our blood. Distress damages the immune system so that it no longer produces the necessary amount & proportion of white blood cells (lymphocytes) that are there to protect the body. When this occurs, we cannot properly fight off infectious & allergic agents in the environment. We then become much more prone to developing infections, colds, viruses, and flu. Excessive stress causes an over reaction of the immune system causing us to develop allergies & asthma. In addition, stress inhibits the development of our natural killer cells which frequently attack unwanted growths within the body. When our immune protection is lowered, individuals are more susceptible to various types of cysts, tumors, uterine fibroids, and cancerous growths. Also, when the immune system is altered by stress, some of the white blood cells over time begin to mistakenly attack other cells in the body. This leads to the development of autoimmune diseases like arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, glaucoma, and some thyroid disorders.
2. The muscular & circulatory systems throughout the entire body are adversely affected by stress. Muscles in the body begin to tighten up, spasm or constrict from tension. The muscle tightness felt in the upper back, neck & back of the head causes our typical tension headaches. Contracted muscles in the back cause spinal misalignment. Tiny muscle layers inside the blood vessels of the head become constricted which causes our overpowering migraine headaches. The blood vessel constriction can also lead to higher blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, and temporary loss of vision. Our large skeletal muscles tighten up to produce leg cramps and back spasm. Facial muscles tighten to cause TMJ & grinding teeth. Smooth muscle inside the lungs also constricts under stress which contributes to asthma attacks, and chronic lung dysfunction. Stress also adversely affects the glands & muscular layers of our urinary & intestinal systems leading to stomach upset, reflux, irritable bowel, and more.
3. Our hormonal or endocrine system consists of many organs, glands, structures, and blood cells in the brain & all through the body. This highly complex system produces hormones, endorphins, enkephalins, and many other chemical substances that are used day & night throughout our entire body. The production & distribution of these vital chemical substances is significantly diminished by stress. The disruption of our endocrine system by tension affects our metabolism, daily energy, physical growth, pain, appetite, emotional moods; sexual desire, pleasure & reproductive functions (fertility); physical addictions, physical stamina & sports performance.
4. Our bodies are subject to various psychobiological "clocks". The never-ending ultradian rhythm of the body is an activity/rest rhythm or clock. The ultradian cycle consists of a phase of energy and activity occurring every 90-120 minutes, followed by a refreshing, rest period of the same length. During the rest portion of the ultradian cycle, our body quiets and restores itself physically and emotionally. When stress continually interrupts that rhythm, resulting in shorter rest periods, then a host of physical functions are disrupted leading to irregular heart beat, gastritis, ulcers, asthma, fibromyalgia, skin disorders, and psychosomatic illnesses. Tension also disrupts our daily 24 hour circadian (awake/sleep) rhythm. This causes us to suffer insomnia, sleep disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome, and the inability to experience a truly restful & refreshing sleep. A woman's monthly fertility cycle is also affected by stress leading to reduced ovulation, variations in monthly cycle duration, variable menstruation, excessive irritability, severe PMS, disruptions in hormone production in the ovaries, and the development of immature ova (eggs) that cannot be successfully fertilized.

Repressed emotional stress is only one form of stress. There are other types of stress that will also damage the body and cause a deterioration in our health. Some individuals are subjected to intense physical stress. People are encouraged to keep increasing their production at work, so they often work too hard and too long. The work environment may subject us to screeching sounds, extremes of temperatures, noxious fumes, poor lighting, uncomfortable surroundings, intense physical labor, and even chemical pollutants. Weekly schedules are overloaded with business, social & family activities. Today's society is filled with overwork, intense or prolonged physical labor, hectic schedules, lack of sleep, a noisy physical environment, and insufficient relaxation & diversions. Individuals endure this intense physical stress, and this adds immensely to the overall stress that will eventually damage their bodies & cause illness.

There are many forms of stress that can interfere with the proper functioning of the body, and cause illness. Stress often occurs because of conflicts or disputes in our personal relationships & social interactions at home, at work, or in the community. This continual tension results in "ongoing emotional stress". Ongoing emotional stress combined with physical stress is what most people are referring to when they say they are "all stressed out". Stress is so common in our society that some people consider being stressed out as a admirable indicator of achievement & success. Besides the stress that we know, however, there are other types of unrecognized tension that occur in the body.

Normally there is a free flow of information within the body as messenger or informational polypeptides circulate freely throughout the entire body. However, a problem occurs when the other polypeptides which carry our emotions also attach to the receptor sites of our body's cells. The attachment of the "emotion" polypeptides prevents the normal attachment of the "informational" polypeptides. Blocking the messenger polypeptides prevents the free exchange of life sustaining energy and biologic information. Consequently the cells, organs, and systems of our bodies function less efficiently, causing more internal stress, leading to greater physical dysfunction in one or more organs or systems of our body which also helps cause the eventual development of illness.

Just as there can be conflicts within a family, there can also be conflicts between different parts of our own mind. As already mentioned, both the conscious & subconscious mind form their own distinct impressions,

perceptions, feelings, thoughts, interpretations, decisions, desires, & motivation. All of our initial learning occurs in the subconscious mind. Since the subconscious mind is more childlike and unsophisticated, it will often interpret life experiences differently than the rational & discerning conscious mind which develops later. Over time, these different interpretations of life may result in internal conflict. The conscious mind often wants to do things that are logical, conform to society's rules, and follow learned goals & expectations. The subconscious mind may want to do something that is more enjoyable, or that ignores the need for being responsible, or which satisfies deeper, sometimes childlike feelings & desires. These significant differences in motivation cause a deep mental conflict that can go on for years, completely unrecognized, resulting in intense & prolonged stress that damages the body & inevitably leads to the development of illness & disease.

All of the various forms of stress, either alone or together, can build to the point where our health is damaged and illness results. This generally occurs gradually over time and our health worsens progressively. However at times, we can undergo tremendous stress that is almost unendurable.

There are numerous individuals whose inner stress levels are elevated for an extended period of time. While the stress is severe, causing progressive damage to their bodies, it has not yet caused the development of any serious illness. However, these people are functioning just about at the limit of the stress they can endure. Suddenly without warning, they suffer a significant life trauma. It might be the death or illness of a loved one, a divorce or separation, a financial disaster, loss of their job or home, or some other personal trauma. This loss is such a severe emotional shock that it becomes the "straw that breaks the camel's back". The overwhelming stress exceeds the ability of the individual to subconsciously endure any further pressure. The Body is put into a state of overwhelming tension that does so much damage to various systems of the Body that a physical disorder or illness, of variable severity, results within just weeks or months.

We know that thoughts occur in both our conscious & subconscious minds. Just as emotions with their associated internal stress can "indirectly" affect our bodies, our thoughts can also affect our bodies. Studies have shown that our thoughts can have an impact on just about any organ or system of our bodies. Using techniques such as deep relaxation, biofeedback, or visual imagery we can modify our own heartbeat, lower our blood pressure, alter the characteristics of our white blood cells, improve our immune system, increase coagulation of blood, control bleeding during surgery, release hormones, reduce the inflammatory response & severity of severe burns, control blushing of the skin, induce physical swelling, eliminate skin disorders, change body temperature, eliminate pain & other uncomfortable sensations. Thoughts can also reduce pain, improve physical sensations, and even increase sexual pleasure. Our subconscious thoughts exert the greatest influence on the body & bring about the greatest changes in the way our body functions.

Our body is healthiest when we maintain a state of equilibrium throughout the body. On a routine basis, the unconscious mind governs the automatic functions within our body. But the unconscious functions are subject to the influence of the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is nature's special protector of our physical body. To insure our physical equilibrium, the subconscious monitors our body's functions, and will sometimes overrule the unconscious mind and bring about actual modifications to internal physical functions. The subconscious mind may do this at its own initiative or at the direction of a therapist. For example, a person may have an accident & suffer a severe burn. The damaged portion of the body undergoes an automatic inflammatory response which is designed by nature to limit the extent of the physical burn damage. Unfortunately the inflammatory response also results in pain, swelling, blisters, loss of skin tissue, and scarring. All of these reactions are normal physical responses induced by the unconscious mind. However, if the individual undergoes "trauma-deep relaxation" right after the burn has occurred, the subconscious mind can be instructed to significantly reduce various aspects of the natural inflammatory response of the body. With self-healing, and the cooperation of the subconscious mind, there will be much less pain, less redness & swelling, considerably less skin damage & scarring, and a much faster overall recovery from the injury. While we still have not determined the actual step by step process by which the subconscious mind alters the functions of the body, we now know unquestionably that it is a reality. So the subconscious mind can override the automatic actions of the unconscious mind when necessary.

Activating the mind to improve & protect the body is an easily accepted concept, but what about the exact opposite? Are you willing to imagine, or accept the fact, that our thoughts alone can and do facilitate disease & physical disorders? Based on extensive clinical cases, healing therapists now know that "subconscious" thoughts can influence the development of illness, and unfortunately, this phenomenon occurs quite frequently in modern society.

Suppose you are leading a lifestyle filled with intense stress & tension, and you continue along this course for an extended period of time. As your internal organs & systems become stress-damaged, the subconscious mind will realize that your self-destructive behavior cannot continue or you will soon develop very severe & perhaps life threatening physical damage. So the subconscious mind will decide on its own to purposely intervene to protect your life. However you are always unaware of this innermost decision. The subconscious will create a disorder of some kind that requires you to slow down, and remove yourself to some degree from some of the intense stress in your life. This is exactly what happens when a person develops fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, Epstein Barr, and other "dis-eases".

These conditions become much more severe & intolerable until the individual is forced to make changes in their life that reduce their exposure to stress which will eventually diminish their internal tension. You may think of these mind induced disorders as "misguided, self-protective illnesses". While this process of creating an illness to prevent more serious damage to your health may not be entirely logical to our conscious mind, it makes perfect sense to the less sophisticated subconscious mind. When the individual does not heed the subconscious message of disease- more intense illness develops. If at first, the individual decides to continually endure their stressful life, then the induced, self-protective illnesses will continue to worsen until he or she eventually loses the battle with their subconscious mind. Unfortunately many people believe that these disorders are just physical illnesses and consult their doctors to just remedy their bodies. However, when these thought caused disorders occur, it is best to consult a self-healing therapist who can help you eliminate misguided subconscious thoughts, improve your deep underlying tension, and then allow the body to correct the subconsciously induced, self-protective illness.

Sometimes an individual will engage in questionable behavior which creates a great conflict within the mind. For example, a person may decide to perform a particular act which really runs contrary to their basic religious, ethical or moral standards. Perhaps a man may decide to have an illicit affair with a woman at the office. The individual may consciously rationalize this behavior as being quite acceptable. However, at a deeper level the less sophisticated, subconscious mind may feel intense guilt and remorse. After experiencing these uncomfortable feelings over a period of time, the subconscious mind will eventually decide that when there is guilt over performing an immoral act, the only correct thing is for the individual to endure some form of punishment. So the subconscious mind decides entirely on its own to dole out some form of retribution, and the Body becomes the means for exacting this secret revenge.

This man who is engaging in adulterous behavior may suddenly find that he is unable to satisfactorily perform sexually with his spouse. As the affair continues, the sexual problem will increase in frequency & intensity. Interestingly, this physical disorder will typically continue much longer than the duration of the objectionable behavior. The subconscious mind doesn't place time limits on its retribution. So even long after the affair has ended, the man may continue to experience sexual impotence. Eventually the individual will seek medical assistance, and it will be determined that the disorder does not have a physical origin. Cases like this illustrate that the subconscious mind will create a physical disorder or illness in a misguided attempt to balance a perceived moral injustice.

We must also consider the effects on our health caused by another form of subconscious thought, the "implanted" thought, also called the disruptive suggestion. These are the expressed thoughts or suggestions of others, that we absorb directly into the subconscious mind during an emotionally susceptible moment in our lives. At such times, the subconscious fully accepts the thoughts of others as reality & never questions their truthfulness or validity. Clinical experience has taught healing therapists that parents & physicians are notorious for implanting thoughts that facilitate the occurrence & progression of illnesses & physical disorders. Since the thoughts are accepted as being completely true, the subconscious mind naturally attempts to bring about the reality implied by these implanted thoughts. Whatever the subconscious mind thinks is reality, that is what it will facilitate, and it will go about changing the body in the most tenacious manner until it achieves it's clandestine goal.

For example, I recall the case of a young child who developed a severe bronchitis infection. At some point his exhausted, overworked mother carelessly & impatiently blurted out, "Well you'd better get used to having this trouble when you breathe. Having an infection like this usually leads to having asthma. Your grandfather always had asthma, and you look just like him, and now you'll probably get asthma too, and it never goes away." In a state of emotionally facilitated acceptance, the careless remarks of the parent were directly absorbed into the child's subconscious mind as an implanted thought.

Once such a thought is internalized, the subconscious mind will directly intervene in the functions of the body to produce additional episodes of constricted breathing. Typically these recurrences will develop under emotional & physical circumstances similar to those present during the original occurrence of the constricted breathing. This implanted thought will cause the subconscious mind to create a physical disturbance which we label as a physical disorder or illness. Using the typical methods of self-healing in inner awareness, this child's implanted asthmatic response was completely

eliminated, and additional episodes never occurred.

Unfortunately physicians are among the greatest disseminators of implanted thoughts. This is so common that one ocular surgeon has written that the inadvertent remarks of some doctors actually cause much more illness than they cure. This may or may not be proven, but is raises some interesting points. Many physicians are hurried & burdened because of overwhelming medical responsibilities. In this atmosphere, a doctor will sometimes make a careless or tactless remark which could actually create and perpetuates illness, or prevent physical recovery and complete healing. It is the nature of a physician's work that he or she will sometimes be discussing topics that are emotional, very personal, & sometimes even physically or mentally threatening to their patient. So when a doctor is speaking to a patient, she is conversing with someone in a highly emotional & suggestive state. And in all fairness, let us also state that many patients also misinterpret the comments of their doctors. Under these difficult circumstances, commonplace or innocent remarks are misunderstood by the patient's unsophisticated subconscious mind, and these comments are absorbed & become implanted thoughts that negatively affect their patient's health.

One local physician recently told a mutual patient, "Once you start to have an irregular heart beat it will continue to occur. Unfortunately over time it usually gets worse." So this patient continued to have episodes of cardiac fibrillation for a couple of years. This implanted thought was discovered and then rectified during self-healing therapy while the patient was being treated for stress. First we set about removing the patient's underlying stress which was the true cause of his cardiac anomaly. Then the negative effects of the disruptive suggestion were removed from the subconscious mind as well. The fibrillation was alleviated by doing the therapy for stress. An oncologist recently told a woman, as she was about to start her 3rd round of chemotherapy, that the new drug she was to receive had only a success rate of 20%. To her subconscious mind, this meant that she is 80% certain to fail on this drug. Such a remark by a professional is unconscionable.

Whenever individuals are doing self-healing therapy for a physical disorder of any type, the inner mind always searches for, and then corrects, any implanted thoughts or disruptive suggestions that might be facilitating the illness. Unfortunately there are many more examples of how physicians can sometimes prevent full healing, or cause more illness than they remediate.

The negative attitude conditioning resulting from implanted thoughts can also prevent people from healing after medical treatments. Sometimes patients & their physicians refuse to accept the possibility of a full recovery from a particularly severe illness, injury or complex surgery. Under the circumstances, the medical treatment may be quite successful, but is not "100%" effective because of the great extent or terrible severity of the original condition. The physician then tells the patient that, despite the finest treatment, he/she will always experience "some" discomfort, and will never really "fully" recover. However, the true healing & ultimate comfort experienced after physical disorder is treated depends more on the attitude conditioning & functioning of the mind than upon the remaining, minor physical imperfection. Because the doctor inadvertently conditions the patient's subconscious mind to expect only an incomplete recovery, then that is what the subconscious mind provokes- a partially healed body with recurring pain & discomfort. In our clinical experience, when a person fails to readily recover as expected from an injury, illness, or surgery, 90% of the time, we will uncover one or more disruptive suggestions or misunderstood remarks made by the primary physician or the surgeon. Often the surgeon makes these remarks in the operating room when he thinks, quite incorrectly, that the patient cannot hear his thoughtless comments. We have also discovered that when a person suffers a very serious injury or undergoes significant surgery with little hope of full recovery, there is often an emotional component related to their disorder. Such a person might get a 90% recovery with the proper emotional & mental guidance, but instead gets only a 50% recovery because of the physician's negative attitude conditioning.

Unfortunately there are too many times, when physicians are at fault for inadvertently creating negative attitude conditioning which causes the subconscious mind to limit, or actively sabotage, or even reverse the very fine medical service the physicians have attempted to provide. However, with the proper attitude and considerate statements, any patient can be very comfortable, and help to heal themselves, & recover far more effectively than ever anticipated.

Sometimes the minor defects in a person's Body are blamed for a physical illness when the real culprit is actually the presence of deeply repressed stress & tension. An individual may have some type of physical weakness that is inherited or occurs as the result of an injury. During most of the person's life the weakness or defect does not really harm the individual in any significant way. Years later, however, the weakness suddenly intensifies causing uncomfortable physical symptoms. Unknown to the individual, some form of severe or repressed stress has aggravated the underlying defect causing increased symptoms. When the person undergoes a medical exam, the doctor "discovers" the weakness and begins to treat the condition totally as a physical illness. The doctor is convinced, and then persuades the patient (via implanted thoughts) that she is suffering from a disorder caused solely by the physical weakness. Far too often, no one looks any further than the obvious physical anomaly. The underlying inner stress & tension is overlooked. So the patient is put on medication, or is subjected to surgery for the illness when what they truly need is some effective self-healing therapy for eliminating their repressed emotional stress.

A classic example of blaming the body relates to mitral valve prolapse of the heart. Recently studies indicate that people can have this condition for years without any serious problems. When severe emotional or physical stress occurs,the condition becomes aggravated and the person suffers an irregular heart beat, along with fatigue, chest pain, anxiety, depression, and panic attacks. For decades, physicians have been ignoring the inner stress & just treating the mitral valve flare ups with medication, instead of referring the patient for the relief of their underlying stress with healing therapy. Now that this study has been published, hopefully doctors will also begin to look for underlying stress when mitral valve flare ups occur.

Unfortunately this process of falsely blaming a minor physical imperfection for causing an illness is far too common in our health care system and individuals must protect themselves from this inadvertent practice. If one suddenly develops a problem from a physical abnormality that has been present & inactive for years, one should consider the possibility that the true cause is much deeper than the moderate physical defect.

To sum all of this up, clinical cases clearly demonstrate that the subconscious mind is so powerful that it can and will, all by itself, completely alter the functions & processes of our bodies. Based on its own thoughts, feelings, desires, & motivations, the subconscious mind can & will induce illness. When you truly appreciate this fact then you will fully understand the relationship between the thoughts of your inner mind, the subconscious control of physical processes, and the overall state of your health.

Spirit is our spark of life, or the basic internal energy directed toward sustaining life. Spirit is also the motivating force that activates the physical body. An individual with a healthy Spirit has a confident and positive enthusiasm, a zest and a passion for life. Our Spirit is influenced by our thoughts and emotions and by events that occur in our life. We develop perceptions, self-image, understandings, attitudes, and desires based on how we interpret life's situations at a conscious & subconscious level. With the elevated Spirit with which we are born, we crave the experiences of life; we desire to experience the emotions of life; we look forward to what life brings us; we perceive that we can handle the challenges of life. Occasionally the events in our lives can be so difficult and painful that our passion for life is temporarily overwhelmed, causing devastating harm to our deepest Spirit. Nevertheless, at such times we are not defeated; we learn more about ourselves and discover how to become stronger. We recover from life's difficulties and go on with our lives with more self-confidence, greater life skills, and increased understanding of ourselves & others.

In certain peoples lives, however, it would appear that fate has been especially cruel. These people will suffer a multitude of personal and family tragedies that occur one after the other. For example, a woman may lose her job, followed six months later by the death of her sister, followed shortly thereafter by being seriously injured in an automobile accident. Nothing that she has done caused these tragic life scenarios, yet events transpire as if her life has been jinxed by vengeful gods. A person who suffers multiple personal tragedies may feel that life has become overwhelming; life has become hopeless. She just waits for the next disaster to impart its misery in her life. Her inner outlook becomes hopeless; she seemingly cannot escape from life's cruel blows. Ultimately, her once radiant inner Spirit is shattered because at a subconscious level, she has completely given up on living her life. These deep feelings of hopelessness & helplessness will then cause destructive subconscious thoughts and overwhelming inner tension that will lead to illness.

Besides those individuals who suffer many apparent injustices of fate, other people never even develop an enthusiastic & healthy Spirit as they are maturing. They have had to deal with life's challenging events from a disadvantaged position. They have never had the opportunity to develop strong self-confidence & a zest for life. Based on early experiences with unskilled or troubled parents, these people are filled with negative self-perceptions and low self-esteem at a subconscious level. Perhaps because of certain things that occurred in his younger years, they have less than average coping and social skills. All of this inner negativity breeds doubts and fears about being able to handle the challenges of life. On a subconscious level, these people are convinced of their helplessness. Without ever trying to succeed at just about anything, these human beings choose to think and feel that their existence is completely helpless. Life is seen as completely unmanageable after years of giving in to life's tribulations. These individuals soon develop a subconscious belief that there is no point to life; that success is unattainable; going through life dispassionately becomes habitual; living life is just not worthwhile; the future holds no promise; life has reached a state of complete hopelessness.

When an individual is filled with the deep mental perceptions of utter helplessness & hopelessness, the inner Spirit is completely shattered. The damaged Spirit gives up on life, and the subconscious no longer desires to sustain life. The subconscious mind no longer monitors or maintains the inner physical harmony within the body. Over time the functions and systems of the body begin to go astray, and physical dysfunctions are not corrected by the mind. With such a damaged Spirit, the Body cannot endure, and a critical illness will frequently develop within a brief period of time.

Clearly our health is diminished by any significant disturbance anywhere within the Mind, Body, Feelings, & Spirit network. These facts have been overlooked or disregarded in the past because our inner disharmony originates within the subconscious level of the mind. Hampered by limited training in the functions of the inner mind, many physicians, psychologists & psychiatrists are unable to accurately detect the extent of the inner disquietude of their patients. Today, however, we have the knowledge to help improve disorders of the Body by using the mind. At the present time, only a person guided by a self-healing therapist with advanced healing skills is able to accurately detect and then fully correct the deeply hidden anomalies occurring in the Mind, Body, Feelings, & Spirit system.

We now know that undetected internal stress can severely impair the Body, and that repressed emotion & significant life trauma are the biggest sources of this injurious stress. In addition, we realize that ongoing emotional stress, as well as prolonged physical stress will lead to illness. We also know that the well intentioned but misdirected self-protective thoughts of the subconscious mind, as well as injurious implanted thoughts/disruptive suggestions, & negative attitude conditioning, will adversely affect both specific organs and the various systems of our bodies. And finally, we understand that a shattered inner Spirit causes a dimunition in the protective role of the subconscious mind so that network disharmony is allowed to occur leading to more & more physical dysfunction & disorder. The inevitable consequence of all of this is often illness & physical disorders.

Nevertheless, the wonderful news is that every portion of the Mind, Body, Feelings, & Spirit network can be restored to the very best possible condition by creating an overall balance & harmony within each element of the human system. With self-healing in inner awareness one can help themselves to bring about extraordinary healing.