Can we really use the healing power of the mind and visualisation to enhance our Immune System?
In times of crisis and situations such as the one we are experiencing right now with the coronavirus, taking care of your mental health is essential. A very effective technique to help boost your immune system and help you manage your stress and anxiety, help you remain calm, think positive and feel better as well as help boost your immune system – making you stronger against viruses is an effective technique called visualisation!
Studies show that we can improve our immune system using thoughts and words however visualisation is also a powerful tool to aid this process!
Visualization is a form of self-hypnosis. A tool anyone can use to help enhance healing. By providing positive pictures (creative imagery) and self-suggestion, visualization can change emotions that subsequently have a physical effect on the body.
Can what we think actually have an effect on healing? Our bodies do react to our thoughts. Our psychological / emotional state affects the endocrine system, for example, the emotion of fear is related to adrenaline, if no feeling of fear exists there is no adrenaline and the same applies in reverse: no adrenaline, no fear, they work in a relationship with each other. Wherever a thought goes there is a bodily chemical reaction.
The hypothalamus (the emotional centre of the brain) transforms emotions into a physical response. The receptor of neuropeptides, the hypothalamus also controls the body’s appetite, blood sugar levels, body temperature, adrenal and pituitary glands, heart, lung, digestive, and circulatory systems.
Neuropeptides, the chemical messenger hormones, carry emotions back and forth between the mind and body. They link perception in the brain to the body via organs, hormones, and cellular activity. Neuropeptides influence every major section of the immune system, so the body and mind do work together as one unit.
The brain is a highly efficient system that is connected to every cell in your body by billions of connections. It is divided into two sides a) the left, logical side (words, logic, rational thought) and b) right creative side (imagination and intuition). Day-to-day circumstances usually are met in a logical, left brain mode; however, by yielding to the right, creative side of the brain we actually restore balance in the brain. This allows access to the mind-body connection to achieve what you want. The right side of the brain automatically steers you to your goal. It totally accepts what you want to accomplish without giving an opinion and acts upon it without judgment, that is why visualisation targets the right creative side of the brain and not the left, logical side.
Positive thought is essential for producing positive results. Negative thoughts and emotions lower the immune system, while positive thought and emotions actually boost the immune system.
In the next blog article we will look at how you can practise visualisation techniques to assist in improving your health and aid in strengthening your immune system!
Retreat clinical hypnotherapist & coach – Donna.