Patient Heal Thyself

Have you ever felt like our medical system is missing something? Ever sensed that, to your doctor, you were just another appointment, another box to be ticked, another insurance payout–and that your personal wishes or healing capacity were the least important considerations in the exam room?

I witnessed the sad truth as a medical student: many in the medical profession had neither the time nor the desire to really listen to their patients, and to offer them personalized, compassionate healing plans. I also came to discover that in creating an empathic relationship with my patients, my own desire for them to become healthy and happy could significantly boost their healing, well-being, and positive outlook.

My dreams of treating not just the symptoms, but the source of patients’ illnesses were realized when I conceived and developed the concept of Mind-Tools. These are self-applied mental/emotional techniques that melt away anxiety and rescript the unconscious mind to produce healing and transformation.

Many years have passed since then, and the processes and concepts presented and used in Mind-Tools have become so widely used and applied, even within the medical profession, that it may be hard to appreciate the impact of my discovery in 1960s and 1970s. At that time such tools, and the whole idea of Neuroplasticity—the idea that by guiding our thoughts, we can change the actual wiring of our brains to create behavioral and physical healing—were virtually unheard of. I came to suspect that my ability to see these possibilities was the result of my computer programming training and studies. My experience with computers—rare for a physician at the time—gave me the unique ability to understand that the human mind functions, in specific ways, much like a digital processor.

In our conscious mind, we know that we need to change some of our behavior patterns for the better: we need to stop smoking, eat less, kick drug habits, exercise more, manage our anger, lessen our anxiety, and so on. However, successfully making such changes can often seem almost impossible. This is because the subconscious part of our brain, which has learned and over the centuries “perfected” these behaviors because they saved us in life-or-death encounters, resists our feeble attempts to change. This protective behavior makes it inaccessible to the conscious mind, even though wisdom shows the higher levels of mind that soothing the subconscious and making a change is a wise thing to do. It became obvious to me that what we need is a way to “reprogram” the subconscious.

By the 1970s, I had found and researched several novel-to-the- mainstream approaches that could open the door to the deeper levels of . They included meditation, prayer, autogenic training, hypnosis and self-hypnosis. Their use had been shown to create mental, emotional, behavioral, and even cellular change—that is, healing. Each of these techniques involve the use of:

• Focused awareness
• Relaxation
• Clearing of the conscious mind
• Presenting new behavioral responses (algorithms) to the subconscious in the form of mental imagery

Using my medical practice as a proving ground, I isolated and combined the most effective features of each approach to create what I call Mind-Tools. Around this time, as fortune would have it, audiocassettes came on the market. Now I could design and record unique hypnotic inductions and mental imagery for each patient during their appointment. Using a Walkman cassette player, a patient could carry my voice and access to healing and rescripting around with them wherever they went, and access this “self-treatment” whenever they needed. I witnessed a massive jump in therapeutic effectiveness when patients used the recordings, especially when I set the words to soothing background music.

Eager to spread the word of this incredible mind-body tool, I made cassettes available to forward-thinking physicians, psychologists, and educators all over the country. The recordings focused on relieving patient stress and the illnesses it causes, changing behavior patterns, and awakening wisdom and spiritual awareness. Feedback from professionals indicated that their results were similar to mine, and so I decided to package the tapes and offer them directly to users nationwide. I marketed them as “Software for the Mind” (a reference that was lost on most people at the time).

Through the years I have created many more programs, each dealing with a specific illness, disorder, or goal, and now provide them CDs, DVDs, and instant online MP3 downloads. You can read more about Mind-Tools, how they work, and how they can help you achieve your healing and life goals.

My original dream is now a reality: effective, affordable self-help and self-healing tools available to everyone.

Best Selling Mind-Tools

If you are like most people, stress is making you unhappy and slowly killing you. Seriously! Current medical research demonstrates that 90-95% of all our illnesses and symptoms–physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, and behavioral–are strongly related to decisions being made by that two-pound powerhouse between your ears, the human biocomputer, your brain.

We are all familiar with the concept, and the condition, of feeling stressed. We’ve all felt it, and we use the word in everyday conversation: “I was so stressed,” “You’re stressing me out,” “Don’t stress about it,” and so on.  But most people don’t realize that stress is not something that happens to you. Stress is something your brain does with what happens to you.

You have the power to change this reaction and harness the energy of stress. Dr. Miller’s Mind-Tools give you a way to reliably reduce harmful stress and harness its energy to create the future you want. After all, motivation, joy, and winning are all associated with stress . . . the good kind. The secret sauce is deep relaxation, achieved in the Healing State, which is the direct antidote to stress.

When stress is acute and severe, we experience it as a pounding heart, shortness of breath, and tense muscles– classic symptoms of the fight-or- flight response. However, the stress that most of us deal with on a daily basis is often milder and more persistent, a slow drip of toxic stress chemicals seeping into our bloodstream. In time, this chronic stress leads toa range of debilitating problems, such as organ disease, cardiovascular disorders, susceptibility to infection, chronic illness, fatigue, depression, and a general sense of dysfunction. To escape, the monkey mind creates avoidance, alcohol and tranquilizer use, addiction, automobile accidents, relationship failures, etc. etc.. Stress: the silent enemy we’ve grown accustomed to, wreaking havoc on our bodies and minds without our even realizing it–sometimes not until it’s too late.

Much of Dr. Miller’s work has been helping people release harmful stress and harness its potential energy for healing, optimal performance, and happiness. Many studies, both in the lab in the clinic demonstrate clearly that stress is a significant factor in most diseases, as well as in depression, suicide, and addiction. Stress can undermine us psychologically and cause us to underperform in—and even fail at—relationships, work goals, and other important life challenges. With a bit of practice, you can learn to tame stress and use its energy to achieve your goals.

When we attack stress as if it is an enemy to beat down or chase away with pain pills, drugs, alcohol, and other addictive behaviors, we are merely hiding the symptoms of stress from ourselves. Meanwhile, the true source of the imbalance and the stress can become worse while we develop emotional and chemical dependency!

The secret to dealing successfully with stress is to realize: 

1. 1. Stress is the behavioral reaction of an ancient part of the brain, the limbic system, inappropriately reacting to our relatively minor social and psychological problems as if they are life-or-death threats from which we must instantly escape. Unless we have learned to accept challenging situations with relaxation and wisdom, the fight-or-flight stress response will kick in. (ADD LIMBIC GRAPHIC)
   2. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, stress evolved in humans as one part of a two-phase process. The other part of the process was, and still is, relaxation. Life-or-death situations–a saber-toothed tiger attack, say, or a landslide–were rare, occurring perhaps just a couple of times a month, and they were over within seconds or minutes. The chemicals dumped into our brains and bloodstream during such moments created the fight-or-flight response. If we survived the confrontation, there was plenty of time to relax; the parasympathetic response–the rest and digest time–would wash the toxic products of stress from our system.
   3. (shutterstock_1901327)Instead of the occasional high-stress moments that our nervous systems could handle well and recover from quickly, our current world bombards us night and day with frightening headlines, ringing cellphones, emails, text messages, angry bosses, demanding clients and customers–endless demands with far too few opportunities and little time to fully relax and recover. ( shutterstock_9820807)
   4. It is crucially important to understand that when we are in a stressed state–which for many people is nearly always–one of the things the limbic system does is to inhibit the higher brain centers. We cannot think, reason, and respond creatively and wisely because the monkey mind, shuts off the prefrontal cortex of the brain to block distractions from the imagined “emergency.” The inhibition of the prefrontal cortex is counter-productive because this is the part of our mind that otherwise could develop a wise, creative, inspired strategy to deal with the source of the stress. The behavior that is appropriate if a lion is chasing you, when nature wants you focused purely on escaping, is exactly the wrong behavior for the world of today. Nowadays, we need to focus on the stressor with all of our intellect, creativity, wisdom, and inspiration. (shutterstock_28676986)
   5. The most effective method for harnessing the energy of stress that would otherwise create disease and dysfunction is
      1. 1. to practice and learn to enter the state of deep relaxation, 
         2. dismiss the physical tension and mental anxiety of stress, and then 
         3. call upon the creativity and wisdom of our higher mind and engage and resolve any challenges.(shutterstock_124826)

One of the central features of all of Dr. Miller’s products is his world- famous stress reduction imagery, as this offers the most rapid access to healing, change, and transformation.

Listen to a sample of Letting Go of Stress, the most famous of all stress reducing Guided Imagery meditation recordings.

Sample or purchase

Carousel

Dear Reader,

Mindfulness is a state of being that involves clear awareness of the present moment, non-judgmental attention, and self-compassion. At its core, mindfulness is about learning to live in the in the here-and-now, letting go of negative thoughts and emotions, and cultivating a sense of inner peace and calm. Most people learn to reach the mindful state through meditating in silence, sometimes twice a day for several weeks. I found that I could guide people into a mindful state through a single experience using a high-speed technique I developed combining guided imagery, self-hypnosis, and deep relaxation.

While developing the Mind-Tools of Mind-Body Medicine and self-healing, I found that states of deep relaxation were crucially important in disarming the subconscious mind of its  stress reaction. Disarmed, the subconscious can no longer pour the corrosive and disease-producing chemicals of the stress reaction into the blood stream. Moreover, when a person is in a deeply relaxed state, it is much easier to communicate with the subconscious mind because the mind’s protective barriers are removed. The subconscious becomes receptive to rescripting unwanted behaviors of mind, body, emotions, or behavior and the brain is literally rewired.

The Benefits of Living Mindfully

Simply training oneself to be mindful brings many general benefits. Studies have shown that regular mindfulness practice can reduce stress and anxiety, improve sleep quality, boost immune function, and increase overall well-being. Mindfulness has also been shown to improve focus and concentration, increase empathy and compassion, and enhance relationships.

One of the most significant benefits of mindfulness is its ability to reduce stress. In today’s fast-paced world, stress has become a widespread problem. We are confronted with literally hundreds of problems, ranging from climate change, the threat of nuclear war, social unrest, crime, financial challenges, relationship misunderstanding … the list is endless. And each one of these triggers another burst of stress chemicals meant to help us in physical fight or flight situations. This gradually leads to a host of health problems, both physical and mental. Mindfulness helps us to become more aware of our thoughts and emotions, allowing us to identify stress triggers and manage them more effectively. By helping you reduce your stress level, mindfulness can help you improve your overall health, enabling a more fulfilling and enjoyable life.

Another benefit of mindfulness is its ability to improve mental health. Mindfulness has also been shown to be an effective treatment for anxiety and depression, two of the most prevalent mental health disorders in the world today. As you cultivate self-awareness and non-judgmental attention,  you will find mindfulness helps you to identify negative thought patterns and break free from them, leading to a greater sense of inner peace and happiness.

In addition to its mental health benefits, mindfulness also brings physical health benefits. Regular mindfulness practice has been shown in clinical studies to reduce blood pressure, improve immune function, and even lower the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer. Mindfulness reduces inflammation and boosts immune function, and can help you to stay healthy and vibrant, even as you age.

How to Practice Mindfulness

Despite its many benefits, mindfulness is often misunderstood or overlooked by many people. Some see “mindfulness” as a trendy but ultimately empty buzzword, while others believe that its practice would be too difficult or time-consuming for them. Still other people may view mindfulness as part of an esoteric spiritual system or religion to which they do not belong or to which they cannot relate. The truth is that mindfulness is a simple and accessible practice that anyone can benefit from.

To start practicing mindfulness, all you need is a few minutes of quiet time each day. You can begin by sitting comfortably and simply focusing on your breath, observing the sensation of air moving in and out of your body. Whenever your mind wanders, gently bring it back to your breath, without judgment or criticism. Over time, you will find that mindfulness becomes easier and more natural. It is as if mindfulness is a new muscle you have discovered, and each time you practice using it, your mindful focus becomes stronger. You get into the rhythm of mindfulness faster each time, and you become more aware of how much clearer is your thinking, how much brighter the colors and sensuous the sounds and textures around you each day. fMRI scans begin to show the neural tracts leading from your prefrontal cortex (your brain’s brain) to your limbic system grow thicker, giving you ever greater ability to calm and direct your emotional reactions.

Indeed, mindfulness is a powerful practice that has the potential to transform your life in countless ways. By learning to live in the present moment, letting go of negative thoughts and emotions, and cultivating a sense of inner peace and calm, you can improve your mental and physical health, reduce stress, and increase overall well-being. So why not give mindfulness a try today and see what benefits it can bring to your life?

Sincerely,

Emmett Miller, MD

Mindfulness Audios & Videos

Mind-Body Medicine is the revolutionary approach first introduced by Dr. Miller in the 1970s. It differs from mainstream medicine in that it recognizes the profound connections between mind, body, emotion, and spirit, and harnesses their power to unleash healing and transformation. Mind-Body Medicine comprises a dynamic, all-encompassing paradigm that blends ancient wisdom with modern science to tap the innate healing potential of the human body.

As you may be well aware, whenever something happens to the mind there is an impact on the body, and anything that happens to the body affects the mind in some way. Mainstream medicine for so many years has missed this truth, and has failed to pay attention to and treat both aspects of a patient when there has been trauma to either mind or body.

The Mind-Body discipline recognizes that our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs profoundly impact physical health and well-being. Its approaches to treatment emphasize the fact that human beings are not just a collection of organs and tissues but complex, integrated living systems. This perspective empowers us to take control of our own health by drawing on the vast, untapped reservoirs of wisdom and healing energy that reside within us.

Accessing this potential through a range of transformative practices such as meditation, deep relaxation, hypnosis, cognitive restructuring, and guided imagery, you can unlock the healing power of your mind and body and overcome challenges to your health, happiness, and success. These Mind-Tools will show you how to focus your mind and emotions to promote healing and well-being, and connect with your true Self.

Mind-Body Medicine and Your Emotions

It is important to note that from the beginning, Dr. Miller’s approach has acknowledged that the “Big Four” aspects of  Mind, Body, Spirit, and Emotions all contribute to healing, though for ease of reference its name has been shortened to “Mind-Body Medicine.” It is vital to recognize that our emotions are directly produced by the subconscious Limbic System, and commonly serve as the trigger of physical symptoms and illnesses; as well as mood disorders such as anxiety, depression, and rage; and habit disorders such as addiction.

When we have learned to quiet the Limbic System–what Dr. Miller refers to as “the monkey mind”–through Mind-Tools such as meditation, self-hypnosis, or prayer, our higher mind becomes free to deal with the source of our problems through analysis and strategy. By guiding yourself into states of deep relaxation, you can let go of the Monkey Mind’s distracting thoughts and sensations and allow yourself to be present in the “here and now.” Once your awareness is no longer being diverted by disquieting thoughts of the past or anxious projections of the future, guided imagery can begin to work its magic on you. Initially it can take you to a special place–perhaps a sacred place–in your imagination, where body, mind, spirit, and emotions can begin to heal.

In this state, you can gain access to your wisdom and visualize making life choices based on reality and your true abilities. What’s more, this deeply relaxed and focused state frees you to open fully to your inner spiritual guidance.

Mind-Body Medicine and the Spirit

Authentic Mind-Body practitioners always consider the “spiritual” dimension of each patient/client. Each of us has a higher mind, the conscious, intentional, rational, analytical intellect. Most illnesses and dysfunctions represent situations in which the subconscious “monkey mind” is making decisions, triggering emotions and behaviors, and frustrating our conscious intentions. In spite of our good intentions, however, the choices we make to influence this subconscious behavior are often unwise or illogical, usually because they are affected by anxiety and stress reactions that actively inhibit the clear thinking of the conscious mind.

Fortunately, there is another level we might think of as the “spiritual” or philosophical level. We all have this; it is the part of us that storehouses our spiritual principles, our deepest values, our ideal selves. Even if we practice no established religion or faith, we all have personal values and an inner model of the kinds of thoughts, words, and actions we “should” have or perform. higher level is closely allied with the place of wisdom and wise action within. To act wisely is to make a choice in the present that you will look back on approvingly in several weeks, months, or years and think, “that was smart of me.” This is seldom the choice we make when we act out of fear or anger!

The state of deep relaxation is of central value in Mind-Body Medicine because it enables us to bypass the anxiety/stress factor and access the highest sense of who we are or want to be. This is one of the ways Mind-Body Medicine includes our spiritual dimension. It enables us to align our choices with these principles and visualize ourselves behaving according to them in thought word and deed, training ourselves, and rewiring the nervous system.

The Evidential Basis of Mind-Body Medicine

In the 1970s and 1980s, mainstream medical and psychological professionals were hesitant to consider an approach that, although logical and based on sound theory, could boast very few peer-reviewed double-blind studies. Those studies were slow in coming for many reasons, including:

• We did not yet have measuring instruments that could detect the changes the mind was creating (e.g., changes in antibody levels).

• Pharmaceutical companies, the prime source of funding for research, were not interested in proving the efficacy of tools that might massively lower their profits.

• Much longer timeframes are often needed for such studies, compared to the few weeks or months necessary to show the usefulness of a new symptom-reducing drug.

By the 1990s, however, our ability to carry out these experiments had improved, and in the decades since the mind/body approach was introduced, tens of thousands of studies have clearly demonstrated the enormous impact our thoughts, beliefs, and emotions have on every system in the body. Mental and emotional stress has been linked to nearly every illness, right up to and including the top five causes of death: heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease, accidents, and suicide. And to top it all off, some stressors shorten your Telemeres (Telomeres are special DNA sequences that protect the ends of chromosomes from becoming frayed or tangled. and shorten your life.*

For instance, according to The Mayo Clinic, The American Heart Association, and the National Institute of Mental Health:

• • 43 percent of adults suffer adverse health effects from stress.
  • 75 to 90% of all doctor’s office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints.
  • Stress is part of the etiology of physical illnesses, including hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, skin conditions, headaches, asthma, arthritis, and others.
  • Stress in the workplace costs American industry more than $300 billion annually.
  • 50% of emotional disorders last a lifetime due to chronic, untreated stress reactions.

Meanwhile pharmaceutical companies spend millions or even billions of dollars researching chemicals to treat the symptoms of these illnesses, and producing drugs that sell for exorbitant sums. But what percent of patients who go to a doctor with these diseases will be given tools to treat the underlying source?

On the positive side, many modern training institutions have begun to train students in this new field, but huge systems change slowly, especially when success would lead to significantly lower profits. No doubt that if pharmaceutical companies could make the kind of profits from these techniques that they do from peddling pills to treat symptomatic relief, they would have sold you these mind tools long ago. Dr. Miller offers you these empowering techniques here for small fraction of the cost of mainstream medical care.

Get started now with some samples below.

*  Shorter telomere length is associated with advancing chronological age and also increased disease morbidity and mortality. Emerging studies suggest that stress accelerates the erosion of telomeres from very early in life and possibly even influences the initial (newborn) setting of telomere length. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2013 Sep; 38(9): 1835–1842.  (10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.03.010 – see: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306453013001054?via%3Dihub)

Mind-Body Medicine Audio & Video 

Meditation is a powerful tool that has been used for thousands of years to promote inner peace, reduce stress, and cultivate a state of mind that is peaceful, focused, and free from distraction. Generally, in all of these cultures, meditation is part of the religious practice of the shaman, priest, or medicine man, and sometimes it is taught to all members of the community, often in the form of “prayer.”  However, at the heart of all forms of meditation lies the goal of achieving a mind characterized by clarity, calmness, and presence.

Traditionally, meditation involves sitting quietly while focusing on an object, a sound, or the breath, for instance. Dr. Miller has developed ways to augment the meditative experience with the soothing guidance of his voice, enabling more rapid entry into a deeper meditative state. When the doorway to the subconscious has been opened, we can travel through time and space to decondition past patterns and create new behaviors and beliefs. This “guided meditation” is at the essence of his self-healing approach.

The meditative state of mind is almost a pre-requisite for achieving spiritual, physical, and emotional well-being, and it profoundly impacts our overall health and happiness. A meditative state is often achieved simply through mindfulness, a practice in which we are free of thoughts, feelings, and sensations that trigger anxiety and confusion and instead focus our attention on the absolute peace of the present moment. Mindfulness is characterized by a deep sense of serenity and contentment, a feeling of connectedness with the world around us, and a heightened sense of awareness and clarity.

Another popular form of meditation is loving-kindness meditation. This practice involves cultivating feelings of compassion and kindness towards ourselves and others. By focusing our attention on feelings of love and kindness, we are able to shift our focus away from negative emotions and cultivate a greater sense of connection and well-being.

No matter what type of meditation practice we choose, the benefits of achieving a state of mind characterized by presence, clarity, and calmness are clear. By cultivating a regular meditation practice, we can experience greater spiritual connection, improved physical and mental health, and a greater sense of happiness and contentment in our daily lives.

Meditation has lately achieved a measure of mainstream popularity because of its remarkable physical and emotional benefits. It has been shown to reduce stress, lower blood pressure, improve sleep quality, boost the immune system, and reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. Regular meditation practice has also been demonstrated by fMRI studies to increase gray matter in the brain in areas associated with memory, attention, and emotional regulation.

Emotionally, the meditative state can help us develop greater self-awareness and emotional intelligence. It can help us better understand our thoughts, feelings, and reactions and give us greater control over them. We are less likely to be overwhelmed by difficult emotions or external circumstances and more able to experience inner peace and joy regardless of those circumstances. Through meditation, we discover how to navigate the ups and downs of life with equanimity and grace.

Nearly all religions include some form of meditation among their sacred practices. Religious practitioners find this state of mind important spiritually because they believe it allows a deeper connection with our deepest selves and the ability to tap into the infinite wisdom and guidance within and all around us. Quieting the mind and cultivating inner stillness enables us to access a higher level of consciousness and expand our awareness beyond the limitations of our physical bodies.

Perhaps most importantly, the meditative state is essential for our overall happiness and well-being. When we are in this state of mind, we can let go of the worries and stresses of daily life and focus on what is truly important. We can connect with our inner selves and find meaning and purpose in our lives. We can cultivate a deep sense of gratitude for all of the blessings in our lives and develop a more positive and optimistic outlook.

Best-Selling Meditation Programs