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Auf dem Bild ist eine Hängematte vor einem ruhigen See zu sehen. Die Sonne geht gerade unter und taucht den Himmel in orang-gelbes Licht.

Assisting the body in healing itself. Part 2

Less stress – more health. The stress and relaxation response – a basic mechanism in our body

You are here: Home / English / Assisting the body in healing itself. Part 2
Auf dem Bild ist eine Hängematte vor einem ruhigen See zu sehen. Die Sonne geht gerade unter und taucht den Himmel in orang-gelbes Licht.
(c) Christine Brameshuber

Januar 16, 2018 //  by lukas//  Leave a Comment

Auf dem Bild ist eine Hängematte vor einem ruhigen See zu sehen. Die Sonne geht gerade unter und taucht den Himmel in orang-gelbes Licht.
(c) Christine Brameshuber

(If you didn’t read part 1 of this article yet, click here)

It is common knowledge today that stress can make you sick. But that wasn’t always a truth that doctors agreed upon, at least in western/ academic medicine. The doctor and author of the book “mind over medicine” Lissa Rankin (2014) points out the work of people like Herbert Benson, a cardiologist in Harvard. He was one of the first people in western medicine that looked into what happens when people meditate. In this context he used the term “relaxation response” (p. 215).

Today we know that the body can turn on a relaxation response as well as a stress response, also called fight-or-flight-reaction/mode. In a situation of danger, the body activates a survival mechanism. It activates the so called sympathetic nervous system that triggers several physiological/chemical processes in our body. In reference to the organs and body parts that are active in this response, physicians also call it hypothalamus-pituitary gland-adrenal gland- axis (p.49). Through this complex system the body spills out hormones and substances like Cortisol, Adrenalin and Noradrenalin. These lead to following effects:

  • Pulse and blood pressure increase
  • Higher blood supply to the heart, big muscle groups and brain
  • Lower blood supply to the gastrointestinal tract
  • Metabolism increases. More glucose is released, to provide the body with more energy
  • Respiration / breathing becomes faster, so we can take in more oxygen
  • The muscle tone increase
  • Enzymes for digestion are reduced
  • The immune system and sexual organs shut down

All these reactions have the aim to make the body ready to fight or run away, to escape from life threatening situations and therefore survive.

The problem in our world today is the following: Although we most rarely are under life threatening circumstances, we have a lot of stressful life situations and conditions that activate this stress response. The reason for this can be found in our brains. Lissa Rankin (2014) explains that our rational mind is located in our fore brain. This part of the brain knows that feelings of insecurity, fear, disappointment, anger, resentment, bitterness or stress are feelings that are connected to a certain event or situation in our lives. But there is also another part of the brain, which is called brain stem or reptilian brain. This part of our brain can’t differentiate between a fearful thought and an actual threat for our life. It thinks that we are about to die and activates a stress response. It shuts down the immune system, so that we can use all our energy to fight or flee (p. 129).

On the other hand, the body can reverse this response by activating the so called parasympathetic nervous system. It brings us back into the “normal mode” and our immune system can come back to work. This is what I think I have learned through my cancer experience: The more my body is relaxed, the more things I do that activate my parasympathetic nervous system, the more my body can “clean up”, repair and heal.

An especially important point here is that positive thoughts or emotions such as love, belonging, emotional, physical or sexual intimate contact, time with friends, happiness, hope and so on do influence our brain and furthermore the relaxation response. For Lissa Rankin, there is in fact, no doubt that positive thoughts and a positive internal and external environment are therefore healing our body. It is not about magic, but about physiological processes in the body (p. 131).

~

Lissa Rankin created a model for holistic health that is founded on this principle. She invites the readers to think about how they can increase their health in different areas of life with the aim of creating a positive, nourishing and thus healing climate inside ourselves and also in our surroundings. Factors in this environment can be:

  • healthy, positive and supporting relationships with other human beings
  • creative expression, no matter what it is
  • a healthy and life affirming spirituality
  • a healthy and fulfilling sexual life
  • economic stability and security
  • a healthy environment
  • a healthy mental and emotional attitude, that enables us to deal with fear, sorrows and problems
  • a life / life style filled with gratitude, optimism and satisfaction
  • a healthy physical life style with good nutrition, sleep, physical activity and little or no consumption of toxins

It is amazing for me how only one point of the mix exclusively addresses the physical level. That is usually the only level so called academic medicine was referring to for a long time. Lissa Rankin offers a free “health kit” with additional material for the book. You have to sign up with your e-mail address and can download it here. You can write a diagnosis and prescription for yourself and your healing journey.

For me this is a very beautiful method to go deep into myself and ask what areas of my life need healing, and what is it that gives me power and joy. I will write about this tool more in detail in another blog post. By the way: This holistic approach to health is not really an “alternative minority, spiritual” approach of some strange people. The world health organization (WHO) defined health in 1948 already as „a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity1„

If I had to think about a model for health, it would probably look a bit different than that of Lissa Rankin, and yours would look different too. I would put mindfulness and meditation as big base for life for example. However, the point here is not to define what health and holistic medicine is. Only you can know that for yourself. My point here is to invite you to think about what brings joy, hope and happiness into your life and therefore the ground for physical and mental health.

~

After my chemotherapy, reading Lissa Rankin’s book motivated me to keep up with my practices of self-care, mindfulness and meditation. However I am still human. I feel stressed, anxious, depressed and all those human emotions regularly. Several people made me aware of the necessity to say that not all stress is equal. Sport for instance is also a kind of stress that is very healthy usually. Having a big challenge at work, can cause stress, but also creativity, joy and a sense of purpose or give meaning to your life. So what I am saying is not to avoid life in order to avoid stress. Or feel anxious when you feel stressed, as you are “supposed” to feel relaxed. I just want to invite you to look inside and see that living happy and joyful lives is what it is about. No matter if we have cancer, something else or if we are “completely healthy”.

Additionally, I see more clearly how important a community, support and cohesion of groups and societies are in this model. If we want to be healthy ourselves, we also need healthy communities, societies, a healthy environment and planet. We know for a fact, that discrimination, social exclusion, poverty, violence and shame have a structural impact and can make people sick or worse, even kill them.

In that respect, my experience with cancer convinced me that, we as humankind need to create a world that is welcoming and better for everybody. However, in order to be able to bring positive change into the world, we need to strengthen ourselves or survive first. I have two metaphors in mind when I write this: The first is from Waltraud Eggenberger, an energetic healer I worked with here in Vienna. She told me that we can only help people get out of the mud in a swamp, when we are outside of it. If I lay down next to the person, and am stuck myself, I can’t help anybody.

From trauma pedagogy and therapy, I know the metaphor of an oxygen mask in safety instructions in airplanes. If I want to support traumatized people, I need to put on the oxygen mask myself first and then I can offer help to another. I have to take care of myself before I can take care of others.
What I learned for myself is: If you have a serious illness or cancer. Now it is time to put on the oxygen mask! Take care of yourself first. This has nothing to do with being a narcissist but appreciation of yourself and self-worth. If I didn’t take care of myself these last two years, who knows if I was writing this lines today and therefore maybe impacting the lives of others in a positive way.

May this article and this blog give you inspirations for your journey!

Ressources

Rankin, Lissa Dr. med (2014): Mind over medicine. Warum Gedanken oft stärker sind als Medizin. Kösel-Verlag, München, 3. Auflage
(English version: Mind over medicine. Scientific proof that you can heal yourself)

Lissa Rankin – Ted Talk „scientific proof you can heal yourself“

Talk at google – you can heal yourself

mindovermedicinebook.com
Additional material/ downloads to the book „Mind over medicine“

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  1. Assisting the body in healing itself. How does that actually work? Part 1 – Mindful Survivor sagt:
    Januar 16, 2018 um 1:39 pm Uhr

    […] For this reason, I want to try to explain this mechanism more in depth in the second part of this article. It helped me more to understand rationally, that all of the things that I had done, like meditation, mindfulness and self-compassion practice do have a real effect on my body. But not only do I understand it better, I also felt for the first time that there are scientists and doctors out there that value these practices also from a medical point of view. Something that I had never perceived in this way from any of my doctors! It inspires me to keep up with my way of life. Of course stress is not the only factor in health or disease. With all diseases multiple factors and complex processes or circumstances in the body and our surroundings come into play. However, I consider this as something very basic, fundamental and helpful and therefore will go more into detail in the next article! […]

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[ Das Bild ist wieder ein Zitat von Daan van Kampe [ Das Bild ist wieder ein Zitat von Daan van Kampenhout. Darauf steht auf Englisch: "If you feel, that something is deeply lacking in your community, and you are convinced that this something is needed, then it becomes your spiritual task, to help manifest that."] 

I love those quote by a queer Jewish Shaman Dean can Kampenhout. He said that at an introduction meditation during one of my first stretch festivals, a festival for gay, bi/pan, trans* and queer men*, that was very central in my healing path and brought me to Berlin. 

This message empowered me to decide to write my story down as a gay queer-feminist, empath, spiritual  cancer survivor. 

I am also thinking a lot at this moment, how despite all the challenges with surviving cancer, I am simultaneously so privileged as a white, cisgender man and how much my existence is so welcomed and normalised in our global white supremacist system. 

I also read and think a lot about Buddhism, the mindfulness movements and how white they often are. I discover more and more black and brown Buddhist teachers or scholars, and other brown, indigenous, black and some white spiritual people combine and integrate their spirituality in social and healing justice work. 

And I know that this is my way as well. I often think back, how small my world became for several years, surviving this life threatening disease called cancer. And how long it took and still takes me to settle back into the "normal" world, that never was and is normal after all. 

I am so blessed that I regained my strength so that I have more confidence now to engage, make myself heard and contribute something to positive change. 

So yeah. I am curious how and when and in what form my story will manifest in a book. I want to tell a diverse and complex story for queers, survivors and mainstream folk. So let s see where this journey will continue. 

Since I am also struggling with depression since some time I remind myself and you. 

Don't give up! You, your story and contribution matters! We need everybody to fight together for liberation for all. 

Peace 

#cancersurvivorquotes
#testicularcancersurvivors
#shamanicwisdom
#transformation #yourstorymatters
[ The picture shows a screenshot of the social med [ The picture shows a screenshot of the social media app Phow. The titel says "introducing healingwithlukas, there is a picture of my meditating, with overlapping images] 

This is for my English speaking followers especially. I am happy to share here as well that since July I have my first small writing job for a super cool project. 

I write journals on the alternative social media app "Phlow". @phlowzone 

They enable a more mindful approach to social media, where you follow journals instead of people, so all is based on content, rather then a person or brand. They equally don't sell your data, to show you the right advertisements and encapsule you in your bubble. They really want to focus on the content, rather then, who screams the loudest, or buys the most likes and fake friends etc. 

Phlow is a really cool project and I love the philosophy behind it. Check it out, if you are interested! 

There I am writing about my journey in English in short and compact way. My introductory journal is finished, and right now I'm working on the next one, telling the story of how I got diagnosed with stage 3 testicular cancer 5 years ago. 

I am really starting to write and work for my book as well and will launch a patron page soon, where I will share manuscripts and snippets of chapters of my book on a monthly basis. Let's see how that goes. 

Thank you also for the encouraging feedback from many of you. It really motivates me to keep up and follow my insecure path as a writer and soon to be cuddle and touch provider! 

#mindfulness #mindfulsocialmedia #writersthoughts #gaywriter #gayblogger #cancersurvivors #cancersurvivorbook #cancersurvivorwarrior #testicularcancersurvivor #introvertsofinstagram #calmpower #writingistherapy #instagays #queercancersurvivor #journalingchallenge #artistsway
[ Das Bild ist der Zitathintergrund dieses Profils [ Das Bild ist der Zitathintergrund dieses Profils mit einem gold orangen Buddha Vorhang und einer Klangschale. Das Zitat ist auf Englisch] 

"To be is to interbe
You cannot just be 
By yourself alone 
You have to interbe 
With every other thing." 
- Thich Nhat Hanh - 

Who am I? Am I a cancer survivor? 
Am i a gay cis man? 
Why could I survive?
who or what healed me?
Who is this me? 
Am I my ideas? 
Am i only this body? 

I don't know anything anymore really. And that is great! The beauty of mindfulness and presence is that I learned to see constructs as constructs and see that I am connected to everything there is. 
I interam here because I didn't have to have 500.000€ in my bank account in order to pay for my medical treatment. 
I interam here because nurses and doctors washed their hands and hardworking cleaners kept my isolation chamber clean of germs. 
I interam also here because I was an active patient in the treatmemt and took care of myself the best I could. Meditating, body scanning, stretching, praying, walking daily. 

I interam also with the exploited child, who is forced to dug up precious earth for this smart phone, in which I type letters, forming this post.
I Interam with the factory worker in China, working a 60 hour week. 
I interam with the global neoliberal system,  in which miraculously I was born into the sixth of the global population living in the "first world".
 I interam with my mother who didn't drink alcohol during being pregnant with me, so my brain could develop in a way that I could learn to read write and express myself in several languages. 
I interam with the comfort of sitting in my cosy flat, that I might not have gotten if I was black or my name Turkish or "muslim". 

Everything is spiritual. Oppression also uses our ego, which thrives on separation and the sense and need for being special, different and separate. Oppression needs me to disconnect from others, nature, myself and my body. 
 It is possible to honour individuality and freedom, but remember that we all codepend and interare with other humans, our power- and social structures and this planet. 

#buddhistwisdom #thichnhathanh
#interbeing
#nonduality #empathsofin
[ das Bikd zeigt einen Screenshot des blogs mit de [ das Bikd zeigt einen Screenshot des blogs mit dem Titel zum Artikel: ethisches Statement] 

#cancersurvivorquotes #cancerblogger #krebsblogger #ethischeshandeln #ethik #wertermittlung #gayblogger #moralstory #gaysupportfeminism #gaysupport #schreiben #autorenschaft #introvertsofinstagram #infjquotes #infj #empathsofinstagram #hsp #hochsensibelglücklich #hochsensibel
[ Das Bild zeigt den Zitathintergrund mit Klangsch [ Das Bild zeigt den Zitathintergrund mit Klangschale und Vorhang mit Buddhamotiv. Im Textfeld steht: "von und mit den eigenen Werten arbeiten und schreiben."] 

Bei einem Aufenthalt in einem indischen Ashram habe ich einen Mensch kennengelernt, der mir erzählte, dass er irgendwann begonnen hat seine Werte aufzuschreiben.

Er hat dann beschlossen künftig nur mehr für Menschen, Projekte und Jobs zu arbeiten, die er mit seinen Werten in Einklang bringen kann. Oder zumindest zu merken, dass es wo hapert und dann zu versuchen, etwas zu tun, damit ein Einklang oder eine Annäherung passieten kann. 

Das fand ich faszinierend. Ich habe dann selber begonnen mir zu überlegen und aufzuschreiben, was mir eigentlich wichtig ist. Ich habe auch Menschen gefunden, die auf ihrer Homepage und professionellem Angebot so etwas, wie ein ethisches Statement verfasst haben. Z.b. @dawn_serra. Das hat mich inspiriert dies auch für meine Arbeit zu verfassen. 

Ich denke, wie es wäre, wenn dies mehr Praxis und normal wäre. Was würde anders Laufen? Wie oft haben wir gar nicht die Möglichkeit unsere Werte zu vertreten in diesem System. Welche kollektiven Werte dienen uns und welche dienen uns nicht mehr? 

Das finde ich sehr spannende Fragen, und vorallem meine Krebserfahrung hat meine Werte nochmal ordentlich verschoben und um Achtsamkeit, Embodiment und buddhistische Philosophie erweitert. 

Was sind deine Werte? Für dich und im Arbeitskontext? 

#werte #wertewandel #antikapitalismus #innereressourcen #moralphilosophy #moralphilosopher #spiritualqueers #spiritualitätimalltag #spirituellewerte #changeyourselfchangetheworld #valuesmatter #corevalues
[ das Bild zeigt einen screenshot eines Blogartike [ das Bild zeigt einen screenshot eines Blogartikels. Der Titel ist: Gedanken darüber eine Geschichte zu erzählen. ] 

Den Beitrag gibt es zu sehen auf www.healingwithlukas.com -> about -> Gedanken darüber eine Geschichte zu erzählen 

#chimanandangoziadichie #storytelling #cancerblogger #cancersurvivorquotes #krebsblogger #geschichtenerzählen #writerslife #schreibenschreibenschreiben #bloggen #storiesmatter #diversegeschichten #gayblogger #gayspirituality #gayspiritualwarrior
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