Healing  by trance is one of the oldest arts in all cultures. Ignoring the mind/body link is a recent aberration – influenced no doubt by the medical profession`s access to and reliance on drugs. Until the 19th Century medical writers stressed the influence of grief, despair and discouragement on the onset and outcome of illness.

In the Chinese Nei Ching, the 3,000 years old Yellow Emperor`s Classic of Internal Medicine, it states “the highest form of doctor uses no medicines but treats disease solely through the agency of the mind.”

Here are some examples of the power of the mind over the body:

In the middle of the 19th Century Dr. John Elliotson carried out hundreds of necessary amputations using only hypnosis to anaesthetise.

A BBC documentary (1982) reported a study of 200 haemophiliacs who underwent dental treatment. Some had hypnosis to stop bleeding and others (a control group) did not. The control group needed up to 35 blood transfusions per patient whilst those who had had hypnosis needed 2 or 3.

After lower back surgery many patients need catheters to urinate because of lower back spasms. One group of researchers suggested (hypnotically) to patients on the operating table that they would be able to relax the crucial muscles after surgery. None needed catheters!

Professor Daniel L. Araoz (1983) testified in the Journal of Psychological Oncology that hypnosis in oncology reduced the side effects of treatment, the control of symptoms and of negative psychological effects in cancer.

It works the other way too – you get what you expect!  In a UK study a group of men were told that they were being given chemotherapy when, in fact, they were given a harmless saline solution. 30 percent of them lost their hair!