Stress and Medical Symptoms Reduction Program with Mind Massage^®

Overview

Stress can make you sick. Recent clinical studies have demonstrated that stress can not only be the major, underlying causative factor in a wide variety of illnesses, it can also exert a pervasive, destructive influence on the onset, progression, management and recovery process of almost every kind of "dis-ease" imaginable.

Additional studies have also shown that between 70% - 90% percent of all visits to doctors' offices today are directly related to symptoms and conditions that are either caused by or significantly exacerbated by stress. This growing trend has caused primary care physicians to find themselves frequently stymied by patients who complain of signs and symptoms where the underlying causative factors are not at all clear. Consequently, despite administering comprehensive diagnostic tests and prescribing good medications and treatments, the health of their patients does not improve because the underlying stress has not been identified as the real problem.

The 10-week Mind Massage® Stress & Medical Symptom Reduction Program developed at Mind-Body Wellness represents an enhanced version of the original protocol designed at the Mind/Body Medical Institute affiliated with Harvard Medical School under the direction of its founder, Dr. Herbert Benson, M.D.

The primary focus of the Mind Massage® program is to teach course participants how to elicit a powerful, mind-body intervention tool known as the relaxation response; a scientifically measurable state of profound relaxation that has been shown through clinical studies to be able to counter the negative effects stress can have on both the mind and body. Additional mind-body intervention tools are also taught over the course of the 10-week program with the goal of empowering participants with a set of self-care tools that will enable them to continue to improve their health and well-being.

Over the years, the Mind/Body Medical Institute approach to teaching how to elicit the relaxation response has relied upon course participants practicing a 20-minute meditation technique once or twice per day along with 3-minute "mini" versions of a similar procedure about 20 times per day. In this way, with patience and perseverance, most participants are gradually able to build up the skills necessary to elicit the relaxation response over time.

Mind Massage®, on the other hand, is a scientifically proven method that uses hypnosis to greatly accelerate course participants' ability to learn how to elicit the relaxation response on their own. By utilizing Mind Massage®, the Stress & Medical Symptom Reduction Program at Mind-Body Wellness is able to offer course participants the following advantages:

1. By applying Mind Massage® hypnosis as a part of the very first class, participants are able to immediately experience the relaxation response phenomenon with little to no effort required on their part.
   
   
2. After applying Mind Massage® hypnosis during the final segment of each and every subsequent class in order for participants to be able to re-experience the relaxation response state, verbal suggestions and instructions can then be offered while participants are still in hypnosis to accelerate their ability to learn self-hypnosis in order to be able to elicit the relaxation response themselves.
   
   
3. As other self-care, mind-body intervention tools are introduced each week, the Mind Massage® hypnosis final segment of each class can also be used to implant them into the minds of course participants in order to greatly facilitate their implementation into the overall program.
   
   

Mind Massage® Stress & Medical Symptom Reduction Program

The program consists of ten (10) weekly, 90-minute classes. Each class begins with a presentation of one of a list of topics relevant to mind-body interventions that are designed to empower participants with the ability to be able to reduce stress, eliminate symptoms, improve health and promote well-being. Each topic will be followed by a question and answer period and/or discussion.

The final segment of each class will involve Mind Massage® hypnosis to develop the state of deep relaxation known as the relaxation response. This will be followed by additional instructions being offered while participants are still in the hypnotic state that are designed to accelerate the development of self-hypnosis skills and to facilitate the implementation of the other self-care, mind-body intervention tools that will be introduced over the course of the 10-week program.

The following is a list of symptoms and conditions that are known to be either caused by or significantly exacerbated by stress that published scientific and clinical research studies have shown can be either significantly alleviated or completely eliminated through relaxation response training with the support of the other self-care, mind-body intervention tools:

Course topics will be selected from the following list:

• Understanding the Hypnosis Phenomenon - Mind Massage®
• Chronic Stress and the Biology of "Dis-ease"
• The Relaxation Response Phenomenon
• Self-Hypnosis Training
• Human Brain Development & Personality - The Role of Nurturing
• Cognitive Restructuring of Negative Thinking
• Positive Psychology & Laughter as the Best Medicine
• The Biology of Emotions
• Understanding the Physiology of Weight Loss
• Road Blocks and Saboteurs to Positive Change
• Mindfulness - Living in the Moment
• Movement and Your Health
• The Origins of Cravings - Caffeine, Sweets, Nicotine, Alcohol, Refined Foods
• Nutrition and Your Health
• What Constitutes a Healthy Person?
• Over-dosed America - The Proliferation of Pharmaceuticals
• What is Love?
• Acupuncture and the Relaxation Response