The Power of Belief: Can Your Mind Really Heal Your Body?

Hey everyone. And welcome back to the heal with grace podcast. I am grace, your host, your relatable psychotherapist, nervous system coach, yoga therapist. And really at the end of the day, I am your fellow traveler on this healing journey that we're all on together. And if you're new here, welcome. And if you're a regular listener, thank you for coming back.

I really, really appreciate you today. We're diving into a topic. That's Both deeply fascinating and incredibly powerful. The power of belief, can your mind really heal your body? It's a question that's been asked for centuries. And today we're going to explore that a connection between what we believe and how our bodies respond.

We'll look at some compelling stories. We'll dive into research and hopefully by the end of this episode, you'll see just how transformative your mindset can be, and it's not just about thinking positively. So whether you're sipping your morning coffee, taking a walk or just relaxing at home, I invite you to get cozy and join me as we explore the power of belief.

So we first start have to start by talking about the mind body connection, which is the heart of this topic. And if you've been around here, you totally know this is so much of what the podcast is about, but let's dive into it for a minute and really set the stage. So we often think Of the mind and body as separate entities, which rightfully so that's pretty much most of like Western medical and just in general society thinks that's what we've been taught that what happens in the brain is one thing and what happens in the body is another, but the truth is they're deeply interconnected.

What we think and believe have a profound impact Our physical health, I mean, down to the way that our cells operate down to the way that our nervous system, our organs, our home hormones, our gut operates, for example, have you heard of the placebo effect? Probably. Yeah. It's a perfect example of how powerful our beliefs can be.

So in clinical trials, patients who are given a placebo, a sugar pill, for instance, often experience real improvements in their symptoms simply because they believe they're receiving treatment. Their minds are convinced they're getting better and their bodies respond accordingly. This isn't just in their heads.

It's real, measurable changes that can occur in the body. And most likely, if you've been in any kind of research class, or I can't really remember, but you probably have. We probably learned about the placebo effect in elementary school, right? And I remember learning about it and it was cool, right? And we just kind of moved on from it.

Like no one really talks more about it or what was actually happening or how could we repeat that, right? It was just like, Oh yeah, this is a thing that happens. And, okay, we're going to move on. But it's actually so, so powerful. The placebo effect shows us that our brains are incredible. They can influence our immune systems, our pain levels, even our recovery from illness or injury.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the power of belief. So let's dive into a few stories to really help you understand and like paint a picture of how this can happen. There are countless examples of people who have experienced remarkable healing, not just because of medical treatments, but because of a shift in their mindset.

One story that stands out. Is that of a man named Morris Goodman, who is often called the quote miracle man. In 1981, Morris was in a horrific plane crash and left him paralyzed, unable to breathe on his own. And with doctors telling him he'd never walk again, Morris refused to accept that prognosis. He believed deep down that he could heal.

He visualized himself walking out of the hospital, breathing on his own, living a normal life again. And guess what? Against all odds, that's exactly what he did. Morris Goodman's story is a powerful testament to the idea that we believe, what we believe can shape our reality. This is exactly what Dr. Joe Dispenza talks about as well, and this is his story as well.

He was in a bike accident. And was told he's going to be paralyzed, I believe, through most of his spine. And instead he said, nope, I'm going to work on healing myself. And he did just that. And that's why he's gone on now to speak about this, help people understand, to visualize, to really hone in on their innate healing abilities.

And this is not just some kind of weird energy woo woo thing. This is not just for gifted people. This is for truly any human being. Another compelling story is that of Anita Morjani, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer and was at the brink of death when she had a near death experience. During that experience, she realized the role that fear and negative beliefs had played in her illness.

And when she came back, she came back with a profound sense of peace and a deep belief that she could heal. It was like this, this knowing within herself and within weeks her tumor shrank and she made a full recovery, something her doctors couldn't explain. And if you start to look into this, you will find countless, countless, countless stories of people specifically with cancer who are.

Who start to heal and many different ways, , and really hone in on the power of belief and treating their mind and body as one. Now, I will say too, that I am not sitting here saying all you have to do is change your beliefs and you will heal and that's the only number 1 thing that you have to do. I truly believe if you've been here and know for, for truth that sometimes it takes a village.

Right. We do need support. We need help. We can, we gain guidance. You know, if we focus on our whole life system, our bodies in terms of what we put into it, how we treat it, how we move it, how we, what we believe our emotions, it all matters. So I, I have to say that because I know there's going to be some people that kind of roll their eyes or may not even listen to this.

So if you're listening, maybe you're tuned in, but, just remember that, yes, there's more of an all approach instead of single approach, but I just don't think that the power of belief gets enough attention and really

helps. And really allows us to fully go into it. And for example, part of the reason I'm actually recording. This is because I truly believe that there have been things I've been missing around this shifting my beliefs and not that. You know, there's going to be something I'm going to get right all the time, but I recognize that yes, I have worked on my negative beliefs.

I've been in therapy forever. I am a therapist. , I'm pretty good at understanding and treating myself. Well, sometimes right? My, my automatic negative mechanisms definitely come into play. , But that there's a deeper layer that I actually haven't worked with that I'm starting to work with now on truly sitting with and meditating on and being with the emotions and the belief systems that I want to live out every single day to help my mind and my body know that I'm safe.

I'm grounded. I'm healthy. I just, I am deserving and worthy of a healthy life. And of the things that I want to accomplish and that I want to bring in and I can consciously know that I want and need to do that. But there's a whole other level of actually experiencing and doing this that I think is really important to talk about.

And I'm just being transparent with you. This is something I'm, I'm working on as well right now, as I'm going through a whole new level of healing these days. So these stories, while extraordinary, truly do highlight a truth that's available to all of us that our beliefs can influence our health in ways that we might not fully understand, but are nonetheless real and powerful.

Okay, so what is the science say? What's the research behind all of this? Are these stories just flukes, or is there something more to the idea that our beliefs can heal us? Well, it turns out that there's a growing body of research that supports the mind body connection and the power of belief in healing.

One area of study that's particularly fascinating is the field of psychoneuroimmunology. Say that three times fast , which explores how our thoughts and emotions can affect our immune system. So researchers have found that positive beliefs and emotions can boost immune function while chronic stress and negative beliefs can weaken it.

This means that the way we think and feel can actually make us more or less susceptible to illness. Now we actually, you know, we know this, we know that stress, imp stress impacts health. Like, that's a statement that pretty much anyone, if you're human, knows that. But again, it's like this thing that we know, but we don't really dive into understanding exactly what it means on a detailed level, or even like, what do we do with that?

People are like, oh yeah, stress, like, I'm getting sick, I think I've been really stressed the past few months, or, you know, like, we get it, it's known, I mean, you know, it's It's talked about how much stress impacts our heart, impacts heart attacks, you know, strokes, like that's a real thing. But what does that really mean?

Right? What is stress and how is it truly having, how is stress of the world? And usually when we talk about stress, we do talk about emotional stress, mental stress, work stress, environmental, you know, relational, things like that. Which is very much so true, but how does that really impact our physical bodies?

Along with this, I want to note that stress can happen in many different levels, right? We have emotional stress, like I mentioned, we have mental stress, we have relational stress, we have environmental stress, and that can be anything from the air that we breathe, the food that we intake, the environment that we're in, in terms of our family unit, our relational stress.

stress. , there's all different kinds of stress, right? Things that we ingest, , things that we think, things that we feel. So just want to paint that picture. Remember there's, there's multiple different types of stress. There's also research on the role of visualization in healing, and we've talked about visualization on here as well.

Athletes have long used visualization techniques to improve their performance. So studies show that it can also be effective in healing physical ailments. When we visualize ourself healing, which is exactly what these stories, these people have done. We're not just imagining it again. It's not just like, think this, this will happen.

So when we visualize ourselves healing, it's not that just we're imagining it. We're actually engaging the brain in a way that can lead to real physiological changes in the body. When we can imagine and visualize something, our brain starts to make different connections. We're called neural connections, and we want to create more neural connections of the feeling, the states of being that we actually want to bring in.

And so when we are sitting in meditation, or when we're journaling out and reminding ourselves over and over of the things that we want to feel, and we actually feel them. We actually visualize ourselves and a healthy body and we know that's possible. We know it on a, on a soul heart center, physical level that creates different neural synaptic changes in the brain.

And then it creates those realities. It tells the body, this is what's happening. And the body starts healing. It's pretty fascinating.

Okay. Let's also not forget about the power of our thoughts of our belief systems, which happens sometimes within our positive affirmations. And again, I'm not just saying like. every single day, tell yourself that you're healthy and you will be, although actually that is part of it. , but it's not just one thing, right?

And it might sound like a little woo woo to some, but studies truly have shown that repeating positive affirmations can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and even improve outcomes in people with chronic illness. It sounds simple, but it's such a powerful tool that anyone can use to start shifting their mindset and potentially their health.

Think about it this way. If you're going around every day saying, Oh, I'm miserable. I can't eat this. I'm unhealthy. This is going to cause me pain. What's going to cause me pain. Am I ever going to get over this? It's all hopeless. I think they hate me. My work sucks. Like think about all the things, all of those thoughts that are going on daily over and over and over again.

And some of them, some of them may be conscious. Some of them may be unconscious where you're not really actually realizing that you're telling yourself all these things. Think about it this way. Like if someone was doing that to you on a daily basis, man, how much would it drag you down? It would literally beat you down.

And sometimes that has been people's experience, right? Where you have had someone hit. Maybe been verbally abusive or any types of other abuse, but specifically verbally, who's just been like shitting on you and telling you how horrible person you are or how you can't get something right. You can't do this.

You can't do that. And this is wrong and that's wrong, or this is bad. And that's right. You're not doing it good enough. It completely affects how you see yourself in the world. So the antidote to that is start to bringing in the opposite. Start to believe how worthy you are, how deserving you are, how healthy you are, how strong you are, what you're good at, what your strengths are.

Bringing this in daily over and over and over again, again, starts to shift those neural networks in your brain and starts to bring them in and truly starts to transform your body.

So I want you to really hone in and believe and think about this. Again, it's not just some woo woo thing. And to be honest, I don't really like that I even said that because I mean, you know, I am a mind, body, spirit person, and I believe in all three, but I, I truly am a very deeply spiritual person. , and I actually don't think that the word woo woo is something I want to say.

So there we go. what I'm really saying here is that there's so much power in this. And I hope that this episode gives you the inspiration and the kind of kickstart to start your journey on really shifting some of your beliefs.

Okay, so we've talked about the stories, the science. Now let's get practical. How can you actually do this? How do you harness the power of belief in your own healing journey? The first step is starting with awareness. Just simply becoming aware of your beliefs and tuning to your internal state. What do you believe about your health?

Do you believe that you can heal or are you stuck in a mindset of fear, doubt, hopelessness. Are you stuck in a place where you feel like your relationship will never get better or your mental health will never get better or your work will never get better. And it's just hopeless. Now, I will resonate with you.

I have been there on. Probably all levels. It's hard to shift when it really does feel like all is lost, but I want to remind you of one thing when you're in that state, when you're in the hole, when you're having some depression and it's hard to see or feel out any other way. I want you to remind you that those thoughts are not truth.

Depression and feelings of hopelessness that those create thoughts, those create thoughts that are not true. So when you start to think these things that nothing's ever going to change, you're worthless. How could you ever heal by just changing your thoughts because you're in such a dark place right now?

I want to remind you, those are not truth. The first step is to recognize what's going on in your belief system and start to change them. Write out what you believe about yourself, flip the page and write out the antidote to those. If you believe that you're unworthy, write that you're worthy on the next page.

If you're, if you believe that you're, Never going to be good enough in your career or never going to be good enough for your partner. I want you to flip the page and really hone in on what you are worthy of. You are full on, because you are human, you are worthy of love and acceptance and grace and respect.

You really are. And I want you to remember that.

Then second part of this is to practice visualization. Try incorporating visualization into your daily routine. So this looks like taking a few minutes each day to close your eyes and start with your breath.

Bring your awareness right behind your mind's eye. So I actually just, , was taught this technique and I've been really liking it where I bring my awareness to the top of my forehead, my third eye center. And what I actually do is just bring my awareness to kind of the back of my head, just kind of like over.

And I sit there, I bring my awareness there. I allow my thoughts to go and bring myself into the present moment. The next part of this is to ground. Imagine if you're not actually sitting or standing on the ground, that your body, your center is held by the earth. Picture the base of your spine, your root, your sit bones, your feet, all grounding into the earth, feeling the energy of that support of that security.

As you also imagine, Your body as just a breathing body.

Then you start to vividly imagine yourself in perfect health, see yourself doing the things you love free from or illness, the more detailed and emotionally engaging your visualization, the more powerful it will be. So you can go as detailed as if you're having gut issues, I highly recommend. You start to imagine your gut as a healthy pink, subtle energy space.

Your stomach, your liver, your bile works correctly. Your organs are bright and subtle and pink and healthy. And you are just sitting here and visualizing and recognizing how healthy your body is sitting in this space of love for yourself, opening up your heart center and feeling what it feels like to be in a state of health.

And if you do this over and over and over again, your body will start to get used to that state of being. And believe me, I know that it's weird at first and it doesn't feel, it feels so disconnected. It might just be like, I can't feel that. How am I supposed to feel that when I'm in all this pain? I get it.

Just keep working with it. There's plenty of meditations, free meditations online that you can look up. , you can start with Dr. Joe Dispenza's meditations. You can even just, just Google, , healing self meditation. There's a bunch that pops up in your meditation app or things like that, or any kind of visualization that someone can lead you and guide you through.

Search, find the ones that you like, find the voices that you like, and start to really lean in to that space.

The next part of this, like we talked about, is using positive affirmations. So create a few positive affirmations that resonate with you. These could be simple statements like I am healing every day, or my body knows how to heal itself. Or again, if you want to go specific, my gut is healthy and healing my brain, my head, my neck, my shoulders, whatever it is, is healthy and safe.

Just as it is. And repeat them daily, especially in moments of doubt or fear. Over time, these affirmations can start to shift your mindset in a more positive direction, especially if you're coupling it with the visualization and the feeling state within your body that you're going to do along with these.

So the two of these together are really, really powerful. And then third, actually, I think this is the fourth tip Surround yourself with support. Your environment plays a really big role in your beliefs. So surround yourself with people who support your healing journey and who believe in your ability to get better, whether it's friends, family, or supportive online community, having that positive reinforcement and reinforcement can make all the difference because think about it this way, when you're putting things into your mind when you're surrounding yourself with people with negative beliefs themselves, or who are struggling.

And this is not to say, you know, just dismiss someone who's struggling in their own health or their own life. Not necessarily that, but we want to ingest, whether it's through our mind, through our mouth, through our bodies, our awareness, forward thinking and positive nature. People who, even if they don't get it, There are a sense of support and love and good energy.

Look at what you're watching on TV. Look at what you're listening to. Are there things that stressing your body? Does it feel like when you listen to these or you watch them, you have a sense of like tightness and what things within your body Immediate surroundings in your environment to be safe and held and supportive.

It can be fun and laughter and joy too, but we want to make sure there's not as we want to limit the amount of stress possible and part of that becomes. starts with becoming aware. Sometimes you're just not even aware of the things that you're doing because it's so automatic or the things that you're watching, right?

But this is your, this is your indicator to start looking at those things last, but certainly not least is gratitude. Now, this actually really goes along with like the positive affirmations and the feeling state, because when. We can cultivate gratitude. It's a powerful tool for shifting your mindset. So what you want to do is you want to start focusing on the things that are going well in your life, no matter how small.

And I'm serious, no matter how small, I don't care where you are, what you're doing, what's happening. I don't care if the roof is falling over your head. Start with gratitude daily. And this practice can help you focus on the positive and build more neural networks and optimistic outlook, which can in turn support your healing, your immune system, your overall health of your body.

So can your mind really heal your body? The answer, it seems just from this podcast episode is yes. Now, obviously go and do your own research if you want to as well, but I really hope that this laid the groundwork for you, that it's not about magic or wishful thinking. It's not about creating a mood board and that mood board is going to manifest it for you.

No, it's truly about the deep connection between your thoughts, your beliefs. And your physical health, and by harnessing the power of your belief, you can create real positive changes in your body and your life along with support along with help. Right? So as you go about your week, I encourage you to start noticing the beliefs you hold about your health.

Are they helping or hindering you? And if they're not serving you, how can you start to shift them? Thank you so much for joining me today on the heal with grace podcast. I really enjoy these episodes and I love sharing it with you and your community. And if you have any insights or if this helped you, I'd really love to know.

Remember that healing is not just about what you do, it's about what you believe. So until next time, take care of yourselves, stay positive and keep healing with grace.