Cory Quirino's Inside Out

Faith and Biology

THE GAP is closing. Science and religion will soon merge. Rather than remain in opposite worlds, they will fuse to validate what sages have been espousing all along-that they are one.

There is no conflict here. Faith has become, and always will be, an intriguing and undeniable powerhouse for healing. In short, God is good medicine. In a stunning cover story titled "God and Health," Newsweek recently explored the world of churchgoing and spiritual individuals who meditate.

The results? A discovery that many of us already knew-faith heals. Scientific data reveal that "meditating nuns have increased activity in regions (of the brain) used for concentration and decreased activity in areas promoting a sense of self (or ego)."

The message here is, if you want to improve your health, pray and meditate. Assuming, of course, that you are religiously following a health regimen. Effects of faith on health Regular church and service attendance promotes a longer life. Being prayed for moderately improves physical recovery from acute illnesses. Religion and spirituality protect against moderate cardiovascular disease, cancer mortality and disability.

They also improve recovery and healing and slow down the progression of disease. The study's biggest discovery was that, yes, "churchgoers live longer than others."

Cited figures correlated churchgoing frequency with life expectancy as follows: Those who attended church more than weekly lived to 83 years of age and those who went once a week lived to age 82. Less than weekly churchgoers died at 80 years old and those who did not go to church died at age 75. Likelihood of life changes.

It was also observed that those who go to church with regularity eventually drop their bad habits, thereby adopting a healthier lifestyle. Among the findings: there was 131 percent likelihood for those who attended church to become less depressed; 78 percent likelihood that they would quit smoking; 54 percent that they had more exercise and 39 percent that they stopped drinking. Some might claim that these are anecdotal evidence.

One thing is clear, though. Science is not looking away from religion, but rather into it. How well do you pray? As Bible class and cell group teacher Diane Hernandez of New Life Church explains, "It's not the litany of prayers nor the length of time you pray, but your fervor that determines prayer power." It follows then that if you pray with enough humility, sincerity and trust, your prayers will be answered.

Therefore, how well or fervently you pray can also determine the extent and degree of healing you will get (an angle Newsweek did not explore). Because of the success of prayer warriors and religious rallies to effect spontaneous healing, many in the medical community have come to believe that "what happens in a person's mind can be as important to health as what happens on a cellular level."

This has led "many doctors to embrace the God they banished from the clinic long ago." Enlightened doctor French-born Dr. David Sevan Schreiber is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. It was he who wrote the best-selling book, "Guerir: The Instinct to Heal," which explored the connection between mind and body.

The book gave novel insights on how to treat chronic illnesses like depression. Schreiber said that close to 70 percent of primary-case health problems are actually stress-related, and that blood pressure medication, anti-depressants and anti-inflammatories are just temporary measures to ease the symptoms, but not the real cause of illness.

One therefore should not only treat the symptoms but heal the root cause of the illness. Believing that spirituality plays a major role in a patient's ability to heal, Schreiber says, "If prayer produces a state of calm, that correlates positively to our health."

However, there is also such a thing as unhealthy spirituality, which believes that God will perform miracles even if we continue to abuse our health.

Affirming the positive * Do not run away from yourself; rather, run to yourself. * Keep still. Stop running around in circles. Run toward the center of your own inner circle. * Close your eyes. * Visualize yourself smiling. Recall a time in your life when you were happiest. Bring back that same joy. * Recite this joyful affirmation: "I will be more and more joyful with each passing day." * Follow it up with this divine affirmation: "I embrace the divinity in me. I am one with God." This is great for the face and for improving one's disposition: In a bowl of boiling hot water, mix one drop of lavender, mint and patchouli with five drops of coco virgin oil/almond oil. Inhale the goodness from a distance of a foot (you might scald yourself).

Feel your own goodness. Love and light! (Sources: Newsweek; Andrew Newberg, MD, University of Pennsylvania; American Psychologist Journal; Ricxk Rogers, University of Colorado-Boulder; William Strawbridge, UCSF)

http://www.inq7.net/lif/2003/nov/18/lif_23-1.htm

posted by Misteryo Philippines Network (MPN) @ 7:33 PM