On Tuesday, February 8 I experienced a blood clot in the retina of my right eye–my one good eye. This dropped my vision (with coorective lense) to 20/400. Previous to that it had been 20/20 with correction. After the blood clot I could not read or drive. I sought medical treatment from a retina surgeon, and he gave me an injection which he said would help reduce the damage, but the clot, he said, would have to clear on its own…which could easily take a year or two.
My vision improved some, but it was still quite difficult to read, and I still couldn’t see well enough to drive safely, as there were grey patches in my visual field that concealed oncoming cars. On March 1st I did a deep self-hypnosis process, visualizing the blood vessel expanding, the constricting tissues releasing, and the clot dissolving. After twenty minutes of focused effort, a soft flash of light crossed the back of my eye and there was a huge energy shift, as if blocked energy became unblocked. Over the next three days my vision improved rapidly. I can currently read an eye chart to about 20/30, a huge improvement over where I was one week ago at 20/400. Self-hypnosis resolved my blood clot. Or was it meditation? Or is there no difference?
The self-healing technique of meditation is thousands of years old, and at the same time it is rapidly spreading in contemporary society. Research continues to demonstrate more and more of its potent effects on both physical health and emotional well-being.
Meditation advocate Kristena Eden joined me on February 2nd to discuss the advantages of meditation. According to Kristena, some of the benefits include:
It lowers oxygen consumption.
- It decreases respiratory rate.
- Lowers levels of stress hormones cortisol and adrenalin
- It lowers oxygen consumption.
- It increases blood flow and slows the heart rate.
- Increases exercise tolerance in heart patients.
- Leads to a deeper level of relaxation.
- Helps bring high blood pressure down to normal.
- Decrease muscle tension and headaches
- Helps in chronic diseases like allergies, arthritis and many others.
- Reduces pre-menstrual syndrome.
- Helps in postoperative healing.
- Enhances the immune system. Research has revealed that meditation increases activity of “natural-killer cells” which kill bacteria and cancer cells.
- Reduces activity of viruses
- Reduces anxiety attacks by lowering the levels of blood lactate.
- Builds self-confidence.
- Increases serotonin production which influences mood and behavior. (Low levels of serotonins are associated with depression, obesity, insomnia and headaches.)
- Reduces emotional distress.
Meditation has been repeatedly demonstrated to change the brain wave patterns of the individual who practices its. The fast and often anxious patterns of beta brainwaves are replaced by progressively slower rhythms of alpha and theta wave patterns. These slower patterns are associated with well-being, creativity, inner awareness, deeper insight, and the ability to connect with subconsciously-held emotions and beliefs and change them.
MRI research shows that the areas of the brain activated during meditation include the anterior cingulate gyrus and the prefrontal cortex, some fo the same areas of the brain activated during hypnosis. For purposes of what the brain and body are doing, self-hypnosis and meditation appear to be two different techniques that produce essentially the same results, and take individuals into the same levels of focused consciousness and inner awareness.
This is what research tells us about meditation/hypnosis. In my experience it also allows us to fine tune the functioning in our bodies, and take conscious control over subconscious or unconscious physical process. How much is potentially possible? For me it may have saved my vision, my career and my independence.
