highlighted special characteristics of a particular group—people with advanced malignancy who became unexpectedly long-term survivors, and I quote:
1. They seek a wide exposure to conventional medical opinion and treatment.
They take “control” of their health. They will decide for themselves what advised treatment to have and what treatment not to have. They are often critical of their medical management.
2. They seek a wide exposure to nonconventional opinion and treatment.
Again, they will decide for themselves what they will choose to have and they are often critical of nonconventional management.
3. They operate at an intuitive level.
They are usually not “thinkers” or intellectuals. They tend not to operate at a rational level as their main guide for making decisions and appear to make decisions “intuitively.”
4. They are at peace with themselves.
One often gets a sense of tranquility, peace and spirituality while in their presence. They are not at all fearful.6
Now, in my own experience I would agree with all this generally, and while I certainly recognize the importance of the intuition in decision making, many of the long-term survivors I have known have also been very smart and drawn on their intellects well. Where people can get into trouble is when they think too much, get lost in the range of options, lost in doubt and worry, and as such do not access their intuition, do not make clear and confident decisions, do not commit to what they are doing.
Maybe we can summarize Professor Kune’s four points by saying that long-term survivors have a calm and clear mind. This enables them to think clearly, to make good decisions and to be at peace with the world and themselves. Given all the challenges cancer can present, how do we avoid fear and even panic? How do we develop a calm and clear mind? Meditation provides a well-proven solution, plus it has real healing benefits in its own right. In the next chapter we will begin to unlock meditation’s secrets.
The Principles Behind the Silent Healer
Meditation is the single most powerful self-help tool that assists recovery from disease and leads to a life of maximum health. It provides all the basic ingredients. It has direct physical effects ranging from relief of physical tension to reactivation of the immune system. Meditation reliably leads to a calm and clear mind, the ability to think clearly, to make good decisions, and to see them through to completion. On top of this, meditation aids the development of emotional and mental poise, generates a positive attitude, and most important, leads automatically and effortlessly to a heightened level of well-being.
Currently, more than six thousand scientific studies published in the medical and scientific literature around the world attest to meditation’s capacity to positively affect physical and psychological health and well-being. Little wonder then that it has enjoyed such a rise in popularity as a self-help technique! When coupled with dietary considerations and active efforts to utilize the benefits of positive thinking, it forms the pillars upon which to build our capacity for healing and total health.
In the past, meditation has been used by most major religions as one part of a complex process intended for developing a heightened level of consciousness. Today the word “meditation” is used to describe many different processes. The specific form of meditation that interests us here, with its emphasis on being used as a therapy, relies on learning how to relax profoundly in body and mind. We call it mindfulness-based stillness meditation (MBSM). This form of meditation is disarmingly simple to learn and apply in our daily life, and has played a major part in transforming the health and lives of many people I have known.
My initial introduction to this form of meditation, and its therapeutic application, came through the great Australian psychiatrist Dr. Ainslie Meares. Interested in pain management, Dr. Meares first became interested in meditation as a means to relieve pain. However, he soon realized meditation had much more to offer and he began to experiment with meditation as a means for helping people to cope with anxiety and stress-related symptoms such as phobias, high blood pressure, allergies, nervous tension and pain intolerance. Then he wrote the world’s first book on the therapeutic benefits of meditation, Relief Without Drugs, in 1967.
One of Dr. Meares’ major contributions has been that he recognized the importance of stillness. A still mind, in a still body. He suggested that in this stillness, the body has the opportunity to return to its natural state of balance. He also observed that when meditation was practiced regularly, this refound state of balance persists throughout the day, helping the person to return automatically to that condition of balance we call health! Just as a cut finger heals itself automatically without us dwelling upon it, so meditation can reactivate natural healing mechanisms that operate automatically and have profound effects. It is to his great credit that Dr. Meares was able to perceive this and then devise a simple and quick technique that leads to that point of stillness and balance without, say, twenty years of rigorous concentrated study and practice of Zen discipline.
To understand why meditation is so helpful for so many health conditions, and for cancer specifically, we need to understand the role stress plays in our lives, in our health, and in our capacity to heal. This will then provide us with vital clues as we plan our self-help program.
Meditation, Stress, Anxiety and Relief
To understand how stress does affect us, let us look at the simple case of what happens when we get a sudden fright. Suppose that a bolt of lightning were to hit the ground near where you were standing. Your body would react very quickly, almost instantaneously. With a gasped “Oh!” you instinctively would take a sharp breath in and your muscles would contract with a jerk. Your body chemistry would change almost immediately as an array of hormones was released. Adrenaline would flow and cortisol levels rise. Your heart would race, your blood pressure would increase, and your blood would be diverted to the muscles of action. You would have been readied for immediate action, thanks to the automatic changes produced by what is called the fight-or-flight response. In our example, if you were quick, you may have dove under cover. But then, also quite quickly, you would have realized that the big bang really was just lightning, it had missed you, and everything was all right. “Ah!” would have come the response. The tension would be released and you would relax.
The events in this sequence are very important. The challenge gave rise to a bodily reaction that immediately prepared you for physical action. In the normal course of events, a period of physical activity would follow, which in turn would be completed and be followed by release. The sequence can be summarized:
1. Challenge
2. Bodily reaction with changes in body chemistry
3. Appropriate physical action with a clear beginning and end
4. Release and relax
5. Body chemistry returns to its usual, daily balance
This is a perfectly healthy sequence that was developed in earlier times when life was simpler and very physical in nature. The fight-or-flight response was then, and remains to this day, a vital aid for self-preservation. So if, for example, in older times, a saber-toothed tiger came
