The Science Behind Guided Healing Meditations

Come on a Nature Walk with me, my Friend!

I know that illness, recovery, and recuperation can be a lonely process. That is why, in each meditation, we’ll go for a walk together through the landscape in the photo! We will enjoy a friendly stroll through Nature, including the nature sounds that fit the landscape; water if we are walking by a river, birds if we are strolling through a park or garden, the sound of breeze in the trees if we are in the woods. I wrote each of the guided healing meditations specifically to accompany each Natural Healing View photograph.

Also in the background of each meditation recording is a track of theta waves binaural beats. This encourages deep relaxation and facilitates healing.

My degree is in Holistic Relaxation Therapy, the majority of the courses were on meditation. I’ve been actively involved with the alternative healing community for many years. Many students enjoyed and benefited from the meditation classes I taught through Central Oregon Community College over several years. I also led two semesters of meditation with patients at the Saint Charles Health System medical center and hospital before leaving Bend, Oregon.

Medical science strongly suggests that stress is responsible for 90% of all illness, especially chronic illnesses. Reduce the stress, reduce the illness, get well! It sounds simple but works in so many cases, it’s being taken very seriously these days. It is well documented that meditation reduces stress.

Using Guided Imagery in Healing:

Nature, Mind, and Medicine: A Model for Mind-Body Healing.

OBJECTIVE: The human mind-body possesses a remarkable innate ability to heal. Grounded in the evolutionarily conserved systems of the brain and body, nature appears to function as the fundamental source of wellness along the two vectors of attention and relaxation. Yet, our species is moving away from nature at a time when humanity is just beginning to rediscover its benefits.

CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to natural environments may provide a “window” of healing that can be extended through a continuum of intervention through the use of guided meditation and ultimately hypnotic suggestion. The result may be an improved ability to promote greater executive functioning and more robust immune regulation. The time has come for a more holistic medicine guided by the hand of nature.”

A Systematic Review of Relaxation, Meditation, and Guided Imagery Strategies for Symptom Management in Heart Failure.

CONCLUSIONS: Studies exploring cognitive-behavioral symptom management strategies in heart failure vary in quality and report mixed findings but indicate potential beneficial effects of relaxation, meditation, and guided imagery on heart failure-related symptoms. Future research should test cognitive-behavioral strategies in rigorously designed efficacy trials, using samples selected for their symptom experience, and measure pain, dyspnea, fatigue, and sleep disturbance outcomes with targeted symptom measures.”

Using Relaxation and Guided Imagery to Address Pain, Fatigue, and Sleep Disturbances: A Pilot Study.

FINDINGS: Patients reported a high degree of satisfaction with the relaxation and guided imagery interventions. Patients in the relaxation and guided imagery or combined groups showed a trend toward improvement in fatigue and sleep disturbance scores. Pain remained a problem for the majority of patients. Difficulties in recruiting participants resulted in an insufficient sample size for generalizable findings. With hospital environments tending to be noisy, relaxation and guided imagery may facilitate rest and sleep for hospitalized patients. An examination of individual scores showed a trend toward improvement in sleep quality.”

Meditation Can Change Your Brain for Better and Longer…

A report including links to several studies on meditations compiled by Kevin W Chen, Ph.D.

(For the record, this link goes to Yang Sheng Magazine on which I served as Editor in Chief for two years, 2013-2015)