Borysenko Joan - The Power of the Mind to Heal

The Power
of the Mind
to Heal

BOOKS, AUDIOS, AND MORE BY JOAN Z. BORYSENKO, PH.D.

Books

Inner Peace for Busy Women

Inner Peace for Busy People

Minding the Body, Mending the Mind

7 Paths to God: The Ways of the Mystic

Guilt Is the Teacher, Love Is the Lesson

On Wings of Light: Meditations for Awakening to the Source

Fire in the Soul: A New Psychology of Spiritual Optimism

A Woman's Book of Life: The Biology, Psychology and

Spirituality of the Feminine Lifecyle

Audio Programs Hay House

Inner Peace for Busy Women (abridged audio book)

Inner Peace for Busy People (abridged audio book)

Meditations for Relaxation and Stress Reduction

Meditations for Self-Healing and Inner Power

Meditation on Invocation of the Angels

Meditation on Lovingkindness and Compassion

Minding the Body, Mending the Mind (4-tae set)

Healing and Spirituality: The Sacred Quest for Transformation of Body and Soul

Other Audio Programs

The Power of the Mind to Heal (Nightingale-Conant)

Seventy Times Seven: On the Spiritual Art of Forgiveness (Sounds True)

Videos

Inner Peace for Busy People: Simple Strategies for Transforming Your Life

The Power of the Mind to Heal

Copyright 1994 by Joan Borysenko and Miroslav Borysenko

Published and distributed in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published and distributed in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published and distributed in the Republic of South Africa by: Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd.: orders@psdprom.co.za Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast: www.raincoast.com Published in India by: Hay House Publications (India) Pvt. Ltd.: www.hayhouseindia.co.in Distributed in India by: Media Star: booksdivision@mediastar.co.in

Edited by: Jill Kramer

Designed by: Christy Salinas

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording, nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews without prior written permission of the publisher.

The authors of this book do not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the authors is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional well-being and good health. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the authors and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Borysenko, Joan

The power of the mind to heal Joan Borysenko and

Miroslav Borysenko.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 1-56170-144-0 : $12.00

1. Mental healing. 2. Mind and body. 3. Medicine, Psychosomatic.

I. Borysenko, Miroslav. II. Title.

RZ401.B7325 1994

615.8'52--dc20 94-31668

CIP

ISBN 1-56170-144-0

09 08 07 06 11 10 9 8

First Printing Hardcover Edition, October 1994

Second Printing (First Tradepaper Edition), September 1995

8th Printing, July 2006

Printed in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to the ones we love.

W e hold this manuscript in heart and hand and give profound thanks to one another for the patience to stay in a relationship for 23 years. Early in our marriage, a spiritual teacher, Reverend Chris Williamson, reminded us that those who wish to make quick spiritual progress don't retire to monasteries, they get into relationships! We thank each other for what we have learned about love, and thus about healing, through the commitment we have made to one another and to our children.

Thanks to Georgene Cevasco of the Nightingale-Conant company, Joan's producer for the audiocassette program The Power of the Mind to Heal, which was the seed from which this book flowered.

Thanks to those who mentored us. Miroslav (Miron) wishes to thank the late Professor William Hildemann, who taught self-respect and kindness, as well as immunology. Other mentors have been Herbert Benson, M.D., who provided the space and interest for both our research in psychoneuroimmunology and Joan's clinical training in behavioral medicine; Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., whose Relaxation and Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center was an inspiration and early model for the Mind/Body Clinic that Joan co-founded with Drs. Ilan Kutz and Herbert Benson; Stephen Maurer, M.A., who added so much to both the Mind/Body program and to my life; David McClelland, Ph.D., whose lively mind was always thinking up the next experiment; Robin Casarjian, M.A., whose teachings on love and forgiveness have been a personal as well as a professional blessing to us both; Rick Ingrasci, M.D., who taught us the power of community healing circles; Sogyal Rinpoche, who re-inspired our meditation practice; Elizabeth Lawrence, M.A., whose Mari-El healing work was very instructive and of great help; Joan Drescher, who taught us so much about beauty and healing; and Rachel Naomi Remen, who has always been both an inspiration and a friend. Our work is very broad-based and synthetic, resting on the shoulders of other colleagues too numerous to mention here. Either you have been cited in the text or you know who you are. Thank you for providing the scaffolding on which we have been privileged to build.

A super-special thanks to our dear friends and colleagues, Barbara Dossey, R.N., and Larry Dossey, M.D. Sometimes we think there is only one of us, occupying four bodies. Larry's work has been an enormous influence and framework for our thinking. Surely he has one of the brightest minds and warmest hearts of our times. Barbie's work on ritual and healing is also exceptional, as is their loving relationship, which continues to inspire our own.

Thanks, too, for the support of the friends who have shared our interest in mind/healing and spiritual growth, taught us new things, and loved us both individually and as a couple: Celia Thaxter Hubbard (a.k.a. Mother Goose), Peggy Taylor, Alan Shackelford, Ursula Reich-Henbest, Loretta and Bob LaRoche, Olivia Hoblitzelle, Roger Paine, Rima Lurie, Kristi Jorde, Rodrigo Rocha, Carolina Clarke, and Renee Summers.

Our children, too, have been wonderful teachers and great friends. Thank you Natalia, Justin, and Andrei. Living in an extended family with Natalia, her husband Shawn Harvey, and their son (yes, we're grandparents!) Aleksandr has brought the psychological construct of social support to a very real level. We should all be so fortunate.

We wish to express our deepest gratitude to the people we have been privileged to work with over the years, Joan's clients, and the participants in our workshops. We have learned a great deal from many of you. The stories of clients and friends whose names appear in quotation marks have been changed to protect their anonymity, as have any identifying aspects of their stories. At times, the stories of several people have been combined into a representative composite.