Mental Imagery and Mind-Body Medicine

Madame Colette
Aboulker-Muscat
(1909-2003),
practiced and taught
integrative mind-body
medicine for seventy
years.

There is no point where mind stops and body begins. Every cell in our body has receptors for neurohormones which are released as a result of mind events.1,2 From skin to bone marrow we are affected by our state of mind.3,4,5 My teacher of mind-body medicine—Colette Aboulker-Muscat said that our bodies are our “embodied thoughts, sensations, images...”

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Hippocrates said "Tell me not what disease the patient has, but what patient has a disease." The root of the same disease can be quite different in each person. In addition to nature (heredity), and nurture (environment) the key to an illness may often be found in unresolved mental or emotional issues that we are facing or are unwilling to face. From the point of view of mind-body medicine, chance does not exist, disease is not a random occurrence but an expression of an imbalance in our relationship to the world.

Mind-Body Medicine is an approach to health and illness that significantly differs from the conventional medical perspective. Mind and body inseparability is seen not as an abstraction or symbolism, but as a concrete expression of humanness. Thus mind does not end in the brain and body at the skin boundary. Rather each one is a way or a mode of human existing. The mind is bound only by the boundaries of its beliefs, extending in time and space according to the significance we give to the time (past, present, and future) and space (near or far, closed or open) of the people and events we encounter. The body is far more than the sum of its measurable characteristics. Each body part or organ system is an embodiment of its essence, or a bodily mode of existence of a human being. This brings us to the foundation of mind-body medicine of the Mediterranean region. It was originated and sustained by the healing and spiritual traditions of the Mediterranean area (ancient Egypt, Israel, Greece, the mystical and healing traditions of Egyptian and Greek polytheism, and the monotheistic tradition of Judaism, Christianity and Islam).

This medicine is unitary, analogical, acausal, and spiritually-oriented. It is unitary because all ways of being (sick and healthy) are seen as an expression on one thing, no matter how limited or warped this expression may be—it is an expression of the human way of being. This medicine is analogical because instead of looking for causal sequences it looks for correlations or analogy. It asks a question: in what way the person’s way of suffering analogous to his way of dealing with the world, to his existence. Existence is defined in the way described by the Swiss existential philosopher and psychiatrist Medard Boss.6 It is a double function of the person’s perceptive openness (what the person is open and closed to, what they allow to come into their world) and the way the person responds to that which they allow into their world.

For the same reasons this medicine is acausal. All that is observed, regardless of the order in the sequence of events, is an effect. This will become clearer when we look at the diagram in which I attempted to summarize and describe the nature of health, illness, human being and, I dare say, God.

This medical approach is spiritually-based, because infinity and eternity are recognized as an inherent nature, or at least an inherent potential of every human being. It is leaping into spirit that allows one to experience these aspects of reality.
See my diagram to learn about the foundations of Mind-Body medicine—the type of medicine that uses the tools described below.
An example can help understand how our way of existing can be embodied in the whole or parts of our bodies, and how such embodiments are only various expressions (the form) of the unlimited human being (essence, idea, function) that we really are. Teeth, for instance, help us bite into and fragment food into assimilable, digestible substance from which we derive energy. They help us to gain control and turn what presents itself as a potential food into actual food. They help us turn a raw material into that which can be digested. One could understand the essence of teeth as seizing, gripping (incisors and canines) and subjugating (molars).

When one’s usual methods of gaining control or dominion over (or understanding) of the world begin to fail we’ll often experience a dream of losing teeth. If such a situation remains unresolved over a long period of time—one may develop a physical problem involving teeth (mineral level from the diagram), if one isn’t aware of this issue on higher levels of awareness (on the diagram lower to higher is presented from left to right, with the exception of the dream/image level which can span and overlap all levels). From the point of view of mind-body medicine, it is these (among several other) non-random differences that determine why two people in similar environments have different health outcomes. Why one of the smoking identical twins would get lung cancer and the other wouldn’t.
The mental-emotional-social-moral-spiritual issues are not the only culprits, though they are the most common ones. Environmental factors (most of which are recognized as such by the conventional medical system), such as nutritional imbalance (an unhealthy diet) and environmental toxins (such as smoking, getting lots of radiation from CAT scans, nuclear scans, and X-rays, and living next to high voltage power lines) certainly make an important contribution.
To sum up, here, the essence of gripping into and gaining control of the new potential food exists at the level of the physical body as teeth and on other level, perhaps, can be called “toothness.” When one’s existence is figuratively confronted with the food that is too hard to chew, too hard to turn into actual food, it can become manifest or embodied into a disorder of teeth. One is not the cause of the other, the two occur simultaneously, though the physical takes longer to unfold and usually seems to lag behind within out time-bound existence. The physical manifests itself later in time because of the inherent inertia and density of physical matter.

The level of manifestation (mineral, vegetable, animal, etc.) is usually determined by our degree of awareness of the issue.
In this Mind-Body approach all events are recognized as being rich in meaning, the meaning that can often be discovered phenomenologically, that is by allowing the phenomenon (that which presents itself) to speak for itself. In this way each body part can be seen as a bodily expression of who and what we are. The hands turned into claws by a long standing severe arthritis may tell us something about out relationship to holding on and not letting go. High blood pressure may be expressing our state of tension, or a compressed existence with a restricted possibility of expressing oneself. Diabetes may be body’s way of expressing bitterness and resentment, as one becomes sick from taking sweets. In diabetes body develops insulin resistance and inability to assimilate sugar from the blood stream, high levels of unmetabolized sugar damage blood vessels in the body leading to a variety of complications; it is body’s way of rejecting sweetness and staying bitter. Heart disease may be an embodiment of a heart-break, eating one’s heart out, disappointed love relationship or hate relationship.

Mental techniques that can correct the imbalances and reverse the inner movement that has led to them, have existed for thousands of years . These techniques are applied to permit healing (which is always physical and mental at the same time), to reach one’s best potential, and leap beyond the usual human boundaries.

My work involves the use of creative imagination, including:

  1. Short guided mental imagery exercises (see a more detailed explanation below);
  2. Phenomenological work with night dreams (dreams show what has brought us to our present situation and a direction we are taking for the future. Dream work (mental exercises with dreams) can be used to effect immadiate and long term changes of our experience in life);
  3. Waking dream therapy (a therapeutic process for a deeper inner exploration, healing, and personal growth);
  4. Use of voluntary will to change the course of one’s health by bringing one into balance through reversing of unhealthy habits and by gaining greater freedom through unconditional action (faith), unconditional feeling (love), unconditional thinking (intuition), and unconditional language (image).
  5. I also use an understanding of facial and body morphology to guide my diagnostic and therapeutic approach. Morphology, although virtually unheard of in the US, is taught in the European medical schools. Our external form (the shape of the face and profile, facial features and body type) all are a reflection of our way of existing.

This work focuses on the way we exist in the world (as opposed to the chemo-physical mechanisms of illness). Changes in the our body and the way we feel and think may happen as a reflection of a reflection of the movement or change at the level of the Mental Image. Mental techniques that involve the use of guided imagery with a particular breathing pattern serve as a catalyst that sparks this change. Image is the universal language of the mind. Mental imagery is a technique that uses mental images for healing. It can help us connect with unlimited resources that are available to us to tap into and learn from. Appropriately selected mental images have the capacity to change our reality.

Health is the measure of the amount of energy an organism has available to cope with the environment. It is recognized as the freedom for growth and fulfillment of potentialities (to be grown up is defined by Dr. Medard Boss as accepting and fulfilling possibilities of life, freely and responsibly). It is seen as a state of constant change that occurs without resistance (freely), without a conflicts, and with a capacity for ceaseless integration of the experience into the wholeness and harmony of being. It can be compared with a river that accepts incoming springs without resistance, plunges into the ocean without fear, to be brought up to the heavens by the heat of the sun to descend into the ground waters and turn into a mountain spring again. This cycle freely spans heaven and earth.

Harmony is present when there is balance. Change occurs when the movement is free from restrictions and resistance. Balance and freedom make wholeness possible. Wholeness is health. This is the reason that the words health, heal, whole, wholesome, holy, and hale all come from the same root. To be whole is to be one, not fragmented into a number of conflicted selves.

Mind has a lot more freedom and plasticity than matter, a belief can be changed in an instant unfolding into a change of experience. One true freedom that we have is the freedom to change our beliefs. By experiencing and experimenting with this freedom we have a possibility of changing ourselves and the world.

Disease can occurs when our energy has been depleted by a repeated assault, as a reflection of an imbalance or a conflict. It is a restriction of freedom of fulfilling our existential possibilities. A physical symptom, a distressing thought, an addictive craving can be a way that our mind and body express the dis-ease of physical, emotional, mental, social, moral, or spiritual imbalance. The development of a disease usually follows the following pattern. Everything starts from our perceptive openness, or attunement, or a belief system that is restrictive toward a certain experience. This brings a conflict whenever such experience is encountered. This conflict is expressed in various ways. It can be expressed in a fist fight, in a hostile or anxious thinking, or in the body, as a bodily dis-ease. See the diagram for more information.

Mental Imagery works by reversing the inner habitual tendencies that lead to an imbalance and by resolving the opposites that lead to conflict. It offers freedom by showing the possibilities that imagination can bring. It brings integration when it is used to resolve conflicts between polar opposites, by reaching the level that goes beyond duality. Mental imagery as a form of thought can be used to create new beliefs and new reality (physical and mental at the same time). An appropriate mental imagery exercise delivers a micro-shock by resonating with a deeply held belief. In this way it created movement where there was stagnation. A well selected image is can mobilize one’s reserves and serve as a catalyst for integration. As with any form of therapy, for best results mental images need to be individualized, or selected in accordance with individual needs. Nevertheless, many general imagery exercises can be helpful for anyone living within a similar cultural, psychosocial and physical environment. You can find a number of general imagery exercises on Dr. Epstein’s web site. To see technical instructions on how mental imagery exercises are done click here.

Dreamwork is a process that helps us understand the meaning of a dream, and to use it for healing and personal growth. Dreams are understood by analogy. A dream is a mirror of our existence. Every person, physical, or natural events are the aspects of yourself. Numbers, colors, and directions in space are important. A dream is a mirror of our inner being, by looking at a dream (as if in a mirror) we are exploring the depths and the heights of ourselves. Analogy is sought between the content of the dream and that of the waking life. It is similar to the way that biblical Jacob and Daniel approached dreams. Mental techniques can be used to gain a better understanding of dreams and to effect therapeutic changes.

Voluntary will alone, given intention and direction is a powerful healing tool. Both active and passive aspects of will can be used for therapeutic purposes. Passive includes various stopping exercises whereby one is directed on how to stop a habitual patterns of thinking, feeling, or behaving. Stopping the false sense of emergency is probably of the highest yield. Whenever you feel any distressing emotion, or have a distressing thought, ask yourself, is my life truly at stake at this very moment. If the answer is no (which is almost always the case) say to yourself—this is a false emergency, it has no value. Your body will reflect your thoughts and your distress will diminish. It is as simple as that.

The active use of will involves initiating a course of action that is opposite to the habitual. Gaining freedom though unconditional action (instead of the usual if...then thinking). Changing the act—feel—think sequence to think—feel—act, where mental imagery is used as a way of thinking.

The roots of this work are in western spiritual tradition (ancient Egypt, Judaism, Christianity, Islam). There are practitioners of this work in US, Canada, France, Israel and probably in other countries. One of Madam Aboulker’s students—Dr. Gerald N. Epstein, has published several books on the subject in the US. Healing Visualizations is the most known. Dr. Epstein also organized a learning center of this work—American Institute of Mental Imagery (AIMI). AIMI is a New York State Board of Regents provisionally chartered post graduate training institute for health care practitioners. Premised on the intrinsic unity between mind and body, the courses lead to certification in Mental Imagery, Phenomenology and Imagination.

You can find more information on Dr. Epstein’s web site, and on the web site of my uncle (also Madam Aboulker’s student), Dr. Peter Reznik.

References:

  1. Williams RB Jr et al. Biobehavioral basis of coronary-prone behavior in middle-aged men. Psychosomatic Medicine. 53(5):517-27, 1991 Sep-Oct.
  2. Zukowska Z. Pons J. Lee EW. Li L. Neuropeptide Y: a new mediator linking sympathetic nerves, blood vessels and immune system? Canadian Journal of Physiology & Pharmacology. 81(2):89-94, 2003 Feb.
  3. Howlett S. Emotional dysfunction, child-family relationships and childhood atopic dermatitis. British Journal of Dermatology. 140(3):381-4, 1999 Mar.
  4. Molassiotis A. et al. Symptom distress, coping style and biological variables as predictors of survival after bone marrow transplantation. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 42(3):275-85, 1997 Mar.
  5. Kiecolt-Glaser JK et al. Hostile Marital Interactions, Proinflammatory Cytokine Production, and Wound Healing. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005;62:1377-1384. Abstracted in MedPage Today.
  6. Boss, Medard. Existential Foundations of Medicine and Psychology. Jason Aronson Inc. 1994.