Tag Archives: religion

Oprah Interviews Dr. Eben Alexander

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Today’s News&Culture update: For those of you who have been following the buzz on Dr. Eben Alexander’s New York Times best-seller, “Proof of Heaven” you won’t want to miss this hour-long interview with Oprah Winfrey on her Super-Soul Sunday series.

Neurosurgeon Dr. Alexander’s ideas and book have been featured on this blog several times in recent weeks. He came back from a coma and life-threatening disease with a new understanding of life, health, consciousness and faith.

Perhaps you’ll be as interested as I was in his answer to Oprah’s question, “Did you see the face of God?” He explains his understanding that God isn’t a person–a he or a she–but an Continue reading →

Prayer + Healthcare = Benefits

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The following guest blog is written by my friend, Steve Graham. Much of his career as an editor has been centered on spiritual reporting. He writes from his home in Natick, MA.

The National Institute for Healthcare Research has joined the crowd. According to an article by WebMD, the NIH “refused to even review a study with the word prayer in it four years ago.”  But that has recently changed. For the first time the private nonprofit agency funded a study on prayer and healing.

Overall, research on the effectiveness of prayer in healing illnesses has seen a twofold increase over the past decade, says WebMD.

The article tells about one cardiovascular specialist at Duke University School of Medicine, Mitchell Krucoff, MD, who has been studying prayer and spirituality for 15 years. He explains that early studies were anecdotal, “small and often flawed.” But that these days “we’re seeing systematic investigations—clinical research—as well as position statements from professional societies supporting this research, federal subsidies from the NIH, funding from Congress.”

More to the point, Krucoff goes on to say that “all of these studies, all the reports, are remarkably consistent in suggesting the potential measurable health benefit associated with prayer or spiritual interventions.” Continue reading →

A Smile a Minute

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Here’s one of my first blog entries that I wrote back in April. Enjoy the second round!

Perhaps the simplest remedy for an ailment is right under your nose: A good laugh.

“Safer than any big pharma pill-of-the-moment and free of harmful side effects, laughter is one of the easiest things you can do to promote healing and well-being,” writes Dr. Frank Lipman in his recent HuffPost blog Comic Relief: The Healing Power of Laughter. He goes on to say that in his 20-year medical practice patients who tended to laugh a lot also tended to heal “better and faster than those who didn’t.” Continue reading →

BYOF: Bring your own fun

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Today’s guest blog is written by Dawn-Marie Cornett, community-involved mom of three and Christian Science practitioner from Framingham, Massachusetts.

Proms, graduations, weekend parties, the beginning of summer. For some, all these events add up to one thing: booze!

Ads on TV, the radio, and even on Pandora all tell us it’s the season to drink. But what does this mean for an adolescent’s and teen’s physical and emotional health? Continue reading →

Your thought goes a long way

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Today’s News & Culture update: A look at the power of thought and prayer in treating cancer, as well as the ethical side of placebo treatment. Below are excerpts with links to read the full articles. These ideas/findings are significant and point to the changes taking place regarding healthcare.

I think it’s also heartening to take it a step beyond the human mind with the knowledge that there is one infinite, divine Mind controlling our thought and action and that “The human thought must free itself from self-imposed materiality and bondage” since ultimately “mortal mind so-called is not a healer, but causes the belief in disease” (see Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 191 and 482)

The Human Mind: One of the Best Treatments for Cancer?

“After many grueling hours of treatment, numerous trips to the doctor’s office, and thousands of dollars spent on medication, many patients are still left battling for their lives. So what else can they do? Where else can they look? The answer might be closer Continue reading →

When prayer meets health care

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This week’s guest blog is written by Dawn-Marie Cornett, community-involved mom of three and Christian Science practitioner from Framingham, Massachusetts.

After my second child was born, there was a complication with me. My doctor went to get a surgeon, but the doctor in residence who had also attended the birth stayed behind. He knew my husband and I were Christian Scientists and that we would be praying for healing. He asked if he could say a prayer for us as well. Continue reading →

The road I travel

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Today’s guest blog is written by Amy Richmond, blogger, full-time mom, and managing editor of Time4Thinkers.com. Her story points to the vital role consciousness and prayer plays in finding a more permanent solution to health.

For illustrative purposes only. ThinkStock

When my daughter was a toddler, we enrolled in mommy/daughter classes.  She loved them.  I did too.  She had fun.  I got sick.  Over and over again.

I was warned by my friends that kids with runny noses in play groups spread viruses faster than bunnies have babies.  And I experienced it first-hand.

At that time I had two methods of caring for my health. Sometimes I turned to prayer and other times I reached for some medicine.  I got better via both methods, but I wasn’t really invested in either one. I looked to one or the other when I felt miserable and wanted some relief. Continue reading →

What’s your take on the healthcare debate?

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United States Supreme Court. ThinkStock Images

I’m interested in the healthcare reform debate. A lot of people are, for a lot of different reasons.

I’m not a lawyer, a judge, or a politician. But I am a healthcare professional–only not in the traditional sense. I’m a practitioner of Christian Science, which is a metaphysical, prayer-based method of treatment many consider to be “alternative care” and it isn’t included in typical health insurance packages.

This past week I attended a mock debate at Harvard Business School centered on the recent Supreme Court arguments on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA.

Continue reading →

A smile a minute

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Perhaps the simplest remedy for an ailment is right under your nose: A good laugh. ”

Safer than any big pharma pill-of-the-moment and free of harmful side effects, laughter is one of the easiest things you can do to promote healing and well-being,” writes Dr. Frank Lipman in his recent HuffPost blog Comic Relief: The Healing Power of Laughter. He goes on to say that in his 20-year medical practice patients who tended to laugh a lot also tended to heal “better and faster than those who didn’t.”

Continue reading →

Hands-on, hands-off

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Tuesday’s post will be a current news and culture item related to spirituality and healing.

Here’s a recent article from the Tri-City Weekly in the San Francisco Bay Area–the first of a two-part series examining different approaches to healing. The author states that “for many people, faith and prayer are meaningful and essential components of healing.”

She explores the varied and unique ways people approach healing, including a church service that combined laying on of hands with audible and silent prayer, as well as the Christian Science approach, which is “hands-on” but not in the literal sense since it can take place from anywhere, including via Skype, email, text, or over the phone.

You’ll want to read the whole article at the below link, but I provided the first few sentences to get you started.
Healing: many approaches, individual choices

On a recent Tuesday evening, a group of eight gathered at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Arcata for the weekly healing service. Some started trickling in around 5 p.m. for a half-hour of prayer or meditation. The lighting was dim, the atmosphere serene. Except for the occasionally opening door and the footsteps of those periodically arriving, there was complete silence; the sounds seemed an unusually loud intrusion into the quiet . . .