Dangers of Kundalini Yoga

Kundalini yoga is particular path of yoga, which amongst other things can offer a seeker tremendous occult power. Kundalini yoga seeks to open up the different charkas or energy centres. If an aspirant is successful he will be able to have access to these yogic powers.

Kundalini yoga is particular path of yoga, which amongst other things can offer a seeker tremendous occult power. Kundalini yoga seeks to open up the different charkas or energy centres. If an aspirant is successful he will be able to have access to these yogic powers.

The first danger of awakening the Kundalini powers is that they can be easily misused. If we open our third eye it is possible to read others thoughts and have a glimpse into the future. However this power can be easily misused, we may start to look at what people are thinking about, rather than using it for divine purposes we will use it for our own egoist uses. If we do not have purity and genuine aspiration, gaining occult powers, may just give us a tremendous sense of pride. We would enjoy showing off to other people. By doing this we do not gain any divine qualities of peace and inner happiness. When we feed the ego we become proud and this can easily lead to our downfall.

With Kundalini powers we may get distracted from our most important task of self-realisation. Outer miracles and occult powers, which come from Kundalini yoga, do not help in anyway in our spiritual path of self-discovery. To achieve lasting peace, joy and inner happiness we need to conquer the ego and learn to communicate with God, our own soul. If we only desire occult powers it will slowdown and possibly hamper our spiritual growth. For a real spiritual Master who has realised the highest consciousness the Kundalini powers often come spontaneously. However they rarely use them outwardly because they know they have little capacity to effect the transformation of man’s nature. To inspire aspirants to pursue a more spiritual life what is needed is inner spiritual realisation and not outer shows of miraculous powers.

As Sri Chinmoy says:
“Even if we use Kundalini powers for the right purpose, we won't be able to offer infinite Peace, infinite Bliss, infinite Light that way. No matter how many miracles we show, the person who sees them will be pleased for only five minutes and then he will be jealous because he does not have this power.”

There is a danger in Kundalini yoga we will waste our time. There is a good traditional Indian story, which helps illustrate this point. There were 2 brothers who were practising the spiritual life. One brother decided he would go away to practise severe austerities so he may be able to gain his Kundalini powers. After 12 years of intense practise he came back to his village. He wanted to show his brother his newly gained powers so he walked across the water on a river. His brother simply paid a boatman 1 rupee and joined his brother on the other side. On getting to the other bank the brother said. “Why have you wasted 12 years to do something which I can do for just 1 rupee.?” The other brother realised he had been foolish and not made any real spiritual progress in seeking after occult powers.

To practise kundalini yoga we need to have purity in our mind and vital. If we still cherish worldly thoughts and try to open up our energy centres it will cause tremendous confusion and our efforts will be wasted, as our energy will be directed downwards rather than upwards. If we really want to practise Kundalini yoga the best approach is to meditate and concentrate on the heart. It is in the heart where we will feel purity in abundant measure.

Sri Chinmoy suggests:
“If you wish to follow the path of kundalini, my humble advice to you is to first try to awaken the heart centre. The heart centre is considerably pure. The vital or disturbing emotions will be purified by the opening of this centre.”

We should also follow the path of Kundalini yoga under the guidance of a qualified spiritual teacher. When studying Kundalini yoga we should maintain an attitude of genuine sincerity and reverence.

Richard is a meditation student of Sri Chinmoy who lives in Oxford and writes on spirituality and yoga.

Walking Meditation

Walking meditation is a type of dynamic or active meditation, which means meditation in action.Walking meditation is a type of meditation exercise where the meditators slowly walk a set path and observe the entire act of walking with complete awareness of the whole body and each step taken along with maintaining a link with breathing. Walking meditation is a type of dynamic or active meditation, which means meditation in action.

Walking meditation is a type of meditation exercise where the meditators slowly walk a set path and observe the entire act of walking with complete awareness of the whole body and each step taken along with maintaining a link with breathing. It is recommended to choose a fixed walking path that can be circular or quadrangular so that meditators do not have to worry about where they are going and can give complete attention to on the act of walking.

The focus in walking meditation is to become aware and mindful of the entire experience of walking. The several different types of walking meditations are based on the way in which walking meditators meditate.

The most popular and effective walking meditation is where meditators watch all their movements frame by frame and as closely as a camera would capture them. Another way of carrying out a walking meditation is to practice it as a variation of Vipassana Meditation, which was introduced by Gautama Buddha. Walking in Vipassana requires the mediators to pay attention to the contact of each foot as it touches the ground. Other obstacles such as thoughts or traffic faced in the course of meditation are simply to be noticed and observed, and then the mediators can redirect their attention gently to the walk. Walking in Vipassana is similar to sitting Vipassana meditation but the movement is helpful for some and can be a welcome change.

Walking meditation creates awareness among the meditators regarding outside objects such as objects they might trip over or other people that they might walk into. Other external influences such as wind, sun, rain, and the sounds of nature, humans and machines also help increase the awareness of surroundings and the Self. Walking meditation is also more effective as it is easier for most people to be more intensely and more easily aware of their bodies while walking, as compared to sitting.

Meditation provides detailed information on Meditation, Meditation Techniques, Transcendental Meditation, Guided Meditation and more. Meditation is affiliated with Tai Chi Videos.
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Meditation's Ground Zero – Lak Tam

Lak Tam involves more than practicing meditation twenty minutes a day to unwind after work. A commitment of months, perhaps years, of solitary, intense practice is involved. Lak Tam (luk tum) is a Thai phrase used by meditation teachers (Ajahns) to describe a stable semi-Samadhi.

Lak Tam involves more than practicing meditation twenty minutes a day to unwind after work. A commitment of months, perhaps years, of solitary, intense practice is involved. Lak Tam (luk tum) is a Thai phrase used by meditation teachers (Ajahns) to describe a stable semi-Samadhi. Lak Tam is what meditators squirrel themselves away for long periods of time to attain. Lak Tam creates permanent shifts in consciousness that enlightened beings and seekers have experienced throughout the ages, and not only affects the practitioner’s destiny in this lifetime, but in the next world as well. Lak Tam will cut through much of your confusion quickly, but few have the courage, or are willing to take the time, to discover its significance.

Appearances can be deceiving; a meditator looks to be asleep, with nothing happening, but in truth, everything is happening. It is just occurring at deep levels and not apparent to an unrefined mind. A meditator will tell you that the more familiar he or she becomes with Lak Tam, the more interesting it becomes, but the more familiar she become with the world, the more contemptible it becomes.

Let me assure you that if you ever feel inclined to pursue Lak Tam, sincere effort will bring results in many ways. You will find yourself being less confused and angry. Your attitude toward others will be more cooperative and less competitive, and your inclination to attach and cling to harmful things will decrease while there will be less aversion and a natural openness toward things that inspire.

Desires will be less lustful and you will be less conceited. You will become less cynical and skeptical, as your concerns of being lied to vanish, simply because you will see through each lie, leaving you with a feeling of compassion for those who are so confused, insecure, and fearful that they are forced into deception. Your restlessness and sadness will subside as energy levels increase, and as you become more sensitive to unkind acts, you will begin to understand the far-reaching results of those actions, and how they affect you, as well as everybody you touch.

The worries over your failures in the world and concerns over such things as your demise, or separation from family and friends will become less of a burden, and your sorrow will diminish appreciably. Physical and mental pain will largely cease, as your understanding of the common characteristics of existence – impermanence, discontent and no self deepens.

Most Westerners practice meditation to augment their busy lifestyles. Lak Tam is not like that. Lak Tam requires complete devotion for an extended period of time in order to sustain a semi-state of Samadhi. Samadhi is initially attained in sitting meditation, then in walking meditation, and finally 24/7 as a semi-state of Samadhi, as the meditator goes about his or her daily routine. This requires a controlled environment initially, supportive of sustaining a semi-Samadhi constantly.

After sustaining this state for some time, permanent shifts in consciousness occur where the meditator can sustain semi-Samadhi more easily, until eventually they can sustain it at all times, and under any circumstances. Whatever interests their mind is understood directly by deeper understanding and the resulting actions are in harmony with the situation. Then they can re-enter the world, if they prefer, in order to help others or to perform selfless services without the bother of worldly influences affecting them. Attaining Lak Tam sets them free, and they find themselves living in harmony with others and with the earth with no particular intention to do so; it just happens naturally.

They see and understand things as they really are, and they investigate the things that warrant investigation very seriously, which is to realize the most fundamentalt truths, to grasp the impermanent and imperfect nature of the world, and to understand the law of cause and effect. When they act, they act properly, with love and understanding, yet with wisdom. They act harmlessly, and for the good of all. When they speak, it is not harsh, nor false, it is always friendly and warm, and not malicious or slanderous. They speak gently and do not diparage.

They harm no one, nor do they take what is not offerred or earned. No dishonesty, no dependencies or addictions, no sexual misconduct that could hurt others, and not even any one-upmanship or backbiting. They earn their living in a harmless and helpful manner, not causing any discomfort because of their interactions with others.

They have tremendous energy, but not energy to chase after desires, which fuels ambition and aggressiveness, which can turn into violence. Their actions reflect discipline, staightforwardness, and compassion. Their consciousness is clear and unobstructed, with images not forming to replace the realities they cognize. They are, therefore, not confused by the images of the world, and they act accordingly.

Lak Tam is for those who want to go all the way; it is the pinnacle of perfection. The world and its million pleasures are no more than children’s fairytales, compared to the penetrating insight of Lak Tam.

E. Raymond Rock of Fort Myers, Florida is cofounder and principal teacher at the Southwest Florida Insight Center. His twenty-eight years of Lak Tam experience has taken him across four continents, including two stopovers in Thailand where he practiced in the remote northeast forests as an ordained Theravada Buddhist monk. His book, A Year to Enlightenment (Career Press/New Page Books) is now available at major bookstores and online retailers.
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Tai-Chi and Health

Dr. Boon Hung HONG

Specialist General Surgeon Tai-Chi Master C.A.V

It is said that Tai-Chi martial art was created by Master Zhang Sanfeng more than 800 hundred years ago. Master Zhang, a Taoist, was himself an expert Shao-Lin martial art practitioner. Later in life he retired in seclusion in Wu-Dang Mountains. One day he witnessed a fierce fight between a snake and a crane in his backyard. The cunning snake twisted and hissed, avoiding the powerful speedy attacks by the crane's beak. There was no winner in this battle. From this observation Master Zhang discovered the soft side of martial art. Later on he invented Tai-Chi martial art.

From available historical data, it appears that Tai-Chi was first devised by General ChenWanting,a garrison commander in Wen Xian County, Henan Province some 300 years ago in the late Ming and early Qing dynasty. Chen Wanting is regarded as the creator of the Chen style Tai-Chi Chuan. Later on, Yang Luchan (1799 - 1872) of Hebei Province learned the art of Tai-Chi from Chen Chang-Him (1771 - 1853), a descendant of Chen Wanting at Chen Ja-Gou and devised his own Yang style Tai-Chi of today. In 1852 Yang Luchan brought Tai-Chi Chuan with him to Beijing and thereafter it spread rapidly throughout China. Wu Jianquan (1870 - 1942) a follower of Yang Luchan's disciple later created his own Wu style Tai-Chi Chuan. By late Qing dynasty there were five major styles of Tai-Chi Chuan namely - Chen, Yang, Wu, Wo and Soon.

Shao-Lin martial art is characterised by speedy and powerful punching and jerking movements whereas Tai-Chi concentrates more on defensive, calm inner strength. Tai-Chi, Pa Kua and Hin Yi (martial arts) are commonly grouped together as soft styles of martial art.

Tai-Chi martial art consists of a set of floor exercises, pushing hand, Qi-quong (a system of Taoist breathing exercise) and weaponry skills. Its practice is quite different from other types of martial art. It is undeniable that Tai-Chi exercises can improve health. It was claimed that Tai-Chi could cure tuberculosis, arthritis, and various diseases. These statements were made without scientific proof. From physiological and mechanical points of view Tai-Chi exercises can help to improve and regulate the function of various systems in our body in the following ways:-

a) Improving the cardiovascular system.

Tai-Chi floor exercises consist of a set of slow continuous flowing movements. The body posture and balance are maintained throughout the whole set of exercises. Upper limb and lower limb movements are co-ordinated and relaxed. The movements look like flowing water in the river without stopping. There are no sudden jerking movements. This enables the heart to beat at a constant and steady rate which in turn improves the blood circulation to vital organs, encouraging cellular metabolism. The cardiac muscle also receives constant blood flow and oxygen supply, therefore improving its function. Theoretically Tai-Chi is an excellent exercise for sufferers of angina pectoris and those with atherosclerosis.

A recent study in our group at CAV showed that during Tai-Chi exercises the level of urinary catecholamine was lower than in the control group. The blood pressure of the practitioners fell slightly during exercises. Tai-Chi could help to control hypertension (high blood pressure). However, more studies are needed to elaborate on this.

b) Increasing the vital capacity and therefore lung function.

Tai-Chi flow movements are graceful, continuous, relaxed and gentle, like swimming on land. Deep-breathing exercises co-ordinate with limb movements. Diaphragmatic muscles contract and relax in conduction with abdominal muscles. The Chinese description that there is air descending to the pelvic abdomen scientifically is merely part of diaphragmatic breathing with relaxation and strengthening of lower abdominal muscles to accommodate the descending intestines. Tai-Chi adopts the Taoist breathing technique which needs special training and instruction. After prolonged practice the lung's vital capacity will increase which helps to improve lung function. After completion of the whole set of floor exercises one would perspire profusely with a warm feeling in the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. Yet there is no shortness of breath or puffing unlike during other martial arts. This is an excellent exercise for asthmatic and bronchitic patients.

c) Helping the digestive system.

Like swimming, one should not practise Tai-Chi shortly after meals. In Tai-Chi QiGong there is constant diaphragmatic and abdominal muscular contraction and relaxation at a slow pace. Unconsciously it encourages blood circulation to the digestive system. Tai-Chi cannot cure peptic ulcer. It certainly can help to reduce the ulcer pain. During the exercise one must physically concentrate, and the mind needs to be relaxed. This unconsciously reduces excessive gastric acid secretion (cephalic phase of vagal stimulation).

d) Improving lumbar back and central nervous system function.

The ten commandments of Yan Chen-fu (1 883 - 1936), grandson of Master Yan Luchan (1799 - 1872), the. grandmaster of our style of Tai-Chi, were regarded as Tai-Chi secrets in the past. They included: relax lumbar muscles, drop shoulders and elbows, use mind and not force, maintain correct head and neck posture, etc. All this points to the fact that the lumbar back is the power-house of Tai-Chi movements and its internal strength. A good Tai-Chi practitioner should reach the point where externally he is soft as cotton, but internally as tough as steel.

In fighting he behaves like a sharp scalpel in the middle of cotton wool. You will get hurt if you underestimate him. In every Tai- Chi movement the limbs are motivated by the lumbar back which in turn is controlled by the brain. Therefore, the rule is: 'use mind, and not force'. During practice, apart from numerous fine muscular relaxations and contractions the mind and mood remain relaxed and empty. Head and neck posture are maintained. In prolonged practice it helps to strengthen the trapezium muscle of the neck and the erector spinalis muscle of the back. One feels relaxed with a happy and warm inner feeling after Tai-Chi exercise. This exercise certainly could help patients with chronic lower back and neck pain.

Health Applications of Hypnosis

by: John F. Kihlstrom, PhD

Can Hypnosis Help People Stop Smoking?

There have been many attempts to use hypnosis for habit control, however, hypnosis has no coercive power. That is, one cannot be hypnotized against his or her will, and even deeply hypnotized individuals cannot be made, by virtue of hypnotic suggestions, to do things that run against their own or others' interests. You cannot cajole a smoker to the local hypnotist and expect him or her to stop smoking. However, where the patient is appropriately motivated, as in the obesity study described earlier, hypnosis may offer a boost to treatment.

One popular hypnotic treatment for smoking involves a single session in which patients are taught to repeat a simple persuasive message during self-hypnosis. In one large-scale study of this technique, about 50% of patients stopped smoking immediately after treatment; at follow-up one and two years later, however, this figure had dropped to about 25%. Although this study did not include a nonhypnotic control group, this is about the same success rate as achieved with other cognitive-behavioral interventions. However, these other treatments are typically more intensive, so that the single-session hypnotic treatment may have some advantage in terms of efficiency. Interestingly, long-term abstinence was not related to traditional measures of hypnotizability, suggesting that the success of the treatment may have had more to do with the persuasive message than with hypnosis per se.

Caveats for Health Practitioners in the Use Hypnosis

with Patients An important but unresolved issue is the role played by individual differences in the clinical effectiveness of hypnosis. As in the laboratory, so in the clinic: a genuine effect of hypnosis should be correlated with hypnotizability.

It is possible that many clinical benefits of hypnosis are mediated by placebo-like motivational and expectational processes -- that is, with the "ceremony" surrounding hypnosis, rather than hypnosis per se. An analogy is to hypnotic analgesia, which appears to have a placebo component available to insusceptible and hypnotizable individuals alike, and a dissociative component available only to those who are highly hypnotizable. Unfortunately, clinical practitioners are often reluctant to assess hypnotizability in their patients and clients, out of a concern that low scores might reduce motivation for treatment. This danger is probably exaggerated. On the contrary, assessment of hypnotizability by clinicians contemplating the therapeutic use of hypnosis would seem to be no different, in principle, than assessing allergic responses before prescribing an antibiotic. In both cases, the legitimate goal is to determine what treatment is appropriate for what patient.

It should be noted that clinicians sometimes use hypnosis in non-hypnotic ways -- practices which tend to support the hypothesis that whatever effects they achieve through hypnosis are related to its placebo component. There is nothing particularly "hypnotic", for example, about having a patient in a smoking-cessation treatment rehearse therapeutic injunctions not to smoke and other coping strategies while hypnotized. It is likely that more successful use of hypnosis as an adjunct to the cognitive-behavioral treatment of smoking, overweight, and similar habit disorders would be to use hypnotic suggestions in order to control the patient's awareness of cravings for nicotine, sweets, and the like. Given the ability of hypnotic suggestions to control conscious perception and memory, such strategies might well have therapeutic advantage -- but only, of course, for those patients who are hypnotizable enough to respond positively to such suggestions.

Health Applications of Hypnosis 3

by: John F. Kihlstrom, PhD

Does Hypnosis have an Effect on Psychosomatic Disorders?

Hypnotic suggestion can have psychosomatic effects, a matter that should be of some interest to psychophysiologists and psychoneuroimmunologists. A famous case study convincingly documented the positive effects of hypnotic suggestion on an intractable case of congenital ichthyosiform erythroderma, a particularly aggressive skin disorder. Carefully controlled studies have shown that hypnotic suggestions can have a specific effect on the remission of warts. However, the same effects can be achieved by suggestions administered nonhypnotically. The mechanisms by which these "psychosomatic" effects are produced are theoretically interesting, and possibly clinically significant, but it is not yet clear that they have anything to do with hypnosis.

Can Hypnosis be used in Psychotherapy?

Hypnosis has been used in psychotherapy—both in psychodynamic or cognitive-behavioral oriented therapy. In the former case, hypnosis is used to promote relaxation, enhance imagery, and generally loosen the flow of free associations (some psychodynamic theorists consider hypnosis to be a form of adaptive regression or regression in the service of the ego). However, there is little evidence from controlled outcome studies that hypnoanalysis or hypnotherapy are more effective than nonhypnotic forms of the same treatment. By contrast, a 1995 meta-analysis by Kirsch and colleagues showed a significant advantage when hypnosis is used to complement cognitive-behavioral therapy for a number of problems, including anxiety and hypertension. In an era of evidence-based mental health care, it will be increasingly important for practitioners who use hypnosis to document, quantitatively, the clinical benefits of doing so.

Can Hypnosis help with Weight Control?

In the Kirsch study (mentioned above in the Psychotherapy section), the prospects for hypnosis appeared to be especially favorable in the treatment of obesity, where individuals in the hypnosis group continued to lose weight even after formal treatment had ended. In one study, for example, women who received personally tailored hypnotic suggestions for specific food aversions, in the context of a traditional self-monitoring and goal-setting treatment, lost approximately twice as much weight as a comparison group. This comparison group received the behavioral treatment alone (no hypnotic suggestion). However, the actual weight lost by the hypnosis group was only about 14 lb. on average. Given that the patients were approximately 50% overweight at the outset, it is not clear that the treatment actually improved their clinical status. Studies that document the clinical efficacy of hypnosis should pay careful attention to the terms in which outcome is assessed. While hypnosis may seem to offer an advantage over some other treatments, it is not clear that the statistical significance or experimental results translates into meaningful clinical significance or real results for individuals.

Health Applications of Hypnosis 2

by: John F. Kihlstrom, PhD

Does Hypnosis Increase Physical Performance?

From the beginning of the modern era, a great deal of research effort has been devoted to claims that hypnotic suggestions enable individuals to transcend their normal voluntary capacities -- to be stronger, see better, learn faster, and remember more. However, research has largely failed to find evidence that hypnosis can enhance human performance. Many early studies, which seemed to yield positive results for hypnosis, possessed serious methodological flaws such as the failure to collect adequate baseline information. In general, it appears that hypnotic suggestions for increased muscular strength, endurance, sensory acuity, or learning do not exceed what can be accomplished by motivated individuals outside hypnosis.

Can Hypnosis Improve Recall?

A special case of performance enhancement has to do with hypnotic suggestions for improvements in memory -- what is known as hypnotic hypermnesia. Hypermnesia suggestions are sometimes employed in forensic situations, with forgetful witnesses and victims, or in therapeutic situations, to help patients remember traumatic personal experiences or the events of early childhood. While field studies have sometimes claimed that hypnosis can powerfully enhance memory, these anecdotal reports have not been duplicated under laboratory conditions.

A 1994 report by the Committee on Techniques for the Enhancement of Human Performance, a unit of the U.S. National Research Council, concluded that gains in recall produced by hypnotic suggestion were rarely dramatic, and were matched by gains observed even when individuals are not hypnotized. In fact, there is some evidence that hypnotic suggestion can interfere with normal hypermnesic processes. To make things worse, any increases obtained in valid recollection are met or exceeded by increases in false recollections. Hypnotized individuals (especially those who are highly hypnotizable) may be especially vulnerable to distortions in memory produced by leading questions and other subtle, suggestive influences.

Hypnosis is sometimes used therapeutically to recover forgotten incidents, as for example in cases of child sexual abuse. Although the literature contains a number of dramatic reports of the successful use of this technique, most of these reports are anecdotal in nature and fail to obtain independent corroboration of the memories that emerge. Given what we know about the unreliability of hypnotic hypermnesia, and the risk of increased responsiveness to leading questions and other sources of bias and distortion, such clinical practices are not recommended. Similar considerations obtain in forensic situations. In fact, many legal jurisdictions severely limit the introduction of memories recovered through hypnosis, out of a concern that such evidence might be tainted. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has published a set of guidelines for those who wish to use hypnosis forensically, and similar precautions should be employed in the clinic.

Similar conclusions apply to hypnotic age regression, in which individuals receive suggestions that they are returning to a previous period in their lives (this is also a technique that is used clinically to foster the retrieval of forgotten memories of child abuse). Although age-regressed individuals may experience themselves as children, and may behave in a childlike manner, there is no evidence that they actually lose adult modes of mental functioning, or return to childlike modes of mental functioning. Nor do age-regressed individuals retrieve forgotten memories of childhood.

Health Applications of Hypnosis 1

by: John F. Kihlstrom, PhD

Can Hypnosis Improve the Quality of Life for Individuals with Chronic Illnesses?

Hypnosis has been used as a psychological treatment for a variety of illnesses with apparent success. While it is unlikely that hypnotic suggestions are capable of curing physical disease, they can be used to enhance relaxation and alleviate pain and other physical discomforts, and therefore they may make a positive contribution to the overall quality of care and of life. For example, several controlled studies have shown that hypnotic suggestions administered to patients who suffer from asthma can reduce both bronchodilator use and attacks of "wheezing", as well as increase peak expiratory flow rates. Hypnosis has also been used effectively in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome, hyperemesis gravidarum (persistent nausea and vomiting) in pregnant women, and anticipatory nausea experienced by cancer patients who receive chemotherapy. Hypnotic suggestions have been observed to stimulate and inhibit allergic responses, and may also speed the healing of burns and wounds, but these issues require further carefully controlled study.

Even though the use of hypnosis may be associated with positive therapeutic outcomes, it is not clear that hypnosis itself is responsible for the effects observed. The active ingredient in some treatments labeled "hypnosis" might be mere relaxation, or a kind of placebo effect attributable to the use of a hypnotic ritual. It is well known, for example, that the "relaxation response" meditation technique introduced by Benson can alter blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen consumption, and the levels of certain neurotransmitters. The relaxation response is not the same as hypnosis, but hypnotic techniques may achieve some of their effects by virtue of the high levels of relaxation commonly associated with them. In the case of asthma, however, hypnosis seems to have a specific effect over and above relaxation.

The professional and popular literature contains occasional reports of clinical improvements and even cures of cancer in patients who have been treated with hypnosis or related techniques, such a relaxation and imagery. However, these apparent successes are typically poorly documented, and in the final analysis it is difficult to distinguish such "miracle cures" from spontaneous remissions which sometimes occur in these conditions. The most appropriate use of hypnosis in cancer treatment is as a complement to traditional medical treatments, such as chemotherapy, with the goal of enhancing the patient's quality of life while treatment is in progress.

Can Hypnosis be used in Pain Reduction?

Hypnosis has been employed in the clinic for both medical and psychotherapeutic purposes. By far the most successful and best documented of these has been hypnotic analgesia for the relief of pain. Clinical studies indicate that hypnosis can effectively relieve pain in patients suffering pain from burns, cancer and leukemia (e.g., bone marrow aspirations), childbirth, and dental procedures. In such circumstances, as many as half of an unselected patient population can obtain significant, if not total, pain relief from hypnosis. Hypnosis may be especially useful in cases of chronic pain, where chemical analgesics such as morphine pose risks of tolerance and addiction. Hypnosis has also been used, somewhat heroically perhaps, as the sole analgesic agent in abdominal, breast, cardiac, and genitourinary surgery, and in orthopedic situations, although it seems unlikely that more than about 10% of patients can tolerate major medical procedures with hypnosis alone.

A comparative study of experimental pain found that, among hypnotizable people, hypnotic analgesia was superior to morphine, diazepam, aspirin, acupuncture, and biofeedback (Click on to the figure at the right to see an enlarged view). Hypnotic analgesia relieves both sensory pain and suffering. It is not a matter of simple relaxation or self-distraction. It does not appear to be mediated by endorphins or other endogenous opiates. There is a placebo component to all active analgesic agents, and hypnosis is no exception; however, hypnotizable people receive benefits from hypnotic suggestion that outweigh those of plausible placebos.