Using the Mind to Heal the Body: Imagery for Injury Rehabilitation

Dryw Dworsky, Ph.D. & Vikki Krane, Ph.D. 
Bowling Green State University :


Being injured is no fun! Often it means that athletes and exercisers are in pain and they are not able to participate in the sport they love. Often when we think of being injured, it means that we need to wait for the body to heal. However, what if you learned that you might be able to speed up the healing process? Research suggests that maintaining a positive attitude and using mental skills are related to a shorter rehabilitation.

(source: www.appliedsportpsych.org/resource-center/injury-&-rehabilitation/articles/imagery)

 

The Mind and Body Partnership | How to Perform Your Best & Get in the Zone! | with Al Fuentes

My clients find the understanding of the mind and body partnership extremely important in the in life and in competition.  When they incorporate the my teachings they experience less injuries, better body response and the ability to get "In The Zone"  

Getting in the zone can be something you can create.  It doesn't just have to happen by accident but it is important to understand how to get in the zone.

This video talks about one of the simple steps to get you there.  Preparation Breath which is one of the 4 breaths in my breathing system.

I am not a sports psychologist or a counselor but I have learned how to use the physical body to master the chemical body (emotional body) to over come our mental obstacles. 

Many elite athletes have used me to take their game to the next level because its not about talking its about action. The time or talk is over, it is now time to train our mind like we train our bodies. Consistent work will make you a mental champ! 

Posted on August 6, 2013 and filed under Al's Video Blog, Athletes, Mind and Body.

Mental Health: Think it Out

(6 proven ways to use your mind to heal your body)

The man who walked into Dr. Herbert Benson's Boston office was a mess. He was a stress case at work, he suffered awful headaches, and his stratospheric blood pressure did not respond to high doses of prescription medicines.

But rather than throw more drugs at him, Dr. Benson, an M.D. who works at a Harvard-affiliated health center called the Mind/Body Medical Institute, prescribed a 10- to 20 minute daily dose of what he calls the "relaxation response": a calming exercise of muscle relaxation and controlled breathing.

"He found that, slowly and inexorably, the headaches became less profound," Dr. Benson says. "Eventually, they totally disappeared. His hypertension, which required relatively high doses of two medications, dropped so significantly that he needed only a fraction of the dose of one medication. This man gained a new perspective."

Stress is the number-one mental culprit in the delay of wound healing. Ohio State researchers studied 11 dental students, taking a chunk of flesh from the roofs of their mouths during summer vacation.

Then, 3 days before the first exam of the next school term, they took a chunk from the opposite side of each student's mouth. On average, the wounds took 40 percent longer to heal during stressful exam time than during the carefree days of summer.

"You can become a victim of the environment or the mind," says William Malarkey, M.D., director of Ohio State's clinical research center and a member of the Center for Stress and Wound Healing, "or you can proactively change the environment of your mind."

(source: www.menshealth.com keyword: think it out)

Coaching Motivates Employees

Why do we need motivated employees? The answer is survival (Smith, 1994). Motivated employees are needed in our rapidly changing workplaces. Motivated employees help organizations survive. Motivated employees are more productive. To be effective, managers need to understand what motivates employees within the context of the roles they perform. Of all the functions a manager performs, motivating employees is arguably the most complex. This is due, in part, to the fact that what motivates employees changes constantly (Bowen & Radhakrishna, 1991). For example, research suggests that as employees' income increases, money becomes less of a motivator (Kovach, 1987). Also, as employees get older, interesting work becomes more of a motivator.

Posted on June 25, 2013 and filed under Mental Fun Facts, Business.