Beyond the Mind

True Healing, True Health

Do you believe eating organic foods helps create true health? Do you believe going to the gym three times a week creates true health? What about avoiding fats and sugars? Do you think if you use complementary medicine, practice Yoga or meditation, take herbs and get acupuncture, that you can prevent disease, cure your cancer or increase longevity? Do you believe that all the information you need to remain well comes through your five senses and your mind? Consider this: are you ready to go beyond the mind to achieve true healing and true health? If so, we invite you to examine a different way of thinking—the path to balance and harmony lies in the somewhat mysterious field beyond the mind, beyond scientific thought. Like a mischievous child, our mind does everything possible to distract us from this path. While the mind serves a very real purpose in everyday life, it's our consciousness and subconsciousness that actually create the physical choices and challenges we face, including disease and illness.

When most people talk of science they often mean the Newtonian science of old, not the new science of Einstein and quantum physicists. Yet, new science has given rise to many devices we use to improve our daily life. From cell phones to CRTs, we embrace items whose technology we rarely understand. Every day we rely on devices that pick up where our five senses leave off. For instance, EKGs, MRIs, mammograms all help us see that which cannot be seen with the naked eye; they help us exceed our physical capabilities. Yet we trust their results. If we can trust these high-tech results, we therefore have to trust the theories behind these technologies. One of the famous equations behind these technologies is E=mc², which means, simply put, that mass and energy are interchangeable. Today we recognize that our thoughts and emotions are also energies, and sometimes very strong ones. If these energies cannot be expressed or processed properly, they will create energy stagnations and cause physical, emotional, or spiritual problems. Contemplate this: the powerful energy of your own thoughts creates health ... or illness. Your consciousness creates your reality.

In a society as externalized as ours, it's difficult to explore this concept without misunderstanding that "the victim is to blame." Nothing could be farther from the truth; in fact, the sufferer owns the key to optimum wellness. This concept has mind-blowing consequences for true health and healing—all illness and disease arise from the ground of consciousness and subconsciouness. The condition—no matter what—is manifested in the real world by the individual to learn something or change his or her life. Illness and disease are not random; they exist for an essential spiritual reason ... even cancer. Cancer is not necessarily the death sentence many believe it is. Looked at through a different lens, cancer offers an exceptional opportunity to take the fork in the road toward true health—a chance to change the path, not just the shoes that walk the path. So it is with all conditions, major and minor. Digging deep and going beyond the mind offers a lasting way to find the most satisfying kind of health. It allows us to discover our true healing power that lies within each of us. It is we who hold the responsibility and the capability to transform the energy of an illness or disease. The real power never comes from the outside. As long as you understand this concept and learn how to recognize the emotions behind your illness or disease, you have the power to transmute them to health; you've already fixed the root cause of the problem. Then, whether you use complementary or Western medicine, practice Yoga, Qigong, Taiji or meditation, take supplements, or even do nothing, you've begun your journey toward true health. In the coming issues we will explore more deeply how to go beyond the mind and reach this inner landscape from which true healing arises.

—Nan Lu, O.M.D., is the founder of the Traditional Chinese Medicine World Foundation. He has spent more than a decade helping his patients discover the path to true healing and true health. He is the founder of Building Bridges of Integration for Traditional Chinese Medicine and will speak at this educational forum in October 2006.