When I was in ministerial school, one of the requirements to graduate was to intern at Silent Unity. I call Silent Unity for prayer support from time to time, and I always find it helpful. If you’re not familiar with Silent Unity, it’s a 24-hour phone prayer service that people from all over the world call for prayer. This service has been going on for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year for over 100 years.
The first day I stepped off the elevator and entered that Silent Unity prayer room, I felt palpable energy. After completing my training and praying with callers, I noticed a pattern in the prayer requests. An overwhelming percentage of the prayers fell into these general categories: healing, prosperity, and relationships. Of those areas, healing was by far the most frequent prayer request.
This experience came to mind as I re-watched the documentary film "Heal." The movie focuses on alternative or supplemental holistic approaches to conventional western medicine to help individuals heal. The documentary highlighted people who doctors had diagnosed and declared their diseases were either terminal or un-treatable yet ended up healed by using these alternative or supplemental methods.
Interestingly, one researcher and presenter in the film, Kelly A. Turner, Ph.D., noted that after studying hundreds who had radical remission from what was considered incurable cancer, nine common factors contributed to their healing. One practice that enhances four of those factors, and is arguably one of the most critical to recovery and overall wellbeing, is meditation.
Meditation is essential to the healing process because it alleviates one of the top causes of illness: stress. Stress lowers the immune system, enhances muscle tension, and increases blood pressure. These stress byproducts lead to many severe and life-threatening illnesses.
One type of meditation (among many) that has proven to reduce stress is mindfulness. Numerous psychological studies have shown that regular meditators not only experience substantial health advantages but are also happier, more content, and experience more positive emotions that lead to longer, as well as healthier, lives.
So if you want to heal in any area of your life, you can't go wrong by making meditation an inherent part of your daily routine. It's a gift from the universe that is available to us anywhere and at any time.
Peace and Blessings,
James
P.S. If you want to learn this simple yet powerful meditation practice or join others in a group meditation experience, you can attend my three-week class on “Mindfulness Meditation for Better Living” which starts Wednesday, August 11th at 6:30 pm. Click below for more information and to register for the program.