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Mind Body Connection: Not Just an Illusion
By Christina | September 2, 2008
As a yoga instructor and all around believer that the body follows the mind, I was excited to hear about a study done by Alia Crum and Professor Ellen Langer of Harvard University involving the use of thoughts to create change in the body. Part of what I do in my professional life is teach how to focus the mind and filter out distractions so that you can experience that which you wish to create in your body and life.
So, how strong do you think the link is between the mind and the body? Have you ever tried to create change in yourself by thinking? Have you ever tried just sitting and thinking? Do you believe it is possible to think yourself into better shape without increasing how much exercise you do?
The exciting news is that, yes, you can change your body if you BELIEVE you can change your body.Â
Dr Ben Goldacre explains the study which was conducted on hotel attendants. They were told that their job was actually a constant program of exercise and by just showing up for work, they were getting in a workout. After just four weeks, here is what he found:
“…amazingly, despite no change in actual exercise levels, in the intervention group, simply being told about the value of what they were already doing caused a significant change for the better on every single one of the objective health measures recorded: weight, body fat, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio and blood pressure.”
Just to give you a visual on just how radical the changes were in the attendants, the average body change equated to dropping a 2lb bag of sugar in four weeks… with no additional exercise.
The next time you pass on a mind body class like yoga (see yesterday’s blog), think again about what you might be missing.Â
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