I’m enjoying revisiting a number of books. I first read Herbert Benson’s book “Relaxation Revolution: The Science and Genetics of Mind Body Healing” ten years ago, right at the start of my mindfulness teaching and training. Herbert Benson (1935 – 2022) was a cardiologist and pioneer in mind-body medicine. Coming back to it, it puts mindfulness and compassion practices in an interesting context.
Benson makes the argument that medicine has developed with a primary intention of cure, with a strong perspective that disease is a bio-mechanical problem, and that the way to cure disease is some physical intervention including drugs. Even diseases of the mind are mostly treated today with some form of drug. From the discovery of vaccinations in the 19th century, through the discovery of antibiotics, to the modern exploration of genetic medicine, the medical profession has thoroughly embedded the belief that the route to health is to eradicate diseases with some physical intervention.
The argument is not that this is wrong, but that a number of aspects of healing have been left out or de-emphasised. I recall discussing this with a retired senior clinician about 15 years ago; he was a second generation medic, and his father was a GP whose career spanned the introduction of antibiotics. He said that when his father started out, the priority was to comfort patients, as most diseases were cured by their own bodies natural defences and there was little that a doctor could offer by way of cure. Today the priority is cure, with comfort often left out of the equation.
Healing and cure are not necessarily the same thing. It is possible to live well with an incurable disease. Some diseases will not easily be cured without a more holistic approach that involves some wider perspectives. Benson argues that the mind plays a considerable part in the healing process, and he introduces two factors: the relaxation response and expectation/belief.
The relaxation response can be triggered in many different ways. Meditation is one way, and Benson did some research on Transcendental Meditation (TM). Benson formulated a similar process to TM to induce a relaxed state of body and mind. However, he does not say that there is just one way of inducing such a state, and he makes an argument that other forms of meditation, movement practices such as yoga, prayer, and even listening to or playing music, can all induce the relaxation response. Shannon Harvey has produced a documentary on mind-body healing called “The Connection” which is an excellent introduction to mind-body medicine, and where Benson is interviewed.
Expectation and belief are deemed important too in the healing process. The protocol that Benson developed involved visualisation, imagining that you are recovered and feeling well. However, he acknowledges that there are many ways of achieving this, including religious practices. So Benson does not stop at the relaxation response, he considers it a precursor to cultivating a belief and expectation in achieving wellness.
I find this wider perspective very helpful in framing contemporary mindfulness and compassion practices. Mindfulness as portrayed in the MBSR framework is sometimes defined as paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally. It does not expressly invite relaxation, but most practitioners will acknowledge that it can and often does induce relaxation of body and mind. Compassion practices such as MSC add into the MBSR concept a number of attitudes and practices that more directly address expectations and beliefs.
Interestingly the mindfulness field has devoted considerable effort to prove the curative power of mindfulness practice, most notably with MBCT that has shown it can match drug therapy in certain areas of mental illness. However, MBSR set out as more of a palliative methodology to help people deal with the psychological distresses caused by incurable diseases, and it was only later that some form of curative expectation was added into the mix. The danger here is that mindfulness and compassion are sucked into the modern paradigm of cure and not seen more roundly as ways of engaging with life in a more meaningful and balanced way.
None of this is to diminish or contradict the amazing success of modern medicine – if you have a bacterial infection, take the antibiotics. However, you can help the curative powers of modern medicine by finding your own way to induce the relaxation response and cultivating a positive expectation and belief. And when modern medicine is not able to cure, you can help yourself to live well if you balance your life to include enough rest and recuperation, and do not get sucked into negative spirals of hopelessness.