When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress (46 page)

  T
he following is a short list of resources for people interested in healing, or in preventing ill health. It focuses on programs that deal with understanding and reducing stress or with identifying and releasing the grip of the ingrained biology of belief. Not included here are the many local and national support groups for specific conditions such as multiple sclerosis, ALS, arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, breast cancer, ovarian cancer and so on.

1. Beginning Your Healing Journey: An Active Response to the Crisis of Cancer

A program developed by Dr. Alastair J. Cunningham, himself a cancer survivor. He is Professor of Medical Biophysics and Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and is a world renowned researcher in psycho-oncology. He holds Ph.D. degrees in cell biology and psychology and has lectured extensively in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand on his research on healing and his findings.
The Healing Journey
is based on Dr. Cunningham’s work with cancer patients at the Ontario Cancer Institute over twenty years. His approach includes an exploration of what stress is, relaxation, guided mental imagery, thought management and other techniques.

Dr. Cunningham’s research has shown “a strong association between longer survival … related to the involvement of cancer patients in psychological self-help activities.” Although he has worked extensively with cancer, I have no doubt that his techniques would help people with any of the conditions discussed in
When the Body Says No. The Healing Journey
is available internationally in a series of videotapes, audiotapes and a book. It may be purchased from the non-profit World Health Services Council, whose toll-free phone number is 1–866–999–9909. Web site:
http://www.beginningyourhealingjourney.org
.

2. The Canadian Institute of Stress

Founded in 1979 by Dr. Hans Selye, the CIS runs educational programs on stress for institutions and companies, provides speakers, and offers stress assessment and counselling for individuals. Tele-classes are also available, conducted by telephone. The director of the CIS is Dr. Richard Earle, formerly a close colleague of Dr. Selye’s at McGill University. Canadian Institute of Stress, Medcan Clinic Office, Suite 1500, 150 York Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5H 3S5. Phone: (416) 236–4218. Web site:
http://www.stresscanada.org
.

3. The Health News Network

An online resource centre for the study of body and mind in health and illness, stress management and disease prevention. Available here are capsule discussions of many of the issues covered in
When the Body Says No
and a long list of links for particular diseases and conditions. Web site:
http://www.healthnewsnet.com
.

4. The Landmark Forum

The Landmark Forum is a program available in many countries, run by the Landmark Education Corporation. I have participated in it personally. The Landmark Forum is the single most powerful program I know of for dissolving the entrenched biology of belief. Their technique works to help people get into the present by completing the past—that is, to let go of imperatives, perceptions and motivations derived from our early interpretations of childhood experience. As shown throughout this book, it is these fixed but unconcious interpretations that underlie and trigger many of our chronic stresses. The initial Landmark event is a three-day workshop, followed by a weekly evening seminar. I warmly recommend it for people at any stage of life as an essential educational and transformative experience in reducing and eliminating the self-imposed stresses I have written about in this book. Web site:
http://www.landmarkeducation.com
.

5. pd Seminars, Gabriola Island, British Columbia

Based on Gabriola Island, British Columbia, pd Seminars is an organization devoted to personal growth and healing. It was founded by two physicians, Bennet Wong and Jock McKeen, who felt a need to expand their understanding of health beyond the traditional Western model. The residential programs for personal and professional development run by pd Seminars vary in duration from a few days to several weeks and offer a broad array of approaches—from meditation, thought-field therapy, music, writing and movement, to anger expression, the learning of boundaries, energetics and breath training. Many people with chronic illness or chronic stress have benefited from one or more of the pd programs. Phone: (250) 247–9211 Web site:
http://www.pdseminars.com
.

6. Dr. Bruce Lipton

The work of molecular biologist Dr. Bruce Lipton has helped bridge the gap between basic sciences and developmental psychology. Formerly Associate Professor of Anatomy at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, Dr. Lipton has shown how the biology of belief is ingrained at the very cellular level. He is also developing techniques to help people free themselves from that early psycho-biological programming. Information regarding his dynamic video lectures is available at his Web site:
http://www.brucelipton.com
.

  I
owe a great debt of gratitude to the many people, some of them former patients and some newly met, who open-heartedly shared their life histories, their sufferings and their souls so that others may possibly learn by reading what they have had to learn through painful experience.

Diane Martin at Knopf Canada supported this work since it was no more than a few words over dinner, four years ago. She slogged through a painfully long manuscript with interest and with compassion for author and reader, both of whom have benefited from her professionally astute guidance. I am also grateful to Tom Miller of John Wiley & Sons in New York, who recognized the possibilities of my book proposal where other U.S. publishers could see only “yet another book on stress.”

Ceara O’Mara Sullivan in Virginia was my heaven-sent unofficial critic/editor/co-writer and long-distance friend. She dropped in unannounced via the Internet, serendipitously, and proceeded, expertly, to make the writing of the book—if not always my life—a lot easier. This volume would not be in front of the reader in its present form without her help.

My agent, Denise Bukowski, has ensured that
When the Body Says No
will be published in at least five countries and several languages and, beyond that, gave me editorial advice at a very late stage that transformed the manuscript into something much closer to what I had originally intended.

Heather Dundass and Elsa Deluca provided indispensable technical assistance in faithfully transcribing over two hundred hours of interviews.

My wife and soul-partner, Rae, has been a rigorous critic and a devoted and insightful supporter. Much that should not be in this book has been deleted thanks to her emotional courage, love and wisdom. Much that I cherish is present in my life owing to the very same qualities.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material. Every reasonable effort has been made to contact copyright holders; in the event of an inadvertent omission or error, please notify the publisher.

ALS Society of Alberta:
Excerpt from
Cries of the Silent
. Copyright © ALS Society of Alberta 1999. 400-23 Ave. SW, Calgary, AB, T25 0J2;
Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc.:
Excerpt from
Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom
by Christiane Northrup, M.D.;
Berkley Books:
Excerpt from
It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life
by Lance Armstrong. Reprinted by permission of Berkley Books, a division of Penguin Putnam;
Faber and Faber Ltd.:
Excerpt from
Jacqueline du Pré
by Elizabeth Wilson. Reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd., UK;
Henry Holt and Company:
Excerpt from
Jonathan Swift
by Victoria Glendinning, © 1998 by Victoria Glendinning. Reprinted by permission of Henry Holt & Co., LLC;
International Creative Management Inc
. Excerpt from
It’s Always Something
. Reprinted by permission of International Creative Management Inc. Copyright © 1989 by Gilda Radner.
Simon & Schuster, Inc.:
Excerpt from
It’s Always Something
. Reprinted with the permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc., from
It’s Always Something
by Gilda Radner, copyright © 1989 by Gilda Radner, copyright © renewed 1990 by The Estate of Gilda Radner;
McGraw-Hill Education:
Excerpt from
The Stress of Life
. Copyright © 1978 by Hans Selye. Reproduced with permission of The McGraw Hill Companies;
Orca Book Publishers:
Excerpt from
Clayoquot: Sound of My Heart
by Betty Krawczyk. Published by Orca Book Publishers, Victoria, BC;
Pan MacMillan:
Excerpt from
Music to Move the Stars
by Jane Hawking. Reprinted by permission of MacMillan, London, UK;
Raincoast Books:
Excerpt from
Lock Me Up or Let Me Go
. Published in 2002 by Press Gang, an imprint of Raincoast Books. Text © 2002 by Betty Krawczyk;
Random House, Inc.:
Excerpt from
Dutch
by Edmund Morris;
Random House, Inc.:
Excerpt from
Another Life
by Michael Korda;
Random House of Canada Limited:
Excerpt from
Since You Asked
. Copyright © 1998 by Pamela Wallin. Reprinted by permission of Random House Canada;
Simon & Schuster, Inc.:
Excerpt from
Molecules of Emotion
. Reprinted with permission of Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster from
Molecules of Emotion
by Candace B. Pert. Copyright © 1997 by Candace B. Pert;
Simon & Schuster, Inc.:
Excerpt from
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales
. Reprinted with the permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. from
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales
by Oliver Sacks. Copyright © 1970, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985 by Oliver Sacks;
Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc.:
Excerpt from
Rudy Giuliani: Emperor of New York
. Reprinted by permission of Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. Copyright Andrew Kirtzman;
W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.:
Excerpt from
Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in His Time
, by Ray Robinson.