Customer Reviews

Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief

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Dr Benson presents strong evidence for what others have called the "mind / body connection." Mainstream medical science has not yet recognized the importance belief plays in health but, Dr. Benson presents numerous studies that validate the major role belief plays in the healing process and wellness. Practitioners of complimentary therapies will find this book especially helpful in understanding how many non-drug based therapies can work. Well written and thought provoking!

I think what is amazing about this book is that Herbert Benson states without a doubt that faith in God is healthy for us. While our ancestors took it for granted that God healed them, as Dr. Benson explains, we have been taught to see healing purely in technical scientific terms. Dr. Benson explains that when we repudiated the importance of belief in healing we deprived ourselves of a powerful healing force.

Dr. Benson knows that his rational-scientific audience will be skeptical of his arguements. So, he provides us with well-reasoned arguements supported by ample evidence. He explains that we need to relax our over-stressed minds on a regular basis. We need this as an antedote to our hurried lives that stress us out and make us sick. He cites many studies (much from his own research) that daily meditation stimulates the bodies natural healing mechanisms.

Now, the radical finding of Dr. Benson's research is that belief in God makes a difference in healing. If a person meditates regularly using a spiritual phrase they are more likely to heal than those who use a secular word such as "peace". The person's religion doesn't matter. It seems that God is an equal opportunity healer.

This is a well-written book that clearly describes the links between our thoughts and our physical health. It is written in an accessible personal style, without the "guru" overtones of works by Deepak Chopra or Wayne Dyer (good writers, just with a different style). Everyone, regardless of their view of God, can benfit from the concepts of Remembered Wellness and the Relaxation Response described in this book. A personal recomendation - couple this book, with its "unproven healing energy", with Greg Bradden's "The Divine Matrix", which describes this energy, and you will be good to go.

Benson's book "Timeless Healing," contrary to its subtitle, "The Power and Biology of Belief," is not just for believers. Benson defines belief in epistemologically correct way: belief is nothing other than a set of operating assumptions, as a substitute for immediate and direct experience. It is with this epistemologically value-neutral manner that Dr. Benson approaches the topic at hand - the biology of expectation.

Benson - as most psychologists know from their grad studies - is the guy that brought the Relaxation Response to the West. Sure, the East-West synthesis had predated his writings and research, but Benson is arguably the first to have empirically studied and reported on the physiology that underlies relaxation.

The present book is an excellent resource for a behavioral medicine/health psychology clinician as well as for a general reader who is interested in leveraging the mind-over-body self-help. The book offers a cogent, highly accessible coverage of the concept of placebo (and its "evil twin," nocebo); it details the psycho-neuro-physiology of the relaxation response; it examines the variables that potentiate therapeutic suggestion and expectation in the clinician-client interactions; the book summarizes the mind-over-body research, and generally succeeds in making a good case for the need to infuse a greater degree of psychological savvy into the Western medical training.

The book is in some ways auto-biographical. Benson shares his journey from the medical establishment to the study of the relaxation response and, arguably, back to the medical establishment but on a mission of integrating what he had learnt.

As such, the book is a kind of life-review, perhaps, an attempt at professional legacy, and a suggested mission statement. A particularly secular reader might find Benson's book to be slightly evangelical. But Benson doesn't deceive: he checks his faith at the door, so to say, and offers an explicit "disclosure of belief." As a scientist-practitioner, he appears to be acutely aware of his potential for bias and narrates in a respectfully parenthetical manner, always seemingly cognizant of not overstepping the value boundaries of his hypotheses.

In short, Benson's "Timeless Healing" is an effective attempt to redefine "faith healing" in medical terms and to ground it in the axioms of behavioral medicine. Benson - in my opinion - succeeds in leaving a cosmopolitan enough legacy that is compatible both with secular and non-secular worldviews.

Pavel Somov, Ph.D.
Author of "Eating the Moment: 141 Mindful Practices to Overcome Overeating One Meal at a Time" (New Harbinger, Nov. 2008)

Dr. Benson does a tremendous job of furthering our understanding of the mind-body connection with his writing and research. Health care professionals from all backgrounds would be wise to read this book and apply its recommendations for the benefit of their patients. The only negative thing I have to say is in regards to Dr. Benson's description of his three-legged stool for "Health and Well-Being." Health being properly defined as homeostatic and thus healthy cell function, it is not a good description of "Health and Well-Being." Pharmaceuticals and procedures/surgery taking up two of the legs is not exactly a balanced stool if one wants to acheive healthy cell function. Healthy cell function is dictated by a healthy cell environment. This is assured by proper diet, physical activity levels, and as Dr. Benson so adeptly point out, healthy thoughts and low stress levels. So, in my humble opinion, a four-legged stool consisting of Diet, Exercise, Stress Reduction/Healthy Thoughts, and Emergency Care (drugs, surgeries, procedures) would be a more balanced and appropriate stool for acheiving "Health and Well-Being."

Through many of the medical observations made by the authors, this book provides some interesting ideas about the connection between the mind and body. Even though we all know that stress (which comes from our minds) influences our health, many of us find it difficult to put the mind and body together in one equation. This book is a great attempt to begin making the bridge between the subjective and objective world. It is full of insightful ideas and inspiring anecdotes. Just excellent overall. If you'd like to read about a sound theoretical framework that explains many of these things, I strongly suggest "The Ever-Transcending Spirit" by Toru Sato. When I read Sato's book, everything clicked so much is was unbelievable!

great book, can be a life changer for many. can't recommend it highly enough. bought 7 copies for distribution to friends and relatives. i am a physician

Dr. Herbert Benson is the renowned authority on the relaxation response. Why not go to the source?

In an age that relies almost solely on pharmaceuticals for "health" the concept of the body's innate ability to heal itself has been lost. Herbert creates a case for a paradigm switch backed by scientific research for which this generation craves. This is an eye-opener for anyone involved in the healing arts.

This is really good info given from the health care perspective. H Benson has spent most of his impressive career studying remembered health. It makes alot of sense when youve been in the healing arts for thirty plus years and know what is true today will probably be disproven tomorrow. Definately worth reading