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There is a simple – yet unseen – mechanism in the human body that regulates and restores our health. This “Great Harmonizer” is actually wired in to the human nervous system and needs only to be properly stimulated in order to maintain health.

The writer C.S. Lewis (of “Chronicles of Narnia” fame) wrote about this internal force in his book called “Miracles.” In it he said, “The magic is not in the medicine but in the patient’s body ... in the recuperative or self-corrective energy of nature. What the treatment does is to stimulate natural functions or to remove what hinders them.”

The magic Lewis was describing is the body’s Autonomic Nervous System, which controls all body functions and is the home of the subsconscious mind. It alone is responsible for maintaining the equilibrium (or harmony) of the body’s physical and emotional internal environment.

How do we access this harmonizing power?
Herbert Benson, M.D., author and former professor at Harvard Medical School, wrote a now-classic book titled “The Relaxation Response.” In it he describes how to tap into the healing potential of the body’s Autonomic Nervous System.

The Autonomic Nervous System is divided into two branches: the Sympathetic Nervous System (which prepares us for “fight or flight” in an emergency) and the Parasympathetic Nervous System (which eases the “fight or flight” response when the crisis has passed).

Once the body’s emergency system has been activated, the Sympathetic Nervous System causes adrenaline to be released, raising blood pressure and heart rate, tensing muscles, and producing a myriad of other physiological reactions to help us cope with the crisis.

Ideally (as Nature intended), when the crisis is over, the Parasympathetic Nervous System would kick in and reverse the process back to a state of calm, thus creating a balance of flow and ebb that would sustain the body’s health over time.

Unfortunately, a fact of life today is that the emergencies we experience far outnumber and outlast the periods of restoration, leading to a perpetual state of nervous excitement with very few intervals of calm. It has been said that living in the modern world is like driving a car with one foot on the accelerator and the other on the brake: Eventually, something breaks – and this is exactly what happens to our health.

There are two possible solutions to preventing this breakdown of the body. The first calls for the avoidance of all stressful situations, which is, obviously, impossible for most people, although every effort should be made to reduce the causes of stress where we can.

The second solution is to deliberately stimulate the under-utilized calming mechanism of the Parasympathetic Nervous System. Recall that this restorative and regenerative system’s job is to reverse the body’s “fight or flight” reactions by reducing the amount of adrenaline, opening blood vessels, and relaxing tense muscles.
Dr. Benson’s “Relaxation Response” was created to trigger this reaction by calming the entire body through a form of meditation. Instructions for Relaxation Reponse technique can be found in his book, which is widely available.

Another method of stimulating a healthy, calming response was developed 75 years ago and has been proven to be highly effective as well. Once known as “light touch chiropractic,” it is now called “Basic Technique.” True to its original name, this form of chiropractic employs a light, stroking touch that sedates the nerves and muscles and produces internal quietude. In essence, we reduce body “chatter” by moving it from stressed out to chilled out.

Letting go of stress is an essential tool in healing the physical or emotional trauma that has left the body-mind out of time with itself. In effect, this calming process “hits the re-set button” when the body has gotten stuck in repetitive emergency mode. Holistic therapies such as the Relaxation Response, chiropractic Basic Technique, and others work with the instinctual healing force that is stored right inside us to promote well-being.

By using these therapies, we are simply invoking this “Great Harmonizer” and letting the body take over. Dr. Benson summed it up best when he said: “There can be no healing in the absence of relaxation,” and this, in itself, is the inherent elixir given to us by Nature.