Belief is a powerful thing. The more I delve into studying bioenergetics the more I have come to understand its power and realize how truthful the saying, “Whether you believe you can or you can’t, you’re right” is.
Most everyone is familiar with the placebo effect. Here is what Harvard M.D., Herbert Benson has to say about the placebo effect in his book, The Relaxation Revolution
He says, “Scientific research now shows that the miracles of self-healing powers of the mind and body are not less significant than the miracles wrought by many drug and surgery treatments. These well-designed scientific studies make it clear that it is at least as reasonable to believe in the healing power of the mind as it is to believe in the healing power of a given drug or surgical procedure.”
“But is there any scientific foundation for placing expectation and belief on such a high pedestal? More specifically and personally, just how powerful can your personal beliefs and expectations be in the healing process? Let’s allow a 2002 study in the New England Journal of Medicine to suggest an answer.
In this study, conducted by scientists at the Baylor College of Medicine, 165 patients with osteoarthritis (wear-and-tear arthritis) of the knee randomly received one of three treatments: arthroscopic debridement (removal of dead tissue inside the knee); arthroscopic lavage (washing-out of the knee joint); or placebo “sham” surgery. Arthroscopy involves the use of a fiber-optic device that is inserted to permit observation of the inside of a joint and to facilitate surgical procedures inside the joint. In this investigation, the placebo surgery involved having a physician make a surface skin incision on the knee and simulate a debridement without insertion of an arthroscope. The researchers assessed the outcomes of the procedures over a 24-month period. The results were startling: The investigators reported that at no point did the patients who had the real surgery have less knee pain or better physical function than the placebo group. The sham surgery worked as well as the real surgery. The researchers concluded that there was no clinically meaningful difference among the three groups. In fact, they said, at some points during follow-up, objective physical function of the patients was significantly worse in the debridement group than in the placebo group!
On the other hand there is also what is known as the Nocebo effect. This is basically the opposite of the placebo. In this case, someone undergoing treatment does not believe the treatment or procedure will work.
This power of belief can affect many other areas of our lives besides the medical. Whether you believe in a training program or process can have a huge influence on the results you achieve from that program or process.
We believe in our training and processes because we have experienced them work for ourselves and many clients. We want you to believe in the programs and processes as well so that you get the most from them.
We also want you to believe in yourself. A great coach is both challenging and encouraging. We want you to do your best but often witness people limiting themselves due to self doubt. We believe in you and one of the greatest compliments I have received from those I have coached is for them to say that I believed in them even when they didn’t believe in themselves.
In this way, our intention is be your “Belief Coaches.” We are here to both challenge and encourage you. We ask that you trust the process to becoming your best self.