Can Prayers or Meditation actually heal?

Lé.Skiing

Lé.Skiing

Active member
First off. Sorry to anyone expecting a highly religious thread this is probably going to be a bit of a disappointment.

So, I got into a discussion about this a short bit ago with someone. Personally I think it's a little bit of a load of hooey(to an extent). I mean I am not really religious, but can prayer actually help people? Personally I think of prayer as a form of meditation and I know meditation is good for the body because it's like taking a moment to focus on relaxing yourself and getting rid of stress and anxiety. When stress can do damage I think the reason we see these things like healing by prayer or meditation what it is in my opinion is the person ridding their body of the stress and anxiety that is impeding the healing process. I am just curious to see what everyone else thinks. If you have proof that healing by prayer or meditation works feel free to drop a link or a story.

If I were to give my opinion I don't really think it's the prayers or the meditation that does the healing exactly, but it's the fact people are lifting their spirits so to speak and getting rid of stress and anxiety. Giving them more of a positive attitude and I think that is what's really doing the work. It's sort of like the placebo effect(correlation does not mean causation).

Also I'm not saying anyone doesn't have the right to believe what they want to believe but I just personally don't want to believe a "fairly tale" and I would rather want to do something because it's the nice thing to do than to want to do something nice for the off chance you die and go to heaven. Personally I think if more people thought like this we would have a lot less problems in the world.

TL;DR

Can prayers/meditation heal?

MY opinion: kind of, but it's not the prayer so to speak as it's just the positive vibes relieving the stress and anxiety.

Feel free to take part in the poll and/or tell me what you think.

(Please don't let this turn into a religious shit storm. Thank You)
 
Yo mindfulness totally does. I didn't at all believe in that sort of thing a couple months ago but I had some pretty sever hypertension (high bp) and being mindful had a pretty major impact. like bp in the 160/100 range, but 4 min later after doing some exercises it would be down in the 140/80 range. Still not great, but a lot better
 
Yeah its the placebo effect. If you get into the mind-set that something can help you, it will probably begin to feel like it is actually affecting you.

I remember watching a documentary where some kid was feeling a crippling, unexplained pain in his abdomen almost constantly for several years. Nobody knew what the hell was happening and they couldn't do anything about it. Eventually he visited a psychiatrist, and the doc just said "There is nothing wrong with you, you just think something is wrong with you." Boom, the kid was better. The brain is amazing.
 
I think yeah, but not at all as a means to an end. Don't be like the dumbasses on the news who let their kids die because they claim that their prayers would heal him or something.
 
Mmm clinically, it won't cure/heal certain things without being supplemented. An ACL won't reconstruct itself no matter how much you "will" it to. Being happy and positive however, will make you less miserable and help you have more energy to put into recovery, therefore feeling better, faster. A malignant tumor doesn't exactly cower in the face of meditation, but being positive and having hope can keep up good hormones which help the body fight things during treatment.

Bodies don't really heal incredibly well when they're under stress. They don't fight infection or have energy and believe me, exhaustion is double if you're extremely ill AND depressed. That is why prayer will help some people who believe in a god or forces, they feel like their health problems are out of their hands, therefore they are less stressed. Meditation will help others that they can separate mind from body and attempt to heal the mind to be better equipped to heal the body. Sometimes, just good old fashioned relaxation will help someone feel better. In an attempt to explain the unknown, people look for a reason why they feel better. They'll chalk it up to god or fate, which is fine, there's nothing wrong with that either.

There are some things that can only be solved with medical intervention, but there's a lot to be said for the strength of good vibes.
 
13796305:Sconnie said:
Yeah its the placebo effect. If you get into the mind-set that something can help you, it will probably begin to feel like it is actually affecting you.

I remember watching a documentary where some kid was feeling a crippling, unexplained pain in his abdomen almost constantly for several years. Nobody knew what the hell was happening and they couldn't do anything about it. Eventually he visited a psychiatrist, and the doc just said "There is nothing wrong with you, you just think something is wrong with you." Boom, the kid was better. The brain is amazing.
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I watched something on tv, they were in a church and a bunch of black ladies were singing. They preformed a miracle on a dude in a wheelchair and he could walk again. Same thing right?
 
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