Surgery without chemical anesthesia? Watch!

The phenomenon of pain can be mysterious, confounding even the best medical experts at times. We tend to assume that pain happens in the body and that our minds have little to do with it. That can leave us feeling like victims when we have chronic pain that the pill or surgery doesn't cure.

How does our conceptualization of pain -- and our thinking about the mind/body relationship -- change when we understand that people can undergo what many of us would assume to be the most extreme type of pain -- physical, invasive surgery -- without anything but the power of our minds to eliminate the pain?

I encourage you to watch this video on Hypnosurgery, which was broadcast in April 2006 in the U.K. At minimum, you should find it thought-provoking and challenging to your understanding of pain. I hope you'll also find it inspiring. Even if you and I will not choose to have our surgery completely without anesthesia, we can learn a lot about who we are and the power contained within our minds by watching these types of examples from our own medical world of today.

On a personal note, I've had the privilege of learning from Dr. John Butler, one of the featured surgeon/hypnotherapists, who is also a good friend and colleague of Gil Boyne's. He was present at a workshop I took last year and led a session or two. I've also seen a video of Dr. Butler himself undergoing surgery without anesthesia. This is a man -- a lovely, warm, incredibly knowledgeable professional -- who walks his talk. :)