On Sunday June 1, 2015 we are holding a movie fundraiser to support the Tweed Valley Women’s Service. The Movie is The Connection: Movie Your Body, which is a documentary featuring world leading experts in Mind/Body Medicine and remarkable true stories of healing.
Synopsis
Everyday millions of people are turned away from their doctor’s rooms with a diagnosis of a chronic illness. Tests are ordered, drugs or surgeries are prescribed; but often little is offered by way of explanation or cure.
Filmmaker Shannon Harvey was one of them. At 24 years old she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. Her immune system had become hyperactive and was attacking normal, healthy tissues. Her muscles and joints were inflamed and she was told if her disease progressed she could end up with organ failure, or wheelchair bound.
In search of a cure, Shannon turned to nutrition, exercise and alternative therapies. But she was still sick. There was one thing she did know. When she was stressed, she got worse and with a background in journalism, Shannon sought answers in pioneering science. She soon realized that in order to change her health she needed to change her mind.
The Connection: Mind Your Body is a film about how frontier research is proving that there is a direct connection between our mind and our health. The film features scientists, researchers, writers and doctors, as well as remarkable true stories of people adding mind body medicine to their healing toolkit to recover from severe back pain, heart disease, infertility, cancer and multiple sclerosis.
While the science is complex, the solutions for people suffering with illness are astonishingly simple. The film shows that we can counter the harmful affects of stress with an equally powerful relaxation response triggered through specific techniques such as meditation. It shows that emotions can impact the course of an illness for better or for worse and could even be the difference between life and death. The film explains the mechanisms behind belief, which scientists now know contributes 30 to 50 percent of the effect of any known biological cure and explores how scientists at the cutting edge are now learning that the mind can even influence the expression of genes and the rate at which we age.
This is a film for people who have tried everything. It offers answers and proves that you can change your mind, change your health and change your life.
The Experts
Internationally renowned experts featured in the film include:
- Herbert Benson, MD: Discovered the Relaxation Response that helps counter the harmful effects of stress.
- Jon Kabat Zinn PhD: One of the first people to bring together eastern meditation techniques with medicine and research to develop the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program.
- Dean Ornish MD: A leading physician who directed a series of scientific research studies showing that the progression of coronary heart disease and prostate cancer can often be reversed by making comprehensive lifestyle changes.
- Andrew Weil MD: A world-renowned pioneer in the field of integrative medicine.
- Esther Sternberg MD: A leading researcher who made discoveries in brain-immune interactions and the effects of the brain’s stress response on health.
- Sara Lazar PhD: A Harvard scientist conducting cutting edge research into the effects of meditation and yoga on brain activity and changes in brain structure.
- Alice Domar PhD: The first researcher to apply mind body medicine to women with infertility.
- David Spiegel MD: Conducted a pioneering study on the power of group support in health outcomes for women with breast cancer.
- Craig Hassed MD: An academic who’s ground breaking body of work on the application of integrative and mind body medicine has raised the bar in the teaching of modern medicine.
- Damien Finnis MD: An expert in the clinical applications of the placebo effect.
The Case Studies
Each of the case studies featured demonstrates the power of the mind in becoming well from chronic illness. Whether it is surviving a ‘terminal’ cancer, recovering from severe back pain, becoming pregnant after an infertile diagnosis, healing from heart disease or recovering from multiple sclerosis, the stories are real and remarkable in their simplicity. Each person takes a different approach to his or her recovery. Their stories show the power of stress reduction, relaxation, group support, meditation, faith, belief and finding emotional balance through things like professional therapy.
The case studies featured are –
- Dr. Ann Salerno: Infertility
- Prof. George Jelinek: Multiple Sclerosis
- Dr. Ian Gawler: Bone Cancer
- Jason Wachob: Severe Back Pain
- Scott Stephens: Stage 4 Melanoma
- Dr. Craig Duncan: Heart Attack
Screening Details
- Date: June 1, 2015
- Time: 3.00-5.00pm
- Cost: $10 (+ Eventbrite booking fee)
- Venue: Birch, Carroll and Coyle Coolangatta
- Bookings: please click here to go to the booking page and purchase your tickets.
- More details: click here to view the trailer for the movie.
We thank you for your support of The Connection: Mind Your Body movie fundraiser and hope this movie inspires you.
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