If I hear one more person say that it’s “just the placebo effect,” I’m going to kick them right in the placebo.

For example: “How does qigong work? Is it just the placebo effect?”

It’s the word “just” that gets me angry.

The only reason to put the word “just” in front of the word “placebo” is to discount it.

It should be the opposite. The placebo effect should be embraced rather than rejected. For the life of me, I can’t understand why people aren’t jumping up and down at the discovery of the amazing phenomenon called the “placebo effect”. 

What the Placebo Effect Really Is

I understand what the placebo really is, which is why I embrace it.

When someone says “just the placebo” to me, it shows me that they don’t truly understand what it is. This is what I hear:

“It’s just an intrinsic healing phenomenon that has been documented to spontaneously reverse cancer and other diseases. Just that little thing.”

The term “placebo” first came into use in the 20th century. Henry Beecher, a doctor I mentioned in part 2 of this series, was actually a pioneer in placebo research. He was so fascinated by what he witnessed giving fake morphine to soldiers in WWII that he wanted to investigate further into this amazing phenomenon.

Good for you, Dr. Beecher! Thank you for exploring the placebo rather than rejecting it!

The placebo effect results from the belief that a treatment will have benefit.

In other words, the placebo effect is concrete, scientific proof of the mind-body connection. It absolutely proves that your beliefs and thoughts have a measurable effect on your health and wellbeing

And yet, this amazingly powerful phenomenon is being largely ignored.

It’s Not In Your Head

In part 2 of this series, I spoke about how chronic pain is often dismissed as “in your head”. (I explained that, technically, all pain is in your head because all pain is registered in the brain.)

People often make the same assumption about the placebo — that’s it’s all in the head.

It is critical to understand that the placebo effect is not just a psychological phenomenon. It’s not just in your head, especially when it comes to pain management.

Research on the placebo has shown measurable improvements that cannot be explained by mere psychology.

In part 2 of this series,, I talked about a fascinating placebo study using fake knee surgery (WSJ ink). It’s a perfect example of how the placebo effect isn’t in your head.

There are countless other mind-blowing examples of the placebo effect. The evidence is there if you look. I won’t bother listing all of the cool placebo studies because there are too many of them. Plus, I think it’s better if you get it directly from Western scientists, researchers, and doctors.

Here are a few more books to get you started:

• Spontaneous Healing by Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D.
• The Biology of Belief, by Bruce Lipton, Ph.D.
• The Molecules of Emotion, by Candace B. Pert, Ph.D.

Here’s a quote from another awesome book called Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof That You Can Heal Yourself, by Dr. Lissa Rankin, M.D.:

Is there scientific data to support the seemingly miraculous stories of self-healing that float around? You betcha. There’s proof that you can radically alter your body’s physiology just by changing your mind. There’s also proof that you can make yourself sick when your mind thinks unhealthy thoughts. And it’s not just mental. It’s physiological.

(Note: these are affiliate links, which means that I get a tiny commission if you purchase through them, at no extra cost to you. You’re basically giving me an Amazon gift card. Thanks for helping me to stay addicted to reading!)

Why There’s No Placebo In Qigong

So far, we’ve established that the placebo effect is solid, scientific proof of the mind-body connection. We’ve also established that Western Medicine prefers to ignore this phenomenon.

Meanwhile, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been exploring the placebo effect for 3000 years. (Remember that qigong is a branch of TCM, along with acupuncture and herbology.)

Of course, Traditional Chinese Medicine has never used the term “placebo”. In fact, the modern concept of a placebo” is completely foreign to TCM.

And that’s because TCM has never in its long history denied the mind-body connection.

Why The Mind-Body Connection Matters

When it comes to pain, we can’t ignore the mind-body connection. In part 2 of this series, I wrote about how pain that seems structural or physical is not.

If it’s not structural, if we can’t just repair the broken watch — then what is causing pain?

Simple answer: Your emotions.

In my previous 2 articles, I’ve explained the problems with the Western approach to pain.

The fact is that Western Medicine is useful for many things, but when it comes to dealing with chronic pain, it is failing 100 million Americans. And it is failing because it is looking in the wrong place.

Everyone knows that heart disease has an emotional component, right? People accept that stress and the emotions are involved, even though it would be easy to view heart disease as a purely physical issue.

But when it comes to chronic pain, no one wants to talk about the emotions.

At least, no one in Western Medicine.

Want To Get Rid Of Your Pain?

Whenever a student comes to me with pain, I always start inquiring about their emotional state.

“Sifu, it’s my low back that hurts!” they usually say.  “This is a physical problem. Stop asking about my damn emotions!”

It’s incredibly difficult to change this kind of thinking. It runs deep in our culture, and even deeper in our subconscious mind.

I started getting terrible low back pain around the same time that my depression started surfacing.  Back then, it never occurred to me that the two could be linked. Even after I learned about a possible link, I discounted it for years.

Whether you like it or not, this fact remains: You won’t find a long-term solution to your chronic pain until you address your emotional issues.

This is what I tell my students:

“If you want to get rid of your chronic pain, then first get rid of your false belief that your pain is purely physical.”

(As an aside, one big reason I wrote this 3-part series is to help students to finally get rid of those false beliefs.)

How Your Emotions Cause Pain

So how does it work? How do the emotions cause pain?

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, we have the Five Elements (五行, wu xing):  Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood.

Each of the Five Elements is associated with a Meridian System.  Furthermore, each Element is associated with an emotion:

In other words, for thousands of years, the Five Elements of TCM have recognized that emotions are a part of the healing equation.

Here is a simplified equation to help you understand:

The Pain Equation

1. Emotional energy is a form of qi.
2. If you have pain, then your qi is stagnant.
3. If your qi is stagnant, then it is caused by either an excess or deficiency of qi.
4. Whether the stagnation is caused by excess or deficiency, the solution is to circulate the qi.
5. The best way to circulate qi is with qigong.

Why Qigong is Awesome for Pain

Qigong is like the love child of mindfulness and tai chi. When it comes to pain, qigong is arguably more effective than tai chi.

Keep in mind that all qigong is the same. There are many different styles and approaches. But the fundamental approach of qigong is different from both tai chi and sitting meditation.

Qigong is specifically designed to be medicine, whereas tai chi and sitting meditation are not. (This doesn’t mean that tai chi and meditation can’t be medicine; just that they weren’t designed as such.)

Here are 10 reasons why Qigong is so awesome for pain:

1. Qigong uses movement – but gentle movement that anyone can do.
2. Qigong gives you all the pain-reducing benefits of mindfulness meditation.
3. Qigong gives you all the pain-reducing benefits of tai chi.
4. Qigong is ridiculously simple.
5. Qigong gives results faster than tai chi or meditation.
6. Qigong is non-martial and non-religious.
7. Qigong can be practiced even if you are overweight, in a wheelchair, or recovering from surgery.
8. Qigong is non-addictive, unlike opioid medications.
9. Qigong brings many other benefits in addition to relieving pain.
10. Qigong works.

Read this article here about the most frequently asked questions about qigong.

Click here to start learning  a simple qigong exercise called Lifting The Sky.

In Closing

This brings us to the end of my trilogy on chronic pain. All over the world, millions of people are suffering from chronic pain. Because I have such an amazing tool with qigong, I feel obligated to help.

If you know someone who is suffering from chronic pain, please point them to this series, or one of my online programs. I’ll do my best to help them!

Did you find this series helpful? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below! 

From the heart,
Sifu Anthony

The post Why You Need Qigong If You Struggle with Chronic Pain appeared first on Flowing Zen.

I’ve experienced back pain so severe that it almost got me arrested.

I was in my apartment in NYC, I was deeply frustrated by my pain and lack of mobility, and I let out a loud, primal scream.

As crazy as things were in NYC in the 1990s, screaming was still frowned upon, especially with the windows open.

Luckily, New Yorkers tend to mind their own business. My neighbors didn’t call the cops, and I avoided doing any jail time.

I’m joking a little. But not about the pain. I’ll never joke about my experience with back pain.

I am no stranger to suffering. As a depressive, I’ve experienced mental-emotional pain the likes of which most people simply cannot imagine.

At one point, I welcomed the raw physicality of back pain. It was a relief to have something so physical, so tangible, as compared to depression and anxiety.

That was before the pain got bad. Once it got bad, I got desperate.

What you need to understand about back pain is that, when it’s bad, there is no escape — not when you’re sleeping, not when you’re sitting, and not when you’re standing.

You are in constant pain, except for a few hours of restless sleep every night.

With pain like that, you are desperate. Absolutely desperate. You are vulnerable. You will try anything.

Big Pharma to the Rescue

Never fear! Big Pharma is here!

From acetaminophen (e.g. Tylenol) to ibuprofen (e.g. Advil) to opiods (e.g. OxyContin), Big Pharma has a pill for your pain.

Don’t get me wrong. Pain killers can be a godsend. They are a terrific stopgap for pain management.

But that’s all they are — a stopgap. Pain killers are not a solution to pain.

If it were that simple, if Big Pharma really had an elegant, permanent solution to pain, and if there weren’t other solutions that are safer, more effective, and more affordable — then that would be that, and I wouldn’t be writing this article.

But here I am, writing my heart out.

The Limitations of Big Pharma

People like to think that Western medicine has all the answers. It’s a comforting thought. Unfortunately, it’s not true.

The truth is that Western medicine has some of the answers, but not all of them. If your MD doesn’t agree to this statement, then it’s probably time to find one who is more honest.

Pain management is an area where their answers are still incomplete.

Big Pharma doesn’t want you to know that. Imagine a pill that healed chronic pain for good. Do you think Big Pharma would be interested?

The truth is that a complete answer to pain management would lose them billions in revenue.

Am I a crazy conspiracy theorist? No. I’m not. I’ve simply learned to follow the money, and you probably should too.

As it stands, pain meds are an ongoing stream of income for Big Pharma. Patients end up being on pain meds for years. Over 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain. You do the math.

Big Pharma wields tremendous influence over doctors, researchers, and lawmakers. They are, in a very real sense, a cartel, and they will do whatever it takes to protect their interests.

(If I mysteriously disappear after publishing this article, then someone please get Benedict Cumberbatch to Sherlock my death!)

The Danger of Opioids

Opioids like oxycodone are one of the main methods Western medicine has for treating pain. There are definitely times when it is a blessing to have access to painkillers like this. After a knee replacement, for example.

The problem is that opioids are overprescribed. No, actually that’s not the root problem.

The root problem is that opioids are basically heroin. Otherwise, it wouldn’t matter if they were overprescribed.

What if I told you that there was something killing more Americans than gun homicides and car crashes? Would you pay closer attention?

Then pay attention, because opioids are killing us.

Deaths by overdose from prescription drugs like oxycodone are also worse than those from heroin and cocaine combined. 

Read that sentence again. We’re talking about a drug that is not only legal, but prescribed by medical doctors. And THAT drug is killing people.

If we include the deaths that come from people who eventually overdose from heroin because they can no longer get their hands on prescription opioids, then the numbers are even more terrifying.

Opioids are killing more Americans than guns, cars, and illegal drugs? How the hell did this happen?

How We Got Here

In the past, opioids were mainly used to treat the awful pain associated with terminal cancer. In those cases, opiods were a miracle.

Opioids have also been safely used for years for short-term conditions, like post-surgical recovery.

But starting in the 1990s, opioids began to be used for things like low-back pain, sciatica, and other musculoskeletal problems.

As a result, we’ve been experiencing an epidemic of drug overdose deaths in the US since 2000. The use of these drugs has grown 10x over the last 20 years.

And that’s a problem. A serious problem.

It would be an even bigger problem if we didn’t have any other choice.

But we do.

Are there Better Solutions?

What if I told you there were solutions to pain that not only worked, but were safe, affordable, and had zero side effects.

No, it’s better than that. What if, instead of side effects, there were benefits!

Imagine a pill that managed pain as well as opioids, was 100% safe, had zero side effects, was extremely affordable, and also made your smarter.

You’d take that pill. I know I would.

In fact, I already do.

That pill is meditation. It seems that meditation — moving meditation, mindfulness meditation, transcendental meditation — are great for pain. And of course, meditation also has lots of benefits as well.

“Prove it!” you say?

I’m assuming that the so-called “anecdotal” evidence of me having proved this on hundreds of students with chronic pain cannot be submitted as evidence. That’s okay. I won’t take it personally.

How many studies would it take before you were convinced?

Well here are 10 studies showing the pain-reducing benefits of meditation and tai chi:

1. Demystifying meditation: Brain imaging illustrates how meditation reduces pain.
   Meditation produces powerful pain-relieving effects in the brain, according to new research published in the April 6 edition of the Journal of Neuroscience.
2. Meditation can reduce chronic neck pain, study shows.
   Meditation might be an effective treatment for reducing chronic neck pain, according to research reported in The Journal of Pain.
   
3. Meditation eases pain, anxiety and fatigue during breast cancer biopsy.
   Meditation eases anxiety, fatigue and pain for women undergoing breast cancer biopsies, according to researchers at the Duke Cancer Institute.
4. Mindfulness meditation trumps placebo in pain reduction. 
   Scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have found new evidence that mindfulness meditation reduces pain more effectively than placebo.
5. Mindfulness meditation provides opioid-free pain relief, study finds
   Everyone knows that stubbing your toe hurts. What makes it stop hurting is the body’s main pain-blocking process — the natural production of opioids.
6. Mindful meditation may be the answer to relieving chronic back pain, study suggests.
   “These findings suggest that MBSR may be an effective treatment option for patients with chronic low back pain”
7. Mindfulness Pain Relief Distinct from Placebo Effect.
   A new study demonstrates that the practice of mindfulness may ease pain in a way that is mechanistically distinct from the placebo effect.
8. This Is Why Meditation Makes You Feel Better
   After just four days of meditation training, people reported feeling 21% less pain.
9. Tai Chi found to be as effective as physical therapy for knee osteoarthritis
   Both Tai Chi and physical therapy positively impact pain, function and other symptoms of knee osteoarthritis — making Tai Chi a viable treatment alternative for people suffering with the degenerative disease
10. Tai Chi relieves arthritis pain, improves reach, balance, well-being, study suggests. 
    In the largest study to date of the Arthritis Foundation’s Tai Chi program, participants showed improvement in pain, fatigue, stiffness and sense of well-being.

Why Research is Slow

When I first started teaching qigong and tai chi, there weren’t very many studies. The benefits were all word-of-mouth.

Now, there are tons of studies. The list above is just a sampling. We could go on and on.

The real question is: with such promising early research, why isn’t MORE research being done?

Follow the money.

Research is mainly paid for by Big Pharma. Why on earth would they research solutions that not only can’t be patented, but would ultimately threaten their profit motive.

They wouldn’t. And they won’t.

The Pain Management Revolution

Because this is such a big issue, and because the research is so slow, there is a grass-roots movement to help people deal with pain.

I’m definitely not the only person doing this, which is good because it’s a huge problem! But I’ve been in the trenches helping people with chronic pain for ten years.

I’m honored to have been invited to speak at a tele-summit on pain management. This was a free online event with 20 experts. I was representing qigong and tai chi.

You can watch the interview for free here:

In the next article, I’ll talk about how our entire thinking about chronic pain is flawed, and why it will never product long-term results for those who are suffering.  

From the heart,
Sifu Anthony

The post What Big Pharma Doesn’t Want You to Know About Pain appeared first on Flowing Zen.