Unlocking the Healing Power of You
Science is showing that how you feel isn’t just about what you eat, or do, or think. It’s about what you believe. For example, smoking, snoring, and having high blood cholesterol levels were traits often associated with people aging rapidly, while yogurt consumption, regular mealtimes, and having higher bone mineral density were traits more frequently present in those who age more slowly. Middle age, that is, the 40s and early 50s, seems to be a time when the differences between rapidly aging and slowly aging people become more apparent. Some people may look quite old despite only being 40 years old while others are 55 but still look very young. According to Jin-Dong Han, this variability means that adopting healthier habits could be a big game-changer at this time. However, just having a belief that you are young may be enough…
BY E R I K V A N C E
T H E P I L G R I M W A S N ’ T sure he’d make it to the Chapel of Grace. It was agony to walk at all, let alone endure the 70 miles that thousands of believers trek each year to behold an enshrined wood statue: the Black Madonna of Altötting.
Richard Mödl had recently broken his heel, but in 2003 he was determined to complete his first pilgrimage from Regensburg to Altötting, Germany. He figured if the pain got too bad he could always hitch a ride. But he had a deep faith in the Virgin Mary’s ability to deliver him. So he walked. And walked. “When you are on your way to Altötting, you almost don’t feel the pain,” he says.
Today, at 74, Mödl has a warm smile and a wiry frame that looks as if it could survive a charging rhinoceros. Since the healing of his foot, he’s made the pilgrimage 12 more times, and he’s a passionate believer in its transformative power.
Mödl is not alone in his belief. Whether it takes the form of a touch of the Holy Spirit at a Florida revival meeting or a dip in the water of the Ganges, the healing power of belief is all around us. Studies suggest that regular religious services may improve the immune system, decrease blood pressure, add years to our lives.
Religious faith is hardly the only kind of belief that has the ability to make us feel inexplicably better. Six thousand miles from Altötting, another man experienced what seemed to be a medical miracle.
Mike Pauletich first noticed he had a problem in 2004. His aim with a baseball was off, and his arm hurt. His hand shook a little, and, strangest of all, his wife noticed he never smiled anymore.
Figuring he had carpal tunnel syndrome, he went to the doctor. But his bad aim wasn’t because of his arm, and the reason he wasn’t smiling wasn’t because his arm hurt. At 42
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