How can one heal illnesses with the help of the brain? The brain has the power to both heal and balance, says Dr. Meirav Yogev, one of the most fascinating researchers I have ever met. Every illness, she contends, is caused by significant junctures in one’s life. The brain that creates illness can heal itself.
For years I have followed the teachings of American writer Louise Hay, whose book You Can Heal Your Life has become a bestseller. Believing that a person has the power of thought to determine his or her life was the main aspect of her teachings.
Yogev’s academic research focuses on the link between brain and spirit. What makes her research so powerful is the scientific proof of her thesis.
Meirav Yogev and mental health
Yogev, 53 and the mother of three, obtained her doctorate in neurobiology and pharmacology from the Technion Institute, and her post doctorate at Tel Aviv University. She lectures at the Technion and the Academy of Emek Israel and runs her own private clinic.
It was not until her husband contracted terminal melanoma that she switched her work from developing pharmaceutical remedies for Alzheimer’s to seeking scientific proof for the connection between the brain and the spirit.
SMRI (structural magnetic resonance imaging) provides detailed images of the brain’s structure, allowing for the calculation of volumes of brain structures. It is one of the tools substantiating the theory that thought creating reality is not just a mystical notion.
Yogev embarked on a journey researching the realms of the spirit in order to prove the effects of positive thinking on one’s health. Her husband’s doctor termed the last two years of his life, when Yogev applied her methodology, as nothing short of a miracle. Yogev, however, argues that we have the ability to create our own miracles. She says we cannot change our external circumstances, but we can direct the way our body reacts to them. This therapy helped one of her patients go into remission of her cancer. The woman had contracted terminal stage 4 breast cancer after losing her son. Breast cancer, Yogev contends, is invariably linked to a reaction to a loss and suppressed anger.
She likens anger to a person drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. Our cells age faster due to stress and are more prone to disease. Yogev compiled self-healing exercises in the form of lego cubes. Children and adults alike can benefit immensely by adding cubes to their tower of resilience.
In my case, I had a frozen shoulder. I suffered the frozen shoulder after my mother was killed in a terrorist bus bombing. Yogev attributed my frozen shoulder to the loss of an anchor or “support cube” in my life and having to suddenly take charge of our family, or “shoulder the responsibility.”
Those seeking help in Yogev’s clinic are asked to fill out questionnaires about their major life events. The next step is to connect those events to various traumas. The therapy creates new pathways in the brain through positive visualization.
Yogev lectures extensively throughout the country to a wide range of audiences, from doctors and teachers, to students and parents. Her method of brain-based education upgrades the users and helps to boost one’s resilience. In an age of fast-paced technology, we need intentional breaks.
Since October 7, Yogev’s teaching of linking brain and spirit has become even more valuable. She is currently working on a book that lists scientific proofs of her research.
We cannot control our life’s events, she says. The war, the casualties, the hostage crisis, and the collective national sense of loss are not our doing. Our role in the world is not to judge but to show empathy through positive thinking. We can change the world by changing ourselves.
Through understanding how the language of the brain works and its symptoms reflected in the body, we can live better and become better human beings. In Judaism, the prayer of gratitude recited upon rising encapsulates this brain-spirit connection.■
Shoshana Tita is a journalist, scholar, and international teacher based in the US, Spain, and Israel.