Science Falsely So-Called
In a recent e-mail advertisement I received, a business advertised the following piece of quack medicine:
But I'm not going to.
These kinds of people never speak in terms of absolute physical health. They're using the same Eastern mystic ideas about "energy," "vibrations," and "balance," none of which are quantifiable in any scientific test.
Don't fall for this stuff. Let real doctors take care of you rather than running to people who will take advantage of your fears and take your money in exchange for nonsense.
[Name withheld] is celebrating Valentine's Day by giving ... a 25% off discount from a VoiceBio Analysis, now through February 20. It involves speaking into a microphone - fully clothed - and having your own voice tell you within minutes not only what's ailing you but what could afflict you later if you don't take the right health precautions?Why are people taken in by this stuff? Reflexology, iridology, quantum touch, and now here's another thing to waste your money on. I've got half a mind to schedule an appointment and then, after they tell me everything that is supposedly wrong with me, stand up and say, "You are just 100% wrong!"
Are you confused as to why your medical tests come back normal but you KNOW that something is wrong? A Voice Bio Analysis shows you what physical and emotional imbalances are occurring and it won't cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars. It takes 30 minutes and $59 dollars (now $45) to shed light on your situation and suggest ways to improve your health. Let your voice tell you what your body already knows.
But I'm not going to.
These kinds of people never speak in terms of absolute physical health. They're using the same Eastern mystic ideas about "energy," "vibrations," and "balance," none of which are quantifiable in any scientific test.
Don't fall for this stuff. Let real doctors take care of you rather than running to people who will take advantage of your fears and take your money in exchange for nonsense.
You're right that the advertised item is a bunch of nonsense. But, hasn't science validated some of the benefits of Eastern practices on health, like the physical and mental health benefits of meditation? Or yoga?
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Meditation can produce some psychological and even physical benefits, but it's incredibly subjective. You can meditate about anything or nothing, but there's no scientific way to quantify the effects.
Likewise with yoga exercises. Breathing and assuming the different positions may help the body to heal from one thing or another. Again, it's hard to quantify such things scientifically.
The real danger with yoga (and meditation as it is linked with yoga) is that it is a false spirituality. The practice of yoga involves meditation on "the Absolute," but there's no definition as to what that is. It could be God, but it could be nature, or any of the idols used in the Hinduism from which yoga came.
Eastern medicine is concerned with an internal energy that the Chinese call "Qi" (pronounced "chee", sometimes spelled "Chi"). We Americans might describe this as bio-electric energy, but you can't look at it under a microscope. You can't detect it with any scientific instruments; you can't isolate it. I call that junk science by definition.
All this stuff, from therapeutic touch to the Q-Ray bracelet to the "product" that I began with -- all of it is connected with false spirituality, besides being plain nonsense.
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Thanks, Carrie. I see what you're saying. Though, isn't it actually easy to quantify the positive health benefits of meditation by conducting a scientific study by measuring observable phenomena? For example, two groups of men with diagnosable hypertension enter the study, 100 men in each group. One group does nothing, the other does 10 weeks of non-spiritual/breathing-exercises-only meditation two times a week for 20 minutes a day. Can't we quantify the results at the end of the study by measuring blood pressure of the men and comparing the results against the other group that did nothing? Doesn't this satisfy the quantification of results in a non-subjective way?
I think the same can be done with yoga and all of these can be administered without the Eastern spirituality component.
You're not suggesting that sitting by myself in a quiet room and counting my breaths from 1 to 10 is false spirituality, are you? I mean, especially if I'm thinking and being mindful of the love and compassion of Jesus all the while? Therapeutic meditation doesn't try and push any Hinduism or any other kind of spirituality on patients. It simply tried to teach people how to breathe better and get more oxygen into their blood system. Many people who suffer stress, hypertension, or insomnia suffer from breathing disorders. Therapeutic and non-spiritual meditation helps correct these kinds of breathing difficulties.
Thanks again. Interesting subject you write about.
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I'm not a medical scientist, but I think there wold have to be better criteria for such a study than:
- Group does nothing.
- Group does breathing exercises and "non-spiritual" meditation.
For instance, do the two groups have the same diet? Are they all pessimists or optimists? Are they serious or comical in their personality? Do they have families that pray for their condition or not?When you get into these psychological/spiritual areas, I don't see how you can lock the effects down scientifically. I've been told by a doctor that if he took your blood pressure five times a day he would likely get five different results. Some people's blood pressure goes up just by walking into a doctor's office, so that in itself is not a good barometer of a particular treatment's effectiveness.
Let me tell you a story. I've had operations in hospitals in my time. After many of them, I was given a machine similar to this one:
I was to perform 10 to 20 repetitions, making sure all the little balls came to the top of the chamber. Needless to say, right after the operation I couldn't get all of them up there, but eventually I did. There was a medical benefit to these exercises, of course, but I can't remember meditating about anything during them other than, "Do I have to do this?" or "Can I quit now?" But I had a family who prayed for me, and I also knew I had a relationship with the Lord, so the combination of deep breathing exercises and reliance upon the Lord certainly were beneficial.
If you keep your mind stayed on Jesus, I don't care what you're doing otherwise. We're supposed to have Him constantly in our thoughts anyway. You can meditate on the Lord while you're sitting in your car or reclining on your floor doing your deep breathing exercises. Nevertheless, please be aware of the false spirituality that is pushed along with Eastern mystical practices -- yoga, transcendental meditation, tai chi, rose quartz or whatever else -- and stay as far away from that as you can. I don't want you to be confused about true spirituality by messing around with the counterfeit.
That's all. I appreciate your comments.
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Wow, you had to go through all of that? Sounds like it was difficult.
Yes, what I meant by “group does nothing” was “group receives no treatment.” That should clarify that point. And the groups would be matched on all other variables like personality, weight, activity level, gender, race, and so forth.
I’ve been told by a doctor that blood pressure is exactly the way some physiological effects of treatments are measured. She said that the numbers are collected over time and compiled into an average. Each average is measured against each subject and then against each group. She told me about some scientific studies done by Wacholtz and Pargament titled “Is spirituality a critical ingredient of meditation? Comparing the effects of spiritual meditation, secular meditation, and relaxation on spiritual, psychological, cardiac, and pain outcomes” and another one by Barnes, et al called “Impact of Meditation on Resting and Ambulatory Blood Pressure and Heart Rate in Youth” and another one by Jain et al “A Randomized Controlled Trial of Mindfulness Meditation Versus Relaxation Training: Effects on Distress, Positive States of Mind, Rumination, and Distraction” that all found decreased anxiety, blood pressure, anxiety, heart rate, distress, distraction, and other positive benefits from meditation. They can be found in the peer reviewed magazines Journal of Behavioral Medicine. Vol 28(4), Aug 2005, 369-384, Psychosomatic Medicine. Vol 66(6), Nov-Dec 2004, 909-914, and Annals of Behavioral Medicine. Vol 33(1), Feb 2007, 11-21. My doctor also told me that there is such a thing as non-spiritual form of meditation and gave me her copy of Grossman et al’s article “Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits: A meta-analysis” found in the magazine Journal of Psychosomatic Research. Vol 57(1), Jul 2004, 35-43.This scientific study looked at non spiritual and non esoteric forms of meditation in a meta analysis (whatever that is) of 60 other studies. Anyhow, they concluded that these kinds of meditations had positive changes in people’s health.
Yeah, it is all so confusing. I think I’m just going to pray instead. I think Time magazine’s cover story this week is about the positive health benefits of prayer. Thanks for all the help.
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