by guest blogger Mary Beth Janssen

Henry Miller said “the aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware—joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.” Amen. Pleasure Healing is a dynamic 21^st century approach to waking up to your full human potential, to higher levels of consciousness, and the resultant well-being. Many of us are simply living on the surface. Pleasure healing encourages you to plunge into the depths of who you are—your essence. Pleasure healing activities nurture you and give you a respite from the stressors in your life. They get you to pay attention. You come inside to the core of your being and commune with your higher self. When you pay exquisite attention, your energy shifts and you become the best that you can be—and you have fun while you’re at it! The capacity for delight is awakened and enlivened.

Pleasure healing is when we engage in mindful practices, therapies and treatments drawn from the spa world for purposes of nurturing ourselves and eliciting the relaxation response. As we engage, with full presence, in these pleasurable beauty and wellness experiences, deep healing ensues. We’re speaking of that which gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit—releasing a flood of feel-good chemicals into the blood stream. This is now proven in psychoneuroimmunology—the science which studies the interaction between the mind and body and how this relationship affects blood chemistry. We have the ability to change our neurochemistry. We have this natural pharmacy within us, including neurochemicals that help us heal—natural anti-depressants, tranquilizers, pain-killers and growth hormone, along with immunomodulators, vasodilators—and so much more. Only one example of this mindbody connection is the effectiveness of positive affirmations, or good thoughts. It is scientifically proven that positive affirmations raise the immune systems white blood cell count. Amazing! So, it is only logical to conclude that our well-being changes and evolves according to our experiences, but more importantly, our perception of those experiences. Perhaps you’ve heard the saying “our issues are in our tissues,” or “our biography is our biology.” Certainly this speaks to the mindbody connection. If we have happy thoughts, we create happy cells in our body, angry thoughts, angry cells, sad thoughts, sad cells—and so on. Renowned neuroscientist Dr. Candice Pert in her landmark book, The Molecules of Emotion (1999) wrote about how our thoughts become molecules in our body. Of note here—Candace Pert and Solomon Snyder of Johns Hopkins discovered the mood-enhancing, joy-inducing, pain-reducing endorphin— a neurohormone. Endorphin is short for "endogenous morphine," i.e. built-in heroin! It is released when we breathe deeply, exercise, receive a massage, make love, eat certain foods, and a whole host of other pleasurable activities.  The full benefit of pleasure healing can only be experienced when we are fully present during these pleasure healing experiences.

Mary Beth Janssen is a certified mind-body health educator for Deepak Chopra's educational organization, Infinite Possibilities Knowledge. Her company, the Janssen Source, Inc., serves as a wellness and organic lifestyle consultant to the beauty profession and the community at large.  She is the author of Pleasure Healing: Mindful Practices and Sacred Spa Rituals for Self-Nurturing.