Case Reports

Roberta was diagnosed with elevated blood pressure and her physician wanted to put her on hypertension medication. Saying that she was 78 years old and has not needed medication until now, she asked her doctor if there was a possibility that relaxation training might lower her blood pressure enough to permit her to stay off medication. Her doctor said that it was possible but that she would likely be dead before it worked well enough for her. She insisted that she try it first. Two weeks into the program, after two of the most stressful days in years, she went to her physician to get her blood pressure measured. The doctor took a measurement and frowned. He then asked her to stand, and took another measurement. He frowned again. Roberta then said to her doctor that if he had experienced her previous stressful two days that his blood pressure would be up, too. She said that the doctor looked up at her and said that her blood pressure had dropped 10 points (mmHg).

Toma was a retired professor who suffered from high blood pressure, diabetes and an aterial fibrillation. He announced that he was skeptical that relaxation could have any benefit on his medical conditions and that he was a scientist who valued the importance of measurements. I told him that he didn’t have to “believe” for the program to work but that he had to do the practice, that he should approach it like an “experiment” with an open but critical attitude, and invited him to share his measurements as he went through the training process. Within two weeks, he reported that his high blood pressure had returned to the normal range. By the end of the fourth week, his blood sugar dropped from 14.8, a serious diabetic condition, to 6.5, a normal range, and he was able to control his fibrillations. The only change he made to his treatment and lifestyle was doing the relaxation exercises. Eighteen months later he was maintaining the benefits.

Mary woke up every hour, every night for eighteen years. She had been treated by two sleep clinics in local hospitals without satisfaction. After four weeks of working with the relaxation exercises she was sleeping right through the night without waking even once. She looked 10 years younger.

Joseph was retired accountant who was unable to sleep more than three or four hours a night and was always tired and angry. He was hoping that the course would teach him to “power nap” so he could properly rest and recharge himself. It did. It also eliminated a shoulder problem for which he had been receiving twice weekly physiotherapy treatments for over a decade.

Rohia lived with a chronic migraine headache since she was eight years old. She said that it was impossible for anyone to understand what it was like to go through high school and university with a constant piercing pain in the head. She had been treated by neurologists and physiatrists who, using latest medicines and the technologies including CAT scans and fMRI readings, were unable to stop them. When she was 26, she came to the Beyond Stress course not expecting it would do anything for her headaches but rather to support her boyfriend who was looking for a way to cope better with his anxiety attacks. His anxiety attacks completely subsided and, to her astonishment, her migraines totally disappeared. Two years later they have not returned.

Susan, the wife of a successful lawyer, lived with a chronic headache for more than eight years. It was there 24/7. She was immensely skeptical when her physician suggested relaxation as a possible treatment as she had been to medical clinics all over North America and they weren’t able to help her. But, since she respected her doctor so much and because he had done the course himself, she decided to try it. She was totally stunned when, at two weeks into the program, her headache just went away. She didn’t say anything for a week thinking it wouldn’t last. It did.

Tim is a bright, dynamic graphic artist who lived with a secret his entire life. He was unable to enter hospitals or shopping malls without experiencing terrible panic attacks which forced him to flee. When he attended Beyond Stress at age 38, he was skeptical that a seemingly “simplistic” relaxation strategy could help him when a variety of medications and a cognitive behavioral program at a hospital couldn’t, but he was determined to try anything to lick this issue that embarrassed him and blocked him from moving ahead in his life. To his astonishment, within three weeks of working with the
relaxation he reported that he was able to enter a mall and use his breathing to stay in control as he slowly walked into the centre of the mall and then out again. The following week he was able to do the same thing in a hospital. Months later, he was not just maintaining these gains but, in his own words, he was “barreling ahead”.

Garth, a salesman who is a legend in his industry, for years daily jogged the same distance in 32 minutes. When his job pressures started resulting in anxiety attacks, he was thrilled that the Beyond Stress course was able to completely eliminate them. With his dramatically enhanced breathing he also took a full five minutes off his running time and has been able to maintain a 27 minute run for over three years.

Susan, a market researcher, suffered from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) for over a year. Conventional medical treatment did not work for her. She tried Chinese Medicine which worked for a short while but then stopped. She came to Beyond Stress thinking that relaxation might offer her some help but was completely astonished to discover that within four weeks her IBS totally disappeared. Eight months later it not only had not returned but she reported that her allergy to wheat had also disappeared.

Fred, a hospital executive in his 60’s reported that by working with the relaxation over a period of two and a half years, he longer required his arthritis medication which he had been taking for over eight years.

Bill, a foreman for a medium sized business, worked for the same employer for over fifteen years. Just two years before retiring, he became deeply depressed and unable to work. He sat at home lifeless and uncommunicative for months. His son, with tears in his eyes, begged his father to attend the Beyond Stress course and because of his son’s persistence and support, Bill reluctantly attended. Within three weeks, his depression had improved so much that he was back at work. He reported that the owner of the company enthusiastically hugged him as he welcomed him back. The owner said that he thought that Bill was “gone” for good. So did Bill. The depression never returned and Bill was able to work until he retired.

Ryan, 16 years old, was forced to drop out of high school because of his combination of anxiety and depression. His high school guidance counselor suggested to his mother that he should try relaxation as a possible therapy. Three weeks into the program he was able to return to school and was symptom free for the rest of the year.

For many years Jennifer had spent over $100 a month on inhalers for her asthma. Three weeks into the Beyond Stress course she no longer needed her inhaler at all. Ten years later she has only had to use it once.

Mike, a quiet middle-aged worker came to the Beyond Stress program hoping that it might help him cope with his exhaustion. He hadn’t slept well since a traffic accident fifteen years earlier left him with chronic back pain. In less than a month, his back pain was significantly reduced and he was getting good sleep for the first time in years. This was much more than his wildest expectations but what was even more thrilling to him was the surprising dissipation of his “seething” anger for the drunk driver that wrecked his body and killed his parents.

Eleven people participated in the Beyond Stress program in exchange for samples of blood taken before and after five weekly relaxation sessions. The blood was cultured and analyzed by Dr. Reg Gorczinski, PhD, a well known cancer researcher as part of a pilot study to see how relaxation could influence the immune system. He found that natural killer (NK) cells and interleukins, the two best indicators of the strength of the immune system, doubled, on average, for the whole group after four weeks. One woman’s NK cells and interleukins increased by 580% after the first session.

Mary was a medical resident who was chronically tired and mentally strained. Her sleep was never restful and she lived with chronic headaches and a troublesome eczema on her face. Within two weeks of relaxation practice, her headaches disappeared and she reported that her concentration began to dramatically improve. She said that during rounds the teaching doctors would constantly bombard the residents with questions and that she suddenly began to respond with unusual ease and mental clarity. She said that “It was like the cobwebs were washed out of my brain”. Within several weeks, her eczema also improved to the point where she no longer felt constantly embarrassed meeting new doctors and patients.

Mike was in the elite of the elite. He was selected from over 10,000 applicants to become a RAF pilot of a Harrier Jet. His only remaining hurdle was that he experienced “white coat hypertension”. Whenever his blood pressure was tested, his anxiety forced it to spike. He passed all of the tests and his last obstacle to final acceptance was his “high” blood pressure. Having failed the BP test twice, he was given one more opportunity to demonstrate that it was under control. Three weeks prior to the final test he came to the Beyond Stress program on the recommendation of his family physician.  His dream career was on the line and he gave the course his best effort. It paid off! He came to the last session with a gigantic smile on his face and announced that he was able to control his anxiety and blood pressure in the test and that he was soon to fly off into the wild blue yonder.

End Note: Deep relaxation has the simple but profound effect of allowing the body’s innate healing system to come to the fore. When we attain relief from the up-tight stress state, we kind of get out of our own way and allow healing to happen naturally. The effect of the relaxation response is global in that it has a positive effect on every cell, organ and system of the body and mind and thus can have such profound effects on many so different conditions.