•  Issues Surrounding the Establishment of a System
•  My Contributions to this Change
•  How does one Proceed to Obtain More Help

Read the disclaimer on the "A possible cure to IBS" page.

Getting prolonged visualisation care is a stickky issue for some of the following reasons:

1. Many people who use the visualisation methods to help themselves often go into denial, choosing to believe that it is not the visualisation, but rather other tactics that they've employed to control the situation that has dumbed down the pain. (I am guessing that the reason for this might be that it might be embarrassing to admit that meditative techniques help, since many people feel that this is a strong indicator that the problem is just a psychiatric problem).
2. In an already overburdened health care system, it is very hard to assess visualisation techniques except through patient feedback and confidence in the techniques' effectiveness. If patients never directly prescribe/report their success in a visual/mind-based technique without feeling embarrassed, the cycle preventing the existence of a meditative care delivery system will never stop.
3. It is entirely possible that patients can get confused with the number of people who might claim to have methods, if a system that establishes tried and true methods that can instill patient confidence doesn't exist.
4. Formal training systems do not exist for caregivers (although it seems that UCLA is trying to establish a system - I wasn't trained by anyone myself and I didn't read any books to gain insight into my techniques).
5. Establishing who is capable of leading such research and what criterea should be used to assess techniques is probably another debate of great interest.
6. Nobody gets any benefits (ie profits) from meditation. Neither doctors, nor pharmaceutical companies make any money from visualisation cures and their promotion. However, they may indirectly benefit from the discovery of other primary and secondary causes of diseases. Nevertheless, they will most likely not try to promote such a system.

Nevertheless, the importance of such an establishment in medicare should not be underestimated, if patient care can be improved in a manner that is cost effective, and statistically strong enough to be financially viable. My belief is that this can be achieved, but that the organization will have to be less scientifically answerable. Such an organization may have to be based on statistically gathered information, much the way psychiatry is based on the DSM IV. A big factor in making the decisions a little easier is that visualisation/mind-based techniques are thought to be harmless by medicine, since formal methods of evaluating the harm/good these techniques cause doesn't exist - (I'm under the belief that visualisation techniques are quite powerful and can cause changes to the body's conditions).

My contributions to this change:

My contributions to this has been limited to what you see here on these web pages. I have not established any formal system to help people with their problems. I am not sure if I should. I feel that if the techniques described on these pages have helped you, then I may be able to further help you develop more personalized and more effective techniques. However, I would need a visualisation/mind-based therapy case history and an in depth understanding of how the disease/disorder is affecting you. This is why I encourage those who feel the success of the posted methods to e-mail me. However, I am not sure how much time I have available to help sufferers. As you can see I have already devoted a considerable amount of time in creating these pages.

You may ask why I would need a visualisation case history: The reason is simple: The visualisation techniques you employ modify your body's behaviour, which in turn changes the disease's behaviour (from a visualisation point of view and in terms of the pain you feel). Understanding what you have done and how you are feeling gives me some insight as to what changes you may have experienced, and what can be done to help you at this point. For many people, doing something this involved requires a lot of trust - both on the part of the person being helped and the one offering the help. (something like a patient - doctor relationship). Trust, unfortunately, takes time and lots of effort to generate, especially when such personal information is required.

Nevertheless, I hope that one day something can be done for the greater good of health care. Eventually, health care may include
meditative analysis as a part of a comprehensive care package.

Cheers, Raju.

How does one proceed to obtain more help:

Send an e-mail to the contact given on the main page. Doing this may not ensure a prompt response, but may at least ensure that your question/concern can be eventually addressed if this is possible through visualisation. Any correspondence will be held confidential, and the e-mail address has been specifically set up to address anyone's concerns - it won't therefore interfere with my regular e-mail. No unsolicited e-mail will be sent.

It is my theory that many IBS sufferers are capable of effectively controlling the disease through the use of visualisation. (You have to figure out who to talk to - just as you would select your GP).