Verbal Medicine: How What You Say Affects How You Feel
Do you find yourself saying you are stressed or anxious a lot? Using those words might be making it worse. “Verbal Medicine” is a simple technique that explores how language affects the body and transforms negative words into words that better serve the body and mind. Join Colleen Curran, LAc, DAc, for an eye-opening conversation about how the words we use every day can affect our health. She also incorporates self-acupressure and meditation for a holistic experience.
Featured Speaker:
Colleen Curran, LAc, DAc
Colleen Curran is a Licensed Doctor of Acupuncture from Maryland University of Integrative Health (formerly Tai Sophia). She has been in practice for over 10 years at her private practice Zen Path Wellness in Fallston. She has been the main acupuncturist/manager at Kaufman Cancer Center at Upper Chesapeake Health since 2016 while also serving as an MUIH faculty member, supervising the Doctorate Acupuncture Student Clinic. Additionally, she developed Acuseed Therapy Acupressure, a non-needling modality used for those contraindicated for needling or by preference. Transcription:
Verbal Medicine: How What You Say Affects How You Feel
Amanda Wilde (Host): Welcome to Live Greater, a health and wellness podcast brought to you by the University of Maryland Medical System. We put knowledge and care within reach, so you have everything you need to live your life to the fullest.
This podcast is sponsored by UM Upper Chesapeake Health. I'm Amanda Wilde. Language has a surprisingly significant impact on health. Today, we explore verbal medicine with Colleen Curran acupuncturist at Upper Chesapeake Health's Kaufman Cancer Center. Dr. Curran, thank you for being here.
Dr Colleen Curran: Thank you for having me.
Amanda Wilde (Host): How would you describe the effect words have on our health?
Dr Colleen Curran: As far as language, and maybe I can take it back just a little bit, to explain verbal medicine in general. When the pandemic happened, you know, as an acupuncturist, I had to use telemedicine to treat my patients essentially. So we really explored how language, or what we would call word needles, impacted the patient's experience of going through a treatment, whether it was through taking them through a meditation, envisioning certain words, and then using self-acupressure to fully support envisioning that word to elicit a response in the body and the brain to essentially transform their body's response in the moment. So utilizing words to describe sensations that they're feeling in their body, it creates an awareness. So that through that awareness, they're able to recognize what's happening and then choose to transform that experience.
Amanda Wilde (Host): So this started with you having to find a way to be effective as an acupuncturist over tele-telehealth?
Dr Colleen Curran: Yes.
Amanda Wilde (Host): How effective did you find this to be?
Dr Colleen Curran: Very effective. Utilizing guided meditation and diaphragmatic breathing, patients were really able to embrace the self-acupressure as we went through the telemedicine appointment and feel empowered, because they were able to recognize what was happening in their body. Giving anxiety a name. What are you feeling in your body? What is anxiety to you? I mean, we know what the diagnosis is, that anxiety, but that could feel different for different people. So do you feel warm in your body? Do you feel like a quivering in the chest? Do you feel that tension in the body? And so, recognizing, giving it a name, we're calling it anxiety. We are identifying it and then we're either choosing to live within that emotion or that sensation in the body or through breathing, we're choosing to transform it. So if you're feeling anxiety in the moment, I know I'm feeling anxiety. I'm feeling warm in the body. I'm recognizing that it is anxiety for me. How can I transform that? What would I like to transform that into? So it could be peace. So then, we take the patient back to the last time that you felt peaceful, so envisioning that place or that space in your mind. It could be in a garden.
Amanda Wilde (Host): And what do patients experience that let you know that this verbal medicine is working?
Dr Colleen Curran: They're able to achieve that transformation and they're able to feel it in their bodies. So, if they're feeling anxiety and they're noticing heat in the body, then after envisioning peace and doing the diaphragmatic breathing and some self-acupressure, they're able to share. And it doesn't take long. It only Takes a few minutes. They're able to share that the heat has lessened, maybe the tension has lessened in the body. So they feel empowered to know that, in essence, whenever they experience an emotion or a sensation that may have a negative connotation, they have the ability to transform that on their own.
Amanda Wilde (Host): And yeah, these are tools you can take with you wherever you go.
Dr Colleen Curran: Yes.
Amanda Wilde (Host): This is so fascinating. Is there research on this subject, the impact of words on health? And if so, what does research show in terms of using language?
Dr Colleen Curran: There is research. There's actually a lot of research in regards to telemedicine and telehealth and that people respond to it. Also, I think one of my favorite researchers and authors is Mr. Emoto. I'm not sure if you're familiar with his work. But he used high speed photography that visually captured the structure of water, not only at moments of freezing, but also moments of thought or playing certain musical compositions. And he showed how the water droplets changed based on, like what you said to the water droplet or the kind of music or resonance that was played. And it showed symmetry when there were words or thoughts projected that had a positive connotation. He showed pictures. It was fascinating. So if we think of the human body, the human body is made up of roughly 60% water. So if we can kind of take that association, if his research showed that even new speaking words or thinking words that have a positive connotation, that's affecting the water in our bodies.
Amanda Wilde (Host): Are there some best words to use to create that positivity or to care for oneself?
Dr Colleen Curran: I think it depends on the individual. I really like patients to choose words that resonate with them, but usually it's peace, calm ease. And even speaking those words, feeling into speaking those words, it creates that resonance in your body.
Amanda Wilde (Host): Now a lot of us, of course, you know, are hard on ourselves and we always hear about positive self-talk. What is the best way to learn that or to change habits if we tend to be hard on ourselves?
Dr Colleen Curran: I would say the easy with yourself in the moment. Let whatever is occurring in the present moment kind of like bubble up to the surface and be aware of it. Because if we're not aware of it, then we don't have the opportunity to actively transform the present moment. It's a choice. You can choose the negative tape reel, or, you know, you can just take the opportunity to stop and notice that you're playing the negative tape reel in your mind and choosing how to change that.
Amanda Wilde (Host): That's the hard part, stopping, noticing, and then implementing a change.
Dr Colleen Curran: Exactly. It takes practice.
Amanda Wilde (Host): Yeah, I was just going to say, how do you help patients with that?
Dr Colleen Curran: So just teaching them awareness in regards to body noticing. What are you noticing in your body? So when someone shares with me, we'll use anxiety again, a patient will say, "Oh, well I have anxiety." "Okay. So I don't know what anxiety feels like for you. But let's explore that." So, bringing the patient into what they notice on a body level and cultivating that awareness with the patient, they're further able to recognize, "Okay. I'm feeling anxiety right now and I'm going to stop whatever I'm doing in the moment" or just pause. I mean, you could be standing in line getting a coffee and have anxiety, so it's just recognizing it, stopping and taking three deep breaths in through the nose, out through the mouth. That stops the body. It actually stops the fight or flight response. So it's like reprogramming the brain. It's saying, "We're not going to go there. We're not going to go into full anxiety. We're going to choose to pause, take a couple deep breaths," and that reprograms the brain and the body responds differently.
Amanda Wilde (Host): What are the long-term effects of doing this practice, if you've seen that?
Dr Colleen Curran: Patients are empowered. They don't need to come in for acupuncture as often. They're able to really transform their lives on their own. they have less stress, less body pain. They have better relationships with themselves, but also family members, loved ones, because they're cultivating peace within themselves. Acceptance, awareness and they're able to be examples for others and share this because everyone can do this. You don't necessarily have to come in for an acupuncture treatment. And it's a big part of acupuncture as well. We do the breathing when needles are inserted, but this is just a tool that everyone can use at any time. So it has a ripple effect.
Amanda Wilde (Host): Meaning when someone else has healthier, if it is calmness and peace they're feeling, they sort of exude that to those around them as well.
Dr Colleen Curran: Yes. And if they see that someone else is maybe struggling, then they can offer the teaching.
Amanda Wilde (Host): So it seems so simple and like something anyone can do.
Dr Colleen Curran: Yes, absolutely, at any time. Sometimes I recommend for some people that are really busy, setting a timer or taking time at a certain time the day and just dedicating that to just stopping whatever you're doing. I mean, we all go on lunch break, but it's like hurried lunch, you know. It's like, "Oh, we have to eat. And then we have to get back to what we're doing." So I recommend choosing a certain time or if you have lunchtime and just taking a break, setting a timer and just stopping whatever you're doing and just having a seat and just doing some deep breathing. I mean, it's easy as four deep breaths. Just in through the nose, holding for four and then out through the mouth. That resets entire body.
Amanda Wilde (Host): And it's so really doable because it doesn't take a lot of time.
Dr Colleen Curran: Yeah, it doesn't. It's that simple and that quick. I mean, 30 seconds. I've seen people be able to shift in seconds. What matters is the pause, what matters is the awareness, what matters is being in our bodies.
Amanda Wilde (Host): I just love what you said. I just wanted there to be a pause there. Dr. Curran, thank you for your insights into the impact of words on health and the language of healing and how we can use that to affect not only ourselves, but make things more positive for those around us.
Dr Colleen Curran: Absolutely. Thank you.
Amanda Wilde (Host): This episode of Live Greater is sponsored by UM Upper Chesapeake Health. Through an unparalleled combination of high quality care and leading edge technology, UM Upper Chesapeake is improving the health of Northeastern Maryland residents by providing an exceptional patient experience for every person, every encounter, every day.
Find more shows just like this one at umms.org/podcast. Thank you for listening to Live Greater, a health and wellness podcast brought to you by the University of Maryland Medical System. We look forward to you joining us again. I'm Amanda Wilde. Be well.
Verbal Medicine: How What You Say Affects How You Feel
Amanda Wilde (Host): Welcome to Live Greater, a health and wellness podcast brought to you by the University of Maryland Medical System. We put knowledge and care within reach, so you have everything you need to live your life to the fullest.
This podcast is sponsored by UM Upper Chesapeake Health. I'm Amanda Wilde. Language has a surprisingly significant impact on health. Today, we explore verbal medicine with Colleen Curran acupuncturist at Upper Chesapeake Health's Kaufman Cancer Center. Dr. Curran, thank you for being here.
Dr Colleen Curran: Thank you for having me.
Amanda Wilde (Host): How would you describe the effect words have on our health?
Dr Colleen Curran: As far as language, and maybe I can take it back just a little bit, to explain verbal medicine in general. When the pandemic happened, you know, as an acupuncturist, I had to use telemedicine to treat my patients essentially. So we really explored how language, or what we would call word needles, impacted the patient's experience of going through a treatment, whether it was through taking them through a meditation, envisioning certain words, and then using self-acupressure to fully support envisioning that word to elicit a response in the body and the brain to essentially transform their body's response in the moment. So utilizing words to describe sensations that they're feeling in their body, it creates an awareness. So that through that awareness, they're able to recognize what's happening and then choose to transform that experience.
Amanda Wilde (Host): So this started with you having to find a way to be effective as an acupuncturist over tele-telehealth?
Dr Colleen Curran: Yes.
Amanda Wilde (Host): How effective did you find this to be?
Dr Colleen Curran: Very effective. Utilizing guided meditation and diaphragmatic breathing, patients were really able to embrace the self-acupressure as we went through the telemedicine appointment and feel empowered, because they were able to recognize what was happening in their body. Giving anxiety a name. What are you feeling in your body? What is anxiety to you? I mean, we know what the diagnosis is, that anxiety, but that could feel different for different people. So do you feel warm in your body? Do you feel like a quivering in the chest? Do you feel that tension in the body? And so, recognizing, giving it a name, we're calling it anxiety. We are identifying it and then we're either choosing to live within that emotion or that sensation in the body or through breathing, we're choosing to transform it. So if you're feeling anxiety in the moment, I know I'm feeling anxiety. I'm feeling warm in the body. I'm recognizing that it is anxiety for me. How can I transform that? What would I like to transform that into? So it could be peace. So then, we take the patient back to the last time that you felt peaceful, so envisioning that place or that space in your mind. It could be in a garden.
Amanda Wilde (Host): And what do patients experience that let you know that this verbal medicine is working?
Dr Colleen Curran: They're able to achieve that transformation and they're able to feel it in their bodies. So, if they're feeling anxiety and they're noticing heat in the body, then after envisioning peace and doing the diaphragmatic breathing and some self-acupressure, they're able to share. And it doesn't take long. It only Takes a few minutes. They're able to share that the heat has lessened, maybe the tension has lessened in the body. So they feel empowered to know that, in essence, whenever they experience an emotion or a sensation that may have a negative connotation, they have the ability to transform that on their own.
Amanda Wilde (Host): And yeah, these are tools you can take with you wherever you go.
Dr Colleen Curran: Yes.
Amanda Wilde (Host): This is so fascinating. Is there research on this subject, the impact of words on health? And if so, what does research show in terms of using language?
Dr Colleen Curran: There is research. There's actually a lot of research in regards to telemedicine and telehealth and that people respond to it. Also, I think one of my favorite researchers and authors is Mr. Emoto. I'm not sure if you're familiar with his work. But he used high speed photography that visually captured the structure of water, not only at moments of freezing, but also moments of thought or playing certain musical compositions. And he showed how the water droplets changed based on, like what you said to the water droplet or the kind of music or resonance that was played. And it showed symmetry when there were words or thoughts projected that had a positive connotation. He showed pictures. It was fascinating. So if we think of the human body, the human body is made up of roughly 60% water. So if we can kind of take that association, if his research showed that even new speaking words or thinking words that have a positive connotation, that's affecting the water in our bodies.
Amanda Wilde (Host): Are there some best words to use to create that positivity or to care for oneself?
Dr Colleen Curran: I think it depends on the individual. I really like patients to choose words that resonate with them, but usually it's peace, calm ease. And even speaking those words, feeling into speaking those words, it creates that resonance in your body.
Amanda Wilde (Host): Now a lot of us, of course, you know, are hard on ourselves and we always hear about positive self-talk. What is the best way to learn that or to change habits if we tend to be hard on ourselves?
Dr Colleen Curran: I would say the easy with yourself in the moment. Let whatever is occurring in the present moment kind of like bubble up to the surface and be aware of it. Because if we're not aware of it, then we don't have the opportunity to actively transform the present moment. It's a choice. You can choose the negative tape reel, or, you know, you can just take the opportunity to stop and notice that you're playing the negative tape reel in your mind and choosing how to change that.
Amanda Wilde (Host): That's the hard part, stopping, noticing, and then implementing a change.
Dr Colleen Curran: Exactly. It takes practice.
Amanda Wilde (Host): Yeah, I was just going to say, how do you help patients with that?
Dr Colleen Curran: So just teaching them awareness in regards to body noticing. What are you noticing in your body? So when someone shares with me, we'll use anxiety again, a patient will say, "Oh, well I have anxiety." "Okay. So I don't know what anxiety feels like for you. But let's explore that." So, bringing the patient into what they notice on a body level and cultivating that awareness with the patient, they're further able to recognize, "Okay. I'm feeling anxiety right now and I'm going to stop whatever I'm doing in the moment" or just pause. I mean, you could be standing in line getting a coffee and have anxiety, so it's just recognizing it, stopping and taking three deep breaths in through the nose, out through the mouth. That stops the body. It actually stops the fight or flight response. So it's like reprogramming the brain. It's saying, "We're not going to go there. We're not going to go into full anxiety. We're going to choose to pause, take a couple deep breaths," and that reprograms the brain and the body responds differently.
Amanda Wilde (Host): What are the long-term effects of doing this practice, if you've seen that?
Dr Colleen Curran: Patients are empowered. They don't need to come in for acupuncture as often. They're able to really transform their lives on their own. they have less stress, less body pain. They have better relationships with themselves, but also family members, loved ones, because they're cultivating peace within themselves. Acceptance, awareness and they're able to be examples for others and share this because everyone can do this. You don't necessarily have to come in for an acupuncture treatment. And it's a big part of acupuncture as well. We do the breathing when needles are inserted, but this is just a tool that everyone can use at any time. So it has a ripple effect.
Amanda Wilde (Host): Meaning when someone else has healthier, if it is calmness and peace they're feeling, they sort of exude that to those around them as well.
Dr Colleen Curran: Yes. And if they see that someone else is maybe struggling, then they can offer the teaching.
Amanda Wilde (Host): So it seems so simple and like something anyone can do.
Dr Colleen Curran: Yes, absolutely, at any time. Sometimes I recommend for some people that are really busy, setting a timer or taking time at a certain time the day and just dedicating that to just stopping whatever you're doing. I mean, we all go on lunch break, but it's like hurried lunch, you know. It's like, "Oh, we have to eat. And then we have to get back to what we're doing." So I recommend choosing a certain time or if you have lunchtime and just taking a break, setting a timer and just stopping whatever you're doing and just having a seat and just doing some deep breathing. I mean, it's easy as four deep breaths. Just in through the nose, holding for four and then out through the mouth. That resets entire body.
Amanda Wilde (Host): And it's so really doable because it doesn't take a lot of time.
Dr Colleen Curran: Yeah, it doesn't. It's that simple and that quick. I mean, 30 seconds. I've seen people be able to shift in seconds. What matters is the pause, what matters is the awareness, what matters is being in our bodies.
Amanda Wilde (Host): I just love what you said. I just wanted there to be a pause there. Dr. Curran, thank you for your insights into the impact of words on health and the language of healing and how we can use that to affect not only ourselves, but make things more positive for those around us.
Dr Colleen Curran: Absolutely. Thank you.
Amanda Wilde (Host): This episode of Live Greater is sponsored by UM Upper Chesapeake Health. Through an unparalleled combination of high quality care and leading edge technology, UM Upper Chesapeake is improving the health of Northeastern Maryland residents by providing an exceptional patient experience for every person, every encounter, every day.
Find more shows just like this one at umms.org/podcast. Thank you for listening to Live Greater, a health and wellness podcast brought to you by the University of Maryland Medical System. We look forward to you joining us again. I'm Amanda Wilde. Be well.