Steve Ozanich interviewed by Emmett Miller, MD

[Forest]

Hi everyone,

I've been thrilled recently to see Steve Ozanich posting in a number of threads here recently. Steve is the author of one of the best TMS books out there, and he understands TMS incredibly well. To help people find his posts, I've given them a special grey "prefix," so that they stand out in the thread listing.

I'm posting today to share an interview that Steve did with Emmett Miller, MD. You may recognize Dr. Miller's name from Steve's book:

It’s Miller Time, When It’s Time To Relax—Miller Comes Through

I began regularly listening to recordings by mindbody master, Emmett E. Miller, MD, and integrative medicine pioneer, Andrew Weil, MD. Each day I would aggressively move—and pay a price for it. ...

I strongly recommend the healing material that I listened to during my recovery process—Dr. Miller’s Deep Healing, Healing Journey, The 10-Minute Stress Manager, and Easing Into Sleep, and Dr. Andrew Weil’s Spontaneous Healing. ... All I really needed was stronger belief—not more information—but we learn as we grow. Some people need more information to overcome fear.

During this period of intense relaxation came a new symptom—severe restless leg syndrome. The id-child within me was reluctant to relax because id didn’t understand the concept. ...

I hammered my body by day and soothed my sympathetic nervous system at night. Day by day, beguiling pain would show its face and run. But month by month, very slowly and progressively, I was moving around more freely. I had now been on my recovery program for an unknown number of months (I stopped keeping track, which helped).

I couldn't resist putting in some long quotes because in addition to relating how Dr. Miller's products helped him, he illustrates some very important points with his story. For example, many TMSers keep reading book after book, but it isn't how much you know that heals you; it's how deeply you believe. The belief has to penetrate down deep into your unconscious, where the real work is done. Similarly, how many people have I seen who developed new symptoms just as they started TMS healing? Many! The wily unconscious distraction strategy will do whatever it can to keep in control and when new ideas start rattling around your brain, it begins to feel threatened and acts a little crazy. He also shows, with his own experiences, that healing sometimes requires time, determination and grit, and that not watching the calendar helps to hasten the recovery.

Anyway, in another thread, Steve wrote, "[Dr. Miller] was one of the first mindbody docs in the country around 1970 or so. He doesn't know Dr. Sarno but whenever I tell him about TMS he says, "yes, that's right, that's what I see in my practice too....that Sarno guy is right.""

Are you also interested to listen in to the dialogue between Steve and one of the people who helped heal him?

Well, here it is:

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Enjoy!​

 

[Stock Trader]

Steve sure really knows how to explain TMS in basic terms.

 

[Leslie]

Not to mention his amazing ability to inject some levity for all of us "way too serious" TMSers. A strong dose of humor is a wonderful healing tool!

 

[gailnyc]

For example, many TMSers keep reading book after book, but it isn't how much you know that heals you; it's how deeply you believe. The belief has to penetrate down deep into your unconscious, where the real work is done.

You may be right, but possibly some TMSers are confused by Dr. Sarno's insistence, again and again, the belief is not necessary, knowledge is.

I realize that information and knowledge are not the same, but it's easy to confuse the two.