A great deal of current research is aimed at understanding the complex relationships between the mind and body. Research has helped us to understand that certain complementary therapies can improve mental and physical wellness by helping to regulate a very old area of the brain called the limbic system.

Studies in neuroscience have shown that many of our instinctive bodily responses are strongly associated with this system, which influences the endocrine system and the autonomic nervous system. Proper functioning of the limbic system is very important, as it controls the production and secretion of neurotransmitters and hormones that regulate a number of different physiological functions, such as blood pressure, body temperature, digestion, and immune response.

In addition to appeasing the limbic system, complementary therapies can also improve well-being in a number of other ways. For example, they can enhance communication between the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex, which oversees executive functions associated with planning, personality expression, and social behavior.

There is still much to learn concerning the mind-body relationship, as well as the ways in which complementary therapies can benefit our state of mental and physical well-being. Nevertheless, few doubt the health benefits these techniques offer, such as a revitalized passion for life, an improved sense of serenity, and a decrease in fatigue, all of which protect us from feelings of depression. Complementary therapy techniques can help prevent and treat stress and certain diseases, and improve our general quality of life.

There are many types of complementary therapy, including osteopathy, hydrotherapy, shiatsu, stretching, acupuncture, breathing techniques, and relaxation techniques such as the Silence of the Mind meditation introduced in the third discussion of Know Yourself, and Union with Nature, which is introduced in the fourth part of the series.

Osteopathy is based on the principle that any physical or mental shock that affects one of our bodily systems (musculoskeletal, digestive, neurological, vascular, hormonal, etc.) can also disturb other systems. To treat problems that have perhaps afflicted us for years, osteopathy works to restore harmony in one of these systems (primarily the musculoskeletal), which in turn brings relief to other systems.

Osteopathy offers effective treatments for many functional disorders and pains. It looks beneath the manifestations of stress or shock for past physiological traumas that have led to the present imbalance. In other words, it looks not only at current symptoms but also at the body's history, sometimes discovering old shocks that continue to affect us. This relatively new branch of healthcare is highly effective and often essential in cases that fall outside the domain of allopathic medicine; moreover, its reasonable cost makes it quite accessible.

The relaxation technique we most highly recommend is the Union with Nature meditation, which can help us on numerous levels. It has a direct effect on our thoughts, with extremely favorable results in people with stress. Union with Nature works through sensory stimulation, generating a state of well-being by alleviating tensions. It also acts by inducing the secretion of endorphins, the well-known hormones of well-being, which make it possible to overcome fatigue and depressive moods.

Union with Nature is an active relaxation technique that places our body and mind back in a state of awareness of our environment. Those who are not used to this type of inner work will experience a new world of sensations and emotions, as well as a new perspective on the body and its relation to the world. The heightened sensory awareness this meditation affords will release tension and, at the same time, allow elevated thoughts to arise more spontaneously in the mind; as a result, a better, more integrated life will be possible.