Contents

Preface

Introduction: Too Much Medicine

Part I: Evidence of Self-Healing (and How You Know)

1. Your Amazing Body

2. When to Trust the Evidence

3. Beware of Stories and Expert Opinion

4. Powerful Placebo Effects

Part II: Fight, Flight, Feed, and Breed

5. The Stress Response

6. How a Yogi Taught the Beatles to Relax

7. It Is Never Just in Your Mind

Part III: A Closer Look at Your Inner Healer

8. The Power of Positive Thinking

9. Conditioning

Part IV: Individual Health Depends on Relationships

10. The Doctor Is a Cure

11. Love as a Drug

12. In Giving We Receive

Part V: Change Your Brain and Your DNA

13. Nature Versus Nurture, with an Epigenetic Twist

14. Neuroplasticity and Changing Your Brain

15. Conclusion: What This All Means for You and Your Health

Epilogue: What If Something Really Serious Happens?

Acknowledgments

Works Cited and Further Reading