Healing and the Mind: Reviewing the Benefits of Mindfulness

The documentary Healing and the Mind: Healing from Within is an attempt to investigate the relationship between the mind and health, specifically the impact of having a good sense of mind in dealing with or coping with illness or a physical ailment. Accordingly, the documentary primarily follows Jon Kabat-Zinn, who works with several patients in his clinic, which primarily provides mindfulness-based meditative therapy as a way for these patients to cope with the pain of their illnesses and physical ailments. Most of these patients are referrals to Jon Kabat-Zinn from medical doctors who feel that the ordinary course of medicine has been unsuccessful in offering these individuals help with their pain and suffering. Therefore, the documentary follows Zinn as he begins with a group of patients suffering from pain due to various illnesses, including how he teaches them mindfulness meditation to help them feel present in the moment and be at one with their bodies, thereby improving their ability to cope with their illnesses (Moyers, 2012). Accordingly, the main point of Healing and the Mind: Healing from Within is that, in some cases, contemporary medicine may not always offer the answers, and that sometimes what is necessary is for people to be more in tune with their minds for them to better deal with and overcome the problems with their body, including pain and suffering.

Throughout the documentary, there is the contextualization of the impact of the mindfulness meditation technique amongst various social concerns in dealing with pain and suffering. The most obvious of these social issues is how people deal with incurable pain and suffering in society due to some form of illness or injury. It is evident through the documentary that pain from disease or injury can be debilitating for most people and prevent them from living a normal life and partaking in activities that they previously enjoyed (Moyers, 2012). Therefore, pain destroys the quality of life for people and, in some cases, changes their outlook on life to a more negative one.

Another social issue of concern emerges from how pain and disease can affect a person’s family, economic, and social life. The documentary gives an example of a patient whose issue with pain made him unable not only to work but also to play with his child and even to do simple tasks at home or socialize in a better way with his family and friends. For another patient, the pain caused the person to be constantly unhappy and unable to find any joy in their life, with the pain being a constant reminder of their unhappy state (Moyers, 2012).

The documentary also presents, although in a marginal way, the medication for pain and the problem with addiction. One of the patients stated that while he received the solution of pain medication, he refused it because he did not want to become addicted to it and thus sought an alternative solution that would not involve medicines. In all these issues, the documentary shows how mindfulness and being more in the present can aid with the pain and struggles of people, which have a considerable impact on their lives. Accordingly, after going through the mindfulness meditation program, many of the patients demonstrated significant improvements regarding many of the social issues they had before, illustrating a much more positive outlook not only on their pain and ailments but also on life in general (Moyers, 2012).

Throughout the documentary, the filmmakers offer several claims. The chief claim in the documentary revolves around how better mental health can present tremendous health benefits to the body. Better mind health in this context is obtainable through meditation, which increases mindfulness and thus leads to a better understanding of oneself and a better sense of peace. The evidence offered in this regard is the patients who undergo the program with Zinn. At the beginning of the documentary, most of the patients expressed their pain and struggles; however, progress began to become more apparent as the patients learned to meditate and gain the skills of mindfulness. By the end of the program, most of these patients demonstrated incredible improvements in how they dealt with their pain. For some, the pain and disease became a smaller part of their lives; others demonstrated improvements in their personal lives (Moyers, 2012).

Another claim emphasized in the documentary is that the process of meditation, and essentially becoming more mindful and present, is not a quick-fix solution for people's problems and issues. The documentary argues that it functions more as a preventive measure in the sense that one can practice it even before a problem occurs, where a person can, on a daily basis, practice meditation and become present in their life. Therefore, when a problem occurs or there is even a health scare, the person will have much more preparation to deal with the issue in a better way. Evidence of this assertion emerges via the doctors in the documentary who recommend the mindfulness program to their patients, who assert that being more mindful has been helpful to them in handling some of their issues in a much more holistic manner (Moyers, 2012).

Watching the documentary was an enlightening experience, and it had a considerable impact on me in several ways. First, I was overwhelmed and very much moved by the plight of people who suffer from incurable and constant pain. While watching the patients talk about their pain and how they have been living with it, I thought that it must be a horrible situation for one to be inflicted with pain constantly without any permanent remedy and to suffer through it while still trying to live a meaningful life. Therefore, I conducted some research to gain more insight into the scope of the problem. According to researchers from the Centers for Disease Control, an estimated fifty million Americans suffer from some kind of chronic pain, which presents a substantial negative impact on health costs as well as productivity (Rikard et al., 2023). It is evident that chronic pain is a concerning problem in the country, and, as the documentary revealed, the problems are beyond issues of healthcare costs and productivity, exposing a more significant negative influence on people’s social life and their sense of well-being (Moyers, 2012). Accordingly, the documentary made me realize just how much more needs to be done toward the issue of chronic pain due to its immense social and economic impact.

Secondly, it was surprising for me to realize the demonstrated relationship between mindfulness and body health. It was intriguing to observe the changes in the patients as they gradually learned to meditate and gain mindfulness, which in turn affected their health, altered their relationship with pain and disease, and made them more wholesome human beings. It was very fulfilling to see one of the patients, the man, be able to play with his son while also realizing how other people in his life had seen very significant positive changes in his personality, thus transforming from being a quiet and reserved individual to being much more talkative, positive, and upbeat. Therefore, the documentary was able to show how people should learn to take care of their mental health and embrace meditation as a way of being more in tune with themselves and finding peace in their minds (Moyers, 2012). Undoubtedly, mindfulness can be a fitting approach that can aid in dealing with the many social issues that affect society.

As is evident, the documentary Healing and the Mind: Healing from Within offers a wonderful insight into the fact that good mental well-being can offer positive outcomes to a person’s health and life outlook. It is apparent that this documentary will have several implications for my future practice as a social worker. One of the key responsibilities of being a social worker is being able to truly understand one’s clients so that one can help them through their issues and problems. However, it can only be possible when a social worker is present and attentive. Through the documentary, there has been evidence that meditation offers a sense of mindfulness that enables patients to be present and in tune with their minds and environment (Moyers, 2012). I will strive to incorporate meditation into my personal daily programs to enable me to sharpen my sense of being present and acquire mindfulness so that I can offer the best of myself to my clients at all times.

Additionally, I will also offer the benefits of meditation to my clients who may be dealing with some struggles and who might find comfort in learning about these benefits of meditation and mindfulness. I intend to practice as a social worker who greatly values mental well-being; thus, mental well-being will be at the center of all my interactions with my clients. As the documentary has shown, it is possible to resolve many of society’s problems and issues if people take more time cultivating a positive mental space and become better at being present in their reality (Moyers, 2012). Mindfulness offers a unique opportunity in which people can truly appreciate their existence and, in effect, offer themselves a chance to be healthy and happy.