While this notion has been accepted as a fundamental truth for millennia by other medical traditions, Western medical thought has typically adopted a more mechanistic approach along the line of the body as a collection of parts. Perhaps this is because we feel at a loss regarding how to separate the mind from the body. As our ability to peer into the intricacies of the body have advanced, it seems clear that it is virtually impossible to separate the mind from the body and that there is an indivisible whole where the mind and body exist on a continuum.
Relaxation techniques seem to counterbalance the effects of chronic stress on our minds and bodies.
Stress in and of itself does not cause disease. However, it can lessen the effectiveness of the body's adaptive mechanisms. These interventions cause decreases in blood pressure and pulse, respiratory rate, and metabolic requirements. Despite the lack of clinical research supporting this hypothesis, it is widely believed that emotional distress raises blood pressure and eventually leads to sustained hypertension. Many techniques commonly employed for specific illnesses may produce an effect that is orthogonal to that expected or even the effect being studied.