Did you know that practicing gratitude can boost your immune system?

I just read an article by one of my favorite gurus, Dr. Joe Dispenza, and I thought this would be the perfect time to share it. In this article, Dr. Joe explained how he performed a study on gratitude in one of his workshops where 120 people were measured for levels of cortisol and IgA levels at the start and conclusion of the workshop.

Cortisol is produced when the body is under stress and that stress can be actual real stress (like a grizzly bear is chasing us) or imagined stress (we are simply thinking or worrying about something that hasn’t even happened yet). When the body is under stress it has very little energetic resources to use for repair, growth, healing, or inner defense. This, of course, lowers our immune system significantly making us much more susceptible to getting sick. As cortisol levels go up, a chemical called IgA goes down and IgA is one of the strongest building blocks of life.

During the course of Dr. Joe’s workshop, they asked the 120 participants to move into an elevated emotional state such as love, joy, or gratitude for nine to ten minutes, three times a day. What he found was that at the end of the 4-day workshop the participants had significant changes in both their cortisol and IgA levels. Their cortisol levels dropped and their IgA levels shot way up!

This means that we have the power directly within us to make chemical changes in our body – the same types of changes that real actual chemical drugs make – simply by changing our state of mind! And the trick here is to really feel it. Don’t just say, “I’m grateful for the food on my plate” this Thanksgiving Day, but really truly feel those feelings of gratitude. The more you feel, the more internal changes you are making.

The video below features Dr. Joe Dispenza speaking more about gratitude. Please treat yourself to a few minutes of viewing pleasure by clicking on the graphic below. (Please note that you will have to “skip” the annoying ad at the beginning of the video.)