DERIVING A SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR MIND/BODY INTERACTION

CLIENT: WOOD RILL FOUNDATION, RUTH STRICKER'S THE MARSH

CATEGORY: Foundation

BACKGROUND

A wealth of anecdotal evidence supports the concept that there are multiple and significant interactions between mind and body. A pioneering fitness worker in this area, Ruth Stricker (founder of Ruth Stricker's The Marsh, Minnetonka, MN) and her husband, Bruce Dayton, (founder of Dayton Hudson Department Stores and chairman of the Wood Rill Foundation) asked Rippe Lifestyle Institute to provide scientific evidence for mind/body interactions that could be communicated to both the medical community and the public at large.

RLI'S RESPONSE

RLI research staff conducted a three-year project. They enrolled 120 individuals and followed them for 18 months examining various forms of mind/body exercise and the impact of these exercises on a variety of psychological indices. At the conclusion of this research, RLI staff published a series of academic abstracts and papers and presented numerous press briefings on the scientific evidence regarding mind/body interactions.

RESULTS

The demonstration that various forms of interaction between mind and body occurred during certain types of exercise provided scientific underpinnings for these connections. A number of academic papers were published and the whole area of mind/body interaction and its credibility in medicine were greatly enhanced by this effort. Ruth Stricker's The Marsh was further validated as one of the leading health entities associated with enhancing mind/body interactions to improve overall health.