Herbert Benson, M.D. is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 cardiologist and founder of the Mind/Body Medical Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital

Massachusetts General Hospital

Massachusetts General Hospital is a teaching hospital and biomedical research facility in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts...

 in Boston. He graduated from Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...

 and Harvard Medical School

Harvard Medical School

Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....

.

Benson is Mind/Body Medical Institute Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and director emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute (BHI). He is the author or co-author of more than 175 scientific publications and 11 books. More than four million copies of his books have been printed in many languages.

Benson is a pioneer in mind/body medicine, one of the first Western physicians to bring spirituality

Spirituality

Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...

 and healing into medicine. In his 35+ year career, he has defined the relaxation response and continues to lead teaching and research into its efficacy in counteracting the harmful effects of stress. The recipient of numerous national and international awards, Dr. Benson lectures widely about mind/body medicine and the BHI's work. His expertise is frequently sought by national and international news media, and he appears in scores of newspapers, magazines, and television programs each year. Dr. Benson's research extends from the laboratory to the clinic to Asian field expeditions. His work serves as a bridge between medicine and religion, East and West, mind and body, and belief and science.

Benson participated in a dialogue that was held at Harvard in March 1991, as part of a conversation between scientists and Buddhists initiated by 14th Dalaï Lama, organized by the Mind and Life Institute

Mind and Life Institute

The Mind and Life Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the relationship of science and Buddhism as methodologies in understanding the nature of reality...

. Book Review: MindScience.

Mind Body Medicine

Benson has pioneered mind-body research, focusing on stress and the relaxation response in medicine. In his research, the mind and body are one system, in which meditation

Meditation

Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....

 can play a significant role in reducing stress responses. He continues to pioneer medical research into Bodymind questions.

Publications

• The Relaxation Response, 1975. ISBN 978-0688029555
• The Mind/Body Effect: How behavioral medicine can show you the way to better health , 1979. ISBN 978-0671241438
• Beyond the Relaxation Response, 1984
• Your Maximum Mind, 1987
• 'Contributor - 'MindScience: An East-West Dialogue Daniel Goleman
  Daniel Goleman
  Daniel Jay Goleman is an author, psychologist, and science journalist. For twelve years, he wrote for The New York Times, specializing in psychology and brain sciences. He is the author of more than 10 books on psychology, education, science, and leadership.-Life:Goleman was born in Stockton,...
  
   and Robert A. F. Thurman Editors, Wisdom Publications, 1991. ISBN 978-0861710669
• The Wellness Book, 1992
• Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief, 1996. ISBN 978-0788157752
• The Relaxation Response - Updated and Expanded (25th Anniversary Edition), 2000
• The Breakout Principle, 2003
• Mind Over Menopause, 2004
• Mind Your Heart, 2004. ISBN 978-0743237024
• The Harvard Medical School Guide to Lowering Your Blood Pressure, 2006. ISBN 978-0071448017
• Relaxation Revolution, 2010. ISBN 978-1-4391-4865-5

External links

• The Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine
• Steps to Elicit the Relaxation Response
• Spirituality emerges as point of debate in mind-body movement
• Inner Calm: Benson explains relaxation techniques on Humankind public radio
• The Herbert Benson Papers can be found at The Center for the History of Medicine at the Countway Library, Harvard Medical School.
• http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/04.18/09-tummo.html An article on the Harvard study about Meditation controlling body temperatures.